I tried a non-injectable alternative to Botox
If you know me, then you know that “BANGS, NOT BOTOX” has been my rallying cry since the day I entered my 30s. But it looks like we may no longer need to have one or the other, thanks to the wonders of science, because we now have an in-between treatment: Fillerina. My personal disdain with my forehead has spanned decades, starting with childhood chicken pox scars and lately, some pretty intense wrinkles. And yet, my fear of needles and — you know — poison, has kept me from going any further than just intensely moisturizing for the past decade. For the most part that’s totally fine and enough for me! I look cute with bangs, and the rest of my face is relatively decent, so generally, I’m not too worried about the state of my forehead.
But every time summer rolls around, the impending heat and humidity start to make me nervous. My wavy, frizzy hair is not at its best during the warm weather months, and my bangs suffer the most. Every year I think it’ll be the year I grow out my bangs and embrace my forehead — but I can’t do it. I always chicken out! So when I heard about wonder-treatment Fillerina, I knew I had to try it.
Dubbed by beauty insiders as the “non-injectable alternative to Botox,” this revolutionary, needle-free filler is formulated for home use with a blend of six different hyaluronic acids that plump the skin. Fillerina is the only cosmetic product that allows for such large quantities of hyaluronic acid to penetrate deep into the skin without injections, with results supposedly lasting up to four months! That’s all of summer time, fam.
We’re gonna get really graphic here folks, in terms of face pics. I apologize in advance for all the selfies, but you know what? Whenever I read reviews of products, especially expensive ones like this one, I want to SEE results with my own eyes before I decide to splurge. So you’ll just have to forgive the