Estée Lauder Opens Skin Longevity Institute at Costa Rica Resort
New institute at Hacienda AltaGracia pairs Re-Nutriv treatments and AI skin analysis with resort wellness near a recognized 'Blue Zone'.
Estée Lauder has opened its first Skin Longevity Institute in the Americas at Hacienda AltaGracia, Auberge Resorts Collection, in Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica, offering a suite of Re-Nutriv face and body treatments, AI-driven skin analysis and longevity-focused wellness programming.
The institute, launched formally in May, sits within Casa de Agua, the resort’s flagship spa and wellness facility, and was developed around Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv skin-care collection. Treatments are designed to be customized after a comprehensive AI skin analysis that the brand says enables aestheticians to prescribe a tailored regimen of serums and creams for each guest.
Hacienda AltaGracia, which opened in fall 2021, is a 180-acre resort composed of 50 casitas, restaurants, pools, hiking trails and equestrian facilities. The spa offers multiple age-reversal face and body services, including four types of Age Reversal facials — Sculpting, Renewal, Glowing and Strengthening — ranging from about 45 minutes to more than an hour. Two combined face-and-body treatments, the 120-minute Energy Ritual and the 90-minute Advanced Contour Ritual, pair massage techniques such as hot stone and lymphatic drainage with Re-Nutriv products.
The Casa de Agua complex features a light-filled, glass-walled pool and hot tub atrium and heated marble beds where guests receive herb-infused mud rituals and other treatments before moving to private treatment rooms. The resort says those offerings are intended to integrate nature, culture and health into a longevity-focused stay.
The institute’s rollout included visits from members of Estée Lauder’s Longevity Collective, a group of scientists, doctors and wellness practitioners curated by the company. Estée Lauder imported New York-based facialist Crystal Greene and energy healer and mind coach Manjit Devgun to support the launch. Justin Boxford, global brand president for Estée Lauder, said Greene was introduced to the company by longtime brand ambassador Carolyn Murphy and that Greene’s techniques, combined with Re-Nutriv, “provide the ultimate transformative experience grounded in our skin longevity science.” Boxford said Devgun’s work in breathwork, energy healing and mindfulness contributes an “important dimension” to longevity programming.
Vivianne Garcia-Tunon, vice president of well-being at Auberge Resorts Collection, said AltaGracia had long emphasized transformative well-being rooted in nature and culture and that the Skin Longevity Institute elevates the resort’s commitment to longevity-focused wellness. Garcia-Tunon told guests’ responses to the new treatments have been “overwhelmingly positive,” and the $175 Re-Nutriv Ultimate Facial Massager has been a top seller in the spa’s retail shop.
Pérez Zeledón is adjacent to one of the world’s five regions commonly referred to as “Blue Zones,” areas identified in public health research for high concentrations of centenarians and long-lived populations. Estée Lauder and Auberge Resorts cite the proximity to a Blue Zone and the resort’s emphasis on nature and healthy living as complementary to the institute’s longevity aims.
AltaGracia offers inclusive nightly rates described by the resort as "holistic," which start at roughly $1,550 and include meals, nonalcoholic beverages, wellness and adventure experiences listed on a daily calendar and ground transportation to Pérez Zeledón Airport. Guests are assigned a dedicated concierge, called a "Compa," to help design and coordinate their stay.
Estée Lauder began developing the institute at AltaGracia more than a year before this spring’s launch, and the company framed the initiative as part of a broader trend toward premium, experience-driven wellness. Boxford said consumers across generations are seeking exclusive experiences to improve health of mind and body and that “longevity is the new luxury.”
The institute links spa-based treatments with product retail and experiential programming at a resort that markets itself on immersion in Costa Rica’s natural environment. Estée Lauder and AltaGracia say they aim to provide visitors with both immediate spa benefits and longer-term skin-care regimens informed by the company’s Skin Longevity research and the customized recommendations produced by the institute’s AI skin-analysis tool.