When it comes to winning an Oscar, a facial from Lord Gavin McLeod-Valentine just might be a good luck charm.
After all, before Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Olivia Coleman and Laura Dern took home their sparkling statuettes, they all got their skin sparkling with help from the celeb-loved facialist.
“I love supporting my clients around awards season,” McLeod-Valentine tells Page Six Style. “I have had Oscar winners for the last five years.”
But while the A-list-loved expert has now worked with countless famous faces — counting Julianne Moore, Kate Moss and Alanis Morissette as clients, to name just a few — his focus on high-stakes events all started with a treatment for Halle Berry.
“That experience showed me the type of facialist I wanted to be,” McLeod-Valentine says of working with the actress just an hour before she got glammed up for the 2017 Met Gala. “I knew that it was my job to ground her and bring up the energy.”
As for the skincare essentials he uses to do just that? As an ambassador for Hollywood-loved line Augustinus Bader, the in-demand expert relies on a range of the brand’s products to get his superstar clients red carpet-ready — and recommends them for at-home use in between awards shows, too.
“Celebrities don’t have the luxury of time, despite what we are told, to do all of these beauty treatments and invasive procedures,” McLeod-Valentine says. “They need simple but highly effective products that immediately improve the skin but will lead to accumulative transformation.”
With that in mind, he suggests a six-part routine featuring the brand’s The Cream Cleansing Gel ($22) — a “double cleanse at night” is the “most important step,” he says — followed by The Essence ($30), The Serum ($375) and The Rich Cream ($280), plus some Unseen Sunscreen from Supergoop ($17) and a swipe of Augustinus Bader’s The Lip Balm ($40).
McLeod-Valentine also incorporates Augustinus Bader into his sought-after facials, which feature “systematic layering” of its complete skincare collection — dubbed “The Method” — plus his famous facial massage, which “defines, tones and sculpts.”
He also incorporates chilled Angelia Caglia Cryo Sticks ($125) and a Contour Kinetic Toning Device ($149) to “tighten and tone while reducing inflammation,” before finishing with a 10-minute radiofrequency treatment and “guided meditation” with an Omnilux Contour Mask ($395) — making for a memorable pre-red carpet routine.
“Meditating with Sharon Stone before the Met Gala was pretty epic,” he recalls.
After all, at the end of the day — or awards show — it’s not just about a winning combination of products.
“It’s important for me to ground my client in their inherent deservingness,” he says, adding, “I also want to enhance their glow and sculpt the face, blurring or hiding imperfections, for unparalleled radiance and confidence.”
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