When it comes to beauty, we’re living in an era of contradictions. We’re constantly told to love ourselves and embrace our “flaws”, yet it’s never been more normalised to tweak the bits of our faces we don’t like that much. Public figures are regularly shamed for getting more and more work done, yet beauty standards increasingly demand we all look younger and smoother and more symmetrical.
Is this messing with our self-image? What does it actually even mean to be beautiful now? Eleven public figures – from an aesthetician and a drag queen, to a makeup artist and an academic – open up about what they see when they look in the mirror, and get candid about the products, treatments and procedures it’s taken to get them to this point.
‘It took three rounds with a doctor to dissolve all my filler’
Ashley Stobart, 34, podcaster
I’ve spent more than £135,000 on my face. I was 22 when I got my first surgery – my nose. That was actually quite cheap, £3,500! And I hit peak filler around 25. Back then, I worked in sales for a cosmetic surgery company, and if there was filler left over at the end of the day, it would be like: “Right, who’s next?” I was getting treatments every month. I didn’t know filler wouldn’t disappear. I just thought I’m having it done and it’s going to go away, and then I’ll get more.
It wasn’t until my last pregnancy that I truly saw what all those injections had done. Pregnancy meant no treatments, and with the water retention, my face was massive. The hyaluronic acid that fillers are made of attracts water, and my face was so swollen I barely recognised myself. Seeing my reflection was a shock. I thought: “What have you done? You’re so stupid.” I decided right then: I was done with fillers, for good.
It took three rounds with the doctor to get it all dissolved. I was left with loose skin around my jaw and mouth – you could pull four centimetres of it away from my face. So I decided to get a facelift. Some surgeons told me that, at 34, I was “too young”, but finally I found one who would do it. It took nine hours, and despite my dissolving sessions he was still picking bits of old filler out of my face, green balls of it. Thinking about it is horrendous.
If you saw me nine years ago, when I was in my filler phase, you’d probably think I was just some bimbo. I’m sure I didn’t get certain jobs or attracted the wrong kind of people. Now, I’m happy with my face. I feel I look more natural. I would love to see what I’d look like if I hadn’t had anything done, but we will never know. Maybe my kids do look like me – I don’t know!
Having children has changed my perspective a bit. I don’t just have myself to think about, so my focus is mainly my health these days – to be able to run around with my kids and live longer. I take a lot of supplements and do a lot of cold therapy. I still love procedures and treatments, though. There’s this misconception that people get surgery because they’re unconfident or unhappy, but for me, it’s just for fun. I’ve had an eyebrow lift, upper eyelid lifts, polynucleotide injections (yes, salmon sperm) … I’ll admit it, I’m vain. I will be getting laser even on my toes and knees at some point, because I just don’t want to age gracefully. I want to look young for ever. It’s my passion.
Ashley Stobart is founder of Cosmetic Consult skincare, and her podcast is Nip Tuck Pod
Most used products
AnteAge Growth Factor Solution, about £200; Dr Pen M8 Microneedling Pen, £149; Cosmetic Consult Miracle Skin Transformation, £39.99 for four sachets, her own product, once or twice a week; SkinCeuticals serums, £75 to £165 each; ZO Skin Health products, from about £30 to £240; AQ Skin Solutions products, £80 to £235 each; Medik8 Retinal Crystal Retinal 3, £49, 30ml; La Mer the Concentrate, £190, 15ml; La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Cream, £500, 50ml; SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight Cream, £134, 30ml; NAD+ and glutathione injections, £350 a month; AG1 food supplement subscription, £79 a month; Symprove gut health subscription, £79 a month; 111 Skin Rose Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Masks, £95 for five; Ziip Halo Facial Toning Device, £379
Treatments
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber, twice a week, £10,000 for 10; Photofabulous laser therapy, £600, every two months; Microneedling facials, £600, monthly; HD Brows, £80, every three weeks; lip and eyebrow tattooing, £600, twice a year; polynucleotide injections, £250, three or four times a year
Procedures
Facelift, £35,000; filler, free, but thousands of pounds’ worth over the years; teeth treatments (composites and orthodontic), £20,000; rhinoplasty, £3,500; eyebrow lift, £10,000; two upper blepharoplasties (eyelid surgery), £3,500 each; filler dissolve, £500, three times; Botox, £500, every 12 weeks
‘I inject a wee bit of something on a Friday night’
Dr David Jack, 40, aesthetic doctor and beauty brand founder
When it comes to injectables, I will happily try anything, as long as it’s not going to make me look too weird. I get Botox and I have a little bit of filler in my mid-face, jawline, chin and around my smile lines. It’s where the bone, as you age, tends to recess, and the filler maintains volume. I’ve done lots of laser facials. I’ve had Morpheus8 microneedling to tighten the skin. I’ve injected Profhilo (hyaluronic acid) to moisturise, and DNA from salmon sperm, which helps with crinkliness under the eyes.
