The Cool Girl’s Acne Whisperer

“Lifting and sculpting and all that. It’s sexy,” says facialist Sofie Pavitt as she smooths a foaming enzyme mask onto my face at her third-floor spa in Manhattan’s Chinatown. But while I’m reaching a dream-state bliss, Pavitt herself is in the weeds carefully carving out chiseled cheekbones — and leading the charge to apply a results-driven philosophy to treating acne-prone skin. (It wasn’t long ago that the only “acne” mentioned in high-brow conversation was the Swedish fashion label; now, Pavitt is posting TikTok explainers on benzoyl peroxide and witchily impressive before-and-after photos on Instagram.) “We’re talking throughout the whole treatment,” she says, whisking off the mask with gentle finesse. “Because we want to educate our clients, too.”

The musician Cate Le Bon — who’s Welsh, like Pavitt — comes up on the playlist. Overhead, Pavitt peppers our conversation with check-ins about the steam she’s using. People with rosacea and severe cases of acne would be wise to skip it, she advises; similarly, “melasma really responds to heat about as much as UV.” But for the most part, she likes it for its skin-softening, feel-good benefits. She looks down at my face: “A little steamy, dewy dumpling.” Pavitt traces her appreciation for mid-treatment banter to the first New York City facials she used to get at a cultish day spa in the aughts. The results were impressive, she says, but there was no discussion about skin care at home, no questions about goals — just a lineup of products to buy. “I was like, ‘Wow, I want to do the opposite of that,’” she says. “If you have a serious skin condition like acne, then you need to make a relationship with a dermatologist and an esthetician like you would a hairdresser.”

“You need to make a relationship with a dermatologist and an esthetician like you would a hairdresser.”

This mindset has helped earn her a cross-section of regulars. For some, having a cared-for complexion is entwined with a life in the spotlight: Zendaya on the big screen, Lorde on stage, Ella Emhoff on the runways, Ego Nwodim on SNL. Pavitt seldom talks about her starry lineup, but it has earned her a reputation as a go-to resource for the downtown cool girls. (And guys — Jeremy O. Harris has been in.) “I got asked in an interview recently, ‘What kind of prep do you have for Fashion Week?’” Pavitt says. “And you know what? I’m not — because I see everyone six months before.” But for most of her roster, whether they’re postpartum or trans, lasting transformation is a flex that requires coaching through hormonal shifts and breakouts. One client, Pavitt says, is a badass defense attorney with “crazy cystic acne.” “To clear her and to give her that confidence — you can’t replicate that.”

Pavitt’s success in the skin business — she launched her spa in 2018 and her acne-minded product line, Sofie Pavitt Face, five years later — follows a mid-career pivot. She credits her frequent travels to Korea for a job designing handbags for Michael Kors with sparking the fascination. The K-beauty market was booming, but she was the only person who would bring back sheet masks, she remembers. Pavitt completed an aesthetics program at the Christine Valmy beauty school while keeping a foot in fashion: “I didn’t see my husband for a year,” she deadpans. When she made the leap to open her own aesthetics practice, she also took on a part-time job with a dermatologist and still works in a clinic one day a week. Access to the derm side of things furnished her with a growing skill set — she performs laser therapy, platelet-rich plasma treatments, and medical-grade peels — and offered a firsthand look at what’s missing from the usual doctor-patient interaction. Prescriptions might be doled out without much follow-up; questions about root causes might be skipped in time-crunched appointments. Pavitt realized she could meaningfully fill those gaps in her treatment room — and then the pandemic struck in 2020. “I sat in a dark room for a week when we closed the studio and thought, ‘I’m going to drink one martini a day. Because otherwise I’m going to start drinking five,’” she says of that initial shock. Her husband, who works in tech, suggested she take her practice online, and the reception was almost overwhelming; more than four years on, she still has 20 or so virtual appointments each week.

Pavitt seldom talks about her starry lineup, but it has earned her a reputation as a go-to resource for the downtown cool girls.

Her peers have taken note. “I see her as sort of Beyoncé,” facialist Raquel Medina-Cleghorn says, “where I’m like, ‘Do you have 36 hours in every day and the rest of us have 24?’” Medina-Cleghorn, who previously worked as a lead esthetician under Joanna Czech, says she remembers marveling at the way Pavitt launched her business straight out of school before going on to become a mother of two while balancing a growing team and a namesake product line. “I would say she’s a woman for women, but it’s even more than that — because her love for the industry and her community-mindedness extends to everyone,” she adds, describing the aesthetician supper club, named Esthi Meet, Pavitt organized. Rebecca Zhou, who runs the treatment-focused body care brand Soft Services, talks shop with Pavitt as a fellow founder — and as someone who spent years dealing with acne. (Pavitt steered her away from oil-based cleansers and toward a fish oil supplement.) “Somehow she’s able to be an authority while still being curious, which I think is really interesting,” Zhou says.

Pavitt’s hunger for knowledge and innovation is reflected in her eponymous line. “[A formula] can’t exist already,” she says. “That is the key to sustainability. It’s not packaging; it’s not saying you are going carbon-neutral. It’s actually just being really intentional with your edit.” Her debut product — Mandelic Clearing Serum, which arrived in March 2023 — foregrounds a lesser-known alpha hydroxy acid for gentle exfoliation, while panthenol and hyaluronic acid hydrate. Next came Clean Clean Cleanser, a gel formula named for its thoroughness balanced with hydrators like glycerin and allantoin. Nice Ice Toner Pods use an anti-inflammatory blend (niacinamide, ashwagandha, green tea extract) to keep skin chill. There are micellar-soaked pads for easy makeup removal, and a benzoyl peroxide mask boosted with kaolin clay and panthenol for a short-contact acne treatment. “I used an expired moisturizer at my house this weekend and broke out so badly,” says Pavitt, who, in a flash of optimism, saw a proof-of-concept opportunity with the Reset mask. “I was like, ‘Yay, I got some pimples!’ So I’ve been filming all weekend being like, ‘Look! Look at it work!’”

“I see her as sort of Beyoncé where I’m like, ‘Do you have 36 hours in every day and the rest of us have 24?’”

That’s the rare upside as far as acne is concerned. “It’s so emotionally charged,” she says. “I would never claim to be a therapist at all, but [there’s] a level of empathy you need to have for your clients. They really unload.” Pavitt’s logo reflects that: a set of comedy/tragedy sheet masks in a twist on those representing the Greek muses. The faces hang in the window of her Chinatown spa, and you can also spot them at Pavitt’s new Williamsburg office. There’s even a nod to them in the first (to-be-released) cream in the line, which is designed to suit people juggling dryness and flare-ups, particularly in winter. The moisturizer meets to Pavitt’s do-no-harm standard, and the vibes are immaculate. The jar’s lid, seen from the top, is molded in the shape of one of those theater masks: the happy one.