Wellness by LV

🚨 THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING THAT BEAUTY ADVENT CALENDAR! 🎄

25+ products, luxury brands and huge savings… I get the appeal! But is it really worth it if your skin pays the price? 👀

My advice?

Don’t be tempted to use every product just because it’s in the calendar.

Introducing lots of unfamiliar products and active ingredients in a short space of time can make it harder to identify what works for your skin and may contribute to irritation, sensitivity, breakouts and congestion.

At Wellness by LV, I believe in:
✨ Consistency over constant change.
✨ Quality over quantity.
✨ Choosing products for YOUR skin, not just because they’re a bargain.

If you do buy one, be selective. Check the ingredients, introduce new products gradually and remember, you don’t need to use everything!

Your skin deserves a routine that supports its barrier, not one that leaves you trying to figure out what went wrong.

🤍 Not sure what your skin needs? I’d love to help you build a routine tailored to your skin. Get in touch to chat about a personalised skincare consultation.

The best investment is skin that feels healthy, balanced and cared for. ✨

Laura x
Wellness by LV 💕

3 months into HRT… and I’m learning a lot about myself. 💕

Perimenopause has brought emotions and symptoms that, if I’m completely honest, I didn’t always understand.

Low mood. Wanting to withdraw. Days where I don’t really feel like myself.
Days where the thought of going to work feels like the last thing I want to do.

But I’m beginning to understand something that feels really important…

Everything is a cycle.

My hormones.
My mood.
My energy.
My motivation.

Even the way I see the world on certain days.
And rather than fighting every feeling, I’m learning to notice it.

To ask myself, “Is this actually how I feel, or is this just where I am in my cycle right now?”

There are things I can control, and there are things I simply can’t.

I can’t control every hormonal shift or how I feel when I wake up.

But I can control what I do with that feeling.
I can choose how I speak to myself.
I can choose whether I withdraw completely or gently keep moving.
I can choose my attitude.
I can choose my productivity.

And I can choose not to let one low day become a low week.

Then there are the days when I really don’t want to go to work…but I walk into my little salon, start preparing for my first client, my hands get busy, and somehow everything changes.
And I’m reminded just how incredibly lucky I am to love what I do.

My mood might arrive before I do, but it doesn't have to run my day.

I think this stage of life is teaching me less about controlling my emotions and more about understanding them.

Not judging them.
Not being frightened by them.
Not believing every thought they bring with them.

Just noticing.

Learning my patterns.
Giving myself a little more grace.
And remembering that a difficult day is just that…
a difficult day.
It doesn't define me.

And tomorrow might feel completely different. ✨️

Maybe that’s part of navigating perimenopause learning to work with your body rather than constantly fighting against it.

Lost my Instagram mojo....

Hopefully it will come back soon🤞

#

I’ve been thinking a lot about “performing” lately.

Not performing in the obvious sense.

I mean the little performance we all do when life is difficult.

You still go to work.
You still answer messages.
You still smile.
You still laugh.
You ask other people how they are.
You show excitement for their good news.
You carry on.

And sometimes, you genuinely want to.

But sometimes… you’re exhausted from pretending you’re okay.

This past week has made me really aware of how much I’ve changed over the last four years.
I’ve spent a lot of time working on myself, particularly understanding my nervous system, my emotional responses and my patterns.

And grief has made me notice something.
I’m much more aware now of what’s actually happening inside me.

I know when I want distraction.
I know when I want to keep busy.
I know when I need movement — and for me, the gym has often been somewhere I can release what I’m carrying.

But I also know that distraction isn’t the same as processing.

At some point, I have to stop.
I have to feel it.
And that’s uncomfortable.

Because there’s a part of me that thinks:
Come on Laura. Get yourself together. Smile. Be normal. Make an effort. Don’t bring the mood down.

But why?

Why do we feel the need to make our difficult emotions more comfortable for everyone else?

The world doesn’t revolve around my grief.

And I know that.

There are people around me navigating death, illness, diagnoses, surgeries, heartbreak and their own incredibly difficult circumstances.

Everyone is carrying something.

So yes, I will still show up.

I will still be present for my clients.
I will still celebrate their happy moments.
I will still laugh when something is funny.
I will still be me.

But I’m learning that I don’t have to manufacture me when I’m struggling.

I don’t have to be extra chatty to prove I’m okay.
I don’t have to smile constantly.
I don’t have to hide every emotion because someone might feel uncomfortable seeing it.

And maybe this emotional growth.

If I could go back and hug the woman in this photograph... I would.

Because this was the photo that convinced me I needed Botox at 40.

When I looked at it, all I could see were lines. Ageing. Everything I thought was "wrong" with my face.
My husband looked at the exact same photograph and simply said, "I think it's beautiful."

Funny how we can look in the same mirror, at the same face, yet see something completely different.

In all honesty, I did try Botox. But it never gave me what I was searching for. My lines were already deep, I have strong facial muscles (my face has always worn every emotion! 😂), and I metabolised it so quickly that the results were short-lived.

I was never going to have a completely smooth forehead... and eventually I realised that wasn't really what I needed.

What I really needed was to stop seeing myself through the eyes of criticism.

So I made a different choice.

Instead of chasing smoothness, I chose to invest in the health of my skin. To nourish it. To protect it. To care for it.

But most importantly... I chose to make peace with the woman looking back at me.

Now when I see this photograph, I don't see wrinkles.

I see glowing skin.
I see laughter.
I see warmth.
I see a smile that radiates happiness.

The lines didn't change...

The way I looked at myself did. ✨️

Choosing love over criticism. Peace over perfection. Acceptance over comparison.

That has been the greatest treatment I have ever given myself.

Because true beauty isn't found in the absence of lines...

It's found in the presence of joy. 💕✨️

✨ I’ve made peace with getting older. ✨

I’ve learned that ageing isn’t something to fight.
Lines on my face?

They’re allowed.

Change? It’s natural.

We live in a world that tells us to stay young,
stay slim,
stay smooth,
stay unchanged.

The beauty standard puts so much pressure on us,
but real beauty was never about freezing time.

I truly believe there’s nothing wrong with doing things that make you feel good.

Skincare, treatments, self-care. I love them.
But it should never be about trying to look like someone else.

For me, the goal is simple:
✨ to look in the mirror and recognise myself. ✨
I’m not perfect.

Yes, there are things I’d change.
But I don’t want to erase my expressions, my age, or my story.

Age well.
Care for your skin.
Feel confident.

Just don’t lose you in the process 💕

Wellness by LV x