By now, you will have read – and seen – a lot about the new Barbie movie. Whether it’s Margot Robbie wearing every shade of pink imaginable, or Ryan Gosling’s Ken-ified blonde hair tips, the press tour has been bountiful in the beauty department. What you might not have seen is those that have worked behind the scenes during filming. Skin expert, Jasmina Vico, was one such woman, whose task it was to create the kind of skin befitting of a Barbie doll. From Margot Robbie to Emma Mackey, America Ferrera and Hari Nef, she welcomed many of the Barbies through her doors for skin and wellbeing treatments… and lots of tea.
“It’s Barbie and she needs to look perfect, so the brief for the skin was to create that halo of light often seen in 1940s photographs,” Vico tells Vogue exclusively. “Everything in the movies is about lighting. That’s when I thought, okay, we’re going to work on the liver; calm the nervous system; and make skin glow, but crucially, we’re going to work on that glow from within.”
Working with Ivana Primorac, the movie’s lead make-up artist, Vico created a skin and wellness protocol for each of the Barbies to follow, while seeing them consistently for in-clinic treatments in tandem. Margot, the lead character and producer on the film, visited Vico the most. “Sometimes it was twice a week, sometimes every two weeks, it depended on her schedule,” Vico explains. “I looked after her like a baby! Not just her skin, but her energy. It’s a stressful job so we worked on calming her and making her feel great.”
So, what was that protocol exactly? Here Vico shares the details with Vogue.
Facials
Harnessing the wonders of a number of different modalities – both holistic and high-tech – Vico treated all of the Barbies’s skin to her famous Vico Glow. “We did lots of depuffing and lymphatic drainage – we used lots of ice balls,” says Vico. “It all depended on what day the actor was on screen. Generally, we combined different types of lasers (including cold laser) to reduce inflammation in the skin and strengthen the skin barrier, alongside peels, massage and pressure points to open up the face.” When Margot, specifically, had some down time, they’d sneak in some microneedling to help with luminosity and skin texture, too. This, combined with a comprehensive supplement, stress and dietary protocol helped keep skin health on point and inflammation low.
Sensate
During each facial treatment, Vico placed a device called Sensate onto the Barbies’ chests. An innovative stress relief device, which is the size of the palm of your hand, it emits infrasonic frequencies and sound, which signal to the all-important vagus nerve, which connects the gut and the brain, to relax the body. “It tones the vagus nerve, which regulates the nervous system, boosts serotonin and reduces stress,” explains Vico of the little-known device. “Reducing stress is key to keeping skin stable and healthy – it’s easy to do a facial ahead of a red carpet, but when you’re filming for five months straight, you have to work on all levels of the skin, body and mind.”
The skincare
Regular treatments are all well and good, but results are also achieved with a complementary at-home routine – and Margot, says Vico, is as disciplined as they come. “Margot is like a soldier – she’s so disciplined, and she’ll do what you advise her to do,” she says. “We used a lot of our new serum, which will launch in September, alongside other top-end skincare. Think formulas that include growth factors, antioxidants, vitamin C and exfoliating masks, too.”
When it came to blemishes, which all of the Barbies experienced at some point or another (unlike the doll itself, real women have hormones!), Vico shared her top trick with Primorac to use pre-make-up. “Always use salicylic acid and ice,” she says. “Ice reduces the heat and inflammation, then salicylic acid helps unclog the pores.” She also recommends crushing aspirin and combining with water to make a paste, then applying to the spot.
The tea
If you thought that aforementioned tea was a cup of the Yorkshire blend, you’d be sorely mistaken. Vico, a Croatian native, brought one of her country’s most popular teas to the Barbie cast, and it went down a storm. “Milk thistle cleanses your liver,” she explains. “When that happens, our liver automatically produces more glutathione, which then makes the skin more radiant. One of the most important ingredients within it is silymarin, which is now featured a lot in skincare formulas.”
Stipulating that it needs to be the spiky heart of the milk thistle, the plant needs to be brewed for 20 minutes to ensure it is bitter. “The liver likes anything bitter, because it helps it to flush,” says Vico. “This tea is like a witch’s brew!” So popular was the tea with Margot and co, that on the famous Barbie “sleepover” (organised by director Greta Gerwig) at Claridges, Margot brewed the tea for her cast mates. Talk about dedication to the cause.
Supplements and probiotics
A visit to Vico is never solely about the skin. As passionate about gut health as she is about different treatment modalities, she sends clients home with kefir and goat milk to ensure their gut microbiomes are thriving with all the good stuff – this, in turn, helps create beautiful skin, thanks to the gut-skin axis. “I gave Margot kefir and advised her to eat lots of fermented foods, like sauerkraut, for example,” Vico says. “She loved all of that.” Other recommended supplements included liposomal vitamin C and glutathione, as well as Vico’s own 3-6-9 capsules, which work to promote gut and skin health.
Read more: The Best Skin Supplements
