Sculpt, Don’t Freeze: The Natural Rituals Redefining Award-Season Beauty

In Los Angeles, award season isn’t just a calendar—it’s a mood. The weeks between the Globes and the Oscars are filled with fittings, facials, body sculpting, lymphatic drainage, and a quiet question being asked behind closed doors: Can I look lifted, radiant, and camera-ready—without injectables?

For a growing number of A-listers and insiders, the answer is yes.

There’s a quiet shift happening in the beauty space—away from freezing and filling, and toward techniques that stimulate, sculpt, and regenerate. These natural modalities don’t just create surface-level glow; they work with the body’s own intelligence to tone, lift, and awaken the face from within.

Here are three standout practitioners shaping the new standard for red-carpet radiance.

Alessandra Richizzi: Sculptural Beauty for Award-Season Icons

With her signature award-season pop-ups and a discreet client list that includes names like Dua Lipa, Alessandra Richizzi – based in Milano, Italy – has become one of LA’s most in-demand facial sculptors.

Her method blends buccal massage, manual lymphatic drainage, and deep tissue facial release, delivered with a presence that feels both clinical and intuitive. Every session is hands-only—no machines, no gimmicks—just skillful manipulation of fascia, muscle tone, and fluid flow.

The results? A lifted jawline, brightened eyes, and cheekbones that look like they’ve just been kissed by light.

Alessandra’s facials don’t just shift the face. They soften the nervous system. It’s the kind of work you feel before you even see it.

Sam Audette at Felice Acupuncture: The Art of Facial Qi

Tucked inside the serene walls of Felice Acupuncture in Venice, Sam Audette offers a modern take on aesthetic acupuncture—a treatment that stimulates the face’s natural collagen and elastin production, while balancing the body’s energy pathways.

His approach is subtle, refined, and deeply rooted in Chinese medicine. Fine needles are placed along facial meridians to improve tone, texture, and circulation—while also calming the mind and activating inner glow.

Clients often leave looking brighter, yes—but more importantly, they leave feeling balanced. In a season that demands so much outward performance, Sam’s work is an invitation inward.

Kristie at Solstice Skin Studio: Malibu’s Best-Kept Secret

For those who prefer their glow by the beach, Kristie at Solstice Skin Studio in Malibu delivers what many quietly call the best lymphatic face sculpting in town.

Her facials include gua sha, cupping, fascia release, and a curated mix of oils and cooling tools. The space is intimate, sunlit, and relaxed—like your most radiant version of self-care.

Kristie’s strength is in her subtlety. There’s no push, no pressure—just intelligent touch and a reverence for skin that wants to breathe.

Why Sculptural Is the New Injectable

These treatments share more than buzz—they share philosophy.

They support long-term resilience, not just short-term results. They encourage circulation and detox, not paralysis. They celebrate movement, tone, texture, and a return to the natural architecture of the face.

While injectables like Botox remain popular, more people are questioning the long-term effects of repeatedly paralyzing facial muscles—and the potential toxicity of botulinum toxin, a neurotoxic protein. Others are simply seeking alternatives that support expression and lymphatic flow, rather than freezing what makes them human.

Yes, you’ll look good on camera. But more importantly, you’ll feel like yourself.

Whether it’s red carpet, bridal season, or simply a return to feeling more “you,” these sculptors remind us that beauty isn’t something to freeze or fix—it’s something to support, stimulate, and set free.

And in 2024, there’s nothing more radiant than that.