Is how much you earn written all over your face? There’s no doubt that a sizeable disposable income allows greater opportunity to indulge in pricey anti-ageing skincare, treatments, gym memberships and wellness trends.
But how far can money beat Mother Nature and how much difference can it really make to how ‘expensive’ your face looks?
Does it mean a woman who earns six figures and spends a tenth of her annual wage on tweakments and high-end brands will look younger and wealthier than one who earns £20,000 and lives by the ‘less is best’ mantra?
We asked five women, with salaries, from £220,000 to £12,000, to do a close-up shoot, and reveal how much they spend on their looks each year.
I’ve been skincare obsessed since the age of 14
Frankie Atherstone, 63, an aesthetics clinic owner from Reading is divorced with four children and five grandchildren
Salary: £220,000
Spend: £21,500
As a woman of 6ft, I’ve always been the first person anyone notices. But not being the prettiest, I’ve always felt the need to try my best to look as good as possible.
This is probably where my obsession with skincare began. Ever since the age of 14, I’ve looked after my skin, spending my pocket money on products.
My spending on skincare increased at university where competition was rife. I worked in a bar and a fast food restaurant purely so I could afford luxury Estee Lauder products.
I went on to build a high-powered career with a salary to match, and throughout my life have regularly lavished money on treatments and high-end brands.
Though when I started in corporate banking accounting aged 21, I’d just had my first child so my family was my priority. By the time I was 28 and a mum of two, I was already earning six figures.
Throughout my 30s and 40s, I was busy juggling my high-powered job with my four children. Although my appearance was always important to me, I took my eye off the ball when it came to buying the right products for my skin.
I had discovered that feeling groomed makes such a difference to self-confidence. I’ve always had my hair cut and coloured every six to eight weeks and invested in expensive classic clothes.
But by my early 50s, post divorce and menopausal, I had dull, dry, freckled and pigmented skin. I was still earning good money and would spend £750 on fillers every year or two, but they were just a quick fix and did nothing to preserve my skin in the long-term.
At around this time, I went to see an ayurvedic practitioner because I was struggling with the stresses of my busy life. This is an Indian science which focuses on eating according to your body type. I was prescribed a range of herbs and body cleansing treatments, along with changes to my diet and stress levels. It improved my mental wellbeing, physical health – and my skin.
I then attended a health conference and decided to embark upon a three-year training course in aesthetics and massage. With only one child living at home, I decided this was my time. It took me ten years to become qualified as an aesthetic practitioner but I have recently swapped accountancy for running my own clinic.
Now 63, people tend to think I’m ten years younger. Just the other day a male client at my clinic assumed I was only 45. He was speechless when I told him I had a 42-year-old son.
It’s taken me this long to say I love the way I look. My eyes are bright, amazing and really pop, I’ve got great skin texture and decent bone structure – all without a facelift. (The only cosmetic surgery I’ve had was a tip rhinoplasty at 21 to correct a hooked nose.)
As for my skincare routine, in the morning I use a cleanser, mineral facial spray, two different serums and SPF.
In the evening, I cleanse, use a facial mist, hydrating serum, good retinol and apply a neck/decollete cream.
My top tip is to reapply my hyaluronic serum and SPF over my make-up during the day. It gives my skin a ‘glazed donut’ glow. Everyone tells me my skin looks amazing.
Annual spend
Hair: £3,300
Red light facials/peels: £1,200
Fillers: £800
Microneedling with exosomes: £1,500
Skin boosters: £1,800
Facial care products: £1,000
Deep skin tightening: £2,500
Neurofeedback/mentoring: £1,500
Bio-resonance, osteopathy, acupuncture: £1,200
Yoga and retreats, Pilates, reformer Pilates, gym membership and private trainer: £2,500
HTMA mineral tests: £1,200
Minerals and nutrients/naturopathic to support adrenals and well-being: £3,000
People never believe I’m 44 – and untweaked
Minreet Kaur, 44, a writer and carer from Hayes, Middlesex
Salary: £20,000
Spend: £91
Many women my age lavish time and money on all sorts of ‘miracle’ lotions and potions for their skin. Part of me thinks good on them if it makes them feel good. But the other part wants to explain that genetics play such a big part in how our bodies age; you can’t fight Mother Nature.
