Celebrities have long been tastemakers across the board – our favourite faces tend to inform everything from what we wear to what we watch.
Now more than ever, though, they’re having significant influence over what we put on our faces – with an array of celebrity-owned beauty brands available and A-list product recommendations flooding in a mile a minute, it’s extremely tempting to trade your own go-to topicals and treatments for the ones being touted by the stars.
There are some things they do in their quest for flawless complexions, however, that we’re a little less inclined to jump on board with – in fact, some of their favourite skincare solutions range from somewhat questionable to downright freaky.
Curious? We’ll bet. Here, the strangest things celebrities have done in the name of beauty…
Jodie Turner-Smith: Breast Milk Skincare
“Ever since I had my baby, my current beauty secret is that I put breast milk in all of my face serums,” Turner-Smith shared with British Vogue. “My skin is very sensitive, so I use a light cleanser, and then I put on a serum with aloe and breast milk that I literally squeeze right into my hands from my boob. I think it’s the lactic acid. I’ve just found that the milk has been revolutionary.”
Cate Blanchett: Foreskin Facials
Blanchett refers to this, er, unique treatment as ‘the penis facial’ (which she says Sandra Bullock introduced her to) but it’s more officially known as the ‘Hollywood EGF Facial’. “The foreskin is collected during circumcision and the stem cells are then harvested and extracted through a centrifuge,” Georgia Louise, the facialist behind the treatment told The Hollywood Reporter. “I am always very mindful to explain radical serums and potions that I carry in my back bar, so I always explain that EGF is derived from newborn baby foreskin, but cells were taken and from that, new cells are cloned from a laboratory.”
Kim Kardashian West: Vampire Facials
Kardashian West’s infamous blood-covered selfie caused quite the stir back in 2013, but it seems she didn’t deem the ‘vampire facial’ (a treatment where your own blood is spun in a centrifuge to extract the plasma within and then re-applied to your face) worth the pain, admitting that the treatment wasn’t for her – understandable considering her pregnancy meant painkillers were out of the question.
Gwyneth Paltrow: Bee Sting Therapy
Unique beauty endeavours aren’t anything new in Paltrow’s case but this one has to be the most extreme yet. “I’ve been stung by bees. It’s a thousands of years old treatment called apitherapy. People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it,” she told The New York Times.
Emily Ratajkowski: Snail Mucin Skincare
“I’m using this amazing snail [essence], yes, snail…” Ratajkowski recently revealed via social media. But while it may sound a little freaky, it certainly isn’t fruitless – snail mucin is a natural source of hyaluronic acid and has the ability to soothe, repair and diminish a variety of skin issues from dryness and breakouts to pigmentation.
Sandra Bullock: Hemorrhoid Eye Cream
The face and the rear end are two areas people generally like to keep pretty separate, but Bullock says the key to fighting crow’s feet lies in hemorrhoid care. “My favourite beauty pageant secret: I didn’t realise that putting hemorrhoid ointment on your face is acceptable in the beauty business,” Bullock shared back in her Miss Congeniality days. “But apparently butt cream does help lines around the eyes.”
Jennifer Lopez: Placenta Facials
Lopez always looks a million bucks, which is fitting considering how much she invests in her complexion. In fact, it’s alleged that she spends approximately $1,200 per week on a texture-refining facial treatment that involves the skin-smoothing abilities of human placenta.
Mila Kunis: Gemstone Facials
It might sound a little more glamorous than Lopez’s placenta-centric option but the price tag is also a lot higher; yes, indeed, Kunis shelled out $7,000 for a sole precious stone treatment that uses diamonds and rubies to enhance radiance. We hope her skin was shining just as brightly as the stones after that cash splash.
Demi Moore: Leech Therapy
Moore relies on ‘medical’ leeches to keep her complexion looking tight, firm and youthful. “I feel like I’ve always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimise your health and healing,” she told David Letterman in 2008. “I was in Austria doing a cleanse and part of the treatment was leech therapy. These aren’t just swamp leeches though—we are talking about highly trained medical leeches. These are not some low level scavengers—we’re talking high level blood suckers.”
Victoria Beckham: Bird Poo Facials
Beckham’s topical treatment of choice? One composed of nightingale droppings. But while experts do claim that the brightening and exfoliating abilities are impressive, we’re simply not sure we can stomach this one. However, Beckham’s perennial glow may just be enough to get us on board…
Hailey Bieber: Blood Moisturiser
In an interview with Teen Vogue, Bieber opened up about her skincare routine, and who it includes products recommended by her dermatologists. The doctor in question, Dr. Barbara Sturm, creates her famous MC1 cream for Bieber, which is only available at her clinics in Germany. Made with patient’s blood, the plasma is separated from the rest of the blood and mixed in with a moisturiser.
Olivia Munn: Potato Diet
Just in case you need further proof that potatoes are the superior food, actress Olivia Munn credits the vegetable for her skin. Speaking to The Cut, she claims that the hyaluronic acid in Japanese sweet potatoes helps with fine lines and wrinkles.
Catherina Zeta-Jones: Beer Conditioner
When caring for her luscious locks, Catherine Zeta-Jones has admitted to opting for a beer and honey mixture as a hair conditioner. And while the results speak for themselves, Jones revealed that her tresses don’t exactly smell very nice afterwards.
Cindy Crawford: Milk Face Spray
When it comes to ageing, Crawford certainly knows a trick or two about keeping wrinkles and fine lines at bay. To keep her face hydrated throughout the day, the supermodel apparently sprays a mixture of milk and water onto her skin.
Shailene Woodley: Clay Consumption
It’s a known fact that clay has many benefits when it comes to beauty. But while most apply forms of clay to their face as a mask to draw out impurities, Woodley takes things one step further by eating it. In an interview with Into The Gloss, she dissolves one teaspoon of food-grade clay into a glass of water every day to detox her body.
