If the past few years have taught us anything about skincare, it's that we've been washing our faces all wrong. (It's a seven-step process that involves dabbing, swimming, and a $17 can of water.) Also: titty masks. Just keep reading...

Technique

Ranjana Khan: “What is face yoga? It's exercises for your face, basically. It happened very organically, actually. I used to travel a lot to India for like 10 years of my life, five or six times a year. And so I was jet-lagged a lot. So I found myself a few good teachers in India and one of my teachers, when I was just sitting in meditation—you know when you're just sitting like that and your face just completely relaxes—and when it did, she saw how I was going to age. Really all your muscles just relax and your face will actually fall a bit. And she said, 'We're going to start a new thing today, we're going to start exercises for the face. Mudrās for the face.'' [Face Yoga With Ranjana Khan]

Isabelle Bellis: “So I'm going to show you how to clean your face. It seems simple, but it's not. I like to spray thermal water first. The reason is, you want to emolliate, to soften—to prepare your skin to receive the product.” [How To Wash Your Face: Part 1]

Tom Pecheux: “It’s not pleasant for the skin to be dirty. Hair, fine. Mind, yes. Skin, no.” [The 2013 Holiday Party Look]

Anja Rubik: “I’m always moisturizing and I use a lot of different creams—I travel with at least six, because every cream supplies your skin with something different. I change mine from day to day so my skin won’t get resistant to what I’m giving it. My mother taught me this. I’ve always used a heavy cream during the day, and a light one for going to bed, so my skin doesn’t suffocate.” [The Top Shelf: Anja Rubik, Model]

Products to swear by

Courtney Love: “A few months ago, I discovered this Bioxidea Miracle 24 face mask that I’m wearing right now, which is crazy. You wait, like, 20 minutes and it dissolves into your skin. It’s Korean. I love it. I got it at Sundance, and I'm on my last mask right now. I'm tweeting them tomorrow three times. I need more! They also have one for your hands and your feet, which I did last night. There’s even one for your titties. I haven’t done the boobs mask one yet—you just stick it on your tits, apparently. I have to try it. But I did the foot one and the hand one yesterday, and it makes my skin crazy. It’s like I just had sex for four days.” [The Top Shelf: Courtney Love]

Grace Mahary: “For beauty, hmm…well, do you want to know my secret tea? It’s the real rooibos. Not the rooibos at Starbucks—the real South African rooibos. It’s from a company called Glen. I drink it every day—I think it makes your skin so smooth, and increases circulation.” [Good Grace!]

Sarah Rutson: “Until three months ago, I never used a toner, because I thought it was an astringent that would strip my face. But a Lane Crawford cosmetic concierge told me to try one. The cosmetic concierges are brilliant because they’re not trying to flog you with everything in the house, they will just find the right thing for you. No one had ever told me the reason for a toner, and she said, ‘It will help your skin better absorb your cream’s moisture.’ It was as simple as that.” [The Face: Sarah Rutson, Fashion Director, Lane Crawford]

Virginie Courtin-Clarins: “For every cream, the best way to apply is to put it in your palm and warm it up, because it goes deeper in your skin when it’s warm—when it’s the same temperature as your skin. So you warm it up, and then you have to pressure-rub it in. When you rub without pressing, you’re pulling your skin, so I try to always press creams into my skin.” [The Top Shelf: Virginie Courtin-Clarins]

Jessica Diehl: “Skincare is my favorite, and one of my biggest splurges. It’s the one thing that my mother always said—no matter what it takes, facials and creams are maintenance you have to do. She calls it ‘the gym for the face.’ And for me it’s all about Biologique Recherche; it’s the best thing that I ever found in my life. I do the entire series. I go to this woman called Aida Bicaj for facials—she’s a full, major, master technician. She only uses Biologique, so I’ll do the face wash, the P50 Lotion, then there are two serums, a cream, and another serum on top of it. Her products have helped minimize pores, get color into the face, and there is nothing chemical-y or gross in them. I can’t go to Aida that often because it’s really expensive. Before I got married, I went every two-and-a-half weeks for a facial, but then I realized how much it cost, so I stopped. Also, when I got married, I thought, ‘Whatever, he’s stuck with me now.’' [The Top Shelf: Jessica Diehl]

Nick Axelrod: “Obviously when you work at a beauty website, you are surrounded by new products to try, but actually the best skin recommendation came from my friend Ali. Her mom had given her something called the Somme Institute, and Ali told me it would change my life. She showed me these anonymous bottles with dots on them and I tried the system, and after two weeks people in the office started commenting on my skin. I probably looked a little pale and sallow before, and this brightens your face.” [The Top Shelf: Nick Axelrod, Editorial Director, Into The Gloss]

