Selina Hornibrook talks about her time as an Australian Diamonds Player, moving countries with a young family and how The Cosmetic Clinic has changed her skincare behaviours.

Hey there, Blue Beauty! Welcome to the Blue Beauty Podcast with the Cosmic Clinic. I'm Carla, your host, and I'm going to be talking to some amazing people all about confidence, beauty, loving the skin you're in, and being the best version of you every day. So, let's get into it. Once again, we're back with the Cosmic Clinic podcast, talking all things beauty, beauty treatments, cosmetic injectables, lazy hair removal, and skin treatments. And today I have such a special treat for you guys today. Today we're talking to Selena. Selena is the chairperson of the Cosmic Clinic New Zealand. She's also one of the owners of her three comedians at now, Selena, three. Three clinics now in New Zealand, and she's also an ex-international makeup baller and a mother of four beautiful little boys. So, Selena, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Carla. It's so nice to actually have a good chat to you because we've sort of crossed paths a lot through what we both do with the Cosmic Clinic. But it's really nice just to get you to myself, to have a bit of a chat and find out all about all things Selena. So, thank you so much for coming and having a chat with us today. Plansharts, probably my least favorite subject to everything about Selena, but I think there's everyone's least favorite subject for themselves. But, hey, people want to know. People want to know. One of the things that I want to know is talk me through, and I'm jumping straight into the past year, talk me through the netball. Because I know, like, netball's such a huge national sport for New Zealand. You know, we love it. I played netball when I was a kid. I coached netball. I coached my little sister's netball team, which was hilarious. Talk to me about how you got into netball and you're sort of, you're a little bit about your history with that. So, growing up in Australia, very similar to here in New Zealand, it was unusual for someone not to play netball. So, back then, I predominantly was doing individual sports when I was younger. So, I was doing surf life saving, ballet, swimming, things like that. And I did not like the one on one attention. I liked the idea of being in a team where it was shared and, you know, just more fun. So, being the main sport that everybody played and my friends played, I asked my parents if I could play netball. So, I probably didn't start till I was 11, which is a bit late for most fanatic netballers and not being in that world, I had no real idea. So, getting down to the netball courts, I was very nervous and I'm sure of how it was all going to go. But, yeah, I mean, I loved it and I've been so lucky over the years to spend so much time, all my life pretty much revolved around netball for the first 20 years or so, more nearly 30 years of my life, especially the last 10 of those, playing at an elite level. But, yeah, I was so lucky to do what I absolutely loved for so many years. Amazing. And so, and you actually, so tell me about the late year because you did go up, you're in the diamonds, weren't you? Yeah, so I, you know, started like everyone else, it's Saturday club netball and I guess everyone thinks, "Oh, so how did it all happen?" But for me, it just, it's very normal and, you know, I made repside, and then I made state sides and I just loved it. So, I just kept playing. I did have some setbacks along the way. I think when I was in my late teens, I got, I wasn't selected in a couple of the state teams and just because I was pretty relaxed about it all and I still loved playing it and a lot of my girlfriends played. I kept playing and then sure enough was lucky enough to get selected in, I think it was the under 21s, was my next state team, I had under 19s and 21s and that kind of just snowballed into getting selected for the sweeps, which are now called the New South Wales sweeps, playing for them for many, many years. And like I said, it just snowballed. Then of course, then I got an opportunity to be in the Australian squad that eventually, I became an Australian player in a diamond. So, wow, that's so far. I think I appreciated a lot more and a lot more of what I've done now that I'm older, but at the time, it just seemed to be the next thing that would happen naturally. So, and I mean, obviously, that's, that's, that's so cool. That's what, one amazing story. I mean, yeah, we're, Nickball is something that we all grew up with, you know, a New Zealand and it's, it's something that, you know, getting out about, getting out and being exercising and being with your team mates and that whole camaraderie and everything like that, and you talk about loving the thing about their team. Is that something that's sort of carried through into your sort of, you know, your, your corporate life, your work life, that sort of thing like working on a team that sort of mentality? We've added out. Being from a very team environment being in netball, I think anyone that works anywhere is normally around some other people and despite what your work is, it's the people around you that really make your day either enjoyable or not enjoyable. So, it was really important both throughout the Swiss and also the new, and the Australian team was team culture and that was making sure that everybody was on the same page. Everyone was pulling their own weight and the expectation was as soon as you