Do extreme and wildly expensive beauty treatments really work? Get to know some of them and judge for yourself.
GOLD & DIAMONDS: PRECIOUS BEAUTY
Paying homage to Japanese traditions, spas in Beverly Hills are now offering 24k pure gold facials that supposedly firm your skin and reduce wrinkles, if you’re willing to pay $300 every time.
A very radical procedure is also being applied by dermatologists, where a 24k gold mesh is inserted permanently under the surface of your skin, stimulating collagen, plumping and firming your complexion. At $4,000, would you say it’s a bargain?
Massively rich women have found even more ways to spend their money. Gold manicures (where real gold comes in a nail polish bottle) are popular among celebrities. In fact, Rihanna wore hers at the 2012 Grammy Awards and it was reportedly worth $5000. Katy Perry and Kelly Osbourne are fans of diamond encrusted manicures, which can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $250,000. Now that’s some expensive nail art!
My two cents? OPI The Man With the Golden Gun is a limited edition, $40 nail polish with real 18k gold flakes.
Read Related: 10 Harmful Ingredients in Your Cosmetics
UGLY FEET NO MORE
It’s no secret that your feet deserve a little splurge once in a while, but how much is too much? If you were ever ashamed of your paws, you can now slim them down for a whopping $2,500. Yes, toe liposuction is a new trend that fixes your “fat toes”…as if toe-besity were a problem in America. Even more extreme is a toe removal procedure; where your pinkie toe is literally removed allowing you to squeeze into a pair of pointy heels. One word: ouch!
Then we have the increasingly popular—yet illegal in 14 states—fish pedicure, originally developed in Turkey. For $45, you can enjoy 15 minutes of dipping your toes into a tank of water filled with leech-like fish. These bad boys will replenish the skin by sucking away dry cells, leaving you with baby feet. But if you’re interested in the experience, better get your nibbles in now: this practice could be banned completely, for sanitary reasons.
Last but not least, there are collagen foot injections. Rejoice, high heel aficionados! Collagen fillers have become a new obsession that apparently adds extra padding to the balls of your feet, reducing the pain caused from a pair of sky-high stilettos. Results last about three months and cost around $500. Sneakers anyone?
LESS KOOKY ALTERNATIVES COURTESY OF CELEBS
Madonna has a beauty secret for her smooth, almost wrinkle-free skin: hair-braiding. This non-surgical option “lifts” your face (specifically the area around your temples and forehead) from the tension created by small, tightly braided cornrows. For about $100, it could be worth trying and, maybe even the headache!
One of Madonna’s best friends, Gwyneth Paltrow, also takes wrinkles seriously. She’s devoted to snake venom treatments, which act like Botox—without pinching your face—and help get rid of wrinkles. According to her, snake-venom anti-aging cream “has freezing effects.” Dying to try it? Immunocologie Treatment Crème VenoMAX ($275) is pretty similar.
But the award of bizarre tricks goes to Catherine Zeta Jones. The actress gets monthly $450 caviar hair masks, which gives her hair an unbelievable shine thanks to fish oils. Other stars such as Eva Longoria, January Jones and Hilary Duff swear by human placenta (in creams or pill form) to achieve a wonderful complexion. Not crazy at all if we think of all the proteins, vitamins and antioxidants placenta contains.
But, how many of us can really afford that?