Fanny Bourdette-Donon: “I used to be so against whitening products. In Africa, all of these women were killing their skin trying to become whiter, and I hated that. But when I had to work on the press kits at Dior for Diorsnow D-NA Reverse White Reveal Night Concentrate, I had to test it to know what I was going to talk about. I became obsessed. Yes, it’s a whitening product but it’s not about being whiter or changing the color of your skin; it just brings light to your face. I’ve never experienced that before in my life. My face literally changed. I had discoloration before, where my cheeks were darker than my forehead, and since I’ve been using this, everything has evened out. Honestly, all of these little dark spots went away. I use the White Reveal Night Concentrate before I go to bed, and the Diorsnow Anti-Spot Serum during the day. After those, I put on Dior Hydra Life Pro-Youth Sorbet Crème, which is the best because it’s so rich. And Diorsnow White Reveal Illuminating Eye Treatment for my eyes—it’s great for dark spots, and I have really bad under-eye circles—and that’s basically my little routine. I’ve learned that, apparently, if you only do one thing, you have to apply eye cream.” [The Top Shelf: Fanny Bourdette-Donon, International PR, Christian Dior Parfum]

Exfoliating

Harry Brant: “I do the Clarisonic every day. I love it because it makes me wash my face for two minutes—it makes you take the time instead of just quickly scrubbing. Whenever I get a new pimple, I'm like, ‘It’s because I’m not doing the Clarisonic enough.” [The Top Shelf: Harry Brant]

Charlotte Carey: “I only exfoliate once a week, I drink loads of water and aloe water, and I eat avocados twice a week.” [Deborah Lippmann's Shake Your Money Maker]

Catherine Walsh: “As much as I love facials—I get them every month at Kimara Ahnert in New York—my best skincare secret is Fresh Sugar Face Polish. I have given this to so many people. It’s an incredible product, and smells so good that you want to eat it. The beauty of this scrub is that it has really big granules and an oil base. You put it on moist skin, massage it in, and you really feel like you’re improving circulation and purifying your skin. Then you leave it on like a mask and just wash it off. I always do it after flights, and people are like, ‘You do not look like you just got off a plane.’ Actually, the first time I met Steven Meisel on a shoot, he was on his computer and I walked over and said, ‘Hi, my name is Catherine and I’m the client.' And he took his glasses off and said, ‘You have no pores. I’ve never seen anything like it!’ I had just done the Fresh scrub that morning, so I sent him a bunch of them. It is a killer, Steven-Meisel-approved product.” [The Top Shelf: Catherine Walsh, Senior Vice President, Coty]

Liv Tyler: “I think that exfoliation is the key to beautiful skin, I really do. I use scrubbing gloves every day in the shower. They just make you glow and get your blood flowing... Your skin is your biggest organ! It’s important to slough off dead cells all the time. For example, today I flew in on a red eye from L.A. and slept for four hours. So, I took a steam shower with essential oils and I scrubbed my skin, conditioned my hair, and I used the Clarisonic—just that gets your blood flowing. Your skin is flushed, awake, and alive. I’m a big believer in that type of thing. Like, if I had to go to a big event, a couple hours before, I’d take a crazy-hot bath with tons of salts and oils a few hours before.” [The Top Shelf: Liv Tyler]

Aging well

Franca Sozzani: “I think if you really take care of your skin, you will age in a better way. Aging is normal. My face shows my life. It’s better to age with dignity than to age with these fake cheeks and lips, or eyebrows up to here.” [The Top Shelf: Franca Sozzani, Editor in Chief, Vogue Italia]

Malgosia Bela: “The older I get, the more I feel like myself. It’s like I don’t have to pretend anymore. I have a child and a family, and every year I become more comfortable with my own face, body, and character. I think that actually shows on your face. Even people who are very beautiful, but are jealous and mean, have this kind of grimace on their face all of the time, or they will say something ugly and the charm is gone. Now that I’m happy in life and in love—I’ve never been happier—there’s a kind of serenity that people respond to. There has to be some kind of bone structure change or something. [Laughs] But happiness really makes everyone look their best.” [The Top Shelf: Malgosia Bela, Model]

Nick Axelrod: “I didn’t wear moisturizer until I moved to New York. I always had baby skin, but I’ve noticed my skin has gotten so much worse in the past five years. Something happens after the age of 25 where you can’t just treat it like shit and not moisturize it and not clean it. All of a sudden, I’d wake up and the skin under my eyes would look dehydrated, like raisins. I had expression lines forming and I had literally never seen them before. There’s nothing you can really do about it, short of cosmetic procedures, and I think the only thing you can do is freeze time in its tracks by treating your skin well. It’s really all about moisturizer. You have to load on the moisturizer.” [The Top Shelf: Nick Axelrod, Editorial Director, Into The Gloss]

Pharrell: “At the end of the day, you just have to take care of your face. I’m being honest with you. And no, I don’t wear fragrance.” [The Face: Pharrell]

Virginie Courtin-Clarins: “I have a very important theme to beauty, which is that I don’t think drastic measures work. To me, beauty is more about an investment in your skin. If you take care of it every day, whether you are 18 or 90 years old, you will always have the return on your investment up to that point. I’m not going to say that in just one day, or one minute, any one thing will totally change your face. Well, with the Beauty Balm, kind of yes.” [The Top Shelf: Virginie Courtin-Clarins]