The First Monday in May isn’t something Sophie Carbonari schedules around—it’s something she plans for. Each year, the celebrity facialist—her clients include Rihanna and Lady Gaga—leaves Paris for New York City with a suitcase full of formulas to prep clients for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Gala, whose theme this year celebrates “Costume Art.” Except… this year was a little different. Between house calls for clients including Alexa Chung (and one international model whose name she can’t reveal), Carbonari was also carving out time for something of her own: the upcoming launch of her skincare line. Here’s how her week unfolded.
[Paris] Wednesday, April 29
I’m in my apartment in the 11th arrondissement. I take the morning to formulate everything I need—cleanser, toner, oil synergy—except my S Serum, which my lab in Marrakesh produces for me. Everything gets labeled, sealed, and packed carefully into my Rimowa trunk—with this much product, you want wheels you can trust.
Then I think about clothes. This Met is different from the two before it. I’ve decided to base myself in a Midtown hotel this week and work between house and hotel visits, which changes how I move, dress—everything. I pack my small Manolo Blahnik heels—they’re beige and purple—two COS dresses, one pair of raw denim, and two tops. Comfortable and chic.
After that comes my vanity. I grab my iS Cleansing Complex, toner (a mix of hyaluronic acid, colloidal silver, and helichrysum italicum), S Serum, sleeping mask from Laneige, face synergy oil (black cumin, argan, and rosehip), and La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF 50 because sun protection is never negotiable. And for the body: Weleda body butter and Pattern Beauty moisturizing body wash—Pattern also makes a Palo Santo curl mousse I love. To finish, makeup: Merit’s complexion stick in Taurillon and Flush Balm in Postmodern, Charlotte Tilbury’s setting powder in 4 Deep, Fenty’s mascara, Glossier’s Futuredew Solid, and Armani’s Luminous Silk foundation in 13.8.
With everything checked, I go to sleep early with my alarm set for 5:50AM.
[Paris] Thursday, April 30
I board at Charles de Gaulle at 10AM. On the plane, I put on my 111Skin patches, pull on my compression tights, and try to sleep as much as I can. I take this seriously: The skin is an organ in dialogue with the nervous system, and the nervous system does not forgive a transatlantic flight taken without intention. You cannot ask a body running on cortisol and cabin pressure to perform at its best, so I protect my circadian rhythm the way I protect my formulas. When I land, I take a taxi to the hotel, check in with one of my client’s publicity and agent teams to sync our agendas, and have an early dinner at KazuNori. I’m happily in bed by 8:30.
Friday, May 1
9AM: Breakfast at Cecconi’s at The Ned NoMad with the Into The Gloss team. We debrief on the residency ahead and the launch of Sophie Carbonari, the brand, at Violet Grey in East Hampton in June—I’m so excited. The conversation goes long and easy.
I walk through the East Village after and end up at 7 Spring, one of my favorite spots in New York. At 12:30, I meet Elana Drell-Szyfer, the CEO of Cosmetic Executive Women, for lunch. We talk about where the industry is heading and where I fit inside it.
Then it’s straight to my first treatment of the trip with a businesswoman, philanthropist, and friend of the CFDA for a bespoke session at her beautiful townhouse near The Met. I’ve been working with her in Paris for years. This is what people don’t always understand about my SC Protocol: It is not a facial in the conventional sense. I’m not extracting, correcting, perfecting. I’m working the fascia, activating the lymphatic system, releasing the deep tissue networks that determine how the face holds itself. The skin cannot glow if the body underneath it is clenched.
When I finish, she points me to Atelier New York, her new fashion obsession. I go. Then I find Gabrièle and we have dinner at L’Accolade with dear friends. While I was treating my client this afternoon, Danielle—my operations manager—finalized the schedule for the next two days. I read it over dinner. Excitement and controlled adrenaline.
Saturday, May 2
I leave the hotel at 8AM, stop at a bookshop to buy two art books—a ritual I keep on every trip—and arrive at Sant Ambroeus Soho at 9AM for a meeting with one of the most forward-thinking beauty retailers on the planet. We talk about the future of my brand. I leave feeling clear and energized.
At 1:30, I’m at a Park Avenue apartment for a new client: a writer and yoga teacher. What strikes me immediately is how aligned our practices are. She understands the body as text. She knows that attention is a discipline, and that the nervous system is where everything either holds or falls apart. This is what I call the skin-brain axis—the skin listens, responds to emotional states, to touch, to the quality of presence in the room. The treatment feels less like a service and more like a conversation conducted through hands. I leave hoping we work together again.
At 3PM, I’m at The Mark Hotel for a signature treatment with an international model and makeup brand ambassador. This is a client whose face is her work and she knows it with precision. The SC Protocol releases her fascia and activates lymphatic drainage. Microcurrent brings her muscles back to their optimal tonicity. Not a mask of freshness—actual freshness. Cameras always know the difference.
Afterwards, I grab an early dinner at Los Tacos No. 1, followed by a nightcap at Hotel Chelsea. Some rituals are non-negotiable.
Sunday, May 3
Breakfast at Bryant Park with Gabrièle in the sun. I’m waiting for my first client, who sends me a crying emoji—her schedule won’t allow it. I write back that we will find each other again in Paris.
At 1PM, back at The Mark Hotel for a signature facial with Romeo Beckham. He’s easy to be with—curious, present, unhurried—the exact nervous system state that lets me work at depth. When someone arrives relaxed and open, the fascia releases more fully, the lymphatic system flows more freely, and the face looks genuinely rested. I stop at Bemelmans Bar on my way out because I deserve it—and because those Ludwig Bemelmans murals remind me every time why New York is worth the jet lag.
Then Alexa Chung. She’s sharp, funny, completely present—she knows her face and isn’t afraid to ask why I’m doing what I’m doing. I love that. When we finish, she does what the best clients do: She sends me somewhere. It’s Zitomer Pharmacy on the Upper East Side. I walk in and immediately fall in love with the exception edit, and with a staff member who is funny, warm, and impeccably professional. The kind of person who reminds you that beauty retail can still be an act of genuine care. I will definitely be back.
After a successful day, I want to celebrate. I walk to Double Chicken Please on Allen Street on the Lower East Side.
Monday, May 4
Breakfast. Packing. Checking everything twice, then once more. The Rimowa goes into the taxi and we head to JFK.
People ask me what it means to prepare someone for a red carpet. They imagine products, final touches, something applied at the last minute under bright lights. What I actually do happens much earlier and much deeper. I work on the architecture of the face—the fascia that holds it, the lymphatic system that clears it, the nervous system that animates it. By the time my clients step onto any carpet, in any dress, for any camera, what they carry is a state: Ease. Circulation. Structural lift. Genuine presence. You cannot fake that. You can only prepare for it.
New York recedes through the taxi window. I already know I’ll be back.
Love,
Sophie
—as told to Daise Bedolla
Photos courtesy of Sophie Carbonari