Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Restylane® Silk. However, the thoughts and opinions are my own.
My #GorgeousLips were a focal point at the recent Getting Gorgeous event in NYC, where I got to show off my freshly-plumped pout for friends and visitors alike.
Last week was a pretty cool one for me— I was asked to be a sort of live lip model at the Getting Gorgeous blogger event in NYC. What does that entail, you ask? Well, since I’ve had Restylane® Silk injections in my lips before, I was a kind of live, human mannequin for the varied bloggers coming to check out what the product is really about. When people hear “lip injections” their minds immediately go to images of ducks and overdone Hollywood types, but the reality is that a little bit of a well-designed product (like Restylane Silk, my personal fave) can go a long way in restoring a more youthful appearance vs looking fake.
Allow me to explain my own experience.
I was born with very full lips. I grew up happy with them, and never for a day thought “well, I must inject them with something to make them swell enormously!” — no, nothing like that. But sometime after the 3rd kid, my current age of 31, and possibly too much time in the South Florida sun where I grew up… little, annoying wrinkles appeared. The kind that collect more of the bright pink lipstick I love than they should. They kind that I can see in photos, and the kind that age me in a subtle way. I do not like those lines, and Restylane Silk is such a fine, silky injectable that uses hyaluronic acid to attract natural water and moisture volume that it has the ability to fill those little lines in. The result? Turning my lips back to what they were before kids, and that’s really all I wanted.
So as the day passed I got to hang out and meet new blogger friends, run into old gal pals, and have them all say “YOU got injected? You’ve always had big lips though and they don’t look weird or fake?” Well duh, if they looked weird or fake I wouldn’t want them! I let a few of the gals poke them so they could see they felt just like normal lips feel thanks to the added volume coming mostly from water, and explained several times over that my goal was to return to the younger lips I had in my early 20s. I didn’t want to be some other woman— at 31 I’ve gotten comfortable in my own skin, and now I just want to maintain it.
Restylane Silk is designed specifically to provide natural-looking results in the lip area by using smaller, smoother particles than those used in other Restylane products.
In a clinical study, patients treated with Restylane Silk, the first and only FDA-approved product specifically designed for lip enhancement and the smoothing of wrinkles around the mouth in patients 21 years of age and older, reported fast-acting, long-lasting results:
– 98% of patients reported a visible improvement in lip fullness 14 days after injection.
– 76% of patients still had lip improvement six months following injection.
Those findings are pretty significant to me, because using an over the counter lip plumper works limitedly and only for a couple hours at best— I need something long lasting and low maintenance. I love that the product focuses on enhancing what’s already there, it’s the same concept as using a CC cream or mascara, using what you already have and just amplifying it.
I was lucky enough to have the famed Dr. Marina Peredo of Skinfluence do my injections, too, which made me feel totally confident in my results. Aside from her new NYC office being really warm and welcoming (it’s rare to find kind and patient receptionists, I swear!), Dr. Peredo’s injection technique hardly hurt. She used a gentle flicking method to distract my eyes (and brain!) so when the injections actually hit my skin I hardly noticed or felt. Phew— and would totally go back again.
So how about you? What signs of aging are you noticing— and after reading this, would you try an injectable like Restylane® Silk?
Important Safety Information
Indications: The Restylane family of products includes Restylane®, Restylane-L®, Restylane® Silk, Restylane® Lyft with Lidocaine, and Perlane®. Restylane, Restylane-L, Restylane Lyft with Lidocaine, and Perlane are indicated for the correction of moderate to severe facial wrinkles and folds, such as nasolabial folds. Restylane and Restylane–L are indicated for mid-to-deep dermal implantation. Perlane and Restylane Lyft with Lidocaine are indicated for implantation into the deep dermis to superficial subcutis. Restylane Silk is indicated for submucosal implantation for lip augmentation and dermal implantation for correction of perioral rhytids in patients over the age of 21. Restylane Lyft with Lidocaine is also indicated for cheek augmentation and for the correction of age-related midface contour deficiencies in patients over the age of 21. Restylane and Restylane-L are also indicated for submucosal implantation for lip augmentation in patients over the age of 21.
Products in the Restylane family contain traces of gram-positive bacterial protein and are contraindicated for patients with allergies to such material or in patients with severe allergies that have required in-hospital treatment. These products should not be used by patients with bleeding disorders or by pregnant or breastfeeding women. Restylane and Restylane-L for lip enhancement and Restylane Silk should not be used by people under 22 years. Restylane-L, Restylane Silk and Restylane Lyft with Lidocaine should not be used by anyone with a known allergy to lidocaine. Products should not be injected anywhere except the dermis, superficial subcutis (Perlane and Restylane Lyft with Lidocaine only), or lip submucosa (Restylane, Restylane-L, and Restylane Silk only).
Use of products in the Restylane family at the site of skin sores, pimples, rashes, hives, cysts, or infection should be postponed until healing is complete. The most commonly observed side effects are swelling, redness, pain, bruising, headache, tenderness, and itching at the injection site. These are typically mild in severity and typically resolve in less than 7 days. Serious but rare side effects include delayed onset infections, recurrence of herpetic eruptions, and superficial necrosis at the injection site. Do not implant into blood vessels. Use with caution in patients recently treated with anticoagulant or platelet inhibitors to avoid bleeding and bruising.
The Restylane family of products is available only through a licensed practitioner. Complete Instructions for Use for Restylane, Restylane-L, Restylane Silk, and Perlaneare available at www.RestylaneUSA.com. Complete Instructions for Use for Restylane® Lyft with Lidocaine is available at www.RestylaneLyft.com
