Six Senses has opened at The Whiteley in Bayswater, bringing a spa and wellness offer that is built for regular local use as much as hotel stays. The opening centres on Six Senses Spa London, a 2,300 square metre facility anchored by a 20 metre indoor pool and a dedicated magnesium pool, with a recovery focused biohacking lounge and a full scale fitness set up designed to support training, performance and downregulation in a city environment.

PBL Magazine sits down with Dr Rita Rakus, founder of the Rakus Clinic in Knightsbridge and one of the UK’s best known figures in aesthetic medicine. A co founder and Fellow of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine, Rakus has spent decades helping shape the non surgical aesthetics sector through clinical practice, innovation, training and a strong focus on patient safety. In celebration of the upcoming International Women’s Day, we discuss how opportunities for women in aesthetics have changed, where progress still falls short, what credible authority looks like in a crowded market, and why standards, mentorship and regulation remain central to the future of the profession.

International Maisons of Fine Fragrance took place in London last week, bringing together a tightly curated mix of independent and luxury fragrance houses in a gallery-style setting built for discovery. With 32 exhibitors this year, the event felt international in scope while still intimate enough for real conversations, proper smelling time, and the kind of close attention niche perfumery deserves. Among the line-up, six brands stood out for the clarity of their concepts, the strength of their identities, and the way they translated storytelling into scent, design and experience.

When rosacea in skin of colour is mistaken for acne or “sensitive skin”, treatment can go in the wrong direction fast. We look at the evidence behind underdiagnosis, the role of history-taking beyond visual cues, and why better recognition is a standards issue for the aesthetics sector

Walk into most clinic receptions on a Tuesday at 2pm and you’ll often spot treatment rooms sitting idle, payroll and rent ticking over, and a bookings diary that looks strong for the next fortnight but hazy beyond that. Subscriptions are one of the cleanest ways to turn that uncertainty into something you can plan around, because they convert episodic, promotion-driven demand into recurring revenue tied to long-term care habits.

No-makeup makeup has always been a bit of a con. It sells effortlessness while demanding control. The irony feels sharper in 2026, as bolder colour, blurrier edges and a general swing back to statement makeup keeps gathering pace. Yet the “clean girl” and no-makeup codes refuse to disappear, because they have become more than a look. They are a shorthand for polish, health, youth, money, time, and good lighting.

Valentine’s Day is built around the senses, and perfume is the only gift that speaks to all of them at once. You can see it, hold it, unbox it, and then wear it in a way that changes how you feel in real time. Most importantly, scent takes a shortcut to emotion and memory. Unlike many other sensory inputs, olfactory signals have direct links into brain regions tied to emotion and memory, which helps explain why a fragrance can trigger a mood shift, a flash of recognition, or a sudden sense of closeness within seconds.

Aesthetic medicine still has a lazy shorthand problem. Patients say “laser” when they mean anything from pigment correction to dermal tightening to deep-plane lifting, and plenty of clinics let the catch-all stand because it is convenient. Dr John Quinn, founder of Quinn Clinics, argues that this is where outcomes start to drift, because the decisive variable is rarely the brand name on the console. It is depth.

As we move through 2026, the nail industry is witnessing a move away from loud, chaotic art toward a more intentional, "refined luxury" aesthetic. For professionals, this season is less about complexity for complexity’s sake and more about mastering depth, finish, and the perfect "clean" canvas.

Neuroaesthetics is the scientific study of how the nervous system produces aesthetic experience: how we perceive, evaluate and feel pleasure (or aversion) when we look at faces, bodies, products, interiors, images and art. In the academic literature, it sits inside cognitive neuroscience and empirical aesthetics, with a consistent finding that there is no single “beauty centre”. Instead, aesthetic judgement emerges from a distributed network that integrates what the eyes and skin register, what reward and emotion circuits assign as value, and what memory and meaning systems contribute from culture and personal identity.

