Meet the woman who makes Meghan sparkle
As she treats Prince Harry’s fiancee-to-be, beauty guru to the stars Sarah Chapman reveals how YOU can get skin fit for a Princess, too
When Meghan Markle jetted into London just over a week ago, it came as no shock that the first person she saw was a certain ginger-haired Prince. But the person Meghan called on next was rather more surprising.
She’d barely had time to unpack her winter woollies before she was visiting Sarah Chapman, facialist to the stars, at her Chelsea clinic Skinesis.
Sarah, a striking blonde, is the go-to woman for celebrities who want their complexions to be glowing for a red-carpet event . . . or maybe an engagement announcement.
Victoria Beckham readily admits seeing Sarah once a month and describes her facials as ‘the best in London’.
And when she’s not reclining on Sarah’s treatment bed, Victoria is slathering herself in products from Sarah’s range.
She takes off her make-up with her £44 Ultimate Cleanse and confesses ‘covering herself ’ in the £149 Stem Cell Collagen Activator Duo. When she’s ‘hanging around the house with the kids’, she keeps it casual with Sarah’s Skin Insurance SPF 30 cream
Being glamorous is about strength and confidence. It’s black and white — dramatic. You have to be strong CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
(£49) and occasionally treats herself to a 3D Moisture Infusion Mask (£43 for four). I think that’s what you call a ringing endorsement.
Other famous names who flock to Skinesis, which opened its doors two years ago, include actresses Naomi Watts and Uma Thurman and supermodels Gigi Hadid and Jourdan Dunn.
Disappointingly, as you might expect, Sarah is the soul of discretion — after all, what celebrity wants a facialist blabbing about their spotty skin and oily T-zone? At our shoot, the day after seeing Meghan, Sarah apologises, but says she’s ‘not allowed’ to talk about the potential princess-to-be.
She does, however, admit to being mortified at seeing her own photo splashed around the world: ‘Look at my hair!’
When we meet, her hair, along with the rest of her, looks immaculate. She’s wearing just the lightest make-up, and I can confirm her skin positively glows.
UNUSUALLy for a clinic that attracts such an A-list following, Skinesis has a very public shop front entrance. Customers must walk through a retail floor, before heading upstairs to the main reception area, where staff offer herbal teas while clients wait to be beckoned in for their procedure. A real-flame fire, set into the wall like a fish tank, is a particularly luxurious touch.
Sitting in one of Sarah’s large treatment rooms, surrounded by the latest high-tech skin gizmos, I can’t help but think how facials have come a long way from the days when a bored therapist would slap half-a-dozen creams on your face before wiping them off over the course of an hour.
‘Facials used to be a rare treat, didn’t they?’ says Sarah. ‘years ago, you’d have one as a gift, once a year maybe. But it’s not the same now. All our clients come every month, or more often. It is part of their maintenance.
‘Women in America have always had dermatologists and facialists, but it’s taken longer to catch on here.’
Last year, on her now-defunct lifestyle site The Tig, Meghan, now 36, revealed that her mother, Doria, drummed into her from an early age how important it was to look after her skin.
‘When I was 13 years old, my mom had me start getting facials in my hometown of Los Angeles,’ she wrote. ‘It seemed so silly at the time, trekking in my school uniform to see a woman named Anika who slathered my skin with yon-Ka products and chatted away about the importance of eye cream.’
Now, she treks in her skinny jeans to Sarah, who claims to deliver results that are both ‘dramatic’ and ‘instant’.
‘Some people come in to see if they can improve their skin before resorting to Botox,’ says Sarah, who has a six-month waiting list. ‘They’re so impressed with the results that they rarely go on to injectables.’
Should any Skinesis clients still feel the need for a little muscle-freezing, the clinic does have a nurse available to administer the injections, although Sarah insists: ‘People want Botox that’s barely noticeable. Nobody wants that waxy, frozen-forehead look.’