came into that team that you adopted those values and expectations and it's something that I definitely wanted to bring into the cosmetic clinic. Working previously in corporate life, I found it a little bit more difficult because I wasn't necessarily in charge and therefore I was following certain cultures, but coming into the cosmetic clinic, Tim and I definitely wanted to build that great team environment that we knew that we could rely on each other. Yeah, yeah, and I love, I love that. One of the things I love the most about being in the clinics is the team environment. You know, it's so, very, very quickly, your technicians become your friends. You know, they become the people that you talk to, like a little bit like a hairdresser. So, that kind of really leads me into asking you how you ended up with the cosmetic clinic in New Zealand. So, my husband, Tim and myself, we were looking into, we both worked in larger corporate organisations and we were looking for a change to open our own business. I was very scared at the prospect of that. I knew small businesses failed. I knew they were very difficult and that was my kind of high level view of them, not really understanding it, but I guess the way we looked at it was we could control more of our life, spend more of our time with our kids and kind of dictate when we did and didn't work, rather than having it dictated to us. So, back to Australia, we were looking to get into some kind of business and weren't sure. And one thing through friends, through contacts, led us to the beauty industry, which was something that Tim and I had absolutely no background in. My routine was to wash my face with some water in the morning and put on a basic, you know, supermarket bought moisturizer and that was about it. And then a lot of us are guilty of that, you know, a lot of us are guilty of, you know, having such simple skin routines, you just, it's something you don't really think about until you start getting older and you start looking in the mirror and going, "Uh-oh, what happened here?" I mean, so you hadn't been in the industry at all either of your pets. No, we hadn't had any background in the industry, but Tim's background is business. And as for myself, I was in IT. So, we were looking at Australia initially for a franchise and it was quite saturated the market over there, so it was quite difficult to get into. We couldn't really find somewhere that we wanted and had the opportunity to come over to New Zealand. So, Tim did a whole lot of research, thought it was a great opportunity and then had to try and convince me to move the family over. And they must have been, they must have been a challenge because I mean, you've got four children, which is incredible, well done, joined the club. I two have four children and know how challenging that can be especially moving them. I moved mine from one end of the country to the other end of the country and that in itself, you know, even away from, you know, the grandparents and everything deep down in the deep south to the top of the north, you know, even in New Zealand. It's actually almost cheaper to go to go back, you know, go to Sydney than it is to go to the Chicago. Or just a little way to secret there. I'm kind of happy. Don't hold that against me, folks. But, you know, I know what you're saying, like just that whole, like it's a massive move. It's a huge decision. Well, how did you make that? Like what made it easier? How did that finally sort of cement for you that it was the right thing to do? So, after speaking, obviously the cosmetic clinic has come from Australian skin clinics over in Australia. We've got franchise over. So, going and actually meeting at their head office, learning all about the company, learning how they have a great training environment, their big focuses on training, they have their own department there, and seeing how the business structure, the protocols and everything was already set up. To me, it was not starting a new business. It was starting a business where someone had already made all the mistakes had refined it to a point that certainly it needed changes. changed it over time ourselves, but we were starting at a very high level. So that gave me, I guess, satisfied my worry about whether or not it was going to work. But then my next big thing was how was I going to cope without having my family nearby? And I'm very close to my family, my brothers and my parents. Yeah, I always lived in close proximity to each other. I guess I looked at it as an opportunity to try something new. The fact that Auckland is three hours flight from Sydney and therefore a lot easier to get back and forth, it wasn't like we were going to the UK. And also the fact that New Zealand was what I thought was very similar to Australia, outdoor lifestyle, very natural in its environment. And I thought a good place to bring out the kids. Yeah, I mean, and it is and especially like Auckland, you know, you're choosing the right place because you know, the weather is very similar to say, "It's possibly not New South Wales, but more like a year and say it is not." It's not nearly as warm. I've arrived in 2016 right in the middle of winter. And probably, I don't know if it's because I had to privatise, but probably the worst winter we've had since we arrived. I thought it was the coldest wetest place on the planet. And I was thinking, "What have we done?" Oh man, you need to go to Invercago because this is the I moved up here and I was like, "Wow, it's