SECRETS OF THE QUEEN OF HARLEY STREET
WE GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH LESLEY REYNOLDS, CO-FOUNDER OF LONDON’S TOP CELEBRITY COSMETIC CLINIC AND OK!’S NEW COLUMNIST
After 25 years in the business, there’s nothing Lesley Reynolds doesn’t know about cosmetic enhancement. She’s the Queen of Harley Street, front woman of London’s top celebrity clinic, and the reason so many A-listers seem to be ageing in reverse.
Many of her celebrity clients are veiled by NDAS, but there are plenty who are happy to be named – Sheridan Smith, Andrea Mclean, Gillian Taylforth, Sam Womak, Linda Barker, Gaynor Faye and Beverley Callard among them.
We’re thrilled to reveal Lesley is going to be sharing all her insider know-how in an exclusive monthly column for OK!.
While Lesley doesn’t perform treatments herself, her flawless knowledge, expert eye and straight-talking approach have made her a favourite beauty guru to the elite. She acts as a consultant and gatekeeper for the team at her Harley Street Skin Clinic, which includes her husband and clinic co-founder, Dr Aamer Khan. She spends her days advising clients, keeping her more coy celebrities away from prying eyes, and ensuring the clinic’s regenerative magic runs smoothly.
However, there’s one area of aesthetics she does struggle with. “I can never get myself an appointment with my husband,” she laughs. “He always says, ‘Tomorrow darling!’ But as we know, tomorrow never comes.”
Why do you think people come to you for advice?
I’m very unbiased because we do everything, starting from facials and going all the way through to Botox and surgical procedures. I’m not a medic but I do know all the treatments out there, and I will help people consider what might be the right option for them. Very often I will say to people, “You don’t need this done.” Sometimes people come in thinking they want surgery but what they really need is something else entirely. Maybe they want a divorce, maybe their mum has just died. They think surgery will make them feel better, when actually what they really need is a holiday.
Do you have any favourite celebrity makeovers you can tell us about?
For the body, I’d say Claire Sweeney is one of them. She’d come out of lockdown feeling quite mumsy, so she had Bodytite with us and she got fantastic results. She’s reinvented herself. It’s a treatment that sits between full surgical lipo and noninvasive body contouring. The fat is taken out with a very fine cannula, so it’s not as painful and it only takes about six weeks for the bruising and swelling to go.
Which celebs have had great results on their face?
Melinda Messenger is a good one. She recently had threads to lift the bottom half of her face. She’d turned 50, she’d had a relationship break-up, so she just wanted to do something minimally invasive that would also tighten up her jawline. She’d been doing TV and had caught herself from an angle she didn’t like the look of. She tells me she feels so much more confident now.
What about younger celebrities, like Sheridan Smith?
We do facials to treat the condition of Sheridan’s skin and to address the fact she’s wearing a lot of make-up for her job. It’s also about relaxation for her, because stress is a terrible thing for your face. Her facials are about plumping her skin, keeping it fresh and giving her a glow. As with all my ladies, I ask her to use self-tan – nothing is more ageing than UV rays. I actually text clients sometimes and say, “The sun’s out, I hope you’re wearing your SPF!”
Do your celebrities all mingle in the waiting room?
No, I’m good at working out their appointments so they don’t see each other if they don’t want to. If they are in the building at the same time, I’ll have one in one waiting room and one in another. I’m also very good at getting people out of the door without being seen. Some celebrities say to me, “I don’t mind sitting in the waiting room and speaking to people,” but others don’t want anyone to see them. I always give them the option.
What’s your top advice to anyone wanting anti-ageing treatments?
Anti-ageing isn’t just about wrinkles and saggy skin, it’s about walking tall, being active and enjoying life. With treatments, less is more. Don’t overdo fillers, it can look ridiculous. I tell people, “Don’t go too far, you’re never going to be 30 again. Let’s look as wonderful as you can at the age you are now.” I do try to keep people grounded.
Can you spot when celebrities have had work done?
Always! The giveaway is when somebody’s age and face don’t match. We all know how old most people on TV are, so if you’ve got somebody who’s in their late fifties and they don’t have a single line, you know there is no way they could look like that naturally. Another giveaway is what I call the frozen marble head, when it’s really shiny.
What does good work look like to you?
You don’t want to look overdone, you want to look relaxed and glowy. Personally, I always keep a few crinkles around my eyes. I think it looks more real. If someone comes to see me for advice and I’m sitting here with a frozen face, it doesn’t inspire confidence.
What will make you turn someone down for treatment?
If somebody comes in with a picture of a celebrity and says, “I want to look like this,” that’s a red flag for me. Because they want to look like somebody else, not a better version of themselves.
Are there any treatment trends you hate?
I don’t like the exaggerated “fake lips” look. We don’t do them here and I don’t like to see that overfilled look. I think it looks ugly when lips stick out like a shelf.
What are the strangest requests you’ve had?
We’ve been asked to remove a little toe to fit into some Louboutins. That is ridiculous! Why would anyone remove a toe just to get into a pair of shoes? Of course we said no, but I’ve actually been asked for that several times. We’ve also been asked to remove ribs to create a smaller waist, and to do “scotox”, where Botox is injected into the scrotum to make it less wrinkly. All I can think is, “Why?” It does worry me that people will just go down the road and find a doctor who will do it, but at least it’s not on my conscience.
Do you get lots of far-flung assignments in this business?
We’ve been called out all around the world, although I can’t name names. We’ve often been flown out at the last minute just to inject a celebrity’s spot. It’s a very serious business when you’re making a film and you’ve got a spot emergency! So we’ll fly out to the film set, inject them with a solution that makes the spot go down in 24 hours, and the next day they’re ready for their close-up.