If you envy the seemingly ageless skin of Jessica Alba, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Chrissy Teigen, then you'll be happy to know that you can finally add their favorite facialist to your speed-dial list. After years of tending to her starry clientele out of her own home (and keeping her appointment calendar private), skincare expert Shani Darden has opened her first standalone flagship — and now, you don't need superstar status to book a luxe pampering sesh.
Darden recently toasted the opening of her namesake skincare studio with a starry opening party, which was hosted by Alba and InStyle editor Laura Brown and attended by friends and family, including Rosie H-W, January Jones, Lea Michele, Milla Jovovich, Michelle Monaghan, fashion designers Emily Current and Merritt Elliott, and many others.
Landing not far from fellow celebrity-faved (and Streicher sisters-powered) beauty haven Striiike, Darden's 2,300-square-foot skincare studio offers her signature facials that are personalized according to each clients' needs — but first, the equally photogenic space. The star-beloved aesthetician tapped longtime friend and interior designer Jake Arnold, "one of my really close friends [who has] been doing my house for years," Darden tells us.
Darden entrusted Arnold to dress up the floors, halls, and walls: There's a custom-made light pink couch, Calacutta Viola marble check-in desk and side tables, vintage lighting fixtures, to name a few. "Working with him is really easy for me because there's never anything that I don't like, so it was a really good fit. It's really all him," Darden explains.
The stylish skincare sanctuary features four treatment rooms, including one that houses a full-body LightStim LED bed. On the menu, expect Darden's personalized facials ($500 and up) that include skin analysis, an herbal steam, deep pore cleansing, exfoliation and extractions, and a customized mask.
There's the 60-minute Custom treatment that lifts and tightens, while 90-minute services like the Signature, which focuses on reducing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation; and the Ultimate, an intensive head-to-toe transformative experience that involves microcurrent technology, a LightStim LED bed session (which helps to boost collagen and circulation), and oxygen and vibration therapies in order to help reverse the aging process all over.
New to Darden's offerings the Honest facial, a 60-minute treatment that uses safe and effective products from the non-toxic brand's beauty line and masks developed by Alba, a client-turned-close friend of Darden and Honest Co.'s founder.
Except for the Honest treatment, all of Darden's facials also incorporate products from her namesake skincare line ($38 to $95), like her bestselling Retinol Reform as well as her Daily Oil-Free Moisturizer and Daily Toning Essence. You can find her full range of products (as well as selection of Honest's skin and cosmetics lines) at the studio's boutique, which also stocks products from IS Clinical, Supergoop, Dr. Dennis Gross, and more alongside beauty devices like the NuFace Trinity Pro ($429), Opus Luxe ($99), the LightStim for acne ($169) or breakouts ($249), and the Déssee Pro LED mask ($1,900), to name a few.
Now that summer is fast approaching, Darden does have some skincare advice: "Staying out of the sun is the most important thing and my clients are really big about that. Going into the summer, not much changes other than if you're really oily, you may have to use a lighter moisturizer. But other than that, it's really about just [avoiding] the sun."
Ready for some supreme pampering? Book your next appointment by emailing booking@shanidarden.com.
