SKIN IN THE GAME

An In-Demand L.A. Facialist strikes out on her own.

One of the best-kept secrets among L.A.'s beloved aestheticians, Lili Mineni recently decamped from Kate Somerville's A-list clinic to her own one-room spa in Santa Monica. There she does everything she can to avoid what she calls "breaking down" the skin. "When skin starts to age, at around 30, many people start doing intense acid peels and other traumatic treatments," she laments. "Initially the results are great, but the skin can sustain injuries and repair only so many time before collagen stops building the same way."

Instead Mineni uses LED lights, microneedling, or microcurrent. "Lili's energy is healing, and her work is flawless" says producer / writer Margaret Nagle, a longtime devotee. That may be because she focuses on more than just skin. "So many people are missing the main components of being healthy: meditation, exercise, water consumption." Mineni says. She vows to help clients with everything from diet to sleep schedule problems, which she calls "disruptive" for the health and, thus, the skin. "Now," she says, "people can get the attention they need." Nora Zelevansky