Christa D’Souza pays a visit to holistic miracle worker Dr Nigma Talib
Dr Nigma Talib does not look like she sounds. She’s a super glam, super petite slip of a thing with melting Puss-In-Boots eyes and perfect, perfect caramel skin. That’s nice; a derm who is actually an ambassador for the product, although her loyal celebrity clientele — Sienna Miller, Charlotte Tilbury and Laura Bailey among them — are also something of a pull. As is the fact she looks after my friend Alice, and Alice has, hands down, the best skin in London.
Here I am then in Notting Hill, to get a bit of this special W11 glow. Born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised in the U.S and Canada, Talib, 42 (42?! Good Lord this woman must practise what she preaches) is a naturopath by training and her abiding message —which you can read about in her upcoming book published in November by Vermilion — is the link between gut health and premature ageing.
Her belief is that great skin is an “inside job” and just by looking at you, she can tell what you indulged in the night before. “Dairy face”, “wine face” and “gluten face” - get used to these terms. I know what she means. Bagels go straight to my eyelids. Adrenal fatigue, IBS, food intolerances... these can all, she says, show up in the face. But what I like best is her adage that “No wrinkles is the new old”. Huzzah! I HATE that hardboiled egg look.
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On the other hand, thank goodness, she is not at all averse to the latest technology and she agrees, my jawline could definitely do with a lift. So it is she recommends radio frequency with LED, the temperature of which she keeps testing with a thermometer, rather like one does while making fudge. The temperature taking thing, she says, that is the difference between merely an expensive facial and a proper non surgical face lift.
It took a while to heat my leathery skin up to the right temperature — that’s what you get for being lax with sun protection and being in your fifties but we get there in the end. Talib does not do extractions, and uses a mixture of her secret blend of botanical serums and products from anti-ageing cosmeceutical company iS Clinical.
The result? Well this is only the first one and Dr Talib, she has a skin plan for me. But yes, there is a definite difference. A kind of Notting Hill glow. Not like Alice’s, true, but then Alice is nearly 15 years younger than me, runs marathons, wears factor 50 every day and couldn’t possibly put away an entire bottle of Whispering Angel in one evening. Given what little Dr Talib had to work with, I’d say she’s done absolute miracles…
Christa had the Dr Nigma Signature Face Treatment at 11 Lambton Place, Notting Hill London, W11 2SH - call 0207 792 8073 to make an appointment.
Read more from Christa D'Souza in her How The Other Half Live column