#ForteFemales - Amanda Harrington
What is the one place that you are dreaming of travelling to right now?
St Tropez. It marks the summer every year for me, I love the colours, the heat, and that ‘kick off the summer’ energy it has down at the port. Nothing quite like it.
What are your top travel beauty essentials?
I am not good at ‘capsule’ skincare – make-up I can forego, but it's serums, SPFs, facial mists and everything in between which creep into the suitcase. So, the absolute must haves are – a rose facial mist, vitamin c serum, hyaluronic serum, peptide serum, SPF Face cream, body brush, my New Skin Body Scrub, and then my Ultra Balm, Ultimate Body Gradual Tan, Ultimate Body Miracle Moisture Cream and Jet Set Duo Face Mist for some glow.
What are your favourite beauty places or spa treatments?
Beauty for me has always been more of a ‘maintenance’ rather than a ‘treat’, so once I find the ‘one’, I stick to it and block book every 6 months. So, I have Hydra Facials with Elena at Elenique Aesthetics every 5 weeks (she is the best), a good pedicure at Margaret Dabbs, Inparlour at home for Brazilian lymphatic drainage with Vanilda and nails by Lashaun.
What is your skincare regime (morning and evening)?
I am a big fan of light layering…for the AM it’s: Vitamin C facial wash, rose water face mist, hyaluronic serum, antioxidant face serum, SPF, rose boost serum and then a spritz of my Illuminating Bronzing Face Mist in Rose for colour – followed by an SPF tinted moisturiser. For the PM it's: Glycolic wash/or gentle melting face cleanser, rose face mist, night cream and I finish with the Irene Forte Rose Face Oil. Can you tell I love rose?!
How can skincare and tanning work best together?
Tanning products can dehydrate the skin, purely because of DHA, which is the active that makes your skin go a little darker in shade. I like to ensure that in my products you have active hydrating ingredients, like Aloe Vera, to balance out an ingredient, like Alcohol, which to me can have a ‘double drying’ effect. Skincare ingredients in sunless tan play a big part in aiding the colour to last, fade evenly and glow… hence my use of a hydrating mist format from my range and I use a serum in my routine to maintain the moisture levels in my skin. Oil is a no no, it will lift off sunless tanning.
What is the best beauty/skin advice you’ve ever been given?
Everything in moderation but keep up good protocols – do not chop and change. Your skin won’t like it.
What inspires you as a Makeup and Body artist?
SKIN – I adore skin. I love being with a body, the way it moves is inspirational, so giving life to limb is my ultimate passion through colour, contouring and delivery of beautiful shades and colours on the face and body… all naturally of course. I like 3D bodies – not flat 2D.
How did you know you were ready to launch your own line?
Because I couldn’t keep the feeling I get when clients looked in the mirror and had that instant 'peacock effect’, that body and self-acceptance ‘feeling’ to myself anymore… I needed to share it with a wider audience. Tan really does powerful things to people’s mindsets, it’s about confidence.
What inspired The Bespoke Body Contouring Technique by Amanda Harrington™?
It was inspired by my love of painting with a brush/brushes. I thought why not apply this to sunless tanning – where I can use beautiful tools to create a more sculpted, defined silhouette that gives you a natural glow people admire. Plus, it is a technically better approach to application - quicker, more control, less streaking… it’s the art of bronzing.
What are your plans for the rest of 2021/2022 with Amanda Harrington London?
We are moving into the US and AUS and bringing in some clever new products and tools which all add to the beautiful skin finishing family.
Any advice you can give an aspiring entrepreneur or a woman just starting in her career?
Take a deep breath…I will never forget being told by an incredibly successful beauty founder right before I was going to launch, "Amanda get your steel pants on, you have some serious problem solving to do over the next few years - all with a smile on your face, of course". She was absolutely right.. steel trousers, ladies, and an even stronger smile.
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