Dua Lipa’s Favorite Facialist Shares Her Secrets

Reported by Vogue.

There's a facialist in Milan's Navigli district who has figured out something the rest of the beauty world keeps overcomplicating: your face is a muscle, and muscles respond to training. Alessandra Ricchizzi — the woman behind Dua Lipa's impossibly sculpted complexion — has built a devoted clientele that spans Italian pop royalty, top models, and Chiara Ferragni, all coming to her for results that look like surgery but aren't.

Lipa first sat in Ricchizzi's chair in 2023, according to Vogue, and has been back since. The draw is Ricchizzi's proprietary "Manual Lifting" method — now also called "AR Lifting" — a fully hands-on technique that works three distinct facial axes (vertical, horizontal, oblique) across successive appointments to physically reposition and lift facial tissue. The claimed result: a 0-to-6 centimeter lifting effect, no needles required. Ricchizzi, who says she started massaging dolls at age eight, approaches the face less as a cosmetic surface and more as a map of internal tension and postural history — what she calls "facial memory," the accumulated fine lines, texture shifts, and muscle patterns that develop over time.

The Technique, Broken Down

The treatment opens with manual sculpting movements designed to define contours and decompress tension — a genuine relief for anyone who grinds their jaw or carries stress in their face. Then comes the signature tool: a "lifting glove" with red LED fingertips that stimulate facial tissue with what Ricchizzi describes as an "anti-gravity" action, simultaneously pressing active ingredients deeper into the skin for hydration and tone. Lipa extended the session to her body for a lymphatic drainage-style effect — less puffiness immediately, with longer-term benefits including reduced inflammation, improved circulation, and better digestion.

If Milan isn't on your calendar, Ricchizzi is pragmatic about DIY. She recommends working on clean skin, always moving bottom-to-top with medium pressure, dividing the face in two halves, and releasing toward the ears. Short, sharp upward strokes along the cheeks and neck paired with small circulation-boosting pinches are her at-home staples. "A little each day is better than intensive but sporadic treatments," she says — which sounds obvious until you remember most of us do the exact opposite.

The real takeaway isn't Dua Lipa's facialist or a glove with LED fingers — it's that consistent, intentional facial massage is one of the most underused tools in skincare, and your hands are already equipped.

Read the original at Vogue.