No More Frowns with Astique Clinic!

So there’s a HUGE reason I’m smiling in his picture so happily. Can you figure out what it is? Okay, besides the fact that I am lucky enough to be in the picture with 2 absolutely gorgeous women, is there anything else you can guess that I’m happy about? Well, if you can’t guess, then allow me to let you in on a little secret. 

Here is another picture of me looking nothing but happy in one of those *previously* horrible angled (those top-down ones) photos of myself. I MAY BE LOOKING UP, RAISING MY EYEBROWS, AND SMILING, BUT NO LINES CAN BE SEEN ON MY FOREHEAD!!!!! Revolutionary. I can’t even begin to explain how thrilled I am about this. But of course, I have to because this is a blog post after all haha!

Now, in case you’re wondering… okay… what’s the big deal? What’s so great about having a smooth forehead? You’re about to be shown a very lovely before photo of me…

If this is not attractive, I don’t know what is haha! Okay kidding. This is really an unflattering photo of me. I normally refrain from taking top down shots like the one above with my boyfriend because these lines just love appearing. Just so you know, this is really without much effort. I just simply looked up at the camera for this. It wasn’t one of those exaggerated OPEN EYES ALL THE WAY kind. I simply looked up.

So yeah it depresses me sometimes when my boyfriend keeps taking top down photos of me on holidays or on dates (which I guess he cannot help but do when he is a good 20cm taller lol) and I have been wanting to do something about this for a long time.

That’s not to say I haven’t tried Botox before.. because I have! And let me tell you girls. When you choose a doctor to do Botox shots at, please not only be careful in selecting one but in hearing what they say. Know yourself best and try to do as much research as you can. In my previous experience done by a doctor in a different clinic, I was so desperate to get rid of the lines that I just said, “INJECT IT ALL UP!” Which is a horrid and stupid thing to do because I didn’t know my muscles were so sensitive to Botox.. and well, this is what happened.

My forehead died. It literally became a dead piece of meat. My eyebrows drooped downwards at the front so my eyebrows looked perpetually EVIL and my double eyelids sagged downwards so much I became single-eyelid again….. I cannot tell you how depressed I was at this time. I HAD BLOG POSTS TO DO with this face in it and I tried to make the best out of it but.. yeah.

And after being told by the doctor that my muscles were VERY sensitive to Botox only AFTER the hellish results did not help because I was already going to be stuck with this face for a good 4-6 months. So yes, be so very careful people.

P/S: NOT 100% blaming doctor here, I think both were somewhat to blame because I should’ve known better than to inject every crevice in my forehead and I half wished my doctor didn’t listen to me either.

Thus recently when I had the chance to do it all over again at Astique Clinic, I was very excited to correct my old wrongs. I had heard A LOT about Astique Clinic’s services and doctors and how everyone loved that it was in the heart of Orchard at Shaw Building so it was very accessible! When I went in myself, I was really impressed with the clean minimalistic look of the clinic. Very professional and still warm enough. 🙂

However, despite being in awe of everything, the wary side of me made sure to be as careful as I can still. I even showed pictures on my phone of what happened to me and how depressed I was about it. Not that I really had to explain my woes because my doctor, Dr. Celine looked at my photos and almost got a shock herself. She understood that too much Botox had been placed in my forehead to settle too many problems I wanted fixed and she also told me that with every first try.. I should do as minimal as possible so as to ensure the aforementioned does not happen.

She was patient enough to listen to what I wanted to say, but was also firm in the fact that she believed NATURAL was the best way to go. Whilst she understood my problems with my forehead, she stood her ground that it was better for me to inject as little as possible into the highest part of my forehead and see how things went. She said only AFTER my review then she would decide whether more was needed or not. I felt completely relieved hearing this.

Since Dr. Celine had put most of my worries to rest.. I went to get some “Before” photos taken and also get numbing cream placed on my forehead teehee!

In case you want to know, whatever makeup you have on will be removed so your skin is cleansed before the numbing cream is put on. You may want to bring some makeup for touch up after!

On a less serious note.. Can you see that cute little Botox pillow I’m holding? It came in very handy when I was getting my injections done. I’m not so much scared of pain but I get very jumpy when the needle first hits the skin so this stopped me from reacting so much. Plus it’s really so cute haha. I even insisted on getting this photo taken with my completely unglamorous face with numbing cream and sticky pads (I don’t know how else to call those pads to pull your hair back?) in my hair LOL. I’m really looking happy I must say.

After about 15 – 20 minutes of waiting, I was ready to be beautiful! Their numbing cream deserves 10 thumbs up I must say because my forehead felt reaaaaaallllllyyyyyyy numb after. Almost as though I had botox done already haha! Very good for people who are scared of pain! 🙂

Dr. Celine then came in, removed my numbing cream, did a quick wipe with alcohol swabs on my forehead, then decided on the points she would inject. She confirmed with me on how high the botox would be placed and just how much would be injected at each point for me. I loved how meticulous she was really. She constantly reiterated how little she would be putting and that I could come back for a review a week after and do whatever touch up I needed. I could tell she sensed I needed to be reassured after my previous ordeal and I was so grateful!

Okay.. so now.. the serious part.. the injecting… One thing I felt very very impressed by was how they had someone at the side tapping my forehead and arm to distract me from the “pain” and to reduce the shock of an injection as well. Since I had my eyes closed, all my other senses were naturally on high alert so it was more likely to “jump” with a single touch. The tapping allowed me to calm down so the injections could’ve been done smoothly. I WAS REALLY REALLY impressed!!

In less than 10 minutes, I was done! Woohoo! Very very quick. I was allowed to move my eyebrows up and down to see how it felt. Realistically though, the results were not to set in till 2-3 days later so yeah. I think I just did the whole eyebrow moving thing to feel better from what happened before.

Yes so this is me feeling pretty HAHA about 3-4 days after. I purposely chose a picture of me looking up! Bye bye horrid forehead lines!

I actually DID do a review 1 week later also, but it turned out I needed NO touch up at all. Since my muscles were still as sensitive as before, the VERY VERY minuscule amount that Dr. Celine placed in my forehead was MORE THAN ENOUGH. My lines were completely obliterated and I could still happily move my eyebrows. My eyes did not look dead, or like windows to the underworld, and I was really really ecstatic about it.

Here is a close up of how I look now with no lines, because I feel the need to show it off also LOL! 🙂 Knowing I can look awesome for X’mas and Chinese New Year with very little effort really feels awesome. Thank you Astique Clinic for giving me the confidence to smile any way I want now!

Astique Clinic is well known for its extremely affordable services as well as its lovely doctors such as Dr. Celine. 🙂 You’ll never worry about looking scary or unnatural as long as you’re under her care! Though Botox may seem like something that ONLY people above 30 or 40 may do, this is completely untrue. Beauty is for anyone at any age. With the right doctor and the right skills, looking great doesn’t have to be limited in any way.