The Rise of the Unrecognisable Celebrity

I’ve grown up loving beauty. All things beauty.

From about the age of five, sitting with my Nana in Essentials Beauty Salon in Hale Barns, watching glamorous beauty therapists glide around in pristine white uniforms with full faces of makeup. God, I loved the 90s. The hair, the makeup, the huge amounts of effort made. Beauty kind of felt elegant and fun.

And I still love beauty, that hasn’t changed.

What I’m struggling with is this new level of beauty and I don’t think I’m alone.

Since the rise of social media, it feels like everyone is suddenly flawless. Perfect skin, perfect features and perfect symmetry. To the point where it’s almost confusing. Is it just me, or does anyone actually look human anymore?

First came Botox and honestly, you do you boo, absolutely no judgement here.

Then came fillers.

Then came more fillers.

Then came the exaggerated lips, the sharp jawlines that could cut paper, the same profile over and over again. I have actually thought two people were related because they looked so alike. As it turns out, they have the same doctor.

And then came Turkey. Turkey where the savings are high but (if you’re not with the right surgeon) your risks are even higher.

I remember a client once telling me her friend was on a connecting flight back from Turkey and genuinely thought something serious had happened because of how many people were on the plane with bandages.

Beauty has now shifted into something completely different.

What started as subtle tweaks has turned into a full blown industry where Botox is no longer “enough”. Where injectables are no longer the end point and where surgery is increasingly normalised, talked about casually and even expected. "God, she's let herself go! Why hasn't she done something?" No babe, she's just got older and you haven't seen her in a while.

We never say that about men do we?

And being really honest here, I am not anti aesthetic treatments whatsoever! I am not anti surgery. I am not anti anyone doing what they choose with their own face or body. I want people to do whatever makes them feel confident, empowered and desirable. If anything, surgery actually gives people the best results (when done well) and tends to be the route I advise clients to go down over the other bizarre options - hello thread lift anyone?? No?? 🤢

But something changed for me recently.

An image of Khloé Kardashian resurfaced on social media. An older photo next to a more recent (ish) one. And yes, she looks beautiful in both, truly. But she also looks like two completely different people.

And that stopped me in my tracks.

Because if this is now normal, what does that mean for the rest of us?

We live in a world where a seventy year old Kris Jenner with a rumoured $250,000 facelift looks incredible (Google it if you have been living under a rock). And instead of seeing that as exceptional, we slowly start to treat it as the standard.

If she looks that good at seventy, how good should a fifty year old look?

How good should a forty year old look?

How good should I look?

This is the pressure I see every single day in my clinic.

Women terrified of ageing and scared of lines or apologising for their faces and believing they are “failing” because they don’t look filtered, lifted or frozen.

Meanwhile, men are allowed to age with like fine wines. Grey hair, lines and absolutely no shame. Oh to have the confidence of an average, middle aged man!

It’s already hard enough to exist in a female body that changes. Hormones shift, skin changes, fat redistributes, sleep is disrupted, stress shows up on our faces. And instead of being supported through that, we are shown a feed full of faces that no longer reflect reality.

Around the same time I saw that image, I went into Manchester after not being in the City Centre for a while and I was honestly shocked. Not because people looked bad, but because so many people looked the same.

The same brows.

The same lips.

The same cheeks.

The same hair.

The same fashion - cue the cap, hoodie, leggings, trench coat, Adanola socks and New Balance trainers (I can't talk either, I've done it myself!)

It felt like individuality had just disappeared.

Is this really what we’re supposed to look like now?

Because if beauty becomes something only achievable with extreme intervention and huge amounts of money, what message does that send to everyone else?

I guess this is where I stand and have done since I started in this business...

Wrinkles do not make us look old.

Movement in the face is something that actually makes you look younger.

No amount of surgery, filler, Botox or anything else for that matter will take away what you can see behind someone's eyes.

I am not interested in a future where women feel they need to be frozen and tight to be considered beautiful. I want faces that move, tell stories and still look like the person behind them.

So yes, I’ll be bringing back some old school beauty values. Mainly skin health over this constant perfection. I mean let's not worry about the odd pimple now and again.

And the idea that beauty still comes from within, not only from a surgeon’s knife.

Because if the only standard we see is a $250,000 facelift, no one wins and I refuse to believe that the goal of ageing is to become unrecognisable.

If this post struck a nerve, you’re not alone. These are the conversations I have with women every day in my clinic and online.

If you want a conversation that focuses on skin health, ageing realistically, and working with your face you can book an online skin consultation with me here. No pressure and no quick fixes. Just an honest conversation about skin, skin health and how to make the most out of it.

Thank you so much for reading,

Emmaline