How to Support Beautiful and Healthy Skin

We customize all of our facials to your skin type, condition, and season. The treatments we use are originally designed by their respective brands, and are Bellini-fied appropriately. We are thankful to have the luxury of mixing several brands’ products together in a facial to achieve a greater result than be accomplished with one brand exclusively. Each brand uses different sciences to create and improve their products.

• 
  YonKa uses aromatherapy and plant-based science for treating/healing the skin, as it was created for burn patients in France
• Phytomer is the only skincare company with its own research and development lab. They use the soothing and restorative properties of the sea to remineralize your cells. Their scientific discoveries are only sold to brands like Chanel and La Mer once they have been retired from Phytomer. Their team is assembled of chemical engineers, cosmeceutical chemists, and biologists to create the most sensorial products with the best results.
• Vie, made by Phytomer, focuses on expanding cosmeceutical products, and extending the length of time desired between injectable appointments. By combining trendy ingredients with scientific discoveries, Vie creates a safer cosmeceutical approach to the skin, without the negative effects of inflammation.
• SkinCeuticals focuses on active ingredients and post-procedure or compromised skin. Founded by scientist Dr. Pinnell, SkinCeuticals has the gold standard of vitamin c in the industry. 

All of the brands we carry are chosen to compliment the skin in different ways, and is another reason why we suggest changing up your products throughout the year. Plus, having consistent, regular facials also builds up your intercellular cement which maintains cellular cohesion in the epidermis. The intracellular matrix is a complex of lipids, ceramides, and free fatty acids which reduces wrinkles and maintains bounce, radiance, resilience, and density. You can read more about that here. Keeping your dermis and epidermis supported will keep your skin in top condition longer. Your body is 70% water and is kept protected by your dermis. The dermis contains 80% of your skin's water content, as well, and is your barrier against water loss (sometimes referred to as TEWL, transepidermal water loss). 

Although our menu makes it simplified, we have a wide variety of facials that we offer. For instance, our Glamtox facial is designed for dull or mature skin. We always include our Seaflexology in this, which is a seaweed mask from Phytomer laid along your spine. It is slightly bubbly and warming, and works to detoxify your body and remineralize your cells. You can read more about how Phytomer is able to do this in our blog here. Although the Glamtox always includes the Seaflexology, the rest of the products we use will vary. 

All of our facials follow a general guideline: consultation, professional exfoliation, steam, lucas machine, extractions (if necessary), mask, massage, and finish with an appropriate day or night cream. When you book a Glamtox, or any of our facials, your aesthetician will determine what your skin needs most, and select the proper professional products for you.

If the products are so good, what’s the point of getting facials? For one, all of your skincare products will absorb deeper into your skin if it is properly cleansed. Second, you have to make sure you’re using the proper products for your age, season, and skin condition. If you regularly visit your aesthetician, then you will be kept up-to-date with the right products throughout your life.

What Is Happening to My Skin Now?

The truth is, there is a lot happening to your skin right now. Every day, your cells work to replenish their energy in order to perform their functions. As we age, our body’s ability to sustain the environment needed for healthy cells begins to diminish. Our elastin and collagen begin to decrease, which leads to less skin resilience (e.g. cuts and bruises stay around longer), having less full, plump, and bouncy skin, and wrinkles.

In more scientific words: The structure of your skin (the extracellular matrix) changes and can reduce your skin’s ability to repair itself. Skin elasticity continues to reduce over time as a result of existing proteins being damaged and slowing fibroblast functions.

• Skin elasticity and tension is provided by elastin, but its quality and quantity diminish with age 
• Collagen (type 1 and 3) provide skin density and mechanical resistance, but with age is less produced and the skin’s support structure is lost.
• Collagen (type 4 and 7) deteriorate with age, causing the loss of cohesion in the dermal-epidermal junction, the skin visibly sags. Layers of the skin are not as cohesive and stuck together as they were naturally, but can be addressed through regular facials. 

Facials designed for this age range are also focused on stimulated stem cells. Stem cells are present in every tissue in our body, and are what new cells are created from. For instance, did you know that UV exposure can cause your skin stem cells to produce melanocytes (melanin)? You can read more about sun exposure and your skin here.

Not only does your skin have its intrinsic set of age-related processes, but there are also extrinsic, or external, factors that can accelerate visible signs of aging. We will briefly focus on one of the most prominent factors: free radicals.

A Brief about Free Radicals

Free radicals is any atom or a molecule containing an atom with an unpaired electron, and they can cause:

• Inflammation
• Weakened cellular function
• Altered genetic material
• Premature cell death
• Myo aging
• Thinning skin or loss of density

The effect of free radicals depends on how widespread or severe free radical activity becomes. Some good news is that your skin naturally has antioxidant enzymes in it, such as Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalase. They convert free radicals into less harmful molecules, and are catalyzed (spurred into action) by minerals. This is why we always tout the incredible effect Phytomer has on our clients’ skin - because it delivers the minerals your body needs to carry out essential functions such as this.

