Monastery founder and master esthetician Athena prepares the skin of celebrities including Chloë Sevigny, Kirsten Dunst, and Sofia Coppola ahead of red-carpet events, as well as for fashion brands such as Khaite and Victoria Beckham during shows in New York and Paris. In our latest installment of Ask Athena, she answers the most frequently asked questions about her skin preps and the steps you can take to achieve glowing, healthy skin for your next event.
Q: What are some of the best practices for prepping your skin for a big event?
For glow: Go for exfoliation if you want a more noticeable glow the day of and the day after. I love using our rose glycolic gel, XX, mixed with our face oil, Gold, for a lighter exfoliation that brightens and resurfaces without feeling too intense. I'll mix equal parts of the two products, leave on for 3-5 minutes and remove with a towel. Just a warning that if your skin isn’t used to exfoliation, be prepared for a little fallout, whether that means some sensitivity or a mild breakout a few days later.
For lift: Drain the lymph from your face so the skin is easier to lift and sculpt. Reducing puffiness in the face makes it much easier to define and shape the features for a more sculpted look. Before a big event, I do a lot of massage on my clients using just my hands and a gua sha tool to drain and lift.
For overall texture: Consistency beforehand is always a good idea. Using the Deep Red LED mask regularly in the lead-up to an event helps support stronger, healthier-looking skin overall by refining texture and bringing more luminosity to the complexion. While it can certainly give you a glow on the day of, its real benefits show up over time.
Q: Which products or ingredients will give you the best glow?
The top products I use during a skin prep are:
Aloe: Aloe has become a real skin-prep hero on the day of. It’s a lightweight serum made with two weights of hyaluronic acid suspended in aloe to help improve absorption and deliver lasting hydration. It leaves skin plumper and hydrated with a soft matte finish, so makeup goes on evenly and doesn’t catch on dry patches.
Coppola: Coppola is what I reach for when skin needs calming. It helps reduce the look of redness and brings the skin back to a more even, settled place, which is especially helpful before makeup.
Flora: Flora is one of my favorites for bringing life back into the skin. It’s deeply nourishing with hyaluronic acid and red raspberry seed oil. It gives the skin an instant glow, which makes it especially beautiful a few hours before an event when you want skin to look lit from within.
XX: To really boost glow before an event, I love using XX as a flash mask, followed by Gold and Flora a few hours beforehand to leave skin smooth and radiant. XX is an all-natural AHA treatment that helps dissolve dead skin cells, revealing brighter, more luminous skin underneath.
Special shout out to Rei. A consistent use of Rei at night helps keep skin balanced. Retinol can do a lot for texture, cell turnover, and softening fine lines over time.
Q: What should I avoid before any big event?
Honestly, using anything that you have never used before on your skin. For a big event it should be products that your skin is familiar with.
Q: What tools or modalities should I invest in that will also help with long term goals?
Gua sha and the Deep Red LED mask are both powerful additions to a routine. With consistent use, gua sha helps reduce puffiness and softly sculpt the face, while the Deep Red helps refine texture and support a clearer, more luminous complexion. And let’s not underestimate the power of your hands.