I inject most things myself – I don’t find it weird, I used to operate on people and see their insides, so I’m not very squeamish. The one treatment I don’t do on myself is filler, because what you see in the mirror isn’t necessarily what someone looking at you might see. It’s a nightmare for anybody injecting me. I’m always paranoid that they’re going to do something wrong.
I’ve never been hung up on my facial features. I wouldn’t say I’m the best looking person ever and I’m comfortable with that. Before I started doing aesthetics, I didn’t even use a moisturiser. Now, being in the field, I’m more exposed to treatments than your regular person. I can inject a wee bit of something on a Friday night; I have an interventional attitude. I was losing my hair a lot after the lockdown – it had started to really bother me. I looked so much older and less attractive – and I didn’t think twice about having a hair transplant.
I do worry about teenagers now. There are unrealistic ideals pushed on social media. I think that some clinicians and injectors are to blame for this. The industry needs to focus on looking after the health of your skin rather than being so looks-focused. I think that a lot of people come into working in this industry because they have unresolved issues with body dysmorphia. I think they see their clients through that dysmorphic eye.
I like to think I have quite a good eye with people. I’d also like to think that I’d be able to tell if I was looking overly done. But every year you go to the same aesthetics conference and you see practitioners becoming more and more filled and more alien – that is quite terrifying.
Most used products
Form Radiant Hair Skin & Nails supplement, £39 for 60 capsules; Obagi Elastiderm Eye Cream, £76, 15ml. And from his own beauty brand, Dr David: Supanova Antioxidant Cleansing Gel, £45, 100ml; Good Morning Vitamin C Serum, £89, 30ml; All Day Long Daily Defence SPF50+ Moisturiser, £95, 50ml; Good Night Retinoid Renewal Night Cream, £120, 50ml; Yellow Face Peel, £149, 50ml
Treatments
Morpheus8 microneedling, his own treatment, but costs £1,650, once a year, full face and neck; intense pulsed light (IPL), his own treatment, but costs £450, two or three times a year
Procedures
Profhilo injections, his own treatment, but cost about £450 a session; polynucleotides (injectable bio-stimulation made from fish), his own treatment, but costs £750, three times a year; Botox, his own treatment, but costs £600, four times a year; filler, his own treatment, but costs about £1,950, once a year to 18 months; hair transplant, £10,000
‘I’ve had a lot of experience, and you can see that in my face’
Daphne Selfe, 96, the Guinness world record holder for being the world’s oldest supermodel
Every morning I begin the day by doing a few facial exercises while still in bed. I look up and down and pretend to smile, to keep my muscles taut. Other than that, I don’t think much about my face. I’m lucky that I have high cheekbones, and people admire my eyes. I rarely even bother with makeup. I suppose my cheeks are much thinner at 96 than they were when I was 25, and I have more lines – but I like some of those changes. I’ve had a lot of experience, and you can see that in my face. I’ve got frowning lines and smiling lines. Hopefully more of the latter.