Compliance in 2026 has moved beyond the back-room filing cabinet and onto the front-line sales floor. With the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) in full enforcement and the UK’s licensing scheme for non-surgical procedures now dictating daily operations, the legal definition of "wellness" is narrower than ever. For clinic owners, the goal is to drive retail growth without triggering the regulatory alarms that now monitor digital and in-person claims.

NAD, short for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, has become a familiar term in longevity clinics and supplement aisles, often framed as a direct “top up” for energy. The biology is real, but the language around it is frequently sloppy. NAD is a coenzyme found in every cell, constantly being made, used, recycled and broken down. Most interventions marketed as “NAD” are not a straightforward intake of NAD itself. They are, more often, ways of feeding the pathways that help the body build NAD inside cells.

In her latest column, industry strategist Katie Hughes-Dawkins unpacks what brand recovery really demands in aesthetics when turnover, controversy, or a shaky launch has left confidence on the floor. Moving beyond surface-level PR, she argues that perception is earned through proof, consistent standards, and leadership that puts the brand, the team, and partners ahead of personal visibility, especially when the industry is watching closely and talking quietly. From the “halo effect” of credibility to the hard necessity of addressing history rather than pretending it never happened, the piece is a clear-eyed guide to rebuilding trust through behaviour, not declarations, and using grounded excitement, education, and clinical performance to reopen conversations that may have been closed.

A major systematic review and meta-analysis published in The British Medical Journal has found that stopping weight management medication is typically followed by rapid weight regain, with rebound occurring almost four times faster than after ending behavioural weight loss programmes such as diet and physical activity support.

Personalisation has become a default promise in skincare marketing, yet many clinics still run into the same bottleneck once a patient’s skin stops improving. The difference between “tailored” retail routines and true personalisation is that one adjusts what is already on the shelf, while the other changes the formulation itself, including the vehicle, excipients, pH window and concentration, based on the patient’s presentation and tolerance.

Client acquisition tends to drift when it is treated as occasional marketing, rather than a commercial process with owners, inputs, and weekly targets. In 2026, the clinics that grow steadily are typically the ones that operationalise acquisition as a simple pipeline: a clear offer, consistent lead flow, fast conversion to consultation or booking, and a retention loop that turns clients into referrers. The tactics have not radically changed, but expectations have. Clients compare you against frictionless online booking, transparent pricing, strong reviews, and professionals who communicate with clinical clarity.

In the past few years, polynucleotides have lived where regenerative claims are allowed to be explicit: in the hands of clinicians. Mention PDRN, salmon DNA, or the viral “salmon sperm facial”, and the mental image is rarely a bathroom shelf. It is an injectable protocol, a post procedure recovery plan, a “skin booster” appointment, and a patient who expects their skin to behave differently in weeks, not months.

The latest new treatment launches read like a very clear signal from the market: clinics are being asked to deliver visible results, faster, with less downtime, while treating the client’s nervous system and lifestyle as part of the skin story. This month’s line up spans menopause care rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, stress focused Ayurvedic ritual work, upgraded professional peeling that prioritises barrier safe hydration, and a strong showing from energy based devices that promise “collagen banking” and deep remodelling without the social downtime clients increasingly refuse. Taken together, the trend is towards treatments that sit in the sweet spot between performance and reassurance, where the transformation is real but the delivery feels restorative, not aggressive.

Party season is no longer about stiff curls and a cloud of hairspray. This year’s most requested looks are glossy, undone and quietly expensive, with a distinctly Scandinavian sensibility. Together with London salon STIL we have mapped out the key colour, cut and styling ideas that will carry clients from office hours to after hours without losing polish.

As a cosmetic dental professional with over a decade of experience, I often see patients eager to achieve a brighter smile at home. While home whitening can be convenient and cost-effective, doing it incorrectly can lead to complications ranging from mild sensitivity to long-term enamel damage. Many people assume all whitening products are safe, but the reality is that enamel erosion, gum irritation, and uneven results are common when products are misused. Understanding the science behind teeth whitening and choosing the right products is key to achieving a bright, healthy smile without compromise.