tropical. It's so warm all the time. Look at them literally in a singlet right now." But yeah, I mean, Invercago was crazy cold. So for me, this and I mean, I've got family in Sydney and love going to Sydney and love the weather in Australia. I mean, obviously New Zealand will always be high. But I mean, you're right, Australia. The culture that's very similar, the outdoors, the barbecues, the, you know, the beach life, my two, my two youngest boys are surf lifesavers, you know, fully qualified. They live on the beach. It's such, it is like we are like little brothers really, New Zealand and Australia. So I guess in a way that was probably made it sort of a little bit easier to see it wasn't like coming from the UK or you know halfway around the world. Same language, same, I think similar values between Australia and New Zealand. The transition coming over here was so simple. Being in Australia and coming to New Zealand and obviously vice-versa, everything was just easy. One, I couldn't believe when you'd call up a government department, someone would answer the phone that never happens in Australia. So everything set up was just very easy from that perspective. The kids, I had two kids in school and two little ones home with me and the two that went into school loved it from the start. Made friends very quickly. I was predominantly at home because I had the two little ones and wasn't even trying to make friends at that stage, was just trying to survive looking after four kids at home by myself, no family support, but very quickly and very easily made friends through school and so forth. And I guess my expectation of it'll be okay, it'll be fine, you know, it's not far from Australia and my passion was already always very much being an Australian and thought we lived in the best country in the world. But coming to New Zealand, I must say, it succeeded my expectations beyond what I could have thought. Just the relaxed atmosphere over here, the friendliness, I don't know if it's a smaller population or what it is, but it's certainly a lovely, lovely place to live. Yeah, I have my own theories, I have my own theories on that. Like I think like New Zealand, we're very young countries. I'm so similar to Australia, very young country and I think a lot of the people who came to New Zealand, they had to bend together because it was so far away from, you know, where a lot of people come from Europe. So far away it was full of people who wanted to make a better life, but they realized they're going to have to carve it out of something that was pretty wild, you know, it's still very wild here. So I feel like it's that whole camaraderie is still hanging on from those early times where you had to work together, you had to know your neighbours, you had to try and pull together, you know, and the weather and it got cold, you'd have to huddle, you know who, and I guess that sort of then has carried through an accultur a lot. And I see it a lot in the teams that you guys have put together and how important it is, you know, for everybody to get along in the in the clinics because you're, you know, you're working in an environment where training is really important, where the treatments some are quite technical. And so everybody kind of has to work together and you're working with people who have, you know, you kind of got their hope in their hands, you know, you're changing lives really, you know, with some of these treatments. So having the support of a really strong healthy team who are really close is really important, I think, in this industry. Yeah, I agree. I mean, that brings me, we've spoken about this before, but just the idea of the beauty industry, I must say, when I first got into it, not knowing a lot about it, I had my reservations as to, is this really something that we want to get into? You know, I'm very, try to be very natural, very wholesome in my lifestyle and what we eat and what we use and so forth. So the thought of coming into the beauty industry from the outside looks very superficial, looks very much like your Kardashians, your big lips, your perfection that we all sort of correct, I pretend to strive for. And even the over perfection of what people strive for, I guess, you see the extremes in the media and you think that's what the beauty industry is, that after spending time in it and, you know, hearing stories coming out of the clinic that just wore my heart in regards to people and their change in their appearance, which changes their confidence and basically changes their life. It's this flow and effective feeling great about yourself, not because you look like some ridiculous person or, you know, it's more just feeling great with yourself. And I know for myself coming over here and having four children, by the time I got to my fourth, I was certainly, my body was certainly starting to scream out for some love, I guess. I've ever really had anything other than, as I said, very much slapstick whatever went, went. And coming over here and seeing what the beauty industry can do for you and the basic stuff that just makes you, as you feel fresher, feel more confident about yourself, you don't look any different, but people will say, "Wow, have you been in holidays or have you done something?" You just look so relaxed and so healthy. And the type of thing we're looking for. