Thank heavens for the English language. Without it, the facialist Alexandra Soveral might never have come to London from Portugal at the age of 17.  That was back in 1987, and she only intended to stay a few months – long enough to master some colloquial conjugations. But she fell in love with the country and spent the next couple of years “trying very hard to fit in – I even read the complete works of Oscar Wilde”.  Eventually she enrolled in Philosophy of Science at London’s Metropolitan University, with a side helping of genetic engineering and biochemistry. “I began studying at a very exciting time for science,” she says. “The Human Project was coming out with astonishing facts about DNA and the university’s main science professor Dr Andrew Wright was writing a book on human genetic engineering.”  This you may assume, is a facialist with more than average scientific, physiological and homeopathic understanding – she also spent two years studying anatomy, physiology remedial massage and the chemistry of essential oils.  Her waiting lists in London, New York and now LA, where she regularly holds pop-up clinics, suggest that Soveral’s deep reservoir of knowledge and magical, deft hands have not gone unappreciated. Ask her any question about skin and the ageing process and she’ll give you a compelling, thoroughly researched, no-nonsense answer.  Soveral’s facials are not, as you might expect from her CV, cocktails of electro-currents and hopelessly opaque sounding compound chemicals, but a combination of intense yet gentle massage and her own organic products, which she blends herself in her studio in Maida Vale, West London, from ingredients grown on her family farm in Portugal.  This is not hippy dippy fluff. The scent and texture of her face oils, eye-cream and the heroic Angel Balm cleanser/mask may give you a hedonistic, sensory buzz, but when she and her partner Jorj launched their cosmetic line, one product at a time, they insisted on natural elements that would be as effective, if not more so, than the high-concept, big brand ones.  Her facial massages work because encouraging lymph flow and stimulating muscle tone is a winning combination, as Soveral discovered watching her mother perform her nightly beauty routine. Being Soveral, she followed that childhood fascination with scientific enquiry. Up to a point, she can soften lines (if she catches a wrinkle early enough she can stop it in its tracks, or at least slow it down).  But this isn’t so much about chasing an elusive youth as instilling glow, restoring bloom and learning to appreciate wherever you’re at. The radiant, rested complexions of her devoted clientele – including beauty editors who could go anywhere for their treatments – provide the best testimonials. Even those who arrive addicted to Botox and fillers eventually come to trust her results sufficiently to kick the habit – or at least cut back.
The radiant complexions of Alexandra Soveral's clients are testimony to the fact that she's no average facialist, says Lisa Armstrong