Alexandra Soveral: A Day In The Life

Alexandra is the founder of Alexandra Soveral, a range of skincare treatments and products handcrafted in London. Alexandra and her partner and co-founder Jorj conduct meticulous independent research on organic produce, travelling to the origin of most of the ingredients and hand picking herbs used in their oils. With clients in London, New York and LA where she holds pop-up clinics, the Telegraph said that ‘the radiant, rested complexions of her devoted clientele – including beauty editors who could go anywhere for their treatments – provide the best testimonials to the fact that she’s no average facialist.’

Alexandra says:

I like to get up around 6.30 am so that I can fit in all my morning rituals. The first thing I do is to dry brush the soles of my feet with a big brush and then my face and neck with Soveral brushes. I walk to work, about a 20 minute walk through the park. If it’s not raining, I sit in a quiet spot for 5 minutes and do a quick centring meditation by admiring the nature around me taking in 3 long breaths. I get to work around 9am.

My passion for work was sparked by wanting to be creative in something that brought me closer to nature. I had a short career in recruitment for the arts, sales was not for me but it taught me a lot about people and the extremes to go to in order to succeed. To get into this industry you must be very passionate and completely dedicated to your cause. Define what your main objective is and stick with it. I started as a massage therapist and making my own products in my kitchen for quite a few years whilst researching in all my spare time. The best advice I’ve received is that everyone has past issues, some people decide not to allow these issues to define who they are and some do. My role model is made up of lots of bits from those I admire: Oscar Wilde for his clever wit, Churchill for his determination, Kahlil Gibran for his wisdom and my mum for her unconditional love.

Designing scent identities for brands is possibly the most fun part of the job, but I’m very lucky that I like all parts of my job. I divide my time between the clinic and the lab, it’s nice to interact with clients and therapists at the clinic whereas when I’m in the lab I’m very concentrated and can go a whole day without saying a word. Most days I bring my lunch in that I prepared the night before. When I cook dinner I automatically prepare lunch for the next day by steaming extra vegetables, boiling extra quinoa, or cooking an extra chicken breast. If it’s good weather, I take my lunch to the park and sit there for half an hour eating it in a relaxed way. I then walk around the park before returning to work. When I don’t bring in my lunch I often order brown rice sushi or go to a local Italian deli where they do very nice vegetables.

Most days I go straight to the gym after work. I do yoga, pilates, swim, stretch, spin… whatever classes there are going. This helps me detach from the day and have some ‘me’ time. I then go home to cook dinner and debrief on the day with Jorj. I often don’t eat dinner until 9.30pm, for this reason my dinners tend to be light. It would be easy not to do exercise and not to eat well at the end of the day as I’m quite exhausted but by forcing myself to do it I end up sleeping better and gain more energy. At the weekend I like to see friends, go for walks, catch up on reading and see whatever London has to offer, there’s always something interesting going on.

When I was little I wanted to be a perfumier! I also wanted to be an architect and a writer. I’m actually writing a book at the moment but I don’t think I’ll ever be an architect, maybe in my next life!