Daylight saving time ending is rough enough on its own—that “extra” hour sounds like a gift until your body spends the whole week arguing with the clock. Add a cross-country trip (with a layover in Atlanta) right before it, and your internal clock just gives up.
That was my late October. I flew out to Big Sky, MT—two hours behind my body clock—came home three days later and attempted to readjust, then the clocks fell back on November 1 and I got to do it all over again. I never feel rested after flying from 34F on Delta, but with three time shifts in one week, I was tired in the bone-deep, is-it-lunch-or-bedtime way that coffee doesn’t touch.
I’ll also admit something: I thought I knew how to do lymphatic brushing. More pressure, more results, right? A good, vigorous pass, a little pink afterward as proof it was working.
The fix came, unexpectedly, at the spa at One&Only Moonlight Basin, the brand’s first U.S. resort, where I tried the Epicutis x Cecily Braden Body Ritual ($395 for 60 minutes; $590 for 90) in a treatment room with a floor-to-ceiling window framing Lone Mountain. Cecily Braden is the aesthetician behind the lymphatic brush that anchors the treatment. Epicutis supplies everything else—and it’s the part I keep thinking about.
One&Only Spa
One&Only Spa
If you haven’t heard of Epicutis, that’s partly by design: It’s sold through licensed skin-care professionals, and its roots are more lab than marketing department. In 1991, Princeton molecular biologist Dr. Jeffry Stock discovered a class of small molecules in his lab; in 2003, he and his son, Maxwell Stock, spun that research out into a biotech company, Signum Biosciences. Maxwell, now Epicutis’ founder and CEO, built the line partly out of personal frustration. “I suffer from greasy, sensitive skin and could not find a product I was comfortable using,” he has said.
There’s a Japanese thread running through the brand, too. Signum’s corporate partner is Rohto Pharmaceutical, and in 2016 Masanori Tamura—the formulator Epicutis credits with developing Hada Labo—joined as head formulator. You can feel that influence in the products, which proudly feature short ingredient lists, elegant textures and a fixation on the skin barrier rather than quick-fix actives. The brand’s line is “fewer ingredients, more intention,” which, for someone whose skin reacts to practically everything, reads as fewer chances for something to go wrong.
The ritual itself is a head-to-toe affair, and it’s more thoughtful than your standard body treatment. It starts with a showerless body exfoliation (no peeling yourself off the table to rinse), then Braden’s lymphatic brushing, followed by nourishing massage oils and Epicutis’ Lipid Body Treatment ($225)—the hero here. It’s built on Hyvia, the brand’s patented chia seed-derived oil for hydration and barrier support, plus caffeine, spilanthes flower extract, ceramides and glucosyl hesperidin, a citrus-derived flavonoid, and it’s formulated without preservatives. It sinks in and leaves skin smooth and cushioned, not slick. A restorative facial mask and cooling globes finish it off. I had the 90-minute version, which adds an enhanced facial with Epicutis’ Oil Cleanser ($85) and a sculpting gua sha massage.
Epicutis
Epicutis
But the brushing is what changed my mind. It’s light. Very, very light. Long, unhurried strokes with barely any pressure behind them—nothing like the scrubbing I’d been doing at home. Lymphatic work happens just under the surface of the skin, so you don’t need force to move anything. In practice, the gentler I went, the better it worked, and the less I looked like I’d lost a fight with a loofah.
And then the part I didn’t expect. I’m not going to tell you a body treatment cured jet lag. What I can tell you is that I walked into that spa exhausted and slept like a rock—not just that night, but for days afterward, through the trip home and right through the clock change. I’ve had plenty of nice massages that left me relaxed for an hour, but this one carried over.
The good news is that you don’t have to fly to Montana for the at-home part. Guests leave with their own luxe Cecily Braden Lymphatic Brush ($130), and mine has become part of my nighttime routine: a few slow, feather-light passes before bed that signal it’s time to wind down. My skin stays smooth, and the habit sticks because it takes all of two minutes—if that.
Epicutis
Epicutis
If you’re headed to Big Sky, book the ritual, and spring for the 90 minutes. If you’re not, get the brush and the Lipid Body Treatment, and use a much lighter touch than you think you need. Then go to bed and be pleasantly surprised by how well you’ll sleep.
