The story behind the Facial System

The Facial System is the signature treatment at Pause, and it is older than the studio itself. It grew out of years of Liliya Subgani's work with her guests, long before Pause had an address, and in a way the studio exists because of it.

Liliya is our Chief cosmetologist. She has been working with skin for more than 17 years, and her knowledge of the skin and facial anatomy comes from hands-on practice and constant learning. Her approach brings together precise facial massage and skincare chosen for each person. Over the years thousands of guests have trusted her with their skin, and many of them travel from other countries to see her.

Liliya moved to Portugal in 2023 and almost as soon as she arrived started seeing guests at home, where one of the rooms in the flat became a treatment room. Her first guests were friends and people who had heard that a new cosmetologist was in town. Everything happened by word of mouth. One guest told a friend, who booked and told someone else.

Within about nine months, it became clear that she needed a separate place to work. She rented a treatment room, where she could welcome both her regular guests and the new people finding her through recommendations. Her practice continued to grow, with facial massage at the centre of it.

By the time Liliya moved to Portugal, she had been doing facial massage for around 15 years, and for most of that time it was the main focus of her work. She studied several techniques, among them Japanese kobido, buccal massage and lymphatic drainage. Over time she combined them into a protocol of her own. That protocol is what guests kept coming back for, and whatever else they booked, they wanted Liliya's massage included. Today the same massage makes up the first half of the Facial System.

In Liliya's booking system this treatment had a working name, "anything + massage", and around nine in ten of her guests chose it. The massage was the fixed part of the visit, and the "anything" was skincare. As a cosmetologist, Liliya never saw massage alone as a complete treatment. It works mostly with the muscles of the face and much less with the skin itself, so a face can look rested and more defined after a session and still need cleansing or hydration.

So every visit was, in effect, a personalised facial built around the same massage. Liliya chose the skincare according to the condition of the skin that day and what the guest wanted to work on. For one guest that meant cleansing and exfoliation, for another a mask and products to calm the skin.

As the practice grew, Liliya could no longer do everything on her own. As luck would have it, she then met a partner who wanted to open a studio with her. A year later they signed the lease and started fitting out the space.

While the studio was being prepared, Liliya trained the first specialists who would work there. They practised in her treatment room and sometimes at home. Every specialist who has joined Pause since then has been trained the same way, and every treatment in the studio follows Liliya's protocols.

The name appeared during one of those training sessions. The specialists were working on a model, and sitting nearby was Daria Stepanova, Liliya's business partner and co-founder of Pause Studio. At some point someone asked what the treatment should actually be called. For a while they had used Liliya's full name followed by "massage + skincare", but for someone hearing it for the first time that said very little.

That idea of a routine shaped how the treatment is meant to be used. The Facial System is designed to be done once every two weeks, so you do not have to plan it or think about it. You come in and get the care your skin needs at that moment. If you prefer a different pace, a single Facial System is still a complete treatment in its own right.

Today the Facial System is a facial and massage in one 90-minute treatment. The first 45 minutes are the massage built on Liliya's protocol, which releases tension, reduces puffiness and improves circulation. The next 45 minutes are skincare, with cleansing, exfoliation, masks and active products. The treatment costs €135.

It is the treatment Pause started with, and it is still the one we suggest for a first visit, because over 90 minutes the specialist gets to know your skin and can tell you what is worth doing next, if anything.