I don’t earn the kind of money that allows me to even think about tweakments, but it’s not for me even if I did.
I was married for a year in my late 20s, after which I moved back in with my parents, where I’ve been ever since. I don’t have any outgoings, which is just as well because as a writer and unpaid carer for my mother, who has incurable cancer, I don’t earn masses.
That doesn’t mean I don’t care about the way I look. I do get compliments about my ‘glowing’ skin. People never believe I’m in my mid-40s or that my skin is natural and untweaked.
I put this down to the fact I don’t drink alcohol or smoke. I run daily and have regular saunas, too… and don’t forget my good genes.
My mum is my beauty guru. She looks far younger than her 74 years and her mantra is ‘less is best’.
She has always advised me to wash my face with cold water; I also splash my eyes with it throughout the day. I apply Nivea moisturiser, costing £2, and that’s me done.
I wear make-up only once or twice a month if I am out with friends or at meetings. I use mascara and I have a MAC lipstick that I share with Mum. I’ve been a vegetarian for 25 years, so I hate the feeling of the animal-derived grease on my skin.
Whenever I’ve been tempted to try other products, Mum tells me constantly that introducing different ingredients disrupts your skin. She gets so many compliments about her own complexion – and she only uses Vaseline.
Even if I won the lottery tomorrow, I couldn’t justify spending a fortune on clothes or my skin – that just doesn’t sit well with me. My biggest spend is only ever on trainers or hiking boots so I can exercise.
I’ve been single for 20 years and I wouldn’t have it any other way. A simple life is the best life.
Annual spend
Vatika coconut hair oil: £12
Nivea face cream: £14
Make-up (lipstick, mascara, eyeliner): £65
I look like I earn way more than I actually do
Georgina Pomfrett, 45, an aesthetic clinic owner from Epping, Essex, with two daughters aged 18 and five
Salary: £25,000
Spend: £2,516
My appearance has always been hugely important to me. I have worked in the beauty industry for 26 years – working my way up from a beautician to running my own aesthetics business, GK Perfection.
These days I work part-time around my children’s lives, which means I earn a modest salary. I’m lucky enough not to have a mortgage on my home and my income is topped up by my family and my daughters’ fathers.
So although I might not earn high, my outgoings are minimal, leaving me to spend what I do earn on the way I look. While I pay only cost price for the products used when I do get treatments, I still spend a large proportion of my income on my appearance.
There is only so much a good skin routine can do; that’s why I started having Botox twice a year at the age of 32. I now perform it on myself every four months.
Next month I’m booked in for blepharoplasty to remove excess skin on my eyelids. At a cost of £2,000, it’s something I’ve saved up for. My eyes are hooded and I’ve wanted the procedure done for five years.
My morning routine is pretty pared down: a cleanser, serum and then moisturiser, and an SPF in the daytime. On top of that, I have microneedling to improve skin texture every month and skin booster injections twice a year for hydration. I also take collagen supplements.
Is it worth it? I do get embarrassed by the compliments I receive; one regular comment is that I’ve got good bone structure. It’s true I’ve got high cheekbones and my face is heart-shaped.
I dress well and go to the gym twice a week. I’m lucky enough to try out a lot of treatments on myself. That’s why I absolutely look like I earn far more than I actually do.
Annual spend
Hair: £500
Gym: £1,056
Botox: £560
Skin booster injections: £400
I’m throwing the kitchen sink at my face
Katrina Verdon-Roe, 61, a business development manager with two adult children and lives in Wimbledon, South London
Salary: £60,000
Spend: £17,660
At 61, my appearance is now at the top of my list of priorities. I had breast cancer five years ago and decided to put myself first from then on.
Having raised children and paid for their private education, it’s now my money to spend how I want. So I’m throwing the kitchen sink at my face and body to turn back time. I have regular fillers, Botox and the broken veins around my nose zapped away.
Earlier this year I had a microneedling treatment, too, which left my skin red and inflamed but looked great after a week.
I’ve also had chemical peels on my face, neck, shoulders and hands; all good results but they don’t last.
I have also resorted to paying over £2,000 to laser away the sun damage from my days in the sun in my 20s; it does come back without daily sunblock though.
I can afford to do all this because I enjoyed a successful career as a head-hunter for the advertising industry, earning a decent six-figure salary.
