Sweet smell of success

`I wish we could take the word beauty out of therapy. What I do has nothing to do with false eye lashes and make-up." Cork woman Noella Gabriel looks temporarily and uncharacteristically unhappy, and you can see her point. She is director of treatment development for one of the world's most prestigious aromatherapy ranges, Elemis; she has created treatments and salons for over 120 luxury cruiseliners, and installed a salon in the world's only seven-star hotel, the Burj al Arab in Dubai. Yet what she does is still called beauty treatment, despite Noella's insistence that aromatherapy is more about what happens inside than out.

"It's not about beauty, it's about the ability we have to combat stress or fatigue with our own hands," says Gabriel, who still practises daily herself, on a client list which includes some of the world's most famous celebrities. "I never stop working with people because I always say you're only as good as the last treatment you've given. It's such a hands-on thing; some people do stop doing therapy themselves, but then they're preaching something they're not practising and that's their downfall. You have a duty to cultivate your touch, like a piano."

For the most part though, Noella's job consists of creating, testing and refining the treatments available at Elemis salons worldwide as well as the popular range of over-the-counter products, from her laboratory just off Bond Street in London.

Originally, she trained in beauty therapy in a private college near her home town of Bandon, then took off for New York in the early 1980s, just as aromatherapy was becoming widely practised. She took a two-year course there and found a discipline she has had a passion for ever since. "I wouldn't go into traditional skincare. I would have felt smothered." Still, she did do a stint as the manager of the beauty department in the prestigious London department store, Harvey Nichols, right in the middle of those Absolutely Fabulous late 1980s. "I suffered from shell shock; all those drama queens," she smiles. "There was very little comprehension of the idea of holistic beauty; the idea that it should come from the inside out."

She was taken out of the world of beauty counters and asked to take on her present role with Elemis some 11 years ago and she has never looked back. During her time there, she has looked after the growth of the brand into a worldwide name in holistic aromatherapy and is particularly proud of the company's extension into cruise ships.

She still trains staff for the onboard salons, and says "I would train an Irish girl over any other race. It's all in the personality - they usually have an innate respect and spirituality. Hospitality comes naturally to us." The rest of Gabriel's rather enviable job involves travelling the world to find new therapies and remedies which she introduces into the Elemis range. "I might go to Bali or Thailand and have a treatment and think `can I bring that ritual home?' Some of the Chinese hands-on pressure treatments are quite incredible."

Still, she is careful to respect the traditions of the places where she picks up her secrets: "I don't think you can perform therapy without reverence and respect."

All of the Elemis products and treatments are aromatherapy-based, and Noella works with an extensive range of essential oils when formulating her products. "There are hundreds of oils out there but you can be very effective with 30 or 40. Some oils have become collectors items and people become very precious with them, but really they're not ours to be precious with. They're there to have fun with."

Gabriel, who recommends working aromatherapy into your own life in whichever way suits you, be it an aromatic bath, an oil burner or massage, has seen the benefits of the therapy at first hand. She has always massaged her own small baby and says rather wonderingly that she never whines and always sleeps right through the night; miracles indeed.

Then there is her medical support work; in between the sessions with celebrities and beauty editors, Gabriel always makes time for the people referred to her by specialist doctors, with extreme psoriasis or other skin conditions. "I hate to use the word, but it's very rewarding."

Essentially though, the biggest advertisement for the benefits of aromatherapy is Noella herself, who is quite the calmest person you will ever meet. "I never designed my career; but I have no difficulty with change even if it has its price. But there hasn't been one day that I haven't woken up and been happy with what I do."

Elemis products are exclusively available in Blue Eriu, South William Street, Dublin 2 (tel: 01- 6725776).