#AskEllie: Should I get Botox?

In our new series, we invite beauty questions for our editor, Ellie Balfe, who has over 20 years of make-up artistry behind her as well as an international award for beauty journalism, and quite frankly is a ?walking wealth of knowledge on all things beauty. So to kick off #AskEllie she talks botox and brazen husbands!

Q: I was complaining about my wrinkles the other day and my husband jokingly suggested I should get Botox if it’ll shut me up. Should I consider the treatment or a new husband?

EB:? Ok, let’s talk Botox first, just while I gather my thoughts on your husband’s response!

Botox is a wonderful treatment when done with great skill. The practitioner needs to have a lot of experience administering the treatment to various ages and face shapes. Vitally, they need to have a strong understanding of the underlying muscle groups as well as a good overall aesthetic. You need to feel confident about who is treating you, so have no fear in asking to hear about their level of experience in the field of injectables.

Personally speaking, I have tried it out several times, with mixed levels of success. I have had the fully frozen brow – awful. I have had the drooped eye brow; which felt as though it was pushing my eye lid down and almost closing my eye too much – also awful. And then, finally, redemption came when Dr Katherine Mulrooney applied a delightfully light touch, using barely half a syringe of the stuff for my entire face and the result was fantastic. Instead of looking tired, I looked brighter and lighter. Nothing was frozen; my eyes appeared lifted and dare I say, so did my cheekbones. This rather magical effect is all down to her administering the formula to the precise points of the face where muscles lift rather than drop, and holding things in place there. So, after finally finding an effect I like, I now have a sprinkling of botox every six months with Dr Katherine (whom I would now trust with my life!) and her light touch makes me feel much, much better about how I look. And that’s what’s important, right? That I feel good in my own skin? So I would say two things to you:

1) If your skin is getting you down and you are feeling as though you look older beyond your years (or you look your exact age and it’s still getting you down), go and have a consultation. Take baby-steps at first and remember – the best Botox is the Botox you can’t see.

2) And as for your husband? A lesson in tolerance wouldn’t go astray, and when he remarks on how great you look (post-Botox), and asks what you’ve done’say ?nothing darling, I’m just happy?!

If you’d like to #AskEllie just tweet us @imageie, use the hashtag with your question and Ellie will pick questions at random.