In 2015, TV host Keltie Knight, actress and singer Becca Tobin, and influencer and eponymous brand founder Jac Vanek launched the LadyGang podcast, to candidly discuss all things celebrity, relationships, fashion, and beauty. The podcast spawned a successful E! TV show and a New York Times best-selling book, Act Like a Lady: Questionable Advice, Ridiculous Opinions, and Humiliating Tales from Three Undignified Women. Recently, the LadyGang partnered with RealSelf Shop, and they’re sharing their skin-care routines, cosmetic procedures histories, and unfiltered thoughts on “celebrity beauty secrets,” below.
RealSelf: For many people, the stress of the past year took a serious toll on skin. Did you notice more breakouts or any changes to your skin?
Becca: It was very tumultuous. I thought that with all these days in a row of wearing no makeup and taking care of my skin and doing self-care every day, I was going to have this beautiful, glowing skin. But I think the combination of overindulging with food, overindulging with alcohol, and the stress of it all actually contributed to me having a year of the worst skin I’ve had since I was a teenager. Toward the end of [lockdown], I had to go up to Vancouver and shoot a TV show, which I’d actually never had to do while dealing with problematic skin. Slowly but surely, I’ve gotten back into doing facials—and I will say that there’s nothing like the professional touch, because it started to clear up pretty quickly.
Jac: Before the pandemic, I was getting monthly facials, literally every first of the month, because my pores clog really easily and I get blackheads. I used to have really terrible skin, and I’ve found the only thing that keeps my skin in tip-top shape is getting professional extractions and facials. So I was kind of the same as Becca—my skin just suffered so badly this past year because I wasn’t getting professional facials, and there’s only so much that you can do at home. I’m stoked that things are kind of getting back to normal and we can start doing those routines and getting Botox and all that stuff.
Keltie: And I’m the opposite—I have never been more beautiful. [Laughs.] I was actually really lucky because halfway through the pandemic, I ended up getting a deal with Revance [and its] new RHA hyaluronic acid fillers. So I got all injected up in October by Dr. Ava Shamban, but I couldn’t tell anyone that I was doing it until January. I was sleeping more than I’d ever slept, I was eating better than I’d ever eaten, and my skin was happily taking to all the at-home products. I swear to God, I was doing an at-home peel or enzyme mask every day because it was just like, What am I going to do now? I guess, the mask.
RS: You talk a lot about beauty trends on the podcast—“slugging” was mentioned on a recent episode. What are you excited to try next?
Becca: I don’t know if this is a trend, but I’m starting to get excited about lasers again. For a while, I didn’t do them because of the downtime, but because of COVID-19, the downtime is actually not a big deal. I just did Morpheus8 for the first time, about six weeks ago—it’s an intense microneedling treatment with radiofrequency, and it’s kind of crazy. The hype is real. It tightened my skin so much more than I thought it would. That, with filler, is going to be my magic combination going forward.
Jac: My aesthetician has been doing microcurrent on me. I hate every second of it, because nothing creeps me out more than your muscles moving when they shouldn’t, but she swears by it. She said she stopped getting Botox because this microcurrent thing lifts and contours your face so much. I won’t go that far, because I love Botox, but I will do both of them.
Keltie: Mine actually comes courtesy of RealSelf. I have this partnership with the RealSelf Shop, and there’s this Senté Neck Firming Cream [$96] that I got and have been loving. I didn’t know that my neck needed its own cream, but thank God—and welcome to neck 2021.
Related: Why 2021 Will Be the Year of the Neck
RS: Keltie, you filmed yourself getting neck liposuction for an episode of The LadyGang when it was on E! That was so refreshing to see on TV.
Keltie: Yes, I got lipo and a neck lift at 37, with Dr. Jason Diamond. It wasn’t a big deal, and I wanted to show, like, hey, we’re admitting this on television for everyone to see. We’re trying to make it normal.
RS: Was that a conversation you three had when you first started LadyGang, about how much you’d share and how open you’d be about cosmetic procedures?
