Client spotlight: Rhiannon's skin journey at Glooped

Rhiannon came to Glooped with skin that had been making her miserable for a long time. Redness across her cheeks. A constant tightness that got worse in cold weather. Skin that felt like a sponge that had been wrung out. By the end of the day she could almost feel the moisture leaving her face.

She wasn't sure what she needed. She just knew that nothing she'd tried had made it better.

Where we started

The first thing I noticed in Rhiannon's consultation was that her skin barrier was significantly compromised. Her skin was losing water faster than it could hold onto it, a condition called transepidermal water loss, and the redness and sensitivity were a direct result of that. An impaired barrier doesn't just cause dryness; it makes the skin reactive to almost everything, including temperature, wind, and products that would be perfectly fine on healthy skin.

Before any treatment, before any active ingredients, the barrier needed to come first.

We stripped her routine right back to three steps: a gentle cleanser, a barrier-focused moisturiser, and SPF every morning. That's it. Nothing active, nothing stimulating, just the foundation her skin needed to start functioning properly again.

Building from there

Once her skin had stabilised and her barrier was stronger, we introduced azelaic acid — a gentle, well-tolerated ingredient that specifically targets redness and uneven tone without stressing the barrier we'd worked to repair. We also upgraded her moisturiser to one that provided deeper barrier support.

When her skin was genuinely ready — not just surface-calm, but properly resilient — we started a course of microneedling.

Why microneedling for Rhiannon's skin? Microneedling uses fine needles to create tiny, controlled micro-channels in the skin. This triggers the skin's natural wound-healing response, prompting it to produce new collagen and elastin. For Rhiannon, this was the right next step for two reasons: first, collagen production supports skin structure and helps the barrier maintain its integrity long-term. Second, the increased cell turnover and collagen remodelling helps even out redness and improve overall skin tone in a way that topical ingredients alone can't achieve.

We spaced the sessions six weeks apart deliberately, to give her barrier time to remain strong between each one. Three sessions in total.

What changed

The results were, genuinely, remarkable.

The redness faded. The dehydration lines she'd had for years disappeared. Her skin tone became noticeably more even. And for the first time in a long time, her skin had a glow — the kind where light visibly bounces off the high points of her face.

In Rhiannon's own words:

“I Could not believe the improvement after each microneedling session. My skin just kept getting clearer and clearer. The redness gradually faded, the hydration came back, my skin tone became much more even and, most importantly, my skin started to glow again.

For the first time in a long time, I actually feel confident leaving the house without makeup.”

Where she is now

Rhiannon now comes in two to three times a year for maintenance sessions. The goal is to keep the collagen production we've built quietly ticking along so the results don't fade, alongside seasonal skincare check-ins as her skin's needs shift through the year.

Does this sound familiar?

If Rhiannon's experience resonates, the tightness, the redness, the feeling that nothing is working, a skin consultation at Glooped in Brislington, Bristol is the place to start. A proper conversation, a real look at your skin, and an honest plan.

• How many sessions does it take to see results from skin treatment?

  It depends on the concern and the treatment, but most clients notice a visible improvement after their first session and more significant change after a course of three or four. For Rhiannon, each microneedling session built on the last — results weren't instant, they compounded. A realistic timeline is always discussed at the consultation so you know what to expect.

• What happens at a first skin consultation at Glooped?

  A proper conversation before anything else. We talk about what your skin has been doing, what you've tried, what your routine looks like, and what you want to change. Then I look at your skin in good light and tell you honestly what I see.

• How do I know which skin treatment is right for me?

  You don't need to know — that's what the consultation is for. Rhiannon came in with no idea what her skin needed. The assessment told us where to start, what to do next, and when to do it. Most people who come to Glooped are in exactly the same position. That's fine. It's what I'm here for.