Cynthia Marie Franco was finally able to catch her breath as she frantically ran into her private spa studio in the Hollywood Hills, after finishing a lengthy facial at a top actor’s home, which backed up her tight schedule.
“I’m coming in here like a whirlwind,” a frazzled Franco told The Post. “She needed a lot,” she said, satisfied that she delivered a great result for the anonymous celeb. “I’m just gonna relax for a second and breathe.”
“I guess this is a preview as to how crazy it can get during the awards [show season],” said the LA native.
Downtime is a rarity during Hollywood’s months-long awards season, culminating with the Oscars each March, this year on the 15th.
“People are running in here [to her spa],” said Franco, who is among LA’s top facialists, laying the foundation for the A-List glow-up on the big day. “Often, they’re coming off a press tour that would make your hair curl just thinking about their schedule.”
When the celeb-filled season kicked off the night before the Jan. 11 Golden Globes, Franco was at Oscar-nominated actor Mia Goth’s house until midnight.
“Sometimes schedules get so crazy, so I had to go to her house,” she explained to The Post of the “Frankenstein” actress with whom she’ll be working her magic on again this weekend.
“Then I had to be here [her private spa studio] at 8 a.m. for Jenna Ortega. I gave Jenna her first facial ever,” she recalled like a proud mama. “Then I had Queen Latifah here right after that.”
Franco takes her work seriously and doesn’t cut any corners for her elite clientele. Her “the works” facial, which costs between $550 to $1,300, can take over two hours. It can be a huge time suck on awards day, but one that Franco will commit to if the client needs the makeover magic.
“It is just such a crazy day. If it’s the day before, we can do two hours. If I’m working on someone that needs a little more pickup, I will do all of it, though,” Franco told The Post. “Whatever it takes to get results — and I like to get results.”
In the industry, Franco, who does facials on a referral basis, is known as a beauty wizard, using an array of sophisticated beauty tools and technology to get A-listers’ skin looking its absolute best. She relies on fancy tech like a blackhead-busting “ultrasonic scrubber” that makes 84,000 back-and-forth movements per second, vibrating impurities right out of the skin.
“I can do this on the day of … it won’t leave a mark, if it’s done correctly,” the beauty expert explained to The Post.
She also uses infrared light to reduce inflammation and improve circulation, blue and red light to rid any pesky breakouts and reduce fine lines, and a “healing” cold plasma device to boost collagen production and improve product absorption. “It drives whatever serum I put on down deeper,” she explained.
The tools of the trade, though, can go far beyond your basic facial massage or exfoliating body scrub.
“There’s a lot of tricks that get people glowing and looking amazing on the red carpet,” Franco told The Post. “A lot of my clients are constantly on TV or in movies, and they have to keep up appearances. Without looking too different, or too weird.”
For those wanting a pre-award show face-lift without actually going under the knife, since “believe it or not, there are some people in Los Angeles that don’t want surgery,” the beauty expert will use electrotherapy, which is a “natural and holistic way to lift,” as it uses low-level electrical currents to stimulate facial muscles.
For that red carpet glow, the facialist favors AUNU, a medical-grade, wound-healing mānuka honey that Franco says has an “unbelievable” hydration effect.
While outsiders would likely glamorize Franco’s job, lugging around a tool kit of high-tech apparatuses to hotel suites on Oscar day is not for the weak.
“I had to go to a hotel for this actress from Italy. I packed everything. I got there, and she says, ‘I have 20 minutes.’ I’m like, ‘I’m just gonna do a face massage to form her face. Just unpacking all this stuff would take 20 minutes,’” Franco recalled.
The hustle is real for other style mavens, too, this Oscars weekend, straddling Friday straight through Sunday.
Star aesthetician Angela Caglia is booked at the lauded Beverly Hills Hotel’s spa, where she has a residency, personally performing her signature Red Carpet Radiance 60-minute Facial, which she designed around her human stem cell technology-based Angela Caglia Skincare and charges $540 for.
It’s her well-practiced style savvy that brings back her devoted, well-known list of clients who benefit from her beauty bonanza.
“Most of my clientele I’ve had for many, many years,” Caglia told The Post. “Barbra Streisand, I’ve been seeing for 11 years. She’s the one who inspired me to start my skincare line.”
“Minnie Driver,” she continued, “11 years as well. Helena Christensen, also 11 years. Sarah Paulson and Alexandra Daddario are regulars. I’ve given Sting a facial a few times.”
Yup, men want to glow, too — beards be damned.
“I always tease and say, ‘I’m gonna do half a facial,’” she said. “Men don’t admit it, but they love facials,” especially before a red-carpet foray.
While Caglia is booked out at the Beverly Hills Hotel spa with regular clients and some hotel guests, her well-trained aestheticians will take the reins at her spa on West Hollywood’s hip Melrose Avenue.
“On the day, I will do refresher mini facials for some clients who are in from New York City for the Oscars. This will be at their hotels.” The heavy lifting, so to speak, is best done a day or even two days before, the expert explained to The Post. “Some like a little on the day glow-up. But they don’t have to leave it all till the last minute when they’ve got hair and makeup to worry about. I mean, it’s a lot to do on one day.”
And flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to a busy weekend such as this one: “The only way to be a successful celebrity service provider is to be accommodating,” she admitted. “I’ve given 10 p.m. facials and I’ve given 6 a.m. facials.”
Regardless of what time of day it is, Caglia insists she gives the same love and attention to all of her clients.
“Stars want someone they trust because you know their skin,” Caglia pointed out. “Minnie Driver, this was about eight years ago, had a People magazine cover for ‘most beautiful people.’ But that year, they were to be photographed with no makeup on. She said, ‘Angela, I’m coming to you immediately prior to the shoot.’”
Like anyone looking to drop serious money on a fancy facial, “They [the stars] want lifting, they want glowy, and they want bright skin with lots and lots of hydration,” the expert said.
Caglia’s crème de la crème service begins with a gentle massage, followed by a collagen enzyme exfoliant. “It’s a Japanese cherry that is really gentle,” she explained.
To reduce puffy eyes, she’ll apply lo-tech arctic cold cryo spoons on eyelids and around the orbital bone.
Similar to Franco, Caglia incorporates tech devices such as a sculpting vibrating rose quartz roller and a topical oxygen gun to infuse Caglia’s Cell Forté Serum deep into the skin.
She’ll also whip out a hi-tech multi-functional SKORR GLOW combo wand that has red, yellow, and green lights, sonic vibrations, micro-current and radio frequency to “lift and sculpt. So I’ll do it as a part of the process, but at the very end I do it again.”
In addition to getting pampered, the beauty expert advises all of her clients to “cut back on alcohol, because it does show up on your face the next day.”
But once the prep work is done and awards are won, or not, celebs know they can let loose and have fun.
“…The day after the Oscars, it doesn’t matter so much,” Caglia laughed. “Celebrities know what to do,” she shrugs. “They’re pros.”
