Health, Beauty and Lifestyle with Denise McNamara

This Saturday is International Women’s Day so no better time to celebrate ‘sisters doing it for themselves’ in the challenging and notoriously competitive world of beauty and self-care.

It’s been a long time since I went to Quay Dental for braces to straighten my lower teeth and to replace a very old sad crown.

My dentist Lisa Creaven went on to found Spotlight Oral Care with her dentist sister Vanessa in 2016 and it’s gone from strength to strength.

Lisa was the first in the family to train as a dentist opening up her practice in Woodquay.  She quickly realised that many of her patients were focused on attaining the perfect smile and was one of the early adopters of the Invisalign invisible braces system in the west.

The glamorous sisters from Corrandulla have brought their brand international, offering an extensive range of oral products, from whitening strips, sonic toothbrushes to a water flosser to help with that extra often forgotten step and LED Teeth Whitening system to whiten at home.

Another sister Alma and brother Paul have now followed in their footsteps opening up another practice, Galway Dental Group, on the Sean Mulvoy Road. An impressive family of entrepreneurs.

If anybody asks me about getting some fairly extensive work done before a wedding or major birthday, I send them to Carmelita Gibbons.

I think because she worked as an oncology nurse in University Hospital Galway (UHG) for so many years, she just exudes empathy and trustworthiness.

Also her own skin is fantastic – something that I always look for before I entrust the largest organ in my body to anybody. She trained in London in aesthetics and worked at the Galway Skincare and Laser Clinic to deliver hyaluronic injectables and dermal fillers for years before taking the leap of opening her own business opposite UHG called Galway Aesthetic Nurse. Again, that experience is crucial if you are going to allow a needle near your face or body.

After a lot of research, she invested €60,000 in the BTL Exilis Ultra 360, which does non-invasive body sculpting, skin tightening and facial rejuvenation through radio frequency. This achieves fantastic results without using any needles.

I’m not the only fan of her work – Carmelita was crowned Nurse Practitioner of the Year at the Aesthetic Excellence Awards in 2024.

Beautician Anna Forde has been running her own business in Tuam since the tender age of 21. When her Beauty Suite salon closed in the Covid pandemic, beautician Anna Forde spent her lockdown investigating how to create a machine that could replicate light therapy at home.

Pictured: Dentist sisters from Corrandulla Lisa and Vanessa Creaven.