The world of injectables – I’m talking fillers, Botox and lip enhancements. It sounds scary taking your first step into it and realising that you are at an age where you finally have to start considering it. I am in my mid-thirties so it’s only natural that I have started to see a loss of volume and fine lines creeping onto my face. This is normal and nothing to be upset about – it happens to all of us! No one can avoid ageing but you can age gracefully in whatever way you choose to do so.
Let me first start off by saying that I don’t want to change my face and in fact, I would really only like to look more refreshed and not so exhausted. I live an incredibly busy life and as I get older I see this reflecting more and more in my face. No one wants to see themselves looking tired day after day in the mirror (even if it’s true!). I think you can use injectables to enhance your features but not significantly change them.
Therefore, a couple of weeks ago I went to see Dr. Sarah Tonks (check out her YouTube channel here where you can see all sorts of amazing treatments that she does for both men and women). Sarah runs The Lovely Clinic in Knightsbridge and offers a whole host of services to help you enhance your features. I wanted to consult with her to tell her about my concerns and how I wanted to subtly enhance my features and bring back some of that plumpness from a few years ago.
Since seeing Dr. Sarah (I documented the experience on my Instagram Stories @beautyrocksblog) I had so many people sliding into my DMs asking me about natural lip enhancements, baby Botox and a light injection of dermal fillers. It seems I’m not the only one thinking about these things. I think injectables have had a bit of bad press because when we think about them we inevitably sometimes think of women with the dreaded trout pout, frozen faces or so much filler that it looks like they have a constant pillow face. Some people do take it too far, in fact and it seems like they are the only ones who sadly don’t see it.
When I went to speak to Dr. Sarah I told her the areas of concern; tiredness around the eyes, a bit of forehead furrow starting to form in between my brows and also thin lips. Now my lips aren’t super thin but I love lipsticks so much that I really wanted to be able to wear them confidently. Someone once told me I shouldn’t wear bright lipsticks because they made my lips look thinner and that comment kept ringing in my head because there was some truth in it. I’m not someone who normally takes those kinds of comments to heart and I’m generally pretty confident but in regards to my lips I did want them to be slightly enhanced so I could rock a bright lipstick better.
Dr. Sarah examined my face and within seconds had come to a treatment solution which was to add a dab of filler to the upper cheekbones to then that would in turn lift that area so I didn’t look as tired (the image below is of me pre-treatment with no alterations to the photo). She then suggested a bit of Botox between the brows just to smooth the area and prevent any further furrowing. She also said she would add a little bit of hyaluronic acid (our body produces this naturally) around the cheeks just to add a bit of plumpness – this is one of the treatments that Dr. Sarah offers which is called an Injectable Glow. For the lips a subtle enhancement was suggested. My only instruction was that I wanted to look well rested, kind of like I had just come back from a nice holiday for two weeks of relaxation.
Pre-Treatment with no alterations to this photo
Dr. Sarah took some 3D images of my face to see where the volume loss had occurred and asked me to smile, pout and make funny faces so she could see exactly where the filler should be placed to make it look the most natural. This is how she knows exactly where to inject it into the face. Lots of people asked me if the actual treatment hurt. I mean, it’s not pain free but it doesn’t hurt that bad. It’s actually a very interesting feeling to fill your lips filling up with filler, almost like a balloon filling up with air. The actual injections go into your lips from the outer edges so the needles aren’t actually stuck into the tender parts of your lips if that makes sense. The whole procedure for the Botox, fillers, injectable glow and lip enhancement was around 30 minutes so it doesn’t take a terribly long time.
The things to note (and not get scared about if this is your first time into the world of injectables like I was) are that your face can feel a bit sore after fillers but mine wasn’t too bad and there was no bruising at all (the below image is post-treatment the day after with no alteration to the photo). Your lips do swell up for about 1 or 2 days after the procedure but again for me this wasn’t too bad at all and again, no bruising. In regards to the Botox it did give me a headache for about two days after but after doing some research I found out this is again, perfectly normal. And it does go away.
Post-treatment photo
Also in regards to lip fillers make sure you are also thinking about the rest of the face and how it’s balanced. This is probably where things like the trout pout look come into play – the lips look completely unnatural compared to the rest of the face. Also listen to your practitioner and their advice – if something won’t work for your face listen!
I am SUPER happy with the results (below images are all 3 days post treatment and not altered) and Dr. Sarah Tonks is a fabulous doctor and practitioner. It’s really important to remember that with injectables you need to see a doctor for these and someone who is licensed to do so from a reputable clinic.
My face does look more refreshed and plumper and my lips are just subtly enhanced. As a trick I even asked my sister if she noticed anything different about my face (I didn’t tell her about the injectables) and she said no, you just looked refreshed. Why? Did you do something? Well, you don’t have to tell everyone do you? Wink wink. I’m all about doing things to make yourself feel better and if injectables can give you a subtle enhancement on what you already have then why not?
For more information or to book in a consultation with Dr. Sarah Tonks (who is fab) please visit http://www.thelovelyclinic.co.uk/