When it comes to the ladies who walk through her doors, she says they are firmly split: ‘Some are looking for intensive performance products, others want natural and organic, and then there are the “just give me the results” ones.’
I know which group I’d fall into, but I can’t help wondering what Meghan does to get her youthful glow (other than fall in love with a prince).
Hard as it is to imagine that the sort of women who frequent Skinesis are ever on their knees with exhaustion, Sarah says ‘please make me look less tired’ is the request she hears most often.
‘Very few say they want to look younger. It’s about wanting to look well, fresh and sculpted,’ she adds. She cites her Stem Cell Collagen Therapy treatment, the most popular at her clinic, as a particularly effective procedure.
‘It’s a souped-up version of our bespoke facial,’ she explains. ‘We do a massage, peel and extraction — all you need to get the skin healthy. Then we use an electronic needling device to push the stem cells and peptides into the skin.
‘you get everything you want from a facial, but taken up a notch. Afterwards, the skin looks instantly tight, plump and dewy.’ Could this be the treatment Meghan had when she visited?
Sarah is famed for her magic fingers that dance over skin to stimulate blood supply and circulation. So precious are those digits that they’re currently insured for a staggering £1 million.
‘Massage is really powerful,’ she says. ‘It helps with drainage, stimulation, circulation and feeding the cells with nutrients.
‘We also work on the muscles and open those up to get a lifted face. OK, it’s temporary, but doing that on a regular basis makes a difference.’
When it comes to those tiresome middle-aged jowls, Sarah says: ‘The best thing is radio frequency, where a device is used to heat the collagen fibres in the dermis beneath the skin.
‘They shrink and tighten and it gives a lift. One session will work, but will only last a short time — you need a series to get a permanent effect. But
the important thing is to realise that it is never too late to change your skin.
‘As we get older, and the cells’ behaviour is slower, changes will take longer, but you can wake those cells up and see improvements.’
It sounds wonderful, but the downside is that Sarah’s treatments come with a hefty price tag. The stem cell facial costs up to £260. Luckily, there are cheaper options, such as a 30-minute £75 complexion-enhancing treatment.
To those who baulk at such expenditure, Sarah says: ‘The face is out there on show every day. I will often say to clients: “When did you last buy a piece of clothing and what did you spend?”
‘If it’s £100 on a dress, I’ll ask how many times they think they’ll wear it. I know I would rather spend that on my face — it makes you feel so much better if your skin is good.’
Unlike some of her counterparts, Sarah didn’t take the traditional route into beauty. She started off doing special effects make-up for film and TV — ‘all blood, guts and gore’, she says — which took her to Australia for work.
It was while doing this that she saw the many skin problems people have and became obsessed with seeking ways to fix them. She did full beauty training and studied aromatherapy.
Back in London, she studied cosmetic science, focusing on the formulations that work best for skin regeneration.
NIne years ago, she launched her Skinesis skincare range — now sold in John Lewis, QVC and on Amazon — with her biggest seller being her Overnight Facial (£49). As Meghan left with a little goodie bag, it’s a safe bet one of those was inside.
Sarah was generous enough to give me a tube. Hailed as an overnight miracle, the serum plumps and smooths, as well as boosting collagen production. It smells delicious and leaves my skin soft and hydrated. I don’t look ten years younger, but that was clearly a miracle too far.
Speaking of age, Sarah’s is a closely guarded secret. ‘It’s the most Googled question about me,’ she laughs.
Given how much she has achieved, she must be mid to late-40s, but could easily pass for mid-30s. Thankfully, she’s less cagey about what she does to her own face: ‘I cleanse, use serums, moisturise and use sun protection every day. I’ll have facials when one of the girls can fit me in, and I do radio frequency for skin tightening.’
With our time up, Sarah walks me out into the sleek main reception area. As I exit, the model Suki Waterhouse brushes past me — no doubt the next lucky person on the receiving end of Sarah’s dancing fingers.