I modelled in my early 20s, but then I gave it up to have children. When I was 70, I was scouted on the street, and that’s when my career really took off. At a time when most women become invisible, I suddenly got a lot of attention – and perhaps that’s why I don’t have a problem with the ageing process. But I also think my lack of concern has to do with the way I was raised. Gazing in the mirror all the time was seen as vain and silly when I was young. It was considered rather shameful to be constantly thinking about yourself. When I catch myself fretting about the way I look, I tell myself firmly to “get on with it”. I only ever look in the mirror to brush my teeth these days. I’m also losing my eyesight, so I can’t see properly when I do attempt to do a bit of gazing. Perhaps that’s for the best!
I would never have Botox or any kind of plastic surgery. Quite apart from anything else, I don’t have the money for that sort of thing. But even if I was offered a free facelift, I would turn it down, because you have to accept what life has given you. I’ve seen people with facelifts, and they lose all expression. I’d hate that. I can’t even be bothered to put lots of different creams on my face. It’s too much effort.
The only “treatment” I ever get done regularly is to get the hairs plucked out of my chin. I have a few, now I’m in my 90s, and they’re very annoying. My daughter helps me pluck them out. The only problem is she lives far away from me, so I can’t get hold of her very often. I have another daughter who lives closer to me, but she’s not so handy with the tweezers.
Interview: Kitty Drake
Most used products
Nivea moisturiser, £5.99, 200ml
Treatments
None
Procedures
None
‘It’s so defeminising having your skin peel off’
Aramidé Onashoga, 33, model and eczema advocate
When my eczema flares up on my face, I feel ugly. It presents as severe, painful rashes that then turn into flaking skin. It’s so defeminising having your skin peel off, dark patches and thickened skin. It is something that you’re just always conscious of, because you cannot hide your face. And it’s so sore.
People lack empathy about it, because it’s not something they’ve experienced. And I think having a skin condition on dark skin brings unique problems. Your melanin helps disguise it. It makes it hard for people to understand. For example, you might know your face is flared up, and then someone might start analysing your appearance, commenting: “Oh, you look so much darker than the last time I saw you. Every time I see you, you look darker and darker.” Bro, my skin condition is flaring up!
It’s why I started modelling: I was looking up pictures of black skin with eczema on Google and nothing was coming up. Now my passion is doing shoots that capture and highlight my eczema. They build my self-confidence and provide representation for many others dealing with skin conditions. Me being on a set in the first instance teaches clients how to manage models with skin conditions, increasing understanding of invisible disabilities in the industry.
I do love trying beauty treatments. I’ve had PRP (platelet-rich plasma injections), where they take blood out of your arm, spin it to separate the platelets, and then inject the concentrated platelets back into you to help with skin regeneration. And I had HA fillers (hyaluronic acid) injected into my lips for cellular hydration. I had severe dryness there and it helped with that.
I saw a big change in my beauty regime about five years ago. I had been taking steroids as a sticking paster for my eczema. But they don’t treat the root cause, and they’re only supposed to be used in the short term. I’d used them for years. They were actually making everything worse. I had a health scare: all my lymph nodes were swollen. It took two years to come off the steroids. Now my focus is wellbeing rather than aesthetics. I try to avoid stress, I eat healthily. I’ve learned my triggers. I actually understand my condition now. And I’ve accepted it’s part of who I am.
Most used products
Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water, £13, 250ml; The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid Serum, gifted, £9, 30ml; Byoma Brightening Serum, £12.99, 30ml; Shea Butter With Evening Primrose Oil, £10 to £15; Topicals Slick Salve Mint Lip Balm, £14, 15ml; The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2% + HA, £18.50, 60ml; The Inkey List Vitamin C Serum, £12, 30ml; La Roche-Posay Anthelios SPF50+, £23.90, 200ml; Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen SPF30, £35, 50ml; Eucerin SPF100 Actinic Control sun cream, £30, 80ml; Westlab Dead Sea Bath Salt, £3.50, 1kg; Kiya Cosmetics African Black Soap, £9 for a bar; Balmonds Skin Salvation, £15, 50ml; La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5, £10.90, 40ml
Treatments
Lymphatic massage, £90, once a year; colonic irrigation, £90, three times a year; salt therapy, £150 for five sessions, seasonally; acupuncture, £30, once a year; PRP treatment with red light, gifted, £80, twice
Procedures
HA filler in lips (to hydrate very dry skin), £300, once
‘Filler made me look like a chipmunk’
Val Garland, 66, makeup artist, author and judge on the BBC show Glow Up
I’ve always been very comfortable in my own skin. Some people say I have a large nose, but in my family, it’s the smallest, so I feel quite good about that. In the 70s, I shaved my eyebrows off, and they never came back. But there’s no way I’d microblade. If it looks too dark, you’re stuck, so I just paint them in.
