The Spring of Spry

BA Skin Lab

Barbara Aquino is a New Canaan mom, and a Polish immigrant who has realized the American Dream. Through her thick accent, her English is impeccable... and though she is perfectly polite and very friendly, she’s not afraid to tell it like it is.

Barbara’s passion for skincare started at an early age, and she completed a pre-medical Bachelors degree in Poland, with a focus on dermatology. Barbara came to the United States at 22, and immediately began working in skincare. “The education and norms in Poland are very different, and skincare is considered part of hygiene that’s learned from a young age. Facials are not considered pampering, rather part of healthcare, like having your teeth cleaned at the dentist, not a luxury. Facials are just about having your skin - your largest organ - in good shape. I remember my grandmother always hydrating her skin and putting moisturizer on multiple times a day...and at 90 she still has barely any wrinkles,” Barbara winks. “When I came to the United States, I noticed that, instead of being focused on the health of the skin, people were spending - even splurging - on makeup and products designed to cover up imperfections and make themselves look like something else...it was a real ‘ah ha’ moment for me and something I thought a lot about. My approach is clean and direct, and all about the health of the skin.”

“I saw the Biologique products flying off the shelves, so I started testing the products on my own skin starting with the infamous Lotion P50,” Barbara recalls. “I couldn’t believe the results and the fundamental transformation of my own skin, and I began to attend any training I could get to so I could learn how to utilize the whole line for my clients ...and when I did start working with these products on my clients, they couldn’t get enough!” Eventually, Barbara was recruited directly by the brand to go around the country training other estheticians on diagnosis and tailored treatment plans, as well as proper techniques and the associated technology, like the patented Remodeling Face machine. “I had become an expert and was very enthusiastic about the effectiveness. Top salons were begging Biologique to carry the products, so there was no ‘sales’, which I loved. Biologique brought me to Paris, where I was honored to be trained directly by the Founder, who had developed the techniques that make Biologique so impactful. I began to understand that the reason behind the efficacy, beyond the methodology, was the purity and potency of the ingredients, where bigger brands and companies dilute these kinds of products with fillers and preservatives and cover up the natural components with toxic perfumes. Biologique products contain concentrated raw ingredients like yeast, biological, botanical and marine extract, colostrum, algae, and other plants. There’s no fluff. They’re not meant for mass market, and they require a prescribed regimen. ...And every product has a very specific purpose and order in which it needs to be applied to best penetrate, protect, and strengthen the skin barrier.”

With over twenty years of experience under her belt, and a large roster of clients from her time in New York and Greenwich salons, Barbara opened her own practice, BA Skin Lab, in 2015. “I had become so passionate about the fundamentals and a science- first approach, and implemented this no-nonsense evidence-based approach at the new oasis that I’d created at BA Skin Lab. With my loyal long-time clients and word of mouth quickly spreading, I was booked solid almost immediately.”

Although Barbara has added two Estheticians, Urszula Wandzel and Helena Glosnicka, BA Skin Lab is busier than a bees nest. Urszula shares, “I started working here part-time as a Receptionist and I was astonished with what I was seeing, the transformations... and I was always interested in skincare... I eventually got my license, practiced, went to as many trainings as I could, and shadowed Barbara for over three years before I started seeing my own clients.” And Helena, who grew up with Barbara in Poland, explains, “Barbara and I have known each other since elementary school and have been best friends almost our entire lives. I came to the U.S. shortly after her, and was always admiring Barbara’s passion for her career and wanted to emulate that myself with my own similar love of esthetics. I began to aggressively educate myself and take classes. Barbara had already gotten me hooked With over twenty years of experience under her belt, and a large roster of clients from her time in New York and Greenwich salons, Barbara opened her own practice, BA Skin Lab, in 2015. “I had become so passionate about the fundamentals and a science-first approach, and implemented this no-nonsense evidence-based approach at the new oasis that I’d created at BA Skin Lab. With my loyal long-time clients and word of mouth quickly spreading, I was booked solid almost immediately.” on the Biologique products, so I knew their power. And, growing up in Poland, I had the same sentiment about skincare-as-a-necessity that Barbara did. I’m totally obsessed, and love what I do now. I’m constantly reading about the relationship between skin and autoimmune and gut health, and am always talking to Barbara and Urszula about their opinions on a diagnosis.” Each team member attends multiple mandatory Biologique trainings every year, and travels to about a half-dozen industry conferences and seminars to stay at the forefront of emerging trends and technologies. Barbara has hired two more operations-focused team members, Victoria and Kinga, and all three Estheticians are in high demand, booking out about two months in advance. And this year, BA Skin lab is expanding into more treatment rooms and bringing on more highly trained team members to accommodate the demand.

