Celebrity skin pro Candace Marino leaves her clients looking #radiantAF, so it’s no surprise why Kourtney Kardashian, Miranda Kerr, Chloe Grace Moretz and more A-listers are flocking to her for facials.
The Los Angeles-based aesthetician offers some amazing treatments (think oxygen domes to help with calming the skin, Casmara gold masks to reduce puffiness, CooLifting to plump fine and deep lines and give you a visual lift, dermaplaning to gently remove dead skin and unwanted peach fuzz leaving you with a glowy complexion,) but Marino believes it’s her unique technique that keeps her regular clients coming back for more.
“It’s all about how I use my hands,” she spills. “There are so many fabulous products on the market that make the skin glow topically, but what I’ve found in my 14 years as a facialist is that a good face and neck massage is the key to bringing life to the face. … When you reduce pain and stress from the neck and shoulders, it literally wakes up the face. … By manipulating the tissue we oxygenate the blood and increase circulation, which makes the skin appear lit from within,” the skin guru adds.
While Marino says the majority of her clientele comes to her because they have good skin and want to keep it looking healthy and young, she also reveals that having “good skin” doesn’t mean you never suffer from the occasional breakout.
“Almost everyone has some degree of congested pores. I like to stress to my clients that good skin has spots, lines and black heads. It’s skin, not plastic,” she dishes. “So many people think because they have one pimple that they have acne and if they have one sun spot that it’s melasma. I like to keep things in check with my clients because we’re all a bit too hard on ourselves.”
If you do visit Marino with a specific skincare concern, every treatment starts with a consultation to figure out the various factors contributing to your issue. “A lot goes into it when we’re treating these conditions because it’s not just the skincare they’re using that impacts the skin, a lot of times it’s much deeper than that and is impacted by internal or external factors. … I offer several types of chemical peels to treat more chronic conditions like melasma, acne and acne scarring on a case by case basis,” she explains.
In between coming in for an appointment every 4 to 6 weeks, the facialist says taking care of your skin on your own is vital for maintaining a glow. “I tell my clients that getting facials and not doing their daily and nightly routine is the same as working out daily and then eating fast food,” she dishes.
Some of her top tips: I recommend my clients triple cleanse their skin at night if they wear makeup. … I developed the triple cleanse method to ensure the makeup and dirt from the day are totally gone and that we are getting good use of our treatment products. It consists of three cleaning phases which I’ve named melt, true and glow,” she tells Stylish.
“The first step is really just removing the makeup, but doing a thorough job, with an oil based cleanser and not a makeup wipe. … Next, I like to use a gel-based or milky cleanser to get the skin super clean without drying it out. … The third cleanse is a gentle daily exfoliation because it is a great way to go to sleep and wake up with glowing skin. … This isn’t to replace your 2 to 3 times a week exfoliation ritual, but it’s a mild, very gentle way to get light exfoliation without overdoing it.”
Other practices you can implement at home: “I think that everyone should be using some form of retinol because it combats lines, wrinkles and uneven tone and texture by signaling cellular turnover and collagen production. It also treats the pores and helps prevent and treat congestion and breakouts,” she shares.
To keep your skin hydrated, Marino suggests sleeping with a humidifier next to your bed to help prevent the skin from drying out from the cool air and the forced heat inside and using products that are able to go deep into the skin.
“Because your face is exposed to all of the elements including sun, air, wind, hard water and more, it is going to be the last place to benefit from water intake. I like iS Clinical HydraCool Serum because it is like giving your skin a big topical drink of water. … For lips I recommend a good exfoliating regimen which can be easily added to a nighttime routine. Applying a good hydrating lip treatment immediately following will keep the lips protected and nourished,” Marino reveals.
