Herbal solutions

Those who have sensitive skin should try Elche's natural and organic products made from plants grown on their farms in Hungary and hand-picked and blended by trained herbalists.

The Elche Natural Beauty Retreat in Jumeirah offers a range of facials and skin treatments that have been developed by the company's founder, Ilcsi Molnar and are administered by certified Hungarian beauticians.

Molnar, who is a biochemist, comes from a family of herbalists and combined her family's knowledge of natural products with her scientific training to create more than 100 skin and haircare products, including a range specially developed for the Middle East.

After assessing my skin and medical history, my therapist, Reka chose an Oxygen Brightening Facial for me because my skin is sensitive, pigmented and dehydrated. She first cleaned my face with a grapeseed cleansing milk and Elche's AHA whip peeling to gently remove dead cells and other impurities.

Next, she used Elche's Oxygen mask. This cucumber-and-parsley mask produces oxygen bubbles when mixed with potato starch. It is covered with a hot paprika mask designed to enhance the blood circulation and push the oxygen into the skin. It gave me a burning sensation at first, but later had a soothing effect.

Reka explained that 30 minutes of this spicy treatment expels waste products and free radicals from the skin, allowing the active ingredients in the facial products to penetrate the skin.

Next, she applied a stonecrop gel mask. Stonecrop is a flowering plant that helps reduce pigmentation and is used on sensitive skin.

Reka combined this mask with Elche's brightening serum on the pigmented spots on my face. Next, she gave me a relaxing massage with Stonecrop whip cream.

And finally she put on a nurturing mask of linseed cream covered with an aloe vera peel-off mask to hydrate and regenerate my ageing and water-deficient skin. As a final touch she put some fenugreek anti-wrinkle cream around my eyes, some Brightening Stonecrop whip cream on my face and cinnamon-flavoured Kiss balm on my lips.

The entire treatment took 90 minutes and cost Dh690. It was extremely relaxing and all the products smelled really good. My skin felt great and the spots on my face were noticeably lighter. Everyone noticed the glow on my face and the effect lasted for several weeks. Reka gave me a skin-evaluation report along with her recommendations for follow-up care and products I should use to keep my skin fresh and glowing.

— Jyoti Kalsi is a UAE-based freelance writer