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's that, because I was very, very similar to you. And I've talked about this on the podcast before, like I was a complete hippie where I had washed my hair for two years. I get it cut once every three years kind of thing. And my skin care routine was, you know, rose oil, natural rose oil. I didn't even use cleansers. I didn't use toners. I had, you know, nothing like that at all. It was just, it was just very, very natural. And yeah, as you say, same sort of thing. Hit the poor kids, getting older, life starts to get busy. And then I started working, was the cosmetic clinic. And my first micro general gradian, my first team step, I came out of the clinic and I couldn't, I had to pull over on the side of the road and look at myself in the mirror, really in the car, literally in the car, looking myself in the mirror, just going, "Wow, you know, that's incredible." My skin feels incredible. And it was just, I couldn't stop touching it. It was like, stop touching it. You're putting bad things back on it. But it was like, "Oh, it's so smooth." And it's, I didn't realise how such simple, simple, but very, very medical based media-spectac treatments could actually just make such a difference. I totally agree. I find I was very skeptical, thought that, you know, you go into these stores and they do the treatment, then they're trying to push the products on you. And, you know, is it any different from what you get in the supermarket? It's just a, you know, a lot more expensive than a basic supermarket product. But I start using them until you start trying some of the treatments that we have. It's blown, like you, blown my mind of how my skin is 10 years better than it was, you know, before I started the, I do use the products regularly. And I have the treatments here and there. I don't have them every single month. I'd like to give my face a bit of a rest sometimes, but I just find the quality of my skin is amazing. Things like our Cosmoland treatment, our anti-wrinkle. I hate to say it. That's something that I never thought I'd do and I tried it and I don't know how I would ever not do it. That's so, I'm so glad that you're honest about that because of anything. I think we all sort of feel a little bit like, I mean, I love the whole aging. Like I turned 47 last week, where's my half ago? And you know, my youngest is 15, my oldest is 23. And I sometimes I look at them and I just think, where did that time go? Because I still feel, I still feel 25, you know, I mean, and I still act 25, 35, but I see what you mean. You don't feel like you are. Yeah, I don't feel. And when I look in the mirror, sometimes I, you know, if I, if I haven't slept or something like that, I look in the mirror and I think, who is it? You know, it's about, I think for me, it's about recognizing. It's not about, oh my god, I look gorgeous or I look fantastic or anything. It's just like recognizing me, the real me. And when, you know, when I'm getting sleep and I'm drinking lots of water and I've had a treatment, you know, in the last month or two and it does it last like, you know, they're just that the freshness lasts for quite a while. Yeah. Because I don't have, I don't rush into the clinic every other week, you know, that sort of thing. But I think, you know, those, just, even those regular microgem abrasions, like maybe once every two or three months, it just frissions my skin like nothing else, like, you know, it's like a set for a week. Yeah. Well, I think the two of us, I mean, obviously eight's fishy for me. Aging is one thing because I'm getting older. But I look at young people and this is something I love as well. The thought of kids going through acne, you know, young kids going through acne, being very confident, getting hit by a face load of acne and changing their whole confidence, their ability to communicate with people. It's very, obviously your face is very visual. The first thing someone sees when they come up to you is your face. And to be able to manage that and I think the girls do a great job of being able to set plans in place. So that when you do have an issue with your skin, whether it be acne, whether it be scar, whatever it might be, they can get you to the stage that you feel confident. And then it's a maintenance thing. It's a, okay, now I know I need to look after my skin and how I look after my skin. It puts you on that track to continue looking after it as you get older so that you don't get to the stage that, you know, you've never done anything and then all of a sudden your face, you know, is to hide my sunglasses when I first got here because I couldn't bear to look at my eyes. It's unfair for aging broses. But I mean, you're right. It's the, you know, the, and if you keep, when you're once, when you're young and if you start this journey early and you learn all the tools, because one of the things I love about, about the technicians who I go and see is that they educate me every time I'm there, they're talking to me about it, you know. I mean, obviously I had the observed 520, the deep skin analysis, which was quite a slightly scary, but also amazing to understand what was going on with my presentation particularly and, you know, where the oils were and where I was dry. That was amazing, but also just the education talking to me about what was happening in my skin. And I think for particularly younger people starting out perhaps they start with an acne journey, you know. But then they're just getting at education right the way through their lives, that they understand that as they change and as they grow and as hormones come and fluctuate, there are things that they