A trust fund set up by my late mother also supported me over the years and helped me buy my first flat at 21. I inherited a thatched converted barn in Hampshire, which I rent out while I live in a three-bed terraced property in London.
But has all the skincare spending been worth it? People often say my skin looks incredible.
My reflection is much better than it was three years ago. I put that down to my Opatra facial massage handheld device. With a whopping retail price of £8,500, it uses different light settings to remove dead skin, alter the structure of my skin and get rid of uneven skin tone. But it’s worth every penny.
I’ve also got one of those LED masks, which cost me £250. I use it between treatments to top up the light therapy and encourage collagen production.
Obviously women like Kris Jenner have upped the stakes for women of my generation, but a complete facelift like hers is no walk in the park. I’ll try all the tricks of the trade – but I won’t do that.
Annual spend
Two facial/eye derma-sonic devices by Opatra: £1,600 (discounted price)
Additional Opatra creams/gels/serum: £400
Fillers: £800
Botox: £440
Microneedling, face peels: £300
Profhilo injectables: £600
Gym membership: £1,500, plus personal trainer at £1,860
Haircuts: £80
Expensive hair products: £300
Organic castor oil for my joints: £120
Organic Moringa powder taken daily: £40
Magnesium tablets: £100
D-Mannose tablets: £100
Collagen powder: £200
Organic food: £4,800
Water filter: £430
Body massage: £300
Chiropractor and cranial osteopath: £1,860
LED facemask: £250
Silk pillow cases: £20
Herbalist: £250
Clarins creams: £700
Nivea sensitive facial sun cream: £60
Prescription designer glasses: £250
Teeth: £300
What have I had done? Everything!
Kerry Hennessy, 53, an aesthetics director and receptionist from Southport with two teenage sons
Salary: £12,000
Spend:£9,320
Whenever someone asks me what I have had done, the short answer is: everything! There is no part of my face that hasn’t been improved. I’ve had everything done, but – I hope – you wouldn’t know it.
The most expensive is a current course of Sculptra which tightens skin. You’re supposed to have one treatment for each decade of your life so at around £450-500 a go, I’m looking at £2,500 over a four-month period. It’s meant to firm, add volume and structure back to the face, and I’m also having Radiesse, a similar product, for my crepey arms and neck.
How can I afford it on my £12,000 annual salary? My husband of 20 years, Stephen, 54, is an aesthetic doctor and I work alongside him at the clinic on reception. Who needs a Swiss banker or an independent finance stream when you’ve got that kind of a husband?
Fortunately, I get everything at cost price and my husband pays for the running of our five-bedroom detached home. That’s why the bulk of my salary can go on my face.
I was 28 when I met my husband, who was my dentist – and he retrained from dentistry to working with skin. Before he began training he reassured me I wouldn’t need any tweakments, but after he’d finished he changed his tune. He started with Botox on my frown lines and crow’s feet around my eyes. I was only 29 at the time but it’s a preventative procedure.
I had my upper eyelids done two years ago. It’s a gift when your husband is in this field of work. I trust him completely. He’s a bit of a geek about skin, he’s happiest reading up on it in bed every night.
My treatments vary but I have microneedling every four weeks, Botox every three months and fillers to improve the lines between my nose and mouth once a year.
In the meantime, my daily routine involves a skincare regime called ZO, a cleanser and growth serum which improves the texture of the skin. I use a retinoid, too, which leaves your skin more toned and smoother; I call it the ‘Holy Grail’.
My favourite part of my face is my cheeks – my husband calls them the coat hangers of the face, you need only the tiniest filler lift to get a decent contour.
No one’s face is symmetrical, and the side I sleep on is more lined than the other, so I have a bit more filler on that side. I don’t have my lips done, but every 18 months I get the outline of them subtly enhanced with filler.
My teenage sons are typical rugby boys, they just roll their eyes when I come home with bruises after another treatment. They do tell me I look good when I’m dressed up, though.
Annual spend
Azzalure: £960
Sculptra: £2,000
Polynucleotides: £920
Lip flip: £400
Microneedling: £1,000
Radiesse in neck: £1,800
ZO skincare: £1,600
Cheeks filler: £320
Nasolabial lines: £320