I get excited by skincare. I have two bathrooms in London full of products – I love trying out new things. About four years ago, I started having facials. I used to think they were overrated, but they’ve changed my life. I thought my skin was good, but then I saw what happens with a hydrating facial, or even just a great lymphatic drainage massage.
I had filler in my cheeks, but didn’t like it – I looked like a chipmunk. Just before the pandemic, an aesthetician convinced me to try lip filler. I knocked on my best friend’s door, and she went: “Oh, my God, what have you done? You’ve got a trout pout!” It looked awful. Thank God for masks in lockdown; they got me through those six months.
These days, I get Profhilo injections in my face for volume, and about a month before I do Glow Up, I get a little Botox around my eyes and in my “divorce line” on my forehead – it just makes me look a bit friendlier. Otherwise I have resting bitch face. Before the pandemic I was getting Botox every three months, but I do it less and less now because I quite like the movement in my face and I feel as if I don’t need it, although I am getting older so I probably do.
I love being the age that I am, because I’ve got so much experience behind me. I’m not fearful like I was in my 20s. I like wearing makeup and I like not wearing makeup. I remember going on Instagram with no makeup once. Some friends said: “Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that.” But we don’t live in a super-airbrushed world. This is real life!
Most used products
Reome Active Recovery Broth, £110, 50ml; Skin Matters Calming Gel, £65, 60ml; Laneige Cream Skin Cerapeptide Toner and Moisturiser, £29.50, 170ml; Caroline Hirons Skin Rocks Moisturiser, £58, 50ml; Ziip Halo facial toning device, gifted, £379; Hello Sunday the One That’s a Serum SPF50, £23, 30ml; Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask, £21, 20g; Tatcha Violet-C Radiance Mask, £70, 50ml; SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Masque, £76, 75ml; This Works in Transit Leave No Traces, £18, 60 pads; Dr Sam’s Flawless Nightly Serum, £48, 30ml; Niod Superoxide Dismutase Saccharide Mist, gifted, £40, 240ml; Niod Copper Amino Isolate Serum 3 1:1, gifted, £70, 30ml
Treatments
Tailored facial, £150 to £250, monthly
Procedures
Botox, £700, once a year; Profhilo, £700, four times a year
‘I feel like a canvas’
The Vivienne, 32, drag queen and actor
It feels strange getting my picture taken out of drag. I feel quite exposed. But it’s also quite liberating. And it was nice not having to arrive at the photoshoot three hours early to get into makeup.
For me it’s this armour that allows me to be a heightened, more confident version of myself. I was a chubby, round kid. It was makeup that helped me learn to love myself. I was 14 when I first bought some and obsessed with watching America’s Next Top Model. I loved my high cheekbones, I still do – although there’s a little bit of filler in there now …
I’ve had filler in my lips, jawline and chin too. I’ve got composite veneers. My eyebrows I shave off for work. I have transfer tattoo eyebrows on, I buy them in bulk from Ali Express. I started Botox when I was 19. I think the sooner you start the better – do it before the wrinkles even get a chance to form!
When you’ve had lots of procedures people feel like they’re allowed to comment on your appearance. Somebody messaged me on a dating app the other day and said, “Oh, you look so much better without your lips.” I’m like: “Well, the lips are for me. They’re not for you, darling. Everything I do is for myself, my own enjoyment.”
