I’m Not Going to the Met Gala This Year, But My Cheekbones Should Be

If you thought getting ready for the Met Gala required merely a hairstylist and makeup artist, well, you are incorrect. It’s a production, with the most talented practitioners in the beauty industry descending upon Manhattan like an incredibly well-groomed flock of birds. Scattered throughout five-star hotels, world-renowned lymphatic drainage specialists, dermatologists (cystic pimples don’t respect red carpet timing), tanning experts, brow artists, and nail pros are setting up makeshift studios. But perhaps the most coveted talent, whose schedules resemble an intense game of Tetris, are the inimitable celebrity facialists.

Booking an hour with one of The Best the week of The Met elicits a super-charged treatment that goes above and beyond the typical cocktail. Take Cynthia Rivas, for example. The celebrity aesthetician and founder of Cynthia Rivas Skincare, who regularly treats Olivia Palermo, Paris Hilton, and Meghan Fahey, stocks her Met Gala suite at The Carlyle with nearly a dozen gadgets that can boost glow, decrease acne, lift, sculpt, tone, calm, smooth, and tighten skin.

While I’m not attending the Met Gala (I’ll be reporting on the best beauty looks from the comfort of my couch, like a true beauty journalist), I was able to experience what it’s really like to get ready for the most glamorous evening in fashion. Rivas invited me to test out her Iconic Met Gala Facial. “I always focus on healthy skin, but for this facial specifically, I’m paying attention to flattening texture and really snatching and sculpting,” she tells me as I get myself situated in an en-suite facial bed.

Rivas’s technique is a bit different than most, blending Eastern and Western aesthetic practices. She’ll go to town with radiofrequency (a device that generates heat under the skin, encourages collagen production, and lifts the skin) and balance it out with a gua sha. She’ll sculpt with intense microcurrent (think: a much more powerful version of the NuFace), while simultaneously focusing on lymphatic drainage. I like to think of it like the beauty version of high-low fashion—the key to finding balance.

Every facial is tailor-made, resulting from a thorough consultation with the celebrity’s glam team. Some will include cryotherapy and dermaplaning, while others will feature an extended LED session to boost brightness and kill acne-causing bacteria. Each treatment is extravagant to say the least. Here, get an insider look at what it’s like to be treated like a celeb attending the Met Gala.

It Start With Gentle Extractions

Acne has no respect for a red carpet, but full-blown extractions are too irritating to be done in the immediate days leading up to the Met Gala as they can sometimes lead to inflammation. That’s why Rivas uses a vibrating ultrasonic scraper that gently pushes gunk out of the pores without causing redness or irritation. She’ll typically pair it with a steamer to help open up the pores. “Makeup artists all want to work on smooth texture—that’s their number one request to me,” she says.

Followed by 40 Minutes of Radiofrequency

The next step—and a solid bulk of the facial—is taken up by radiofrequency. “The way I like to describe it is kind of like frying an egg,” she says. “You heat up a pan and you crack an egg on it. The egg, as soon as it hits the heat, it like shrinks, right? It contracts. That’s exactly what happens to your skin with radiofrequency.” It’s true, long-term sculpting that tells the lower levels of the skin to heat up, boost collagen production, and tighten up.

I felt a little, itty-bitty amount of heat (along the lines of warm, almost-cool compress) as Rivas moved her device around my cheekbones and jawline. She spent a solid 20 minutes on each side of my face. “This is really going to make your cheekbone pop and also give you a bit of a brow lift,” she adds.

A Hit of a Facial Massage

I’ve experienced many ends of the facial massage spectrum. Face slapping, sculpting so intense you end up clenching your teeth together, and subtle lymphatic that feels more like a tap-tap-tap than an actual massage. Rivas’ personal technique is what I would describe as intuitive massage—her hands dance around my face . “I mix muscle work with lymphatic drainage. The skin tells me where to go,” she says. “I’ll switch between pressure depending on where I am—for example I want to sculpt up with muscle work where your lip naturally turns down, but if I don’t also do the lymphatic then I’m just pushing the fluid around.”

A Boost With Oxygen Infusion

In a normal facial, an oxygen infusion is done with a little airgun-type spigot that bursts cool-feeling air onto the skin. But for the Met Gala? Rivas employed a more modern device called Glo2. Instead of trying to infuse oxygen—which is responsible for giving skin a very hydrated, plump, acne-free appearance—from the outside in, this new technique prompts oxygen creation from the inside-out. “Your body is always trying to keep a balance, so what I do is create a CO2 rich environment on the skin so it’s starved of oxygen. Then, it’s going to send oxygen from inside,” Rivas explains.

How it works: a topical CO2 rich solution is applied onto the skin and it starts to create little bubbles. They’re massaged into the skin with a flat-top tool—it feels equal parts gritty and tingly. I’d compare it to a low grade chemical peel. The lip area is particularly spicy, but it ends up plumping them up, removing any chapped residue, and creating the appearance of a natural tint courtesy of the increased circulation.

Calming Ultrasound Therapy

While nothing in the Iconic Met Gala Facial is too intense, Rivas likes to wind down with a calming infusion via ultrasound therapy. It’s a device that looks like a little flashlight and feels like absolutely nothing at all. But even though I can’t feel it, doesn’t mean it’s not working. “It creates little vibrations under the skin, so that serums can just wiggle their way through to a deeper level,” she explains. “It’s calming and it’s good for reducing redness.”

Finally, Microcurrent Gloves

If you ever wondered what it would feel like to have a lightning storm taking place on top of your skin, have Rivas work some magic with microcurrent gloves. While you probably associate microcurrent treatments with prong-like devices, such as the NuFace or Foreo, Rivas has a pair of special gloves that harness the same technology, while allowing for additional sculpting. “I’m big on massage, so these let me feel the musculature a little better,” she shares.

The power is intense and be prepared for your face to twitch uncontrollably. I find the temples, mouth (it zings through your teeth) and forehead to be the most intense, but candidly, my face convulses the entire time. “It’s basically like your face is lifting weights,” she says.

To lock in all the hydration, Rivas topped off the facial by applying skincare to my face (she's a big of iS Clinical, Chanel, and Biologique Recherche). When I looked in the mirror, my face was notably de-puffed. My jawline looked stronger. My skin looked brighter. And the cluster of pimples by my mouth were missing in action. My brows were lifted, and my cheekbones were more defined than I've ever seen them (40 minutes of radiofrequency will do that).

I'm currently 48 hours post facial and the results are still incredibly noticeable. So if anyone has a spare Met Gala ticket lying around, me and my skin are ready and able to attend.