Look and Feel Your Best at Estela’s Lash and Skincare Studio

At thirty-nine, I had never had a facial before. Anytime I received a spa gift card, I’d choose a massage over any other treatment. But after experiencing a facial at Estela’s Lash and Skincare Studio, I’ll be changing my self-care priorities for face value.

Estela Hernandez is the owner of ELS Studio, which opened in July 2020 on Hope Street in Providence. The Latina-owned business provides skin care services and treatments including facials, eyelash extensions, lifts and tinting, brow shaping, tinting and lifting, facial and bikini waxing, skin consultations and more. She also sells some of the products that she uses in treatments at her storefront to extend self care at home.

Hernandez originally opened a skin care studio in Cranston in 2016 but had to leave the location when the building was sold after the pandemic temporarily shut down spas and salons.

“I had four weeks to either dissolve the business or start again somewhere else,” Hernandez says. “I found this gem [on the East Side] and I said let’s see what happens.” She loves the new location, where neighborhood regulars and other business owners come in for treatments. “It’s like a small business family.”

Before she decided to become an esthetician, Hernandez had enrolled in nursing school. While she waited to start nursing classes, she signed up for a year-long esthetician program in 2009.

“I was in the [nursing] program for two semesters, but in the middle of the second, I realized I wasn’t passionate about nursing,” Hernanadez says. “I love taking care of people, but in a happier setting. Esthetics fit that passion.”

Courtesy of Estela’s Lash and Skincare Studio/Photography by Ian Barnard.

She says she loves the feeling of seeing content clients after treatments. And I can see why. I booked ELS Studio’s Pura Vida Facial, which started with a double cleanse with a green tea citrus cleanser that smelled of juicing oranges and lemons, followed by the tingling of the glycolic cleanser. I could feel the cleanser working as it tickled my skin. Then a coconut and papaya enzyme peel was applied while I sat under a steamer. Once that treatment set, it was removed with the Ultrasonic Spatula that delivers ultrasound vibrations of up to 28,000 cycles per second to refine skin. I also had my blackheads removed and pores cleared by extractions, followed by an anti-aging high frequency treatment.

“It delivers Ozone 3 to your skin, which is the purest form of oxygen,” Hernandez says. “It plumps your skin, kills bacteria and reduces inflammation after heavy extractions. It’s like a magic wand.” The facial ended with the application of a hyaluronic acid mask. I laid on the table for twelve quiet minutes while it worked its magic to trance-like background music.

The treatment put me in the zone as I drifted off into a blissful power nap. Afterwards, I looked in the mirror and my face glowed in the sunlight. I didn’t even reapply makeup that day. I snapped a pic and posted it to my Instagram. Hashtag #NoFilter. 746 Hope St., Providence, 999-0704, elsstudio.com