Annette Sharp: Society Botoxed beauties in rush to beat lockdown
Just who has what work done should soon be clear enough, writes Annette Sharp, after beauty clinics and cosmetic shops were forced to close for what could be six months because of the coronavirus shutdowns across the state.
Opinion
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While many Sydneysiders spent last week queuing to buy toilet paper, and others in more affluent suburbs for skiwear and gold bullion, many were racing to get their Botox top-ups before beauty clinics and cosmetic shops were forced to close for what could be six months.
Among those beauty clinics shutting their doors, was, for the first time since they opened their business 21 years ago, Lisa Sullivan-Smith and Kaye Scott of The Clinic, a booming business that has been the talk of Bondi Junction and surrounds since the two former nurses swapped dowdy nursing uniforms for European couture and rubber gloves in their quest to keep some of Sydney’s most famous faces looking good with the aid of Botox, dermal fillers, facial peels and lasers.
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Sullivan-Smith, formerly a registered nurse at St Vincent’s, confirmed there had been a stampede of customers to The Clinic’s doors after she and Scott started advising clients they only had a 48-hour window to dispense with frown-lines, blast away pigmentation and treat open pores before the pandemic shutdown.
“We became extremely busy,” said Sullivan-Smith.
“A lot of clients were coming in and stockpiling their products to ensure they had enough for possible lockdown. Clients that were booked in for two weeks post shutdown we called to see if they wanted to come in the next 48 hours.”
With 6000 clients on their books (90 per cent women and 10 per cent men), Sullivan-Smith said she felt for those clients now sweating on a restoration of what some socialites might consider “essential” beauty services.
As for naming clients, she would have none of it — leaving us to speculate on who is having what done (a favourite pastime for most women) — something that promises now to become plainer with each passing day.