Facial workouts and peels: A look at red carpet skin care routines

NEW YORK — From facial workouts to laser peels, celebrities will be turning to a range of skincare routines to look their best for the Oscars red carpet on Sunday (March 12).

Estheticians, dermatologists and other beauty teams are busy preparing their clients ahead of Hollywood's top ceremony, the culmination of awards season.

Among the regimens celebrities like actor Kerry Washington and comedian Chelsea Handler apply is FaceGym, which describes itself as "the home of facial fitness."

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“We're founded on the idea that just like going to the gym to work out your body and transform your body, you can do the same with your face and the 40-plus muscles we have in our face," FaceGym coach and trainer Gianna Graham told Reuters at one of the brand's New York studios.

Behind her, a trainer carefully massaged, rolled a ball and used an electric muscle stimulation device on a client.

“It's reaching places of the face that our hands cannot reach, so it's going to work out the micro muscles as well as the regular muscles of the face," Graham said.

"You're going to have more hydration and smoothness under the skin... Darkness under the eyes will dissipate. And overall, the lift is really what (celebrities) like to see. That sculpt is really great for (the) camera."

Dermatology office Weiser Skin offers the popular Hollywood Laser Peel, in which liquid carbon is applied.

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"It's a great option for immediately before a red carpet event," dermatologist Dr. Jessica Weiser, who is tight-lipped about her celebrity clients, said while demonstrating the procedure.

"When we fire the laser at it, the carbon will come off and it will pull a dead skin cell layer with it. And what that does is it accomplishes the effects of a chemical peel without actual and any downtime, redness or peeling effect," Weiser said.

Los Angeles-based celebrity aesthetician Bianca Edwards, who once gave boxer Floyd Mayweather US$5,000 (S$6,776) facials, says she sees clients twice in the week before a major event.

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"I would want to bring them in and do something like this first," she told Reuters while performing a Beauty Peel facial to remove dead skin.

"And then maybe 48 to 72 hours prior to the actual Oscars I would bring them back in just for another quick little mini facial. I would probably do some microcurrent on them. That's going to help plump, lift. It's going to get them like a 72-hour facelift," she said.

Edwards uses her beauty tool, Ice Dice, to massage the skin.

"These are stainless steel pattern tubes that are filled with glycerin to hold their temperature and to mimic ice on the client's skin," she said. "I like for my clients to walk out looking like a glazed donut."

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