Liz Earle Signature Facial (and a Little Blogging Controversy)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 12:00PM 
It’s no secret that my love for Liz Earle is great. So I was over the moon when a good friend of mine treated me to a Signature Facial for my 30th birthday. I am a big fan of Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare because the skincare line combines the least amount of synthetic chemicals with the highest amount of botanicals as possible and actually perform well. Nothing gets my knickers in a twist more than ineffective “natural” product (I use the term natural loosely since there is no legal or common practice definition).
There is a bit of scandal in the blogosphere about Liz and forced google results. I read on the British Beauty Blogger that when you google "organic skincare," Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare pops up at the top of the list. When I tried this recently I found the results for Liz Earle in the box at the top of the 4th page of the results. I wouldn’t normally click past the first page of results but I wanted to test the point. If the company is paying google for the results I’m not sure it is helping them that much. Plus the fact is that Liz does use organic ingredients in many of her products. I'm more happy for her brand to be associated with the term “organic” compared to a slew of other brands that brand themselves as such, use a few organic ingredients and all the rest are rubbish (Boots Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil I'm looking at you!) Don't forget as well that any product that has at least one organic ingredient in it can label itself organic. If Liz Earle is paying money for the forced google results that’s really disappointing as she has tended to avoid the whole organic debate which is why her moniker is “naturally active skincare.” Furthermore she keeps a resident Botanical Research Manager on staff (Jennifer Hirsch) to ensure they are using the best quality botanicals (organic or otherwise) in their products.
Out of almost 50 different skin care products only 5 products contain parabens. Here is what they claim: “We use preservatives when absolutely necessary for product safety. Where natural preservatives are not available, we use relatively concentrations of the highest grade, broad-spectrum preservatives.” The 6 products that do contain parabens are Daily Eye Repair, Smoothing Line Serum, Eyebright Soothing Eye Lotion, Brightening Treatment Mask, Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask, and Sensitive Shave Cream.
So now that I've made my point about the scrutiny around Liz Earle ingredients, can I gush about the Signature Facial I had at the Liz Earle treatment rooms in London? It is 90 minutes of pure heaven! You're probably thinking what on earth can an esthetician do to you for 90 whole minutes?! Well, a lot apparently. There's cleansing, toning, exfoliating, steaming, extracting, applying ozone, draining lymphatic system, hand and foot massage, mix of 3 different masks, moisturizing. Studies have shown that injecting ozone into the skin boosts oxygen levels while it detoxifies impurities and deeply cleanses the skin. Lymph drainage helps to hydrate the skin and removes local toxins, softens wrinkles, rejuvenates the skin, and helps to heal acne. I love how the facial combines the best of technology with high quality and effective botanical products.
Reader Comments (1)
Haven't heard anything about this controversy regarding Liz Earle and google but I know for a fact you cannot pay for natural search listings in Google - no one can. They're not for sale! The only search listings you can pay for are ppc (pay per click) which appear above the natural listings in a blue box or down the right hand side. If liz is ranking highly it's because her website is well optimized for those keywords - prob because she's been around for a long time. It may also be due to a new update by google just roled out this week which is giving brand terms within brand websites preferential treatment -it's supposed to help refine consumer's search results, not aid the brands.
Anyway! Just thought I'd share that tidbit as it's impossible to bribe google to alter natural search.
Great post! I want a facial :)