The Beauty Blog | Kate Somerville is here to save our skin

I was living in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2006 and distinctly remember when every women’s magazine I picked up seemed to be hailing the new “guru of glow”, otherwise known as Kate Somerville. The Hollywood-based aesthetician had just launched a skincare line based on treatments she had developed for her celebrity clientele and I, like many others, was sold. I can’t remember what products I bought, but there’s just something about sharing the same soap as a celeb that makes it a must-have.

In the years since, other star-worthy brands have come and gone. But Kate Somerville remains synonymous with Hollywood’s most famous faces – Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, Annette Bening, Kate Hudson, to name a few clients. And with the opening of her first counter at Lane Crawford this month (her second launch in Asia after South Korea), Hongkongers finally get to sample some of the magic.

“I certainly did not expect this brand to be global, honestly,” Somerville tells me after a press event at the Four Seasons, part of her whirlwind first visit to Hong Kong. “I’m a healer and an aesthetician, so that came first.”

Somerville, whose childhood struggles with eczema fuelled an interest in skincare, began her career working alongside doctors and plastic surgeons before opening Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts Clinic in 2004. Her first celebrity client? “Michael Jackson,” she recalls, “which was like, ‘whoa’, it was pretty intense.”

After a few years mixing and customising treatments on the spot, Somerville teamed up with chemists to create a hi-tech, results-oriented skincare line. The comprehensive collection now includes everything from acne treatments and anti-wrinkle creams to body lotions and self-tanning towelettes.

Somerville, while noting that everyone has different skin needs, shares a few must-haves for Hong Kong: