Put on a Happy Facial : When Skin Needs a Friend, Ilona of Hungary Stands Ready

Her regal portrait dominates the lobby of her Crystal Court skin salon and most of her advertisements. She rides a chauffeur-driven Rolls and talks about women who cheat on their skin.

She is Ilona Meszaros, known as Ilona of Hungary, who during the 1956 uprising fled her native country to seek her fortune in America.

Apparently she has found it. As president of what she describes as a multimillion-dollar beauty business, Ilona--who lives part of the year in Costa Mesa and divides the rest of her time among homes in Denver, New York and Chicago--preaches skin care with an evangelical fervor. She is determined to help American women achieve the almost spiritual appreciation of the skin that has long been maintained by Europeans.

“I remember when they were bombing Budapest,” she says in her Zsa Zsa Gabor accent. “The women were not hiding underground, they were in a (salon) having facials. They knew how important it was to take care of their skin.”

Ilona--who has six Institutes of Skin Care scattered across the country, the newest of which is in Costa Mesa’s Crystal Court--aggressively promotes her vast line of products and skin care treatments. Throughout the year she visits each salon to personally examine clients, and she frequently publishes brochures instructing women on how to use her treatments at home.

Ilona--wearing a large black-and-white picture hat, green-and-white striped jacket and pearl necklace--declined to give her age, explaining: “European women do not reveal their age, or if they do, they lie. So instead of lying, I don’t say.”

She will say that she graduated more than 30 years ago from the government-run Esthetic School of Budapest before leaving Hungary for a New Jersey refugee camp in 1956.

During that time “communism was in its rudest form,” she says. “I was participating in the uprising, so I had to leave. When it comes down to your life, you do what you must do.”

She came to this country with 33 cents and no understanding of the language. But “when my foot hit the ground, I knew I was in the right place. I knew I would make it.”

After a short stint in a handbag factory she turned to waitressing to learn the language. But through it all, faces came first. She had decided to practice in America the techniques she had learned in Hungary.

After earning an esthetician’s license, she met and married George Meszaros, who owned a beauty salon. Together they built the company, whose branches are located in New York, Houston, Chicago, Dallas and Palm Springs as well as Costa Mesa. (Meszaros is chairman and executive vice president of the company.)

Ilona’s beauty system ranges from common-sense advice--stay out of the sun and drink lots of water--to a complex, time-consuming regimen of oils, balms, masks and mists.

The emphasis on natural ingredients, particularly vitamins and minerals, is what sets her line of more than 80 products apart from many others on the market, she says. Her Royal Mask Treatment is a mixture of tiny quail eggs and enzymes; her natural mineral water facial mist is plumbed from an ancient Hungarian spring; her soap contains mink oil.

She says her products are designed to retain the skin’s natural moisture rather than blanket it with heavy oils.

“This skin you’re going to have for the rest of your life,” she says, scrutinizing a visitor’s chin through a magnifying glass. “How youthful you keep it is in your hands.”

According to Ilona, everyone needs professional skin care, including kids.

“It’s becoming a family affair,” she says. “The child needs different treatments than the mother and father. It’s not enough to give your daughter a college education; (you should) teach her how to have blemish-free skin as well. This should start at home, like brushing your teeth. “

When customers arrive for treatments at her salon, they are led down the red-carpeted corridors to soundproof rooms where classical music and a massage table await. (“It’s like lying on a cloud,” says Ilona, gesturing to the contoured bed, which is wrapped in a white sheet.)

In these rooms one may choose from among 24 procedures, including body massages ($50), eyelash tints ($20), manicures ($13) and a comprehensive one-hour facial ($50), which is the most popular service offered. The treatments are performed by the institute’s state-licensed estheticians, all trained by Ilona.

A facial begins with an exam under magnification to determine the extent of wrinkles and other ravages of time. The treatments usually include vaporizing, brushing, massaging, several methods of cleansing and an assortment of masks, used to “revitalize and stimulate” the skin.

According to Ilona, facials are becoming more popular with men: “Instead of the two-martini luncheons, they are coming in here,” she says, noting that alcohol can damage the skin.

Martinis are not the skin’s only enemies; the sun is its greatest foe, she says.

“If I can teach my clients only one thing it is ‘stay out of the sun!’ If she has been in the sun, I would encourage her to try to undo the damage she’s inflicted on herself and avoid it from this point on. It’s never too late to do something positive for your skin.”

Despite all of its sunshine, Orange County has beckoned Ilona and her husband for many years, and they are now looking for a house to buy in Newport Beach. Meanwhile, they are renting a condominium in Costa Mesa.

Ilona’s press releases describe her glamorous comings and goings with her husband, their luxury cars and elegant houses. So it’s no surprise that the couple is attracted to Southern California, where luxury cars and elegant trappings are plentiful.

According to Ilona, Orange County has been good to them. “We are doing fabulously here in Costa Mesa,” she says. “Everyone (here) wants to look better, and because of all the sun, many know they need help.”

Although her dreams of success have come true, Ilona says she is still filled with “incredible ambition.”

“I will never retire,” she says. “For me there is no such thing. I would not be a pleasant person to be around.”

She plans to continue to open salons in major cities throughout the world and develop additional products. Beyond that, “who knows where we will end up? We will just keep going.”