Most of the time, the way I look at beauty, I feel like a canvas. Pete Burns took it to the extreme, but he’s an absolute icon of mine and his attitude was, “It’s no one else’s business. This is my body, what I want to do with it is what I’ll do with it.” That’s what I believe. It’s not that I was ever unhappy with my face, it’s more, “Ooh, this cheekbone could be a bit bigger.” And because it’s mainly fillers, most can be dissolved in a day. I’ll ruin what I want to ruin, it’s mine. The one treatment I did get because of an insecurity was my hair transplant. This sounds dramatic, but losing your hair feels like being stripped of your identity. People say, “Go bold and embrace it”, but you wouldn’t say that to a woman, would you?
Right now, my focus is skincare. I’m starring in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and sometimes have two shows a day. My poor face goes through it because I have to shave every day, sometimes twice a day on a two-show day, and I’m wearing so much makeup. I play two characters, so I have makeup changes in the show as well. I have to go heavy on the moisturiser. Sometimes I wonder what I’d look like if I didn’t take care of my skin.
The Vivienne is playing the Childcatcher in a nationwide tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Most used products
Clarins Super Restorative Day Cream, £82, 50ml; Clarins Multi-Active Night Cream, £52, 50ml; Clarins Double Serum, £65, 30ml; ZO Skin Health Complexion Renewal Pads, £45.10 for 60 pads; ZO Skin Health Exfoliating Polish, £55, 65g; Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm, £49, 100g; Biotin supplements for hair, £5 to £15 a month; eyebrow tattoo stickers, about £1 for 10 sets
Treatments
Sophia Bailey hydrofacials, gifted, £120, monthly; LVL lash lift, £80, occasionally
Procedures
Botox, gifted, £200, every six months; fillers in lips, chin, jaw, nose, cheeks, gifted, £600 to £800, every six months; hair transplant at Hair Transplant Liverpool, gifted, about £6,000; composite veneers, gifted, £5,000
‘My forehead reduction left me with bruising all over my face’
Meryl Williams, 28, digital creator and winner of The Traitors season one
I used to be so self-conscious of my forehead. I hated getting photographs taken. I wouldn’t even wash my face in front of anyone, because I would have to pull my hair back to do it. Even when I watched myself back on The Traitors, all I could think was: “Oh my God, my forehead.” I hyper-fixated on it and thought it was all anyone thought about when they talked to me.
It is a symptom of a condition I have called achondroplasia, which also causes me to have shorter arms and legs. Having this condition, I’ve had to accept there are things that I can’t change. It’s not like I can wake up and magically be 5ft 5in. But when I won nearly £35,000 on the reality show and discovered I could get surgery to make my forehead smaller, I saw it as an opportunity to alter something that made me insecure and that I could change about myself.
It took three weeks for me to heal after my forehead reduction. It’s done by removing a strip of skin to lower the hairline and it left me with bruising all over my face. It looked as if I’d fallen down a hill! Recovery from that was nothing compared with other facial surgery I’ve had for my condition though. I got double jaw surgery when I was 22, because my teeth didn’t close. Doctors broke the jaw, and then they removed part of the bones, put metal plates on the top and bottom jaw, and fused it back together. When I woke up after surgery, my mouth was wired closed. It was gruesome. I wouldn’t get it done ever again.
I get some negative comments on social media about the forehead reduction from people who think I’ve not accepted myself or my condition. I have. It was just this one aspect of my face I didn’t like. The result is probably barely noticeable to anyone else, but it has really helped improve my confidence.
I think when it comes to beauty standards things are obviously better now than they were when I was growing up. There’s so much advancement in the way people view disabilities, but I think people still find dwarfism “funny”. Every day someone will stare, point or laugh at me. It’s really embarrassing and frustrating. Most of the time I can brush it off – I’ve dealt with it my whole life and I’ll probably have to deal with it for the rest of my life. But it makes me sad. I feel as if I’m in a losing battle. I hope that society can become more accepting.
Meryl Williams is cohost of the podcast You & Me
Most used products
Clinique Take the Day Off Charcoal Cleansing Balm, £34, 125ml; Pixi Glow Tonic, £18, 250ml; Simple moisturiser, £2.50, 125ml
Treatments
Veet Pure Hair Removal Kit for Face used on upper lip, £7.49, 2 x 50ml; micropeeling and hydrating facials, gifted, about £100
Procedures
Forehead reduction, £7,500; jaw realignment, free on NHS; Botox in forehead (not for ageing, but required after the forehead reduction), about £150 to £175, every three to six months; lip filler, 2 sets of 1.5ml, £150
‘I can’t be anyone other than myself’
Dr Radha Modgil, 45, Radio 1 doctor and broadcaster
I remember the first time someone, for TV, put a lot of makeup on me, straightened my hair and made me look like “everybody else”. I looked in the mirror and thought: “Oh my God, who is this?”
I trained as a doctor, and sort of fell into doing TV and broadcasting. For me, it was going into this new world where everyone was aesthetically driven. I was around a lot of people who looked much slimmer than me, had much more makeup on, had more procedures, and their hair was really slick and tidy, and mine was really crazy and fluffy. For the first four or five years, and probably even now to a degree, I’d look at other people and think: “I wish I looked like them.” And I’ve been encouraged to try to look like them, too: “Can you calm your hair down?”
What I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that even if I was to put 365 days of the year into trying, I couldn’t look like these other people. So what is the point in trying? I can’t be anyone other than myself. And I think it’s important for me to show up authentically. A lot of the work I do, and a lot of what needs to change in the industry, is to allow people to see reality. If I’m showing up to do that orange and shiny, I’m part of the problem.
There’s a danger that beauty has become a template – “You must look like this to be beautiful”, in terms of eyebrows, face shape, you know, different products used. I have moments when I think about my nose being too big or worry about my asymmetrical eyebrows. I get angry about it all sometimes, how the beauty industry encourages low self-esteem in order to sell products, how young people are bombarded with these images of “perfect” people. It’s such an insidious thing. We grow up with an idea of beauty, we believe it, we try to follow it, and then, if we’re lucky, we have to unlearn it. It seems like such a waste of time. And it’s very difficult to step out of the box and say: “This is who I am. I’m not going to conform to what you tell me I should be doing when it comes to being beautiful”.
Most used products
Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water, £4.99, 200ml; Simple Cleansing Wipes, £2 for 25 wipes; Clarins Double Serum, £65, 30ml; Clarins moisturisers, complimentary samples with other purchases; Clarins Comfort Nourishing Oil Scrub, £27, 50ml; Bioré Ultra Pore Strips, £8.99 for six
Treatments
Relaxing facial, £40, twice a year; eyebrow threading, £22, monthly
Procedures
None
‘I don’t believe in the concept of flaws’
Emma Dabiri, 45, historian, author and contributing beauty editor at Elle magazine
When I was growing up in Ireland in the 1980s, lots of people had never seen a black person before. I was used to people staring at me, commenting on my appearance, touching me. That made me very self-conscious. I was very aware my features were different from everybody around me. I felt as if they were too big, I was too big. Makeup became a mask I was hiding behind. The idea of going out without heavy foundation was unimaginable. I hated anyone seeing my lips without lipstick. I didn’t like the colour of them.
I was taught growing up that, as young women, our primary importance was our appearance. As a teenager, I was looking for validation. Now I don’t care what strangers think of me. My validation comes from other places. It’s not dependent on the whims of random men. That shift has come from finding my purpose and learning that that is my primary contribution to the world, not how I look. How did I learn that? Growing up, experiencing life, realising that even if people do think you’re pretty that’s all they think about you. It doesn’t translate to being well treated.
When I was researching my book Disobedient Bodies, I learned there have been cultures and societies that value all these things that are not visible – character and essence and integrity – more than a person’s outward appearance. I found it liberating.