The Bellini’s Facial Regime

As previously stated, we have a variety of facial routines and products we mix-and-match to create your perfect facial. Each time you visit Bellini’s, you are most likely receiving a slightly different facial than your last one. For example, in terms of products used, we can customize any facial to accommodate sunburns, relieve bruises, and improve scar healing, just to name a few. Below are some of the facials we have, and examples of some of the professional products we use. We are specifically focusing on what regimes we can pick for our Glamtox facial service.

Energizing ATP-Stimulating Facial Massages

In general, your cells begin to slow down and diminish efficiency as you grow up. Hormones help keep our skin plump (testosterone helps with skin density), and as we continue to age these hormones naturally begin to decrease. You may also notice that your skin is thinner, which leaves your skin looking sullen. When the epidermis is thinned out, it leads to a loss in hydration retention in the skin, as well as an increase in wrinkle appearance.

The facial massages we provide at Bellini’s are specifically designed to stimulate ATP deep in the muscles, which is the energy your muscles use. Much like with your cells, providing your muscles with the energy it needs will dramatically help the overall integrity of your body. The more ATP your cells produce, the more energy you have. When you are low in ATP, you feel fatigued and sluggish due to this lack of energy.

There are a variety of techniques and products designed to stimulate your skin’s natural ability to produce ingredients such as collagen and hyaluronic acid. We pride ourselves in getting the right products on your skin at the right time, so you don’t have to worry about sorting through endless reviews and products hoping to get the right one.

Phytomer

The key ingredient of Phytomer’s brand is Oligomer, which is a lyophilized seawater concentrate that contains a supply of trace elements that stimulates the vitality of skin cells and boosts cell activity. Since the brand originated in Brittany, France, the home of thalassotherapy, it is only fitting for Phytomer to model many of their skincare treatments after thalassotherapy. Thalassotherapy values clean seawater, as it has all of the trace minerals your body needs to receive on a daily basis - you can read more about thalassothérapie in our blog here.

Oligomer is the solution to this need. By creating a powder concentrate of the minerals your body needs, Phytomer is able to introduce this ingredient to the majority of their products. Thus, all of their skincare has a healing and revitalizing aspect to it, as it kick starts your skin systems back into gear.

You may be thinking to yourself, "can't I just eat my daily requirement of trace minerals?" After all, there is an almost $300 billion industry devoted solely to vitamin supplements. Although it is an option to ingest these minerals, it is often highly inefficient.

The reason for this inefficiency is not necessarily due to the food quality (although this does have an impact), it is more so the fact that you need to have intracellular communication working for your cells to utilize anything. Even if you have the best diet in the world, it won't do anything if your cells are unable to communicate. In a sense, there are no good skincare products without proper cell communication. In addition, anything you eat provides nutrients to your body before your skin. Your skin is the last organ that is given any support - be it minerals, or water. When you topically provide your cells with trace minerals, you are able to bypass the digestive system and deliver nutrients directly into your skin. This increase of minerals leads directly to an increase in cell communication.

Each ingredient Phytomer uses is extracted using a supercritical CO2 extraction, which is similar to the type used in the pharmaceutical field. This clean and green extraction of oil-based ingredients preserves the potency and biological actives naturally found in each plants' oils, and allows for pure oil extraction. This means that their ingredients are not diluted with solvents or other chemicals that would alter the natural state of the ingredient.

Think about how the plants along the beach have developed defense systems from the constant wind, heat, and sand abrasion. Overtime, these coastal plants have become hardy, and by utilizing scientific methods, Phytomer is able to extract these ingenious systems.

Phytomer has two primary regimes we mix-and-match in a Glamtox, the XMF and the Extended Youth facial. First, we will cover the XMF treatment and then the Extended Youth. After, we will briefly go over the star ingredients in their different professional products, then follow with when and why a product might be used. Remember, this is just the start of our facial customization that we provide for each appointment.

Bellini's Customized Phytomer Facials

Our Phytomer XMF Glamtox treatment combines a lifting mask and an ultra-concentrated biotech lotion to restore the skin’s soft, youthful glow. In addition, this treatment features one of Phytomer’s unparalleled advanced facial massage techniques designed for relaxation and to deliver instantly visible results. The custom lip treatment plumps lips and smooths away wrinkles around the lip line, and a self-heating mud pack is gently applied along the spine for a total relaxation experience that recharges the body’s energy.

The XMF Glamtox treatment is designed to reduce the depth of fine lines and wrinkles, deliver hydration and nourishment, and restore natural suppleness of skin. After this treatment, the skin is revitalized, strengthened, and recharged with energy.

This treatment delivers a dose of trace minerals to stimulate cell vitality, and provides a retinol-like effect without any of the sensitivity. By working on global aging, the XMF treatment is able to support collagen 1, collagen 3, collagen 4, collagen 7, your hyaluronic acid, and your GAGs, which helps to redensify your skin from every aspect. Dense skin decreases the number of wrinkles present, while also helping to keep water in the skin for a bouncy and full appearance. This means that your skin will be smoother, softer, and more vibrant to reveal your skin’s radiance and luminosity. 

Breaking Down The Science of Phytomer

Vie

Vie Collection selects the most powerful cosmeceutical ingredients and molecules at the cutting edge of dermatology and esthetic medical research for the visible correction of all signs of aging. Working with esthetic doctors, Vie develops effective treatment protocols to complement esthetic medicine treatments, for use before, after, or in place of a procedure.

Bellini's Customized Vie Facials

Pigmentation is the result of the melanogenesis process, and an imbalance in this process will lead to hyperpigmentation, dark spots, or age spots. Melanogenesis is the source of skin pigmentation, and you can read in depth about skin pigmentation in our blog here.

The beginning of melanogenesis starts when melanin, a pigment cell that defines skin color, is produced by the melanocytes in the deepest layer of the epidermis. This cell is designed to protect the skin from harsh external factors, particularly ultraviolet rays.

The Mela-Bright facial is designed to diminish dark spots and improve lack of radiance in the skin. This dark spot brightening glow facial is inspired by medical depigmentation peels to erase dark spots and skin imperfections for even, radiant skin. 

In cosmetic surgery and medical spas, mesotherapy is a preferred anti-aging procedure in which numerous small injections of pharmaceuticals and/or vitamins are delivered into the mesodermal layer of tissue under the skin. Mesotherapy is the preferred preventative anti-aging treatment in medical aesthetic practices.

This facial is inspired by the strength of mesotherapy in these settings and replicates the results without the use of needles.

The Vie Pro Collagen facial is inspired by laser and micro-needling procedures. These advanced treatments apply controlled cutaneous stress to the skin to activate collagen production and tissue renewal.

In part because of the lifting effect, this facial is ideal for seeing firming and youth results. Using Vie, we are able to replicate a similar result by using products focusing on loss of firmness and density.

Our final Vie Glamtox facial focuses on wrinkles, loss of elasticity, and lack of density. Inspired by medical injectables, this facial plumps up your skin without the need for needles by utilizing hyaluronic acid, a botox-like peptide, and growth factors. The result is a smoothed skin from 3 dimensions - expression lines are relaxed, hollow wrinkles and diminished, and volume is restored to the face.

Yonka

All of Yonkas products are rich in aromatherapy, and their facials are no different. Our Yonka Glamtox facials focus on global aging, which is everything from minor to deeper signs of aging. While we can't stop the effects of time, we can do a lot to support our skin regardless of age. 

Our Glamtox supports the regenerative system of the skin by helping replace the quantity and quality of collagen that has naturally depleted over time. Elastin, which supports the texture of the skin, is smoothed and plumped via increasing moisture retention. Over time, glycation makes collagen and elastin fibers brittle, resulting in more pronounced expression lines. In addition, our cellular energy slows and cellular metabolism decreases, causing sluggish, dull skin. By incorporating Yonka Glamtox facials into your routine, your face, neck, and décolleté will look healthy, soft, and supple. By customizing our facial to target your past, present, and future skincare needs, we keep your skin healthy and vibrant.

Bellini's Customized Yonka Facials

The Yonka Excellence Code facial is an exceptional global anti-aging facial with Yonka exclusive techniques. Not only does it stimulate ATP, which is responsible for the health of your cell metabolism and skin, but it also improves cell function - which in turn, improves skin function. As time marches on, your skin is less optimized to perform its necessary functions. By giving a boost of energy to your cells, your skin is revitalized and given new life.

It should be noted that all of our facials stimulate ATP through massage. The difference with an Excellence Code Glamtox is that some of Yonka’s products are also designed to stimulate ATP, so you have a double dose of cellular energy.

 All of our massages work on energy points, such as forehead and eyebrow tension in the 11’s (the area between your eyebrows), around the orbital bone, on your cheek sphincters (the contraction muscles around the mouth and lips),  and the cupids bow and chin dimple area. This is a wonderfully relaxing combination that will leave you with a post-facial fog.

This is just the basis of how we at Bellini’s completely customize your facials. We love switching up what skincare technology we get on your skin, which is why we often rotate between Phytomer, Vie, and Yonka products and facials. Even with a facial procedure outline, we still customize the products we use to address what we see on your skin during the appointment. What are you waiting for? Call us at 503.226.1526, email info@bellinispdx.com, or request an appointment online!