From Jennifer Lawrence to Angelina Jolie, meet the doctor who's always on call to bring the stars' skin back to life
It’s easy to focus on the dresses and the jewellery when we look at red carpet events like last night’s MTV Awards, the Oscars and the Golden Globes. But one thing we take for granted is just how flawless the celebs look, and it’s not just about the adrenalin of a photo call, being nominated or in fact winning that gives the stars their radiant glow. In many cases that flawlessness may well be the handiwork of Dr David Colbert MD.
Famed for his ‘Hollywood Facial’, a three-step treatment that combines gentle microdermabrasion, laser toning to boost collagen and lavender flower acid to leave skin soft, dewy and ready for all those camera flashes, Colbert’s name went from a whisper to a chatter after he worked with Angelina Jolie on the 2010 film Salt. Fast forward four years and his client list has grown to epic proportions and he even set up a clinic in Hollywood to cater to the A-list stars who wanted pre-award show facials.
This year alone, stars who heard ‘Dr Colbert will see you now’ before their red carpet outings were Jennifer Lawrence, Robin Wright, Michael Fassbender, Julia Roberts and Naomi Watts. They are also effusive about the man himself; with Watts gushing, ‘His facials really bring the skin back to life – even with all the late nights.’
Dr Colbert’s philosophy is to deliver nutrients and antioxidants to the dermis while still in their active state. His book The High School Reunion Diet makes the connection between daily nutrition from whole, unprocessed foods and physical beauty and long-term health. This approach is one that Brokeback Mountain star Michelle Williams finds easy to follow: ‘Dr Colbert approaches beauty from the inside out in a way that is easy to incorporate at first and becomes second nature at last.’
Dr Colbert’s work is a full-body approach not only in terms of nutrition, but in his work with the Victoria’s Secret models who have his Hollywood Facial, or Triad facial, all over their body in preparation for the annual catwalk show. If you thought those VS girls had just struck the gene pool lottery it’s comforting to know that even they have had a little helping hand to look that incredible.
As well as dewy, radiant skin his clients also leave with a little keepsake; an illustration or ‘Illumino Portrait’ that he scribbles on the box of his famed Illumino Facial Oil, which he gives clients to go home with after their treatment.
Far from being squirrelled away in his New York office working tirelessly with the rich and famous, Dr Colbert’s talents are more than skin deep. As the founder and head physician of the New York Dermatology Group he works to send medical and personnel supplies to areas in crisis around the world, volunteered in the immediate aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and led a medical team to rural Cambodia as part of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation.
His range of products is now available in Space NK, meaning everyone can get the ‘supernova glow’ - as he describes it - of Dr Colbert’s A-list clientele. His Illumino Face Oil, Intensify Facial Discs and Heal and Soothe Night are all available now and the pursuit of a Victoria’s Secret body will get a little easier later this month when his Illumino Body Oil launches in-store...