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Where art and science unite

Euchlora Skin Care Studio

h e a lt h & w e l l n e s s | b y l o r i f e r g u s o n

Euchlora skin care studio sits just off a meandering dirt road in the bucolic countryside of Canterbury, New Hampshire. Turn into the driveway, and you are greeted by an array of seasonal flowers, interspersed with an herb or two. Walk

through the door and up the stairs, and your shoulders begin to drop a bit, as whatever tension you may have harbored is released to the soft music and gentle aromatherapy fragrances wafting down from above. The overwhelming feeling is one of quietude. Already it’s clear—this is not your big-box skin care experience. This is a peaceful haven for those seeking guidance in the art (and science) of caring for the face.

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”—Leonardo da Vinci

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This page, clockwise from top left: The Euchlora waiting room overlooking gardens. The extended counter for makeup lessons in natural light. Euchlora’s Colour Banke Cosmetics samples are custom blended and custom filled. Euchlora’s indoor winter garden. Facials are performed in this ergonomic bed, and products are custom blended from the apothecary in the background. Jane Balshaw. Opposite: Sip artisanal teas while relaxing at Euchlora.

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Euchlora is the creation of Jane Balshaw, an artist and master aesthetician with nearly four decades of experience in the field. “I’m a grandmother in the industry,” Balshaw concedes with a smile. “I’ve been working in this field since I was in col-lege and started concocting things in my kitchen blender.” Alarmed by the number and types of chemicals that dominate many over-the-counter skin care products, Balshaw educated herself by reading all of the Consumer Action Coalition’s books on cosmetics and skin care products, and then began formulating her own. She has never looked back.

Creativit y in aCtionOver the years, Balshaw has owned and operated a number of successful skin care businesses. She founded the Dom Ivana spa and skin remedy center, for which she developed a line of professional and retail skin care products; developed the Triadic Color Theory System, the basis for her customized makeup and art; and served as the exclusive product supplier and spa consultant to Napa Valley’s renowned five-star Relais & Chateaux property, Auberge du Soleil.

“Caring for the face re-quires a combination of art and science,” Balshaw explains. “My goal is to coax your skin into being the best that it can be by reading the signals that it sends out. All my makeup and skin care products are holistic—they’re for-mulated to work with the functions of your skin, rather than against them.”

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After many years in the skin care business, Balshaw decided to sell her company and the rights to her product line and focus her attention on the flip side of her creativity through her work as a textile artist. She enjoyed great success in this arena as well—her stun-ning creations can be seen in homes and corporate settings throughout New England. After a while, however, Balshaw discovered that she missed the discipline and daily practice of helping people and solving problems. “I realized that I had all these skills that I wasn’t using and that there were aspects of aesthetics that I still wanted to explore,” Balshaw explains, “so I returned to skin care.”

Working With the SkinBalshaw’s goal in setting up her latest studio was to create a warm, assuring environment where compassion and understanding are the watchwords, and clients feel relaxed, welcome, and secure. “There’s no such thing as perfect skin,” Balshaw asserts. “We’ve all been there—it’s just a matter of finding the tricks to deal with our own issues,” she adds with a knowing smile.

As with all her past product lines, the hallmarks of the Euchlora line of skin care products and cosmetics are active botanicals, vitamins, and natural der-maceutical compounds. All of Balshaw’s formulations are created by hand and tested by Balshaw herself. “Caring for the face requires a combination of art and science,” Balshaw explains. “My goal is to coax your skin into being the best that it can be by reading the signals that it sends out. All my makeup and skin care products are holistic—they’re formulated to work with the functions of your skin, rather than against them.” Balshaw formulates her products with active ingredients, and she is constantly evaluating the best way to get them into the skin. “It’s a balancing act,” Balshaw notes. “We’re not trying to obliterate the skin’s natural functions, such as oil and moisture production, but rather encour-age them to act the way we want them to. The goal is to work with the skin, rather than against it,” she stresses.

enhanCing natural Beaut yBalshaw’s approach to makeup is simi-larly collaborative. Although she has extensive experience in makeup artistry

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for film and the stage, her goal at Eu-chlora is to work with a client’s coloring to enhance natural beauty rather than cover it up, and then to teach the client the techniques required to duplicate the effects at home. Like her skin care products, all of Balshaw’s Color Banke cosmetics are customized for clients and unite her intimate knowledge of color with her understanding of fundamental aesthetic principles. “Great makeup en-hances the good work you do to achieve healthy skin,” Balshaw asserts.

“There are different levels of skin care,” she says. “Drugstore products are really diluted so that they can be used by a large number of people without causing too many problems.” We’ve all seen the descriptions of skin types reduced to the trio of dry, oily, or combination. But in re-ality, Balshaw explains, each person’s skin is unique and influenced by a number of factors including climate, diet, stress level, and more. “Skin care is a therapeutic process,” Balshaw says, “and you can’t produce change in just one session.” The best way to care for your skin and look your best, she says, is to work with an aesthetician who has the knowledge and experience to customize your cosmetic and skin care regimen. “Your skin is a natural canvas,” Balshaw concludes. “Honor it and turn it into a healthy work of art.” V

Euchlora12 Cogswell Hill RoadCanterbury, NH(603) 708-1083jbalshaw@comcast.netwww.euchlora.com

“Your skin is a natural can-vas,” Balshaw concludes. “Honor it and turn it into a healthy work of art.”

Balshaw recently opened a second Euchlora location in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the Shapley Townhouse at Strawbery Banke. Information on her products, services, and studios may be found on her website. Balshaw also shares a host of information on her blog, janebalshaw.com.