How Iván Pol, WWD’s Golden Globes Skin Savior, Blends Artistry and Technology

Iván Pol quickly captured celebrity fans with his proprietary radiofrequency treatment, called The Beauty Sandwich.

But for the makeup-artist-turned-aesthetician-turned-founder, his calling card is his blend of makeup techniques with a cutting-edge, ever-evolving buffet of technologies.

The recipient of WWD’s first Golden Globes Style Award for Skin Savior has a robust client list that ranges from Kim Kardashian and Sabrina Carpenter to Salma Hayek Pinault and Ana de Armas, one he developed quickly after landing in Los Angeles only six years ago.

His trajectory started as a makeup artist in New York when he opened Madina Milano’s counter at Bergdorf Goodman. He subsequently moved into cosmetic dermatology in Miami, which was then focused on modalities like injectables, lasers and chemical peels.

“I wanted to give women an alternative to all of the strenuous things that they were doing. Sixteen years ago it was either, ‘let’s burn your face off,’ or ‘let’s pump you up with fillers and Botox.’ People weren’t talking about a more natural way of looking your best,” Pol said.

At one point, Pol helmed 19 dermatology practices in South Florida, which is where he began to understand the motives patients had for Botox and how he could better meet those needs with less invasive technology.

“I had this idea for a facial treatment when I started working for the head of dermatology at Mount Sinai, and I thought there were devices that could sculpt your cheekbones, define your jawline, tighten your skin and lift your brows,” said Pol, who started to use his patients as an informal focus group.

“I put all my love, passion and time in this treatment for 11 years. I put in the work, tested on every skin type. We were a very large practice, and I got to do this on a lot of different women before it got to all of Hollywood,” he continued.

The point of The Beauty Sandwich is that results are both immediate and long-lasting, and requires Pol’s eye for proportion and beauty trends. “I can manipulate, almost like makeup, to create these contours and this effect on the face. The machines already had their scientific backing, I just changed the way the technology was being dispersed,” Pol said.

“Results had to be instant. They needed to marry my two worlds where I was a makeup artist, and the treatments I was then doing in the dermatology practice because they all worked. To us, The Beauty Sandwich is artistry, technology and science,” he said.

As it turns out, no two sandwiches are the same. “I always change it a little bit, they’re based on trends that I see in the forefront,” Pol said. “People are really into one of my clients, Sabrina Carpenter, who has this voluminous, healthy face that’s still defined. People used to want something more gaunt or severe.”

Pol, who has only practiced in Los Angeles for six years, likened the treatment to a business of one of his clients. “Everyone is obsessed with Skims, and I did Kim for the opening of Skims’ [New York store]. The Beauty Sandwich is like shapewear for your face,” he said. “Your cheekbones float upward, your lower face feels light and tight. It’s like a bra for your face.”

Last awards season was a career highlight for the facialist, and it may have been his busiest. “Specifically, working with Emma Stone — she had so much trust in me during that time, and she won her second Oscar,” he said. “Sabrina Carpenter and I have worked together for five years, and to see her evolve into this pop princess is so special.”

The treatment’s emotionally uplifting qualities are also why he thinks clients keep coming back for it. “The Beauty Sandwich snatches your skin and your spirit. If you leave feeling snatched, you feel more confident. That’s the number-one thing that every client tells me. It’s what I want to bottle up, and that’s the whole thing with the skin care.”

His time as a makeup artist has also informed his bedside manner. “I remembered doing this before as a makeup artist and being panicked. It was a time before social media where a client could throw their phone at you if they got mad,” he said. “I remember the first time I did Salma for the Oscars, and all of a sudden, she just said I had incredible energy and kicked everyone else out of the room. It’s a very precious time for a client.”

First came the results, and then came the branding genius. Pol was quick to assume the moniker of the “Beauty Sandwich,” meant to evoke the layers of radio frequencies and products spread onto the skin on his treatment bed. It’s since given birth to a slew of products with names like “Secret Sauce” and “Amuse Bouche Appetizing Antioxidant Spritz.”

“I wanted for people to understand that, coming from a medical background, the skin is an organ. We’re very far in understanding gut health, but there is a whole skin health thing where it almost has a digestive system. It gets hungry, it gets thirsty and it craves certain things,” Pol said of the products. “You want to feed your face a Michelin-starred meal.”