Nouri Face and Body Concepts is well-loved by customers for its pre-natal and post-natal massage services, but I found out it has a whole suite of services to cater to the needs of the modern woman! I spent almost a full day at Nouri and experienced the Nouri scrub, wrap, facial, tummy slimming, underarm IPL and even 6D eyebrow embroidery!
Nouri is located near Textile Centre, and accessible by bus from Bugis Junction – just two bus stops’ away. Situated at the ground floor of Block 462 (Crawford Lane), it’s easy to feel at home in Nouri. In fact, the quirky decorative pieces give the place a ‘homely’ instead of an atas feel.
Do not be fooled by the size of this boutique salon – it is very well-equipped inside. Valerie, the founder of Nouri, strives to ensure she has everything her clients require – whether they have skin concerns, weight issues or need the latest beauty fix. Clients go to her for beautiful brows too (more on this in a bit). Valerie shared with me that she has been offering eyebrow emboidery services since 2007. She received her “first certificate in 3D eyebrow art in 2007 from David brow art academy, had a 2nd upgrade in 2010 with the Ivan Shaper korean eyebrow course and a third upgrade with Browtisan in 2015”.
There are 2 treatment rooms at Nouri, and 1 comes with a shower, right there in the corner:
It’s quite convenient as one can immediately pop into the shower after a scrub. Nouri and/or the therapist will be in the room changing the sheets in preparation for the next treatment though. XD
~
My treatment ‘menu’ for the day:
1) SCRUB
Valerie found that while I have tanned skin, my skin wasn’t “glowing” because of the accumulation of dead skin cells. So a scrub was ordered. Specially formulated in-house, the scrub isn’t too harsh on the skin.
2) WRAP
I then experienced the hot blanket ‘wrap’ at Nouri – I was told it’d be set at “gentle heat” for a longer period of time than at similar centres. It sure got pretty warm eventually and I almost thought I’d pass out. However, the wrap and the induced perspiration helps expel toxins and also alleviate my water retention issue. It’s really effective though I can’t say I like being wrapped up like a burrito and “marinating” in my own perspiration very much. No pain, no gain then. :D
3) FACIAL
I love the facial treatment most. I’ve been for facials in many different salons and it’s pretty rare to come across a therapist whose fingers dance across your skin. There are many therapists who do facial cleansing and massages as if they are cleaning a tabletop or the bottom of a cooking pot. Valerie, on the other hand, does facials as if she’s polishing an antique (and very expensive) vase. It’s quite a treat, really. Definitely head to Nouri for a pampering facial. :)
4) FIRMING
As for the tummy slimming, all I can say is that the effects are long-lasting. The special cream starts the fat-burning process, the machine breaks up the fat cells and I even found some red and black marks on my tummy when I got home. It was as if I’d done so many crunches that my mid-section ached. The marks only subsided after a few days. According to Valerie, just a few sessions of this and one can easily slip into a bodycon dress and have no worries about a tummy showing.
5) THE UNDER-ARM IPL
I can’t say I like IPL very much as it can sting, especially if it is targeted at the rare pimple or two. A few more sessions are required for the desired effects to be long-lasting.
~
6D EYEBROW EMBROIDERY
(Yes, that’s my eye and brow. The brown strokes are done by Valerie. They look just like actual hairs! Cool eh?)
When done professionally with adequate numbing cream applied, the 6D Eyebrow Embroidery is not at all painful. You’ll be able to hear scraping-like sounds as the blade makes cuts across your skin. But there should be no pain at all. It’s quite surreal. Do ensure that your therapist uses a new blade for you as each cut may draw blood especially if the surface of your skin is really thin, like mine.
Pre-drawn lines act as a guide for when the actual ‘cuts’ are done:
With enough numbing cream, there’s no pain at all. You might even fall asleep:
Pain is my #1 concern. But the numbing cream used at Nouri really works. After the numbing cream and anesthetic wears off though, it stings a bit… all the way till I got home. Then comes the tricky part: your brows are not supposed to come into contact with water for a week at least. You can purchase Tegaderm plasters from Watsons stores to paste over your brows before you head into the shower, or before you wash your face. And there’s a healing cream from Nouri that I have to apply 5 to 6 times during the day.
And oh… I had to abstain from seafood for a week as well. And truth be told, it’s actually quite troublesome to have to “plaster” my brows before every face wash or shower. Thankfully, the Tegaderm plasters are truly waterproof. I even went for a swim with them on, while I was on a staycation at Park Hotel Alexandra.
Because there wasn’t quite enough time to work on the tail end of one brow during the first session, I popped by Nouri a second time within a week for a quick touch-up.
My brows after the second session at Nouri:
(There was temporary swelling under one brow due to the anesthesia)
Because cuts are made on the skin, you can expect scabs to form and then fall off within the next few days. Touch-ups are usually done a month or so after the first session, and you may even require up to 3 sessions. In my case, because the touch-up was done when the skin was still rather ‘tender’ from the earlier cuts made, I did experience some pain. I would describe the pain level as being the equivalent of having three paper cuts on one brow. It’s not very pleasant, so do ensure you set aside enough time for your very first eyebrow embroidery session.
While the original price of the 6D eyebrow embroidery package is S$1800, Nouri Face & Body Concepts is offering a 50% discount to my readers for a limited period. I’d recommend it for ladies who have absolutely no time to perfect their brows in the morning and/or want natural looking brows that don’t look tattoo-ed on.
For more information about Nouri’s range of services, click on these links below:
Nouri Face & Body Concepts facial treatment services
6D Korean Eyebrow Embroidery by Nouri Face & Body Concepts