And though BA Skin Lab carries an array of products and brands, Biologique remains at the center of the approach. “Skin is like a fingerprint,” Barbara explains. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s specific and particular to each person, and different people need different mixtures and products. We focus on diagnosing each client’s skin, and doing so on an ongoing basis, and giving them the correct formulation that works for them, and adjusting on an ongoing and seasonal basis, and giving our clients the education and information to upkeep the progress between visits. It’s called a ‘Lab’ because the mix of serums and lotions and masks for each client is like a prescription.” The anonymous white bottles have almost no branding, and blend-in in any bathroom cabinet, so they’re easy to miss or just not notice... and they’re still not carried in normal stores or even most spas or salons. ...But with celebrities like Kim K, Victoria Beckham and Hailey Bieber touting the effectiveness of the brand, it’s become the must- have that women just can’t get enough of. The thing is...where to find it...and the professionals trained on how to use it properly!

I started going to BA Skin Lab almost a year ago, and I was skeptical, at best. ...But I needed a good facial! My skin was in bad shape from the winter and needed some love. I had no intention of leaving with Biologique products, or any products for that matter...but Helena was my Esthetician and I was flabbergasted by how beautiful her skin was, she looked like a porcelain doll, and she shared her own story and journey with Biologique, and showed me some of the pictures of her own skin from before that left me floored. The facial itself was relaxing, but so much more intense than any other I’d ever had, focusing on lymphatic drainage and manual lifting and resculpting rather than steaming and superfluous oily pore-clogging massages. I was amazed with how much difference I saw immediately, my skin actually looked more sculpted and lifted, and I was actually glowing...So I decided to give just two products a try: the milky cleanser and the line’s hero product, P50, known as a ‘facial in a bottle’. I applied both religiously twice a day, in the morning and at night, in addition to some of my other products. ...And within a month I saw a marked difference in my skin! The normal dryness I had in colder months was gone, I hadn’t had a pimple since I started using it, and my pores were noticeably smaller. I called BA Skin Lab and begged them to fit me into the schedule because I had to have more. A year later, I’ve added in a cocktail of serums that have changed seasonally, two retinol- based creams, and a few moisturizers and masks that are swapped-around as needed.

Our family’s annual ski trip is typically a time when my skin is at its worst. The cold weather combined with the stress of travel usually leads to breakouts and dry skin. ...This winter I waited for the worst... but my skin remained glowing, and clearer than ever. Barbara had packed me an extra strong moisturizing mask as an insurance, which I applied as needed, and any impending dehydration seemed to immediately plump. Truly, my skin has never been better.

Though I don’t want to go completely overboard, the marked difference in my skin and complexion has actually been life-changing. In a world of first impressions, your face is the first thing people see. A bad pimple can be a day-ruiner. Whether it’s right or wrong, something wrong with your complexion can totally throw off your confidence. So when I say life-changing...I mean to say that I haven’t thought about what’s on my face or how it looks since I started going to BA Skin Lab. Armed with my ever-full bag of products, my skin is radiant! And though I won’t claim that it’s a quick fix - or cheap - the results are worth every last penny!