What are celebrities not telling us about their beauty routine? Well, over Cassandra’s career of 15 years, she’s learned a lot about celebrities and influencers. And it turns out, many of them are just like us. They just have a few beauty secrets. So, let’s talk about these secrets. We’re not here to blast celebrities, we just shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to them. When you see one of their images or a post on social media, it’s important to understand what’s going on behind the scenes 

Influencers and Free Beauty PR + Celebrities and Luxury Beauty

A lot of influencers wear expensive products, and a lot of people assume that these influencers can afford them. While that might be true, a lot of influencers are gifted these items for free. When companies gift these items, they hope that influencers will end up using and promoting them. 

As for celebrities, you’ll notice how they always talk about luxury beauty. This may give people the impression that luxury products are the best, or they might feel compelled to buy them “to feel beautiful.” But, in truth, many celebrities don't always go out of their way to stay up-to-date on the latest luxury beauty products. Oftentimes, it's not something celebrities truly pursue to “maintain their beauty.” Most of the time, it's brands pursuing them, but of course, this happens behind the scenes. 

An expensive brand like La Mer will reach out to the celebrity, the celebrity’s PR team, or wardrobe and makeup artists. Once the celebrities are gifted the products, the brand asks the celebrity to spread awareness about the brand. That's why celebrities almost always talk about luxury beauty over drugstore beauty. Yes, there is elitism involved. But, celebrities often represent luxury brands because that is what pays the most. And from a business perspective, the brands see celebrity endorsements as a means of brand equity. 

Brand equity is the level of sway a brand name has in the minds of consumers versus similar brands. It's how personally connected and how much a consumer identifies with a product. Brand equity is the value a consumer places on having a product, not just the product itself. 

Similarly, celebrity endorsements can make us want products and even feel beautiful upon purchasing specific ones. But for Cassandra, she was someone who grew up with cystic acne, and she couldn’t afford these products. This did affect Cassandra’s self-esteem. However, she was still grateful for the drugstore beauty she was able to buy. And she realizes now that drugstore skincare can be just as good if not better than the luxury stuff. However, there is a cognitive bias that if we just spend more, it must be worth more, which is not true.

So, when impressionable people look at these celebrities using $200 products, it’s easy to think that these products are giving them gorgeous skin. When in reality, it's promotional, and plus, they are probably doing a multitude of other treatments.

Easy access to elevated treatments

Another thing celebrities don’t always disclose is the advanced tools and treatments they use. Just like celebrities get free products sent to them from luxury brands, celebrities also get many devices sent to them, and devices are fantastic when used at home regularly. 

For example, radiofrequency, microcurrent devices, and LED are fantastic treatments. And if you do them at home every day, you’re getting even more of a benefit than going into clinic. For example, when Cassandra watched Paris Hilton’s skincare routine, she uses a light stim device that costs $10,000, and Cassandra wonders if she got this for free. 

Celebrities don’t always have to wait as long for medical appointments.

Many celebrities are able to see dermatologists and other physicians much more regularly than the average person. With everyday people, seeing a doctor is an entire process. Most Americans have an HMO plan because they are much more affordable than PPOs. With an HMO though, you have to see a primary caretaker physician, your main doctor, and then, they refer you to a specialist.

With a PPO, you go to whatever doctor you want, you just pay a different rate. But even with a PPO, there can still be a long wait time depending on the doctor’s availability. On the other hand, many celebrities have their assistants call the medical office, and the office will slip them in. Doctors know if a celebrity talks about them, it can bring them new business. So, a doctor is willing to make that celebrity's life easier or get that celebrity in before a movie or a photoshoot because they have an incentive to do so. 

Likewise, seeing a doctor or derm more regularly will give you more regular results. Furthermore, celebrities also have the resources to purchase customized skincare products or treatments from dermatologists. Many celebrities get customized cleansers, moisturizers, and sunscreens for themselves. 

Procedures might happen little-by-little

We’re not just talking about plastic surgery, we’re talking about little things that can be done over time to create a significant difference in appearance. For example, instead of a full rhinoplasty where the nose is shaved or broken, liquid rhinoplasties have become much more common. Liquid rhinoplasty is when you inject filler into the nose. There’s also cheek filler, jaw filler, and lip filler. Fillers are less noticeable, and they can give the illusion of something natural. In contrast to procedures, fillers implement changes that are much less stark.

Fillers can make beauty or a celebrity’s look seem more credible. But, at the same time, it’s easy to compare ourselves and say, “Why don’t I naturally look like that too?” All the while, the celebrity has gotten little treatments here and there  that are difficult to notice over time without a side-by-side comparison. 

More than just makeup hacks

Yes, of course, like many of us, celebrities wear makeup. But, that’s not even the point we’re making here. When we compare our makeup to celebrities, sometimes we’ll think, “Wow, why doesn’t my makeup look like that?

Well, before celebrities go on camera, estheticians will also be present, and they give the celebrities skin treatments before having their hair and makeup done. There are estheticians for film, and in addition to the makeup artist, they are on set for 12 to 16 hours to do retouches and different treatments for different lighting.

So, when you see a celebrity, you don’t have to feel like, “Why can’t I make my makeup look like that?” Because there are systems, teams, and technologies in place to make a celebrity look a certain way on camera. 

So, you shouldn’t compare yourself to a celebrity because you don’t know how much goes into looking like a celebrity. And hopefully, this gives more insight and prevents us from comparing ourselves and our natural beauty to their image.