Why you need: your very own HEMA oil

I’ve had a marvellous email relationship with the wonderful facialist Margaret Hema (pictured) for many years now, and am constantly lamenting my lack of trips to Wellington where she is based. What I wouldn’t give for the chance to experience one of her facials!
Margaret has a history of almost forty years in the business of beauty and a reputation that spans around the globe. Although she is based in New Zealand, a trip made to the UK several years ago saw the Hema brand cement its rightful place in the eyes of the often cynical beauty media, with Tatler awarding her signature facial a 10/10 and hailing her as “beauty's new heroine”. Rave reviews in Harpers Bazaar, UK Vogue and Australian Vogue were soon to follow, and word was soon to spread to the US with similar results.
For those that can't visit her ethereal salon in the heart of Wellington city, she thankfully sells a range of hand blended, organic oils that she creates herself with the mantra that “all skin should be treated like beautiful fabric” firmly in mind.
She originally created a range of only seven skin care products - including a recently added day crème - purely for her facial clientele, her compelling concept being the non-use of exfoliants and skin tightening clay masks in both studio facials and home skincare regimes. In those formative years, clients, after they had their facials with Margaret, would take home hand-blended oils in a plain brown bottle with a handmade sticker describing what was in the oil. The product had no name. The Hema branding came three years later due to demand - word of mouth had spread the message and people wanted to stock her hand-blended products.
The world-renowned facialist's objective from the outset was to give her clients “a minimal method to obtain maximum results”, with each product representing excellence and skincare integrity. Good skin depends on a compact pore structure, so the Hema range is fortified with moisturising ingredients that both nourish and condition the skin. In line with her skin as a “beautiful fabric” philosophy, she still has no exfoliants, toners or clay-based masques in the range or in her salon, as well as no water (or “aqua”) - the liquid components in both her day cream and facial spray is organic hydrosol of Pacific lavender.
As well as restoring the skin to a texture akin to velvet, Margaret's creations also proudly lead rather than follow when it comes to performance, and were the first to include organic Totarol in hand-blended oils as an antioxidant and antibacterial ingredient. Hema Organic Floral Facial Spray was also the first to contain manuka honey as a humectant moisturising ingredient, and has received numerous accolades honouring both its formulation and proven results.
After that history lesson I get to the real reason for my rave, which is the fact that I recently received my own, customised blend of oils from Margaret – huge excitement! Housed in a glass bottle, the blend includes pure rose essential oil, organic NZ borage seed oil, organic NZ avocado oil and organic NZ olive oil. And yes, it smells like heaven. I’m also treating my eczema – which never fails to rear its ugly head come mid-winter – with her Organic Millennium Face and Body oil, which is her personal favourite product to use.
If you haven’t used a treat from Margaret’s range before then I urge you to give it a try now – and promise you won’t be disappointed.