can do and it's not what I also love about the treatments around, you know, acne and particularly oil skin and it's a problematic skin is that it doesn't have to include medication. Like I love that you don't have to be pumping yourself full of something or taking drugs and each of your skin can still heal through these amazing treatments that are, you know, non-invasive, most pretty much. You know, and it's just that's such, it's for me it's such a good thing because I don't like putting too much chemicals in my body so that's amazing. No, I'm the same and I mean I've got four young boys and I guess most people would think the last thing I'd be doing is getting my kids into the cosmetic clinic to have anything done. Being boys as opposed to girls, there's a very, I guess, cultural thing that we see women are the only ones that go into the cosmetic clinic but thankfully nowadays that's changing. But for my boys I just think it's imperative for them to know like I get them to look after their body, they exercise, they eat well, I would also like them to learn about their skin and as they're growing and they're changing to understand how to manage that and understand how to look after their skin so as they get older they age well. Absolutely. At their young age they probably don't care because they look, you know, beautiful but I know as they go through that pivity stage that's something that they will appreciate that their skin can be under control. Oh, totally. I mean I've got two that have already been through it and two that are going through it and I know certainly my youngest Felix who is beautifully gender fluid, he has got my oily tea zone, yay, yay, genetics and he's at the moment, you know, we're at home and he's literally standing, looking at the mirror and the spots on his chin and he is just breaking out, you know, and he's already saying, how old do I have to be before I can go and get the treatments that you get at TCC? And how, when can I and Bill, so this is an interesting subject for me that, you know, and I don't know if an author is having to deal with this out there but one of the things that he's already asking me is how soon can I get laser hair removal on my upper lip, you know, being gender fluid. So there are so many different levels these days of taking care of yourself and it's not about for Felix particularly, it's about being the best version of himself. What we're focused on is, you know, meeting people's expectations, trying to get them to be where they want to be, but that's not the thing about just being happy with yourself. We're not trying to change you. We've got, like if I look at our cosmetic nurses, they just amazing jobs with both your filler and your anti-wrinkle, just to be able to freshen up your face, not to change you into something else, but just to make you look at yourself in the mirror and think, wow, I'm looking, you know, the best that I can be. Yeah, I look like the me that I see in my mind, you know, I look like the me that I want to see in the morning, you know. And I think that is one of the coolest things about it. Do you have, have you had like a, is there a favourite treatment that you've had so far, that you really want to change your way? Cosmolane, the Cosmolane treatment I had kind of blew my mind. My skin literally was taken back 20 years after having that. Obviously, it's predominantly used for pigmentation, which I had pigmentation issues, just general, I guess, hormonal kind of pigmentation. And just not only the pigmentation that was, that was removed because of it, but just the quality of my skin after having the Cosmolane, the quality of my skin for months and months after as part of the plan was just amazing. So it's been over a year since I've had that. And I think some of our other treatments, the Ageless Peel, is probably one of my favourites, I think. Yeah, I'd like to get myself one of those. I'll model after that. And it's quite a luxurious treatment. I feel some of the others, you know, micro-needling, which is fantastic, can be a little bit uncomfortable to say the least, depending on what kind of treatment you have. Whereas the Ageless Peel is, as I said, a bit luxurious. You're lying back enjoying it and come out of it with the most phenomenal skin. I think you just hit the nail on the head there, which is something that, you know, I talked, you know, people who know that I do some work for still Cosmolane Clinic and that, like, does it look Cosmolane Clinic? Trying it, is it like, oh, is it like a, you know, if they haven't had it before? Is it like a spa? Is it a facial? Is it just, you know, or is it, you know, particularly when you talk about micro-needling and they're like, oh, that sounds really scary and stuff. And I guess the whole thing is, it's more, it's so much more beneficial. Everything you guys do. It's media-sceptic. It is cosmetic medicine. The treatments have, you know, super-highly trained technicians leading edge technology. And it's doing something. It's not just a nice, oh, this is nice. It feels lovely. It does feel lovely. I even love the 10-step micro-demo-brations. Like, I love the feeling. I think people are like, do they, what actually is it? And what it is, it's sort of taking a spa idea and turning it into something medical. You know, add some, and then, as I said before, that was the journey of the business that we joined into. I think they started and they did nails and they did eyebrows and they did a very, very wide range of treatments. And