7 Secrets of Beauty & Wellbeing: Michelle Roques-O’Neil
Spiritual health and wellness expert Michelle Roques-O’Neil is the founder of the Therapie range of aromatherapeutic self-care products, each steeped in crystals for added potency, writes Beatrice Aidin. With over 40 years of experience in spiritual health, Michelle has a rare intuition and a gift for healing. Her dizzying array of training includes qualifications in aromatherapy, reflexology, aromatherapist, sound and craniosacral therapy, numerology, shamanism and Taoist Qi Gong, as well as being a reiki master.
Clients say a one-on-one session with Michelle is like going on a retreat [see Sarah’s report here]. So her own beauty and wellbeing secrets are a true need to know.
1. My best beauty tip is to make cleansing your face at night a ritual. First do a quick cleanse then lay a flannel rung out in hot water over your face; repeat the cleanse, wipe off with the hot flannel, and apply a face oil with a brisk facial massage. I then practice gua sha, a Chinese facial technique going back centuries. Gua sha improves skin circulation and reduces puffiness. It’s also deeply relaxing and such a great wind down before sleep.
There is a variety of hand carved gua sha tools made of different materials available, but I use a rose quartz crystal to cool and calm the skin as well as the senses. I start by placing the quartz at the outer end of my eyebrow and gently stroke the skin towards the temples and, as with all the steps, repeated three times. Then I gently press the crystal vertically from the top of the eyebrow towards the hairline until I have massaged all over my forehead. I continue by stroking from the nostril along the cheekbones and from the chin along the jawline. It’s my own method and interpretation of gua sha but I find it very effective.
2. My biggest struggle has been with my blood pressure since menopause. It was due to a mixture of reasons but the biggest factor was stress so my cortisol levels [the stress hormone] were sky-high. My support system was a combination of acupuncture, diet and breath work. One positive to come from the experience was that the first-hand knowledge of the effects of stress inspired me to create Therapie.
The menopause also left me with real issues with my weight. I got so tired of yo-yo dieting from Keto to 5/2, paleo to vegan and so on that I went to see nutritionist Eve Kalinik to finally get this all in check. She practices a combination of nutritional science and healthy eating and it’s not self-punishing. Surprisingly, it has most of the foods I naturally love.
3. The quality I most rate in others and myself is listening. Just giving people the chance to express themselves with kindness, compassion and creativity and without any judgment. In the end, we are all struggling at some level to find balance and truth. Responding kindly and compassionately supports understanding so change and deep healing can occur.
4. My inspiration comes from the people I meet in my therapy room and the themes that present themselves. I am naturally drawn to mystical and spiritual practices like meditation, vibrational medicine, numerology and astrology and there is a vast feast of inspiring information to draw from. I see myself as an interpreter taking spiritual concepts and translating them into accessible and relevant tools, especially now because people feel very lost and shaken by the pandemic.
5. I switch off with meditation and chanting. I never chanted before but, over lockdown, I deepened my meditation practice and started to explore Sanskrit mantras through the work of Deepak Chopra on the Chopra Meditation and Wellbeing app. I found the mantras incredibly calming and genuinely healing and chanting helped me let go of a lot of insecurities - I feel more at ease with myself than ever.
Also, in the early evening to transition from the working day to relaxing, I have a calming and soothing foot bath. The feet have over 60 acupuncture points relating to six of the meridians, the pathways in the body where energy flows according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Putting your feet in a warm foot bath raises the temperature of the body, which unblocks meridians, helping energy to flow and making it easier for the body to absorb minerals, crystals and essential oils. In fact, I have found foot bathing so beneficial I have just launched Therapie Hawaiian Black Lava Salts especially for this. (Do read our own review of these, here.)
6. My hero product from Therapie is Cherish Skin Repair Elixir, which I made to lift one out of a dark mood. Generally, emotional stagnation can reflect in the skin as it lacks vitality. This product is immensely soothing and has an illuminating and plumping effect on the skin. It's made with 25 high-performing drops of goodness such as rosehip seed oil, sea buckthorn, arctic blackcurrant extract and red raspberry seed. Its uses are endless and a little goes a long way - I use it daily on my face and décolleté and once a week I apply it all over my body.
7. The three key products in my make-up bag for this season start with foundation - Monika Blunder Beauty Blunder Cover. I love how light it is – it blends flawlessly and you can layer on heavier cover if you are going out. There’s an amazing variety of shades (14) so it isn’t a problem to find the right one for my skin. The second thing is Lisa Eldridge Elevated Glow Highlighter in Celestial Fire, the deepest of the four shades. I love the way it highlights so naturally that you feel truly sun-kissed. And number three product is Lisa again – her True Velvet Lip Colour. I love good red lips and my current obsession is the shade called Velvet Ribbon; it’s a real blue red and stays put without drying your lips. I really like Lisa’s approach, which is knowledgeable with a vintage twist.
