Hey my name is Rachael and I’m 34 years old. I’ve never really been too worried about my age, but since I turned 30 I have started to become a little more concerned with looking my age.

Over the past few years I’ve taken a few steps to help my skin feel fresh and youthful -

I've stopped drinking alcohol - I once heard Jen Atkin say that she couldn’t think of a woman who drank a lot of alcohol after 40 and still looked good and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so much so that I took a break from alcohol in January 2020 and haven’t felt the need to start again since.

I don’t smoke.

I try to exercise regularly although sometimes I’m better at this than others.

I drink LOADS of water.

I eat a LOT of fresh vegetables and fruit along with taking a liposomal Vitamin C daily. I also think drinking a hot water and lemon daily is amazing for my skin but its not great for your teeth so if you are doing this only have one cup, drink it all at once, and wait 30 minutes until your brush your teeth. I also try not to eat too much sugar or dairy products, but again, some days I’m better at doing this than others.

I’ve made friends with Salicylic and Glycolic acid, Retinols, facial oils and facial massages. I also cleanse, tone, moisturise and wear SPF.

I’m pretty happy with all of the above, but when I started offering Anti-Wrinkle treatments, I thought it was high time I practiced what I preached and got on board the Azzalure Party Train. Azzalure is the product of choice for myself and many of my colleagues offering Anti Wrinkle treatments. It gives a safe, natural and predictable results so I was more than happy to have the treatment with this product on my own face. I also felt super confident as Azzalure wears off after about 3-4 months so I knew that if I wasn’t happy with the treatment for whatever reason, the results wouldn’t be permanent.

Dr Murray Smith - who you might remember from my Invisalign Diary - is an amazing Dentist that I work with at Moira Cosmetic Dental, and a couple of weeks ago he carried out my treatment for me. We both trained together at Dr Claire Hughes practice with BTC so I knew he had been trained to the highest standard.

The areas I was concerned with were, my frown lines between my eyes and the fine lines on my forehead. These two areas work together so its usually a good idea to treat them both at the same time. This isn’t the case for everyone though so its always good to check this with your clinician at your consultation.

I didn’t have many lines at rest, but I did have some lines on movement so Azzalure was the ideal choice at the ideal time to soften and freshen these areas.

I’ll link a video of me chatting about the areas I wanted to treat here as sometimes I think its easier to see movement in a video as well as pictures.

As you can see I have quite an expressive forehead lol and as right now I’m wearing my mask most of the time that covers the areas of my face that make me look more youthful, I feel this has been magnified.

Firstly, Dr Murray cleansed and prepared my skin prior to treatment. I hadn’t worn makeup that day, but its still important that skin is perfectly clean to help reduce the risk of ant problems or infection. Then we took some photographs of my face and highlighted the muscles we wanted to relax with the Azzalure. Just FYI everyone looks a little crazy making these faces so I hope you have a little giggle at these photos…

Pre Treatment Eyebrows at raised - see how the lines appear on movement

Pre Treatment Frown - just lolol frowning when you’re not cross is hard work again lines appearing on movement

I then had 4 injections in my forehead and 5 injections across my frown line between my eyebrows.

Now I was totally relaxed before I had the treatment, I’ve treated multiple patients with Azzalure so I thought I knew what to expect. I am a bit of a nervy person though, so by the time my photographs had been taken and my face was marked up I was feeling a bit nervous, mostly because I had just never done anything like this before and I wasn’t sure how it would feel.

Most of the injections I did not feel AT ALL, some where a little stingy. Some of the injection sites bled a little bit, this is totally normal. They didn’t bleed for long and any blood was just wiped away with a little bit of gauze. Some people say that Azzalure or Botox can crackle a bit when it goes into your skin but I didn’t notice this. I did feel a bit nauseous directly afterwards, mostly because I’d got myself a bit nervous but literally in two minutes after a drink of water I was fine.

Immediately After Treatment - bit red but all good

I really didn’t feel anything for the first few days, although I kept checking in every available mirror every 15 minutes - seriously. Some patients get some swelling or bruising afterwards but I didn’t notice anything. I really didn’t see any changes until about day 5, starting at my frown line and then moving on to my forehead the next day.

Now after you have Anti-Wrinkle injections there are rules which must be followed namely

1) Drink plenty of water - the golden rule, anti-wrinkle injections can give you hangover feels and no one wants that

2) No exercise directly afterwards

3) Stay upright for 3-4 hours after treatment

4) No facials, skin peels, sunbeds, saunas or direct sunlight for 7 days after treatment

A couple of days afterwards, I completely forgot this and booked into a Bikram Yoga class - basically Yoga in a sauna. I didn’t realise until I was about to walk in and had to cancel - that £16 I’ll never see again, oh well.

Some of the muscles in my forehead and frown lines were, lets say, better behaved than others as you’ll see below.

This is totally normal and why we offer review appointments 2 weeks after treatments. Some people don’t mind a little movement and by 2 weeks some of these unbalanced movements will be totally gone. Rather than looking like The Rock for the next 4 months however, at my review Dr Murray decided to add a little more Azzalure to my ‘Spock’ or reverse smile lines over my eyebrows and my unruly right eyebrow.

Pre Top Up Eyebrows Raised - see how the middle of my eyebrows are still moving upwards

After about 4 days my top up has worked and my forehead and from lines are super smooth and honestly I am in love with it!! Here’s a video of me 9 days after my top up.

My makeup goes on so much smoother, I don’t squint in the sun and I feel really confident without my makeup too. I will 100% be getting it again <3.

If you’re thinking of having Anti-Wrinkle treatment you can check out my Anti Wrinkle FAQ blog here. I’m also offering no obligation free consultations for Ant-Wrinkle and Lip Filler treatments at Moira Cosmetic Dental. At this appointment we’ll see what sort of treatment would make you look like the best version of yourself, take some photographs and discuss pricing. We can then organise your treatment and follow up visits for you at the practice. If you live in Northern Ireland and would like to book in for a free consultation you can send me a message through the Contact Us tab or send me a DM on my Instagram page.

Thanks so much for reading!