Pink Dream – Style

Laser resurfacing, self-tanning and milk thistle tea – Kommersant Style tells what beauty rituals were mandatory for actors during the filming of the film “Barbie”.

There are more and more new details of the filming of the already sensational film by Greta Gerwig “Barbie”. No wonder: the PR campaign has already exceeded the budget for the production of the tape. For example, the film had a full-time beautician who helped the actors achieve the effect of “doll” skin.

Total renewal

“There is no quick fix. Improved camera technology captures even the smallest skins, so we need to be on the lookout!” says London-based Barbie beautician Yasmina Vico, who has previously worked with the cast of The Bridgertons and The Crown. For the new tape, Vico developed the “Barbie Healthy Skin Protocol”. Her recommendations combined both hardware techniques and oral supplements and nutritional correction.

Among the procedures, laser resurfacing was involved – to even out the skin relief, tighten the oval and narrow the pores, microneedling (piercing the skin with a special roller with many fine needles) for a lifting effect, peeling to improve skin tone, lymphatic drainage massage to relieve puffiness and LED therapy to restore after aggressive manipulation. Such procedures would cost 50,000 rubles in Moscow. at least if you do them one at a time. The actors took the course throughout the filming, which lasted a little over a year (let’s count?).

For each actor, the protocols were slightly different. For example, Margot Robbie also underwent a course of vagus nerve stimulation treatments to reduce stress and indirectly affect the appearance of the skin. Interestingly, for the latter, such neuromodulation does not yet have scientifically substantiated data, although studies have been carried out.

To improve the condition of the skin from the inside, the beautician recommended that the actors take vitamin C supplements, eat sauerkraut and drink kefir to maintain intestinal microflora, and drink milk thistle tea to support liver function, so that toxins can be released faster.

Vico points out that such an intensive course of procedures created difficulties in the filming schedule, because the actors’ skin needed little rehabilitation, especially after microneedling and laser resurfacing.

Tanning Specialist

Another interesting fact: a self-tanning specialist worked in the film crew. The main task of Kimberly Nkosi was the transformation of Ryan Gosling into a tanned Ken. His skin color was to be “no yellow or orange undertones, nor any red tones in the lighting of the set.” After a lot of testing, Nkosi chose Isle Of Paradise’s self-tanning spray, which includes color correctors, so the shade looks intense, but as natural as possible.

Self-tanning was renewed twice a week, and in order for the product not to leave streaks, the skin had to be regularly exfoliated and moisturized. As a result, in combination with a platinum blond, Ryan Gosling’s Ken looked the most doll-like, which is what the creators wanted to achieve. After all, as you know, the Ken doll had blond hair. Gosling’s personal stylist Marie Larkin tells Allure that the actor insisted on bleaching his hair when the studio had already started making wigs.

In any case, “Barbie” was the first film in which the beautician played such a significant and extensive role in the filming process. Let’s count more make-up and retouching in post-production – it’s still not easy to look like Barbie and Ken.

Daria Bogomolova