How to get a £750 celebrity facial ... in a bottle for £60
Adermatologist used to be someone you saw for troublesome acne or a mystery rash.
Now every celebrity has their favourite ‘derm’ who can inject, fill and rejuvenate their skin, ready for the camera’s pitiless glare.
But, even supposing you have the money (or appetite) for a cream made from your own blood, or a £725 facial and the desire to travel, you’re unlikely to get an appointment with these so- called super-derms for months.
Fortunately, you can benefit from their expertise with diY versions of their famous treatments. many top dermatologists and cosmetic doctors have their own ‘cosmeceutical’ skincare ranges, so called because they contain medicalgrade ingredients, making them pack more of a punch than cosmetics.
Here are six of the best . . .
THE RED CARPET EFFECT
WHO: dr Harold lancer. WHERE: rodeo drive, la.
THE TREATMENTS: dr lancer has treated Beverly Hills’s richest faces for 30 years. He’s known for the ‘lancer glow’ achieved by careful exfoliation; Victoria Beckham credited him with sorting out her ‘problematic skin’. His alist clients, including scarlett Johansson, Beyonce, adele and Katy Perry, love his signature red Carpet Flash Facial: exfoliation followed by a ‘super-infusion’ of vitamins, collagen and oxygen.
THE PRODUCTS: He has 35, but the threestep lancer method is his UsP. that’s polish (exfoliate), cleanse, then nourish (cream). He believes in gentle daily exfoliation to stimulate production of collagen, the protein that keeps skin firm. His polish contains tiny crystals, so it doesn’t strip the skin. His Nourish moisturiser has grape polyphenols to help skin retain moisture plus hyaluronic acid and hexapeptide 48 to reduce wrinkle depth.
VALUE: the Polish is £60 for 120ml, Cleanse is £48 for 120ml and Nourish £105 for 50ml
(spacenk.com). Cheaper than the £300 you’d pay for a red Carpet Flash Facial.
THE MIRACLE PEEL
WHO: dr dennis gross. WHERE: Fifth avenue, NYC.
THE TREATMENTS: He’s out to prove that ‘ acid isn’t a fourletter word’, and his celebrity clients, including model rosie Huntington-Whiteley, love his famous face peels, which use five alpha and beta hydroxy acids to exfoliate the skin, creating a brighter, fresher complexion with no recovery time. His clinic peels also include anti-ageing ingredients, including retinol, vitamin C and resveratrol (a polyphenol found in red grape skin) to smooth lines.
THE PRODUCTS: after clients demanded a peel they could use at home, he devised the two-step alpha Beta daily Peel, a mixture of five acids strong enough to promote cell turnover without irritating the skin.
VALUE: the alpha Beta Peel is £ 81 for 30 days ( cultbeauty.
co.uk), considerably less than the £400 cost of his clinic peel.
THE A-LIST PLUMPER
WHO: dr Jean-louis sebagh. WHERE: rue de longchamp, Paris or Wimpole street, london.
THE TREATMENTS: His passion for anti-ageing injectables and fillers earned him the nickname King of Botox. Cindy Crawford is a devotee, as are elle macpherson and Kylie minogue. His latest is silhouette soft, a £1,500 treatment where dissolvable threads of polylactic acid are pulled through the face to restore cheek fat pads to their rightful place.
THE PRODUCTS: the first cosmetic doctor to launch a skincare range in 2004, he now has 35 products. His serum repair contains 60 per cent hyaluronic acid, which tightens skin and holds moisture for a plumping effect, plus an anti-ageing collagen peptide. supreme day Cream (£145 for 50ml) is the first product to shield skin from daylight and the blue light given off by screens.
VALUE: Prices range from £69 for the serum repair ( 20ml;
spacenk.com) to £475 for the signature serum ( 30ml), available at Harrods. His Botox costs £500 for one area.
THE VAMPIRE FACIAL
WHO: dr Barbara sturm. WHERE: Konigsallee, dusseldorf.
THE TREATMENTS: dr sturm is the ‘mother’ of the vampire facial: patients are injected with their own blood, after it’s been treated to boost the concentration of healing factors.
if this sounds too daunting, the clinic makes a cream called mC1 using your own blood plasma; the healing factors it contains stimulate new collagen, and the proteins control inflammation (which causes skin ageing). Fans include Kate moss and Cher.
THE PRODUCTS: Formulating her skin care range, dr sturm looked for ingredients with a similarly powerful anti-inflammatory and hydrating effect. all the products contain the herb purslane, full of anti-ageing antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.
Her key product is the Hyaluronic serum: the hyaluronic acid minimises wrinkles and purslane soothes skin. VALUE: at £230 for 30ml ( cultbeauty. you need a full pipette for each application), this is super- expensive, but cheaper than your own specially mixed blood cream at £950.
THE FILM STAR GLOW
WHO: dr david Colbert. WHERE: Fifth avenue, NYC. THE TREATMENTS: dr Colbert is known for the 30minute triad Facial, which starts with exfoliation by microdermabrasion, followed by lasers to even skin tone, then a chemical peel for radiance. the famous faces he tends — actresses angelina Jolie, rachel Weisz and sienna miller — are known for their luminous glow.
THE PRODUCTS: His Colbert md range mimics the effects of the triad Facial. the two key products are the intensify Facial discs, which use lactic acid and bromelain (an enzyme from pineapples) to give a gentle peel, and the stimulate serum (in place of the laser toning), which contains glycolic acid to improve skin texture and the herb gotu kola for collagen renewal.
VALUE: at £60 for 20 intensify Facial discs, that’s £3 a go — somewhat cheaper than a £750 triad Facial. the stimulate serum is £135 for 30ml; use once a day (both net-a-porter.com)
THE NATURAL APPROACH
WHO: dr macrene alexiades. WHERE: Pa r k avenue, NYC. THE TREATMENTS:
she’ll turn away patients who want a face overpumped with fillers. Popular treatments are laser neck and face tightening (from £745) and hyaluronic acid injectable lip fillers to plump thin lips.
THE PRODUCTS: Her 37 actives range offers five products, each with 20 to 50 active ingredients. these include peptides (to lessen wrinkles), cacao and feverfew to improve skin tone, resveratrol to protect skin, and sunflower and sandalwood extracts to maintain the skin barrier.
Her aim is to make clinic procedures obsolete: she formulated her Filler lip treatment to mimic the results of an injectable filler, using hyaluronic acid in the lip oil to fill the lips gradually over several days.
VALUE: dr macrene thinks her £72 Filler lip treatment (7ml;
net-a-porter.com) works better than injectable fillers (for which she charges £900) because the effect is gradual and natural.