Take me to a salon for a pampering sesh and I am likely to make a beeline for the pedicure station. I am convinced that clean, soft feet and pretty nails are the solution to all the world’s problems. My point is, you would have to be very convincing, and perhaps resort to a powerpoint presentation to get me to try out a facial. Maybe it’s just that I don’t like people touching my face.
When Dr Jamuna Pai’s team reached out, asking me to try out the red carpet facial at SkinLab, I had put my skin through a month full of weddings, alcohol and generous time at the beach soaking up some sun, so it sounded like just the thing I needed. I wasn’t expecting much – remember my reservations with facials? – but I was surprised. And that’s putting it mildly. I was taken aback, slack-jawed. That’s more fitting. Maybe because I always wonder if you can really see a difference after a facial. Or is that glow from just cleaning your face. Or, quite possibly, a placebo effect?
It’s none of those when you try out the red carpet facial. In theory, this treatment reads much like any other facial. Cleansing, exfoliating and hydrating. But when Rekha, my facial expert got down to it, it was nothing like a facial I have experienced ever before.
The Red Carpet Facial
The facial starts with a cleansing off the face and then two kinds of exfoliating methods are used-physical and chemical. The physical exfoliator involves the use of an ultrasonic scraper -it’s gathered quite the reputation online and has fast become a favourite with Tik Tokers for it’s gunk-busting capabilities. It’s popularly known as a skin spatula. It extracts the grime and dead skin right off. The chemical exfoliator in this red carpet facial is a mild fruit-based peel to dissolve dead skin cells. Expect a slight tingling sensation with this, Rekha warned me, and then checked in with me regularly, something I really appreciated. I have had facials before where the therapist has abandoned the room while the product does its job, which had me scrambling off the bed in a hurry and washing my face off as the tingling went on for slightly longer than expected or warranted.
This is then followed by infusing a specialised serum in the skin by creating microchannels on the skin’s surface. They use the derma needling process for this. This can prick slightly and Rekha told me that would happen so I was prepared. This step is important for collagen remodelling that firms up the skin. This was followed by the spraying of a toner which, despite generous warnings by Rekha, I couldn’t full fathom the impact of. This hits your skin like a thousand needles and I practically screamed. I mean, I did yelp in pain. Thankfully, rather quickly, Rekha applied ice to my skin and never was I so thankful for frozen water. To further lock in the benefits of the serum, hyaluronic acid is infused on the skin.
This is followed by a therapeutic massage during which, exhausted by the day’s events and intense weekend, I fell into a deep slumber. It was relaxing, of course, but it also helps manipulate the products into the skin by using different massage movements. One of the keys benefits includes an immediate increase in blood and oxygen flow, which in the long term increases collagen production, and has you glowing, ready for the red carpet.
The red carpet facial ends with a luxury mask which has peptide, gold and silver extracts. It leaves your skin dewy and hydrated. Now, immediately after I walked out, I had many feelings about it, and I wondered if my skin would look different.
And two days later, I had my answer. My skin glowed. I am talking healthy, dewy, radiant glow. The kind that has everyone asking what you’ve done to your skin or if you’ve changed your diet or how many glasses of water you’ve had. The kind that has people fawning.
The red carpet facial is something I recommend if you have a big event where all eyes are going to be on you, or you know, when you WANT all eyes on you. Give it a couple of days to really show up. Am I a facial convert? That would be a bit of a stretch. Do I recommend the red carpet facial at Dr Jamuna Pai’s clinic Skinlab? That’s a resounding yes.
If you want to read about Faberge and their Game Of Thrones collection, I wrote about it here.
