April 2021, Business

In the Treatment Room with Angela Caglia

April 1, 2021 | by LNE Magazine

CELEBRITY FACIALIST AND TRUSTED SKINCARE EXPERT

with Angela Caglia

When did your love for the skin begin? How did you know you wanted to become an esthetician?

My love of skincare began as a young girl growing up on my grandfather “Pops” large farm in Central California. He farmed apricots, grapes, plums, nectarines and shipped them globally. While my siblings loved eating fruit straight from the tree, I relished in creating the freshest face masks and scrubs with it. I became obsessed with concocting the best textures and aromas and immediately applying my homemade masks directly onto my skin. Pops instilled in me a respect for the land, and always took great pride in the quality of what he produced.

While farming is in my soul, exploring the world is in my blood. My first trip off the farm, while still in college, was to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. It was there where I discovered the art of the facial and was mesmerized by the skincare rituals of the French woman. I knew when I returned to the US that I wanted to get my esthetics license along with finishing my business degree.

“In terms of the secret to my success, I would say it’s not being afraid to experiment in the facial room and believing in myself.”

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As fate would have it, I moved to Carmel, California after college where I soon discovered the recently opened and only training institute in the US for the venerable French botanical skincare brand, Yonka Paris. I asked to work their front desk (and I’m proud to say I was their first hire) while simultaneously pursuing my esthetician license.

Once accredited, I gave facials 8 hours a day and fell in love with the business of making women feel and look more beautiful.

What is your skincare philosophy?

My skincare philosophy is based on nourishing your lipid barrier, less is more when it comes to products, and only use the world’s best ingredients when formulating. My ethos is represented in each product in my assortment. I also bring my 26 years’ experience working directly on skin, that’s over 20,000 faces, so I have an acute understanding of what works.

Plus, when you consider my clients are some of the most discerning and recognizable faces in the world, there is no margin for error. That said, I’m also constantly learning and experimenting with newness, whether it’s a new technique, machine, or ingredient.

What makes the techniques you use unique? Can you share one of your best tricks in the treatment room?

Some of my best discoveries have happened while multitasking. Things I experimented with early in my career I now see as common practice in many spas. Whether that’s using the latest New World technological breakthrough combined with an Old World stone tool massage, I always strive to offer my clients the best of what’s available to elevate their facial experience. I love to learn, so I’m always on the lookout to try new things.

One of my best tricks in the treatment room is feeling the energy of my client. If you are in tune (I like to shut my eyes while I massage them), then it can sometimes be almost metaphysical. The concept of energy transference is real in the treatment room.

What do you believe is the secret to your success?

In terms of the secret to my success, I would say it’s not being afraid to experiment in the facial room and believing in myself. For example, when I worked at other spas earlier in my career and they would have an expensive facial on the menu that I thought had a redundant protocol, I would ask management if I could replace it with something I thought would work better.

My clients always loved the results, and, in turn, management did as well. My bespoke treatments became so popular that eventually management added them to their own menus. Eventually, I gained the confidence to open my own spa, always guided by my passion to create the ultimate client experience.

What do you believe is key to building and maintaining client relationships?

The key to building and maintaining client relationships is a commitment to your craft and a keen awareness of sensing energies, a skill I honed while working on celebrities. I learned early on to never ask my clients about their work, unless they volunteered. I create a cocoon, almost womb-like spa experience for both maximum relaxation and visible results.

I try to empower them to feel beautiful, recognizing it’s a vulnerable thing when someone is staring at your face, makeup free, under a magnifying lamp. It’s my goal to make my clients look, and, more importantly, feel confident, reminding myself and them, that we ALL have insecurities, even my supermodel clients. When I bring the mag lamp over their face, I’ll mention something positive about their skin, prior to discussing what we need to improve upon during their session, and then subsequently what they can do with home care.

When did you know you wanted to start your own skincare line?

I knew I wanted to start my own skincare line the very moment I was giving Barbra Streisand a facial and she looked up at me with her signature doe eyes and asked me what my dream in life was, to which I immediately reacted without thinking or forethought, “I want to start my own skincare line.” That was 9 years ago, and I remember leaving her house feeling so empowered by her words of encouragement that the next day, I immediately started looking for a natural, organic-based skincare lab and have never looked back. Within a year, I had also left my job working at another spa and opened my own.

What advice can you give to aspiring estheticians?

My advice to aspiring estheticians is to love what you do. It’s a service business and we have to give our best every time. Also, be a good listener and feel the cues of your clients. They may not want to hear about your life. The hour is all about them, not you, unless, of course, they ask you.

What is your favorite skincare ingredient and why?

My favorite skincare ingredient is meadowfoam seed oil. It’s derived from the Limnanthes Alba flower and grows indigenously in the Pacific Northwest. It’s also the hero ingredient in every one of my products, included among a proprietary complex of other antioxidants. It’s similar in molecular structure to our own sebum so it’s able to penetrate deeply into the skin, delivering the essential fatty acids and antioxidants that we need for a plumper more youthful appearance. It also calms inflammation and is good for acne prone skin. Lastly, it’s one of the most stable oils in the world so it keeps my plant-based skincare stable longer.