Thea Green

Nails inc founder and entrepreneur Thea Green explains why running is the key to keeping her on track and why a good night’s sleep just makes everything better. Plus, we talk about her longstanding beauty obsession with beauty insider Alex Steinherr, facialist Sarah Chapman and fragrance brand Byredo.

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The Wind Down

I have three kids, so weekends tend to be very busy. I have started referring to myself as ‘MUber’ because I’ve got two boys who constantly need ferrying around for their various sports activities. I have to say, MUber doesn’t get paid very well, she certainly doesn’t get thanked and she never gets a tip! So on Sunday, I’ll drop the boys off to play football but instead of standing on the side-lines freezing, I’ll run around the pitch. It’s the only way to keep warm at this time of year and so much better than standing in the cold for an hour and a half. I do a lot of running outside and if I don’t do it, I don’t eat very well, I don’t sleep very well. Exercise for me is like the starting point that helps me do all of the right stuff afterwards. It helps me follow the plan. After football, we head home for a family lunch or go out with friends. I spend an awful lot of my time supervising and helping with homework, it’s a big chapter of my life at the moment, so after lunch we’ll settle down and I’ll help the kids with their homework.

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The Routine

I have my nails done a couple of times a week, someone from one of our stores will come into the office and paint them for me, so I like to do a bit of maintenance early evening on a Sunday. I’ll  apply Nails inc Nail Kale to help nourish and strengthen the nails, massage some cuticle oil in to keep my skin soft and supple and use the handy file on the Nails inc SOS Nail Pen to do a quick file and shape. After the kids have gone to bed I’ll head upstairs and light a couple of candles, I’m really into Byredo scents at the moment, they’re just so modern and sophisticated, and I’ll run a bath filled with Aesop Geranium Leaf Body Cleanser or Aromatherapy Associates bath oils. I rest an iPad on the side of the bath and use this as a chance to catch up on some telly. I’ve just started watching Butterfly with Anna Friel, it’s just three episodes so it’s perfect to watch in the bath. While I’m in the bath I use Aesop’s Geranium Leaf Body Scrub and I like to pop a Ouai Treatment Masque on my hair, I love a hair treatment and I’ll leave it on for about 20-minutes while I soak. I find that 20 minutes is plenty long enough, it doesn’t make any difference if you leave it on for longer. Before I get out of the bath, I’ll wash the mask out with Living Proof shampoo and conditioner. My hair can be dry, so I use hydrating haircare. Although I run my own business and I am a mother and incredibly busy person, I do find it quite easy to relax. I’m actually very, very good at relaxing. I’m excellent at relaxing. As soon as the weekend arrives, I’m there. I’m one of those people at the airport sipping a glass of Champagne and having a lovely old time, while my husband will be nagging me to get to the gate, and I’m like ‘why is he rushing me?’ When I get out of the bath, I always moisturise my body. I like to use Kiehl’s Creme de Corps on a Sunday, it’s difficult to use Monday to Friday because it’s so thick but if you’re then going to put on track pants or a dressing gown, it doesn’t really matter if it hasn’t quite had time to absorb into skin, I love it, it’s a brilliant product.

Thea Green Nails inc

Although I’m not a 100-step skincare kind of person, Sunday is definitely the day that I spend longer on my beauty moments. I think it’s also because I follow Alex Steinherr and The Sunday Facial, it’s really resonated with me and so I think of Sunday as my day to spend that little bit longer and also because I’m so busy Monday to Friday, I definitely skip some steps and rush through. It’s nice to have the luxury of time. I haven’t ever had problem skin, my skin is very normal and so I am very open to trying new skincare and I often chat with Space NK’s sales associates to find out what’s new or if they have any recommendations for me. They recently suggested Drunk Elephant and I really like it. The packaging is so nicely done, the white with pops of vibrant colour and it looks so nice on my bedside table. I do tend to steer towards more natural and clean beauty brands, I have been using the Sarah Chapman Skinesis Ultimate Cleanser for a long time – it’s a balm cleanser and removes everything with a hot cloth, I love the whole hot cloth experience and this marks the beginning of my skin regime.  I’ll then go in with micellar water to thoroughly cleanse and remove all traces of dirt and makeup. I really rate Sarah Chapman products and I like her as well, I often watch her little massage technique tutorials online and I love the fragrances and blends of essential oils. Next I’ll apply Sunday Riley Good Genes Glycolic Acid Treatment, I use this in my morning routine too, but it just lifts off any dead skin cells and leaves my skin feeling smooth and helps the rest of my skincare regime to work that little bit better.

Thea Green Nails inc

Bedtime

After the bath I’ll get into into bed to read the Sunday papers and go through my diary and schedule for the week ahead. I always draft out my emails on a Sunday night but I don’t actually ping them off until Monday morning. If I do send I’ll always put ‘Don’t read till Monday’ in the subject line, because people feel like they need to reply to you straight away and whatever I need to be actioned is always an instruction for the next day anyway. The last three beauty things I do before bed are apply Drunk Elephant T.L.C Framboos Glycolic Night Serum mixed with a couple of drops of Drunk Elephant Marula Oil for hydration and then I apply Sarah Chapman Skinesis Eye Recovery – it’s very small, only 15ml, but it does last. I drink a lot of hot water with lemon and ginger before bed and I find that quite relaxing. I like to get an early night on a Sunday, the rest of the week I’ll go to bed much later but on a Sunday it will be around 9- 9.30pm. I sleep brilliantly, even when I’m stressed, I sort of just hibernate and think today was not a good day for whatever reason, today is out! And then I just start afresh the next day. As I’ve got older, I’ve learnt that I just can’t function well on bad sleep. I don’t make good decisions when I’m tired. I’m ratty and will end up having a difficult conversation with someone that honestly, on a good night’s sleep, could have been handled so much better. I hate being grumpy with my kids, it makes me really sad if I’m grumpy with them because I’m overtired. So for me, getting that early night on a Sunday is my answer to all of that.

thea green Nails inc

Monday Morning

I go to the same exercise class (HIIT& Run at KXU) at 6am every morning, so I am up and out before then. Before I leave the house I have a shower and cleanse, moisturise my skin and apply By Terry Baume de Rose Lip Care  to my lips. I feel like I can’t make it if I don’t have a shower first, it helps wake me up and I like my skin to feel moisturised and serumed. I would never go running or exercise without putting a product on my face and lips. In the taxi on the way to the gym (I know!) I’ll send any emails off that I have drafted the night before, which makes my exercise class very relaxing because I then know that any expectation I have of Monday morning, a change of plan etc, that someone will be on it and things will be moving. I use Kiehl’s products in the gym, but I’ll always have Byredo Gypsy Water with me, I’m obsessed with this fragrance and get more compliments on it than any other perfume. I only spritz it once in the morning and it will last all the way through until 5pm. I get into the office just before 8am on Monday morning, which is lovely.