they worked out, well, let's actually narrow it down and work out what really works and really works well. And people can see the results of them. And use, as you said, great technology that we have in place. And when we picked up the business and brought it over here, I mean, there was numerous reasons for it. But one of the big advantages we could see is that at the time over here in New Zealand, these were astronomically expensive. If you weren't wealthy, you weren't getting treated. Because laser hair removal was, as I said, exorbitant in pricing compared to what we had in Australia. And by bringing the business over here, we were able to drop that pricing because our focus was that, well, this should be available to everybody. Laser hair removal is cheaper than getting, you know, waxing or shaving for the rest of your life. And if anyone's tried it, you would never, ever not do it. Oh, yeah. And the idea of the business ethic grew was to refine these treatments down to what really works, really works well so that when we have clients come in, they can see their results. They're not just thinking, oh, well, that was a bit of a, you know, it was a nice day out, but that was it. So like you said, we narrowed it down to the treatments we thought worked well for the time. So it wasn't a come in spend a day in here. It was, I need to get this done. I come in and get it done. Or if it's a, as a set of more luxurious treatment, like an atrial spill or a microdome vibration, you're there for a longer, your skin's getting that really good treatment. And we're still built on it. We're always looking for new technology that we can put in place because we want it to be a place people come and get results. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, and the laser hair removal, I mean, I mean, it was something that I'd never thought of before, either, either, either, either as you said, if you guys arrived here. Yeah, good old razor. What was wrong with that? obviously now. you know, plastics, single use things, I try and limit that as much as possible. And when I had my first laser hair, I only had three treatments. I was so lucky and it reduced the hair growth so much that I barely even think about it anymore. You know, it's just amazing. It depends on what you want. Some people do not want hair and they go through that full cycle of whatever is required to get rid of it, whether it be 6, 10, 12 treatments. And I'm like you, there was like my arms. I had particularly hairy arms for a female. And I just didn't like it. I used to always be a bit self-conscious of it. I only had a few treatments, but it was enough to thin them out. So I like having hair on my arms, but I just didn't want it as dark. So I think that's also good. You can mix and match and work out what's best for you. Yeah, and I think that's what the technicians help with as well. Like, you know, they were, you know, you can go in with all these grand schemes of I'm going to look, you know, 20s younger, furry, grimy, grimy, grimy, grimy. I'm going to be completely helous and look like I could, you know, but realistically, realistically what it is is just simply looking just being you and looking the best, the best that you can possibly be loving how you look and stay. So I go, I wish I could do this or I wish I could change that. And I think that is one of the things that I've learned a lot with the cosmetic clinic is is actually really appreciating appreciating my skin particularly, you know, and the genes that I have. Obviously, you know, I've always used to hate having dark hair because I had dark hair, arms and dark hair, legs and all that sort of stuff. But that's, you know, appreciating that that's actually in terms of lazy removal. That's a reasonably good thing and I'm, you know, you know, getting through it perfectly well. But I think the other thing is, you know, that you're talking about pigmentation. I had sang with with my four children because three of them are boys and that. Malay's mother, the, you know, formal pigmentation just each each pregnancy got worse and worse and since starting with the cosmetic clinic on a little bit of a journey and I used the brightening pack. Balance, I it's just less and less and less and less, you know, which is and it's it's just and it doesn't take much time and it's not even expensive, you know, like I mean we're sitting here to think about about, you know, the supermarket, you know, some of the supermarket brands and things like that. When you think about it, you know, balance is actually not expensive. It's actually affordable. Really good. Cosmic Utical skin care. Because of the quality of the product as well, you don't have to put a ton of it on. Yeah, the difference in yes, it might be a little bit more expensive, but you're using pea size of at a time. So, you know, yeah, but the quality of it and as I said, the, the difference in your skin quality. It's amazing. Really, really is. Hey, Selena, I could talk to you for hours, but I am very aware of time and that we're both sitting here with all these kids running around and they're like, creep might have creep in around the background. They let's was running this thing before and I'm glaring at it. So thank you so much for taking time out of your busy, super busy life. I'm to chat with us here on the Blue Beauty podcast and yeah, thank you so much. Later, thank you and keep safe everybody. Yeah, thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon, Selena cheers. Bye.