7 Secrets of Beauty and Wellbeing – Liz Warom, founder and MD of Temple Spa
We’ve known Temple Spa and its founders Liz and Mark Warom since the birth of this very special beauty brand just after the millennium. They both have different strengths: ‘I love developing people and products whereas Mark makes it happen,’ she told one reporter. ‘I’m a good starter and he’s a good finisher, so it works brilliantly.”
The seeds of this now-global luxury skincare company started while Liz and Mark were on sabbatical in the Mediterranean. Having created and run successful brands and businesses for other people, they had a light bulb moment when they decided to fulfil their own dreams of creating a luxury lifestyle skincare brand for women and men. Every Temple Spa product embodies the passion and expertise poured into the brand. We love it and so do millions and millions of others worldwide.
We haven’t added up how many Beauty Bible Awards they’ve won over the years but we reckon Temple Spa HQ needs a pretty big wall to hang the certificates on. Just fyi: in a past Awards, Skin Truffle (a must have for Liz, as she says below) scored the highest mark then recorded for an all-round ‘miracle treatment’ product. One tester wrote: ‘I’m so in love with this wonderful cream you can look out for the announcement in The Times!’
It’s always a joy catching up with Liz and we are so delighted that she’s given us her own top secrets of beauty and wellbeing.
1. My best wellbeing tip is this ritual for calming my brain. I was a dental nurse at the beginning of my career, working for an amazing and enlightened holistic dentist. He used a technique to calm nervous patients, virtually hypnotising them to a natural state of sedation. I follow this ritual just before sleep (or a power nap) if I’ve got too much mental chatter.
• Lie down on a yoga mat or on your bed
• Place a pillow under your head and under your knees
• Lie face up with arms by your side, palms down, eyes closed
• Intentionally choose to empty your mind and concentrate on ‘nothing’, maybe using the colour you see behind your eye
• Slow your breathing by inhaling in through your nose to the count of three, hold for four and exhale through a tiny hole in the mouth to the count of five.
• Starting with your feet, imagine them getting heavy, then falling asleep.
• Work your way up the body, taking time to let go of tension, aches and fully relax each part.
• End with the head, drop the tongue from the roof of the mouth, unclench the jaw and part the lips slightly.
• Check the smooth rhythm of your breathing ensuring you push out your diaphragm (belly) as you breathe in and back in as you blow out (like bellows).
• If you need some beautiful background music to accompany this ritual download the Templespa Repose Suite on ITunes…peace.
2. Kindness. I value many things like loyalty, compassion, strength, encouragement, optimism and so on. But kindness is so beautiful and yet the opposite is so often seen. People who are kind wear it on their faces, in their touch, in their words, their posture and in their actions. I hope this is what people would say about me.
3. My Aunt Rose – my absolute mentor. Her favourite phrase to me was “you can do it, darling”. She herself wasn’t the most academic of students, but she went on to be a Head Teacher and leading voice in education and child psychology - that was her passion. When I was a little girl, I would say things like “my Aunt Rose has travelled half-way round the world” and she’d correct me with “all the way round the world, dear”; she was always there to make the world look bigger and to stop me from dreaming too small. The caption over the door of her school was ‘Ancora imparo’ which means ‘Still I am learning’ – a wonderful mantra to have in life. Although she’s not around any more, I constantly feel her on my shoulder and if I’m in doubt over something, I think, ‘What would Aunt Rose do?’ – the answer usually comes and gives me wisdom.
4. Daily supplements are important. I take Solgar Vitamins Magnesium Citrate /£19.25, Solgar Vitamin D3 1000iu /£9.25, OptiBac Probiotics For your cholesterol with Omega 3 /£18.99, and OptiBac Probiotics Bifidobacteria & fibre /£7.99.
5. Finding inspiration everywhere. I’m a very observant person and inspiration comes from conversations and things I read. I live by the sea and in the South Downs so I’m surrounded by beautiful walks, which are my passion. By being outside and in nature my mind clears, problems solve themselves, I can pray and be truly present and the creative juices flow.
6. My Temple Spa desert island products. Choosing just three is hard but I would take In The Beginning /£30, which is the mother of all cleansers, Skin Truffle /£90, my daytime moisturiser, of course, and Repose /£40, which we call a “good night’s sleep in a jar”.
7. The secret weapons in my make-up bag! My trusty Velvelutto /£30, an amazing cream/powder face base, Gorgeous Glow /£30, all-in-one bronze and blush, which I whisk over my eyes and cheeks, Glint Hydrating Eye Concealer /£20, which makes me look less tired and always Sisley Phyto Lipstar Gloss /£39.
