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In aesthetics, luxury is more than a beautiful office or a premium price tag. It’s the feeling a patient carries throughout their journey. Every touchpoint, from the moment they book an appointment to the moment they see their results, shapes how your brand is experienced and remembered.
In a recent Moxie-hosted Aesthetic Visionaries conversation, two industry-leading experts—Hilary Baer Hogan and Kaeli Lindholm—shared what it truly takes to create a luxury brand in aesthetics. Their insights reveal that luxury isn’t defined by cost; it’s built on consistency, connection, and intentionality.
Meet the Experts
Hilary Baer Hogan, MSN/BSN, BC-NP, Founder of Bare Skin Marin
Hilary is a respected aesthetic nurse practitioner and the founder of Bare Skin Marin, a women-led, multi-award winning destination based in Marin County, CA. Known for her intentional approach to aesthetics, she integrates artistry, science, and patient-centered care. At Bare Skin Marin, Hilary created the Bare Skin Method, a proprietary multimodal framework that delivers natural, long-lasting results.
She credits Moxie with providing key support during her early growth stage and often recommends the partnership to other aspiring practice owners.
Kaeli Lindholm, CEO of KLC Consulting and Founder of the POP Leadership Academy
Kaeli is a business strategist, speaker, and leadership coach for medspa and aesthetic practice owners. As CEO of KLC Consulting and host of The Fierce Factor Podcast, she helps entrepreneurs scale without losing their personal touch. Through her POP Leadership Academy, Kaeli equips aesthetic leaders with systems, team training, and brand strategies to build resilient, high-performing practices.
What Does Luxury Really Mean in Aesthetics?
Luxury in aesthetics is as much about the intangible as the tangible. While premium décor or high-end products play a role, the essence of luxury is delivering an experience that feels thoughtful, individualized, and consistently excellent.
“When I think about luxury, it can refer both to a tangible item like a piece of jewelry or artwork, or a greater experience at large. Excellence, on the other hand, is the relentless pursuit of luxury — and being able to deliver that luxury with consistency.”
— Hilary Baer Hogan
For Bare Skin Marin, that has meant curating the space with local female artists’ work, giving the office character while also elevating community voices. It has also meant structuring appointments to allow for meaningful dialogue, where patients’ deeper goals are explored rather than rushing through a list of services.
Kaeli echoes the thought that luxury is inseparable from excellence. For her, consistency is key.
“We’re in what I call a trust recession. Patients are overwhelmed by competing claims and endless options. Genuine human connection is the one thing that consistently sets a practice apart.”
— Kaeli Lindholm
Creating a Luxury Patient Experience as Your Medspa Grows
Time and Attention: The True Currency of Luxury
Scaling a medspa often brings pressure to maximize time and efficiency, yet true luxury depends on presence and attention to detail. Hilary warns against compressing consultations into 15-minute slots, noting that most requests for a specific service are really statements for wanting to look and feel better overall. As she explains in the clip below:
“I think that med spas often assume that the patient wants exactly what they’re requesting… When in reality, that request is often an umbrella statement for ‘just make me look better in general.’”
Personalization and Wow Moments
As Bare Skin Marin grew, Hilary infused her personal passions into the brand. Featuring local artwork not only elevated the aesthetic environment but also created moments of connection with patients, many of whom stopped to admire or purchase the pieces.
She also found inspiration beyond aesthetics. Hilary credits Will Guidara’s book Unreasonable Hospitality — which shares lessons from Eleven Madison Park’s legendary guest service — as a major influence in elevating Bare Skin Marin’s patient journey.
Kaeli adds that smaller or boutique practices, in particular, have an advantage: agility. They can create “wow” moments that larger operations struggle to replicate. This might mean returning a forgotten item with a handwritten note and sample product, or letting patients choose their own music during treatment. These small, intentional gestures create memorable experiences that feel bespoke.
Positioning and Branding Strategies for High-Value Patients
Luxury branding isn’t just about the patient experience; it’s also a powerful business strategy. Kaeli outlined three core elements that distinguish high-performing practices:
- Pricing as positioning. Higher fees not only signal quality but also create margin to reinvest in the patient experience — from décor to details.
- Team training. Every team member must embody the brand promise, from the first phone call to the last follow-up. Professionalism, communication, and consistency are non-negotiable.
- Specialization. Proprietary techniques or signature methods create a “halo effect,” where expertise in one area elevates credibility in others.
How you showcase your brand matters, too. Hilary likened social media to an interior designer’s portfolio—an accessible way to demonstrate style and quality. She elaborates further in the clip below.
Modern Luxury in Aesthetics: Beyond Beautiful Spaces
Today’s patients are increasingly sophisticated. They understand that no single procedure delivers a complete transformation. As Hilary explained, true luxury lies in comprehensive treatment plans that combine modalities, broken into milestones that make progress tangible and less overwhelming.
One striking example was a bride who came in requesting microneedling. Rather than simply fulfilling that request, Hilary designed a phased plan — strengthening lifting muscles, optimizing skin health, and carefully refining light reflections with filler. The result was natural, long-lasting, and far more impactful than microneedling alone.
In her words, guiding patients through multimodal treatments not only creates better outcomes but also provides a “proof of concept” and “proof of progress” that inspires trust.
Leadership and the Luxury Patient Journey
A luxury brand doesn’t sustain itself by chance, it requires leadership. Kaeli emphasized that excellence must be documented, trained, and reinforced. From how the phone is answered to how patients are greeted, every step should be intentional.
“Leadership is simply setting the standard of excellence, writing it down on paper, and then training your team to exactly what is expected and holding them accountable to delivering that.”
— Kaeli Lindholm
One tool she teaches is a five-star greeting protocol, where team members use and repeat the patient’s name to establish rapport immediately. These small details, when trained and reinforced, create consistency across the entire practice.
Hilary added that one of Bare Skin Marin’s proudest achievements is how often their Google reviews mention the team experience. “The most commonly used word is 'team', and that speaks to the standard of excellence we’ve set.”
She also credits resources like Kaeli’s Fierce Factor Podcast for shaping her leadership approach. Listening to more than 150 episodes gave Hilary the frameworks she needed to create a stronger team culture and patient journey.
Final Takeaway
Luxury in aesthetics is evolving. It’s no longer just a polished waiting room or high-end product line. It’s intentionality, consistency, and connection. It’s delivering an experience where patients feel cared for, listened to, and guided toward their best outcomes.
➡️ At Moxie, we help practices bring this vision to life — combining marketing, compliance, coaching, and technology so medspas can scale while keeping luxury at the center of their brand.
👉 Book a strategy session with Moxie to learn how to elevate your patient experience and position your practice as a true luxury brand.
When you're ready to take the next step in launching or growing your aesthetic practice, here are 3 ways Moxie can help:
