The Tourism Champion Award sponsored by Jacquies at the DG Life awards was won by the Galloway Activity Centre, seen in the picture is Heather and Richard Hermon. The activity centre started from humble beginnings operating from a caravan on the shores of Loch Ken and has grown and flourished over the past 20 years. The centre is very much part of the community and is involved with several outside groups, including the South West Scotland Sailing Association, the Five Castles Regatta secondary school event as well as the Paddlers For Life Scotland SW dragon boat event. A huge congratulations on this prestigious win.

What an amazing afternoon, with over 60 people attending everyone was full of Christmas Cheer. The mulled wine was flowing and the mince pies were very tasty thanks to the Aston Hotel for providing these.

The launch of our fabulous new make-up Guinot Masters Colors and our exclusive range of candles, body lotion and oil was a huge success!

The day culminated in the prize draw with Amy Niven winning an audi of her choice for the weekend, Karen Martyniuk winning a 3 months membership to the Barracuda Club and Tracey Herries winning a £50 voucehr for Opulence.

All and all the day was a huge Christmas celebration and we hope all who attended enjoyed the day as much as the team did.

Having risked life and limb on several occasions and ended up muddied, bloodied, scared and soaking wet on many more for her Challenge Alison series, our intrepid Alison Bell wanted only one thing for Christmas: to be made a princess.

After 18 months of wonderful, often hair-raising challenges, this month’s was to make me a princess. In stepped my very own ‘fairy godmother’ Jacquie Brown and her team at the awardwinning Jacquies Beauty in Dumfries.

Gordon the photographer usually has to take pictures of me soaking wet, wearing an old hoodie or covered in mess of some description. I thought it would take weeks
to transform me, but all it took was two blissful days… and I wasn’t scared once!

On day one I was welcomed into the salon, then shown to a lovely wee room with exercise equipment and a television. Of course, I knew exactly what to do, and proceeded to tune in my favourite morning show. But this was not the point of the room as I was soon to find out.

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Prepare your winter skin

Relax at top beauty salon with a deep-skin facial

If you are going to get a facial to help you prepare for the onset of winter, where better to go for your treatment than the reigning Scottish beauty salon of the year.

Jacquies in Dumfries took the prestigious title at the INAA Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards 2011.

This comfortable and relaxing space was the perfect place to escape for a day of pampering.

From the minute I walked in I was struck by the professionalism of the staff and that continued when I met therapist Diane McCracken for the Hydradermie facial.

This treatment from Paris beauty house Guinot uses electotherapy and is designed for deep skin cleansing.

Diane started by cleansing the skin with a rose extract product before applying an exfoliating cleanser containing fruit acids. Then it was on with a purifying serum gel before she got to work with the galvanic current.

There was tingling as she moved the wands over my face, but I liked the feeling that I was getting a deep clean.The less oily areas were also treated but they were given a moisturising serum gel first to try and re-balance my skin.

Next in the process was an oxygenating gel, followed by a massage cream, a rosemary and lavender mask and finally a moisturiser.

When she had finished, after more than an hour working on my face, Diane dimmed the lights, covered my eyes and left me to drift off.

She later ran through a simple skin care regime with me, demonstrating the products on the back of my hand.

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