Jac: I feel like we were open about it to begin with. None of us were like, Oh, I’m not going to talk about getting Botox. But once we started talking on the podcast and being more open and honest about things, I feel like we followed one another’s lead in that sense.
Becca: I’ve always been of the school of thought where, if I’m with women, the best way to break the ice and take down that weird thing that some of us do, when we’re uncomfortable or insecure and we act too cool for school, is to just to admit something or be vulnerable or show not that you’re not perfect. Like, Hey, I’m human, and I farted during sex last night. And then we all can laugh about it.
RS: Where do you get your beauty knowledge and product recommendations from?
Becca: The girls love skin care as much as I do, so we always talk to each other, and then we have amazing people in our lives, like Dr. Diamond—we all love and trust him so much. I have a facialist in L.A.; her name’s Michaela Campbell, and she’s really knowledgeable. And then we’ve been big, big fans of RealSelf for a while, because you guys are talking about stuff that a lot of other people are not talking about. It’s such a great resource.
Jac: Piggybacking on top of that for RealSelf, when it comes to cosmetic procedures or plastic surgery, when a group of people give you their opinion, you end up trusting it more than a single friend. We go to our LadyGang Facebook group, with more than 30,000 women, for the same reason. It’s cool to be able to ask more than one person their thoughts on something, because you’ll get more of a collective, honest answer.
Keltie: I did Kybella and had a really bad reaction. It just left my [neck area] puffy and didn’t tighten back up. That’s why I actually had to get my neck lift. But before I got the neck lift, I was on RealSelf nonstop, trying to figure out what people were doing and seeing their photos before and after, and that was so helpful.
What I found out after this journey was that you have skin, fat, and muscle, and we get obsessed with cutting the fat out, but you actually need the fat. When I went to Dr. Diamond, he was like, “You have Kybella’d all the fat out of your chin, and now the skin has nothing to connect to. It’s just sitting there, sagging, because it needs fat before the muscle.” So you can actually overdo Kybella. Good to know.
Becca: I feel like most women, unless you’re an alien, have that part underneath the chin that they’re not stoked about. Dr. Diamond did filler in my chin so that my chin projection came out just slightly, and that eliminated a little bit of that pooch underneath it. It’s very subtle, but it helps so much.
RS: You recently partnered with RealSelf Shop. What skin-care products are you using and loving from the shop at the moment?
Becca: I’ve been using the Senté Bio Complete Serum [$118] for a week and a half now. I am somebody who cannot do harsh retinol—I get way too sensitive and way too red—and so far, so good. I’m really excited, because I felt like it was the missing piece of my skin-care routine; I needed something that was gentle enough that it didn’t irritate.
I also got HydroPeptide Polish & Plump Face Peel [$78]. You put on this grainy [microdermabrasion layer] first; then you add the gel, and it foams on your face. It was crazy afterward, how soft my skin felt, and I had, like, four of my girlfriends who also love skin care DM me right after I posted, being like, “This is my go-to product.”
Then I got the HydroPeptide HydroActive Cleanse Packet [$20]. I love these wipes because I work out a lot, but I don’t like to wash my face after every workout because I get overly dry. So I needed a way to really clean my face after working out and before doing the whole getting-ready process. The wipes are also really great for sensitive skin, because I’m having no weird reaction to them. They’re 100% my go-to for the rest of my life.
Jac: I got the HydroPeptide Power Serum [$144] and Moisture Reset Oil [$120] plus the Senté Dermal Repair Cream [$164]. We’re all in our 30s, and when you have 30s skin, you start noticing all the fine lines and the wrinkles and the photodamage and the hyperpigmentation and all those fun things that come when your skin ages. So I just wanted three really good anti-aging products to fight them. My Botox has completely faded and I’ve been using the Power Serum for a few weeks, and it’s been really good with fine lines—I’ve noticed [improvement] around my crow’s-feet. They look a little bit softer.