I often wear no makeup at all now. Part of that is because of my attitude to beauty. But it’s also because I’ve taken practical steps to make it easier, such as getting my eyebrows microbladed to fill in the gaps I lost tweezing them in my 20s, or using good moisturisers so my skin looks glowing. That said, I don’t believe in the concept of flaws because what exactly is the standard the flaw is preventing someone from achieving? Who has created that standard?
I’ve had periods when I’ve felt that I couldn’t accept that I can do the work I do as an academic and wear makeup and enjoy clothes. Like the two are mutually exclusive. Now I think that’s bollocks. Our body is our interface with the world. Rituals, like beauty practices, are an important part of the human experience. And the beauty treatments I get and makeup I choose to wear are very much based on autonomy. One day I will wear no makeup. The next day it will be high-octane glamour. I’ll do whichever I want, based on how I feel.
Most used products
QMS Medicosmetics Derma Expert Collagen Recovery Cream, gifted for review, £170, 50ml; QMS Medicosmetics Collagen Day Serum, gifted for review, £90, 30ml; QMS Medicosmetics Cleanse System, gifted for review, £50, 200ml; QMS Medicosmetics Hydrating Toner, gifted for review, £50, 200ml; 111 Skin Rose Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Masks, £95 for five
Treatments
Facials, from about £40 each, occasionally
Procedures
Eyebrow microblading, £500
‘Strangers called me pizza face’
Georgia Toffolo, 30, broadcaster, entrepreneur and author
I like my face. The only thing I’ve ever had an issue with is my acne. It started 15 years ago. I was the first person out of my friends to get spots. I kept thinking: “Oh, this is puberty. It’ll go,” but it didn’t. It kept getting worse and worse. And while the acne got worse, so did the marks it was leaving behind.
In a week, I probably have three “good” skin days, like today, where I’m able to cover up the redness with foundation. (Although I will always have quite severe scarring.) On a bad skin day, where there’ll be sore, open wounds and it can be very crusty. Inside, I’m really bubbly, but when my skin is bad, I turn into someone who’s scared and ashamed. I find it sad that that could be dictated by a few spots.
I got terribly trolled for my acne when I went on I’m a Celebrity in 2017, even though they let me take my foundation in. I got women my age commenting things like “pizza face” or “she thinks she’s covering it, but you can see”. I think they were projecting, but it was still cruel. It confirmed to me that I was right to be self-conscious about it.
I haven’t spent lots of money on my face because I’m nervous about doing too much and flaring the acne up. Of course, I’ve taken lots of antibiotics. I’ve been on Accutane twice. I’ve tried all the gut health stuff. I really love dermaplaning (I just buy a cheap Tweezerman razor and shave off my peach fuzz as I think those tiny hairs make my acne look worse). But it’s only really the scarring you can throw money at. The cost is more to my mental capacity; all the time I’ve lost when I could have been doing something more useful than worrying about my spots.
Since I started opening up about my acne, I get fewer negative comments. People do still comment on my appearance, though. People often think I’ve had filler, which I’ve not. I’ve just got chubby cheeks. It pisses me off. They’re like: “Oh, your face looks funny”, or “What has she done to her face?” And I think: “That’s just my face!” I can’t go out and say I haven’t had anything done though, because I have had Botox in my masseter muscles to ease clicking and soreness I have in my jaw. And I feel ready to start baby Botox. It’s my time, I’m 30.
Most used products
Pai Light Work Rosehip Cleansing Oil, £33, 100ml; Dermalogica Ultracalming Cleanser, £65, 500ml; Dermalogica Daily Milkfolient, £65, 74g; Medik8 C-Tetra, £39, 30ml; Weleda Skin Food, £14.95, 75ml
Treatments
Dermaplaning at home with razor, £18 for Tweezerman razor; Potenza microneedling acne scar treatment, gifted, but cost about £450 each, four sessions; Accutane acne medication, £40 to £60 a month, for two six‑month periods
Procedures
Masseter Botox (for pain in the temporomandibular joint), £250, every three months
‘Once a year I fly to Korea for the day to get laser facials’
Thuy Le, 32, beauty creator
When I was younger, I used to be insecure about my features. I didn’t like my nose. I had wider nostrils. I also had something called proptosis. It’s where one of the muscles in your eyelid isn’t as strong as the other one and it goes a bit droopy. That was always a big insecurity. I remember looking at photos of Angelina Jolie – they say that she’s the most beautiful person in the world because her face is so symmetrical – and I remember looking in the mirror and thinking: “My face is definitely not symmetrical.”
I flew to Malaysia to get my nose and eyes fixed. (I’m Asian, and when it comes to anything surgical, I always think that you should find a doctor that does your face shape day in and day out.) I had a rhinoplasty to make my nostrils smaller and give me more of a nose bridge, and I had double eyelid surgery, which is very common over there. People get it done in their lunchtime.
I paid for those procedures, but I’m lucky to be able to have treatments done for free now because of my job: my beauty social media channels have 3.5 million followers in total. I have a whole room of beauty products I’ve been sent. I’ve had fillers and Botox gifted to me. Once a year I fly to Korea for the day to get facial laser treatments – I get something like 10 at once – to document on my YouTube channel. My skin looks rough for a couple of weeks after, but then it’s like glass.
Having so much access to treatments does mean it’s easy to take things too far. I fell into that trap when I first started out. I’ve damaged my skin barrier before by trying too many harsh products. I went through a stage of getting lots of filler to change my features. Now my focus is face-balancing, so I keep things more subtle. Being a creator, you’re constantly looking at videos and photos of yourself. It’s easy to start to pick yourself apart. These days I’ve dissolved a lot of fillers. I don’t need them to feel confident any more. I’ve done a lot of inner work. The only procedure I regret is Botox in my chin. I have a lot of dimples and it’s supposed to stop that. It actually ended up paralysing my lip for a few months.
Do I think beauty influencers are to blame for setting high beauty standards? I think there’s always going to be pressures: before us, it was celebrities that people compared themselves with. At least with beauty influencers we’re more open about what we’re getting done. Sometimes, I’m targeted as someone who’s “promoting” procedures, but really I just want to be honest about what a lot of people do but don’t have the balls to talk about online.
Thuy Le posts content at xThuyLe on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram
Most used products
Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant, gifted, £65, 74g; Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics SPF50+, £16, 50ml; Beauty of Joseon Revive Eye Serum: Ginseng + Retinal, £15, 30ml; Skin 1004 Madagascar Centella Light Cleansing Oil, gifted, £23.12, 200ml; Skin 1004 Madagascar Centella Ampoule Foam cleanser, gifted, £16.32, 125ml; Mediheal Collagen Ampoule Pad, about £30 for 100 pads; Ole Henriksen Strength Trainer Peptide Boost Moisturiser, gifted, £42, 50ml; Torriden Dive‑In Serum, £26, 50ml; Glow Recipe Blackberry Retinol Blemish Serum, gifted, £43, 30ml; CosRX Advance Snail 96 Mucin Powder Essence, £24.99, 100ml; Numbuzin No5 Vitamin Concentrated Serum, £21, 30ml; CeraVe Advanced Repair Ointment, gifted, £11, 50ml; Medicube Age-R Booster Pro, gifted, £280; Current Body LED Light Therapy Face Mask, gifted, £399; Lyma Laser starter kit, gifted, £1,999; high frequency facial wand, about £30
Treatments
Dermalogica LuminFusion facials, gifted, about £150 an hour, every three months; Dr Lamiche laser facials, gifted, about £1,600; Lashed_By_Lan ombre eyebrows, gifted, £325, once a year
Procedures
Nose and double eyelid surgery and chin liposuction, £6,000, plus flights and hotel; Baby Botox, gifted, about £200, once every five months; lip and facial filler, gifted, about £2,000; MSTR Aesthetics filler dissolving, gifted, from £119, four times; eyebrow tattoo, about £50
