My skin has always been fine, I guess. My current skincare routine would best be described as sophisticated but scattered (in that I’ve collected a range of highly-recommended products but I’m perpetually running and rarely get past step three of a skincare routine) I’ve also never had a facial – until now.
And so I find myself at Adelaide’s most stylish day spa (or rejuvenation clinic), Sculpt, which opened in a Stepney warehouse space in September. It’s run by Angelica Mesisca Barrientos, who has spent the past three years assembling a team of industry-leading cosmetic physicians, dermatologists, and dermal clinicians. Their goal is to create a safe and relaxing environment for people of all genders, body types, and ages.
When you arrive in the limestone washed, high-ceilinged waiting room (which could easily be the set of the next season of White Lotus), you’re handed a bottle of sparkling water and an extensive questionnaire that includes questions about your medical history and existing skin care routine.
Upstairs you’ll find a numbing lounge fit-out with sculptural day-beds to ease the pain of Botox and fillers, treatment rooms and changing areas. In one of them you change into a butter-soft linen robe (in Sculpt’s signature shade of greige), put on a very humbling headband and then pose for pre-treatment photos of your face in horrifying high-definition – filters showing you signs of age, UV-damage, and hyper-pigmentation. Although slighlty scary, it allows the team at Sculpt to monitor your progress and assess your skin's needs incredibly accurately.
Then you begin your consultation. I’m having the Sculpt: The Ritual treatment which rings in at (an admittedly expensive) $600 and runs for 90-minutes. You’re then left to tuck yourself into the treatment bed surrounded by soft toasty towels and the scent of lavender.
The treatment is a mixture of high-end skincare routine using products from Rationale, Toskani and ISclinical; LED-therapy; and a neck and shoulder massage that undoes years of hunched-over-laptop shoulder tension. At one stage I feel as though I’m floating away like an unmoored balloon (in reality the bed I’m on is being raised closer to the massive spaceship-esque MLX-i3 Dome LED system which will treat my skin with infrared, but the fact entering zero-gravity crossed my mind shows just how relaxing the treatment is.)
After the consultation and parting with the robe I’m recommended a series of products that will help maintain the glow before an afternoon of eyeing my smoothed, glowing, markedly decongested skin in the mirror.
As the price tag suggests, this is a luxury treatment and only a very lucky few could keep up with the recommended once-monthly return visit, but the slick and sumptuous environment at Sculpt makes you feel (and look) like a million bucks.
Sculpt
13 Henry Street, Stepney
0477214900
Hours:
Mon to Wed 9am–5pm
Thu 9am–8pm
Fri 9am–5pm
Sat 9am–midday
Sun closed