With the Senté, I just love a thick, luxurious cream moisturizer because my skin gets so dry, especially in the winter months. That has been really good, to soothe dryness and irritation. And then the Moisture Reset oil is my favorite thing in the entire world. You mentioned slugging earlier, but I don’t do well with slugging. I have pores that clog very easily. So I love the face oil because it’s my version of slugging. I slather it on after all my skin care at night, and it keeps everything locked in, without clogging my pores.
Keltie: [In addition to] the Senté neck cream, I got the Obagi360 Retinol 1.0 [$74], and so far, I don’t have any redness. I put it on last night, and I feel fresh as a baby’s bottom. I also love the Obagi Professional-C Microdermabrasion Polish + Mask [$83]. I don’t know anything about anything, but it feels a little burn-y when you put it on, which I love, like it’s got some tingly enzymes. Lately, I’ve been eating terribly, so I’m having some breakouts even after being on Accutane, which… you’ve got to eat a lot of McDonald’s to get to that point. And I woke up this morning after using [the mask] and felt like it got rid of the bumps and redness and clogged baby pores.
RS: What are some of your other holy grail, will-always-refill-when-they’re-empty products?
Keltie: I’m obsessed with Weleda Skin Food [$18.99]. Back in the day, I was reporting on the Victoria’s Secret show and I sat next to the Victoria’s Secret makeup artists for all the supermodels on the plane. She told me the girls slather their entire bodies, head to toe, in Skin Food, and that’s why they’re so dewy and delicious. I use it on every part of my body at all times.
Becca: I think SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic [$166] was the first product I bought. I was probably in my early 20s, when I believed the hype of skin care. I was such a sweet idiot in my 20s. And then I tried this serum, and it was magic on my face—it tightened everything and I felt really glowy. I still feel the same way about that serum today. We’re going to find out it’s, like, baby’s blood, but that’s my go-to as far as something I always get when it’s all empty. I’ve probably bought 500 in my lifetime.
Jac: I use that every single morning too. That’s my luxury buy when it comes to skin care. And whenever I overuse retinol and all the actives and my skin hates me and is peeling off, I just go back to CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream [$15] because it’s so simple and really brings my skin back to normal.
RS: What’s the best beauty advice that you’ve gotten from a celebrity?
Keltie: Olive oil. Just kidding.
Becca: Celebrities are such a**holes. They just say they drink a lot of water and that’s why they look beautiful. I think that, honestly, we learned what not to do from celebrities‚ and that’s not to lie about it. Over the years of acting and working with all these actresses and every makeup artist in Hollywood, I will tell you that there are probably 1% of female actresses over the age of 22 who haven’t had some sort of needle in their face, but none of them are talking about it. We were like, Let’s f*ck the tradition of lying about what you do to your face and let girls know that you don’t wake up and look this beautiful naturally. We’re all getting a little bit of help. We kind of just did the opposite of what every celebrity was doing.
RS: Do you think that’s going to change and celebrities will start opening up more anytime soon?
Keltie: I don’t think so. I mean, now it’s okay to get Botox, but everyone’s like, “I just get Botox,” when they’re really getting facelifts. There’s definitely a hard line in the sand between what your husband can know you do and what you’re actually doing.
Jac: It’s still so taboo—and that’s why we are such big believers in trying to be transparent about it, because the more people who are transparent about it, the less shame women can have for getting a little bit of a Botox or a facelift. We’re all big believers in doing whatever makes you happy and confident, so hopefully, [with us] sharing that, other women will feel a little bit more comfortable doing it. In Hollywood, everybody wants to pretend their perfect face was God-given, even though everybody knows it was not because you can see before and after pics if you just Google. There will probably always be some stigma in Hollywood and women trying to pretend that they are naturally perfect.
Find new episodes of the LadyGang podcast here, every Tuesday. New listener? Check out episodes featuring board-certified plastic surgeons Dr. Jason Diamond and Dr. Thomas Barnes and board-certified OB-GYN Dr. Pari Ghodsi.
