The story behind our national award and the client transformation that earned it.
I almost didn’t write this post. Because honestly, standing up on that stage in Melbourne, holding that award and knowing my girls were back in Brisbane without me, I had a lot of feelings at once.
Pride. Gratitude. A little bit of happy-crying if I’m being completely real with you.
In 2026, Chantal Louise Skin Therapy was awarded 3rd Place for Team Effort across all of Australia and New Zealand at the Best in Skin Awards, the most prestigious industry awards, judged by some of the most respected names in the professional skin industry.
I want to tell you the whole story. Because it didn’t start with an award. It started with a client who had tried everything, and a team that refused to let her down.
“When you start a business as a skin therapist, your clients become your babies. Handing that responsibility over to someone else is actually really scary.”
Years ago, I genuinely believed no one would ever care about my clients the way I did. That felt like such a true thing at the time. And now, looking back, I can say with my whole heart, I was completely wrong about that.
My team has proved me wrong in the best possible way, every single day.
The Client Who Changed Everything We Already Believed In
Ebonie came to us in August 2025 with grade 4 cystic acne, one of the most severe classifications there is.
Her face and chest were affected. She’d spent years trying different things. Nothing had worked. Not because her skin was impossible to treat, but because she had never been given a real plan built specifically for her.
At her very first consultation, it was our therapist Claire who first met her and got to know more about her skin. Claire drew a hand diagram of Ebonie’s acne and scarring so she could actually see and understand what was happening beneath the surface. Together they went through every product she was using and assessed the ingredients against the Kligman Comedogenicity Scale, finding things in her current routine that were actively contributing to her breakouts—things she’d never been told about before.
Claire asked about her medications, her sleep, her stress levels, her diet, and her skincare habits going back years. Then, together, they wrote a plan. Not a general plan. A structured treatment journey with a repair phase, a corrective phase, and a maintenance plan, all anchored to one goal written at the top of her notes from day one: clear her skin.
Five Therapists. One Shared Vision.
Over five months, Ebonie was seen by five different therapists across ten treatments.
And here’s the thing, every single one of them knew exactly where she was in her journey, because our notes system meant any therapist could open her file and immediately see her skin goal, her history, her treatment plan, and what had happened at her last appointment.
No starting from scratch.
No mixed messages.
No gap in her care.
A system that has taken us YEARS to perfect!
We rotated through a carefully sequenced peel protocol, targeting inflammation, bacteria and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Every single treatment included LED therapy and hands-on relaxation, because we know stress is one of the triggers we were working against.
When we noticed Ebonie’s chest was also breaking out, we didn’t wait for her to mention it. We added chest peels on the spot. Her home prescription evolved with her skin by adding different active ingredients at different stages that were chosen with intention, and always explained so she understood the why behind every product.
This was just a plan targeting her skin goals, followed consistently by a team who genuinely cared about her outcome.
The Results
Grade 4 Cystic Acne → Completely Cleared. In 5 Months.
Ebonie’s results after 10 treatments over 5 months · CL Skin 2026 · Shared with full consent
Sound Familiar?
If you’ve been trying to fix your skin and nothing has stuck, you’re not the problem. You just haven’t had the right plan built for your skin yet.
Ebonie’s breakouts are completely gone. She’s now continuing her skin journey with us, moving into Dermapen skin needling to treat the remaining scarring. When you clear the active acne, you get to shift focus to refining the skin you’ve uncovered underneath. And that’s exactly where she is now.
Her results are visible and real. And it’s this work that earned our team a national award.
A Note From Chantal
“What makes me most proud isn’t just the skin transformations. It’s watching my team show up every day with genuine care, empathy and passion for our clients.”
I flew down to Melbourne for the awards night solo.
The girls couldn’t make it down, which honestly made me even more emotional walking up to collect that trophy on behalf of all of us. I couldn’t wait to get back to Brisbane and celebrate with them.
This award doesn’t recognise one person. It recognises all the things nobody sees from the outside.
The hours of training. The weekly one-on-ones. The coaching conversations. The late nights looking through reports trying to work out how to better support a team member who’s struggling. The difficult conversations we’ve had to have along the way. The investment in systems and education.
And honestly, the work I’ve had to do on myself to become a better leader. Learning how to let go. Learning how to trust. Learning that if I wanted my team to be their best, I had to focus on becoming my best too.
“Businesses don’t grow because of one person. They grow because of the people inside the business.”
We’re actually in the middle of a clinic expansion right now and about to move into a much bigger space, so receiving a Team Effort award at this exact point in our journey feels incredibly special. To be recognised across the entire industry in Australia and New Zealand, competing against some of the most talented clinics in the region, and to place third! That means everything. It feels like confirmation that we are building something real.
To our clients, thank you for trusting us with your skin and your confidence. We never, ever take that for granted. To my team, this one’s yours just as much as it is mine. Thank you for caring so deeply, for believing in what we’re building, and for always putting our clients first.
And to Ebonie, thank you for letting us be part of your story. We’re just getting started.
READY FOR A REAL SKIN PLAN?
If you’ve tried things before and nothing has worked, you probably haven’t had a plan built specifically for your skin. That’s exactly what we do.