Love The Skin You’re In with Irelands Toothfairy!

Love The Skin You’re In

- with Irelands Toothfairy!

The latest expert in my guest blog series is one of Irelands top dentists & facial aesthetists experts - Irelands Toothfairy, Dr Bronagh Keane.

Let me introduce her, in her own words:

“I am a specialist, in cosmetic dentistry and facial aesthetics. I am a graduate of the prestigious world renowned Trinity College Dublin and a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Irish Dental Association. Passionate about facial aesthetics I am enrolled in The City of London Dental School as a postgraduate student of Non-Surgical Facial Aesthetics to further my knowledge and master this field. I am expert in providing unique and natural smile makeovers to my patients. I am an Invisalign trained doctor that possesses an artistic touch, allowing me to bring you on a journey that involves minimally invasive dentistry. When combined with whitening and bonding, to achieve your ideal smile.“

 Bronagh has kindly agreed to give some advice on getting your skin ready for your big day!

The most important thing to be able to walk around with a real life Instagram

filter on your wedding day starts with skincare. Look after the canvas and

everything else will be 100% times better. Injectable treatments are great, but

they are not the be all and end all, if you're looking for optimal skin results on

your wedding day. In saying that if you are one week out from your wedding, I

don’t care if Kim Kardashian reaches out to you directly, to try a new product,

don't try any new products within the week of your wedding! At this point,

you should focus on enjoying yourself, getting beauty sleep and limiting

sugars.

“You just cannot deny the confidence that comes with good healthy-looking

skin”

The ideal time to start a new skin care regime is 6 months before and no later

than 2 months for harsh products like retinol. For those of you that are still

unsure about what retinol is or does… It is a vitamin A that helps to stimulate

your collagen (that stops working at 25 years old) to keep it working. It also

helps with oil control and is a must for acne-prone skin, but whatever your

skin type, make sure to start slow and low to avoid downtime such as peeling,

dryness and redness. Other ingredients that are essential to keep the skin

fresh and polished are vitamin C, glycolic and lactic acids. AHA’s (alpha

hydroxy acids) like glycolic acid and lactic acid help to increase cell turnover

and remove all those dull, dead skin cells. This is crucial for smooth makeup

to have your skin buffed.

Vitamin C helps prevent free radical damage from the sun and pollution,

which results in fine lines and pigment. I always say to patients if you are

going to spend money on one skincare product, vitamin C is it! It is so

important to get a medical grade vitamin C that has the right acid-base

balance, percentage and ingredients to actually work on your skin and not

just sit on your skin surface blocking pores. If you have been sensitive or

prone to breakouts with vitamin C in the past, Alto Advance Defense and

Repair Serum by SkinBetter Science is your gal. It doesn’t use traditional

ascorbic acid, it uses tetrahexyldecyl, which is a non-irritant.

Two things that are always a good idea for the big day are to apply loads of

hyaluronic acid such as HA intensifier by SkinCueticals the night before and

morning of your wedding. This product is like filler in a bottle. The hyaluronic

acid holds up to 1000 times its own weight in water, keeping your skin

hydrated and fine lines ironed out for the day!

We want to look like plums not prunes!

Secondly, do not overlook your suncream with the hustle and bustle of the

big day (even for weddings in Ireland!), but make sure your suncream (spf) is

either a chemical sunscreen, contains iron oxide or is less than 15 spf.

Otherwise, you may appear chalky and white. Although 30- 50 spf is better

than spf 15 for sun protection, blocking greater than 97% of sunburn rays.

Also, check if your moisturizer contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. These

will also make you appear white, but when in doubt, take a selfie with flash to

ensure you're not appearing like a ghost bride! My favorite suncream is the

SunBetter spf compact that contains iron oxide and is perfect for reapplying

over makeup. It matches all skin tones with the use of the SkinBetter new

smart tone technology.

Profhilo is the ideal treatment for a good skin day and to have you glowing on

your wedding. It helps that lazy collagen stay active! The reason this is so

popular with brides and mothers of brides is because it is an injectable

moisturizer with a unique formulation to help boost hydration, create

radiance and improve skin quality by reducing skin laxity. This is best 8 weeks

before your wedding day, but it is important to note if you are a newbie, 2

treatments are needed one month apart, one to activate the collagen and a

second to start the production.

“Glowing skin is always in.”

So many brides that come in to me saying that they feel they have tired eyes,

which is no surprise when you have 101 things to do and beauty sleep is on

the long finger! Philart is a polynucleotide skin booster ideal for under the

eyes when you don’t have volume loss. The goal is to brighten and hydrate

your under eye by tightening and increasing skin thickness in the area. Why I

love this treatment is its biocompatible which means that it doesn’t carry the

risks associated with tear trough filler and the body doesn’t recognise it as a

foreign body.

And now it’s time to talk about the holy grail of anti-aging, anti wrinkle

injections such as botox. This is a muscle relaxant that is injected under the

skin into the muscle. It helps to relax the muscles and soften lines. It is ideal to

try botox out at least once 4-6 months before, to have the perfect dose for

your treatment prior to your wedding. Generally, I would recommend getting

botox for your wedding 6-8 weeks before to allow optimal time for it to settle

and any adjustments. The most popular areas are frown lines, forehead and

crows feet.

Coming up to the wedding, lots of people lose weight and this can cause

volume loss in the face leaving people feeling gaunt. This volume loss can be

fixed with filler, 2-3 months prior to your wedding to allow the filler enough

time to fully integrate and be super natural on the day. This is the same for lip

filler where you should also allow 8 weeks to allow full integration. Lip filler is

the perfect treatment for those looking for an upper lip when they smile or

enhance volume for applying lipstick. Adding a muscle relaxant, such as

botox to the lips. This is known as a lip flip. This helps to prevent lipstick

getting on your teeth and maintaining an upper lip when you smile.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to get into your skin girl, for a

consultation as soon as possible, to allow your aesthetician to take into

account time frame, budget and goals, so you can be absolutely glowing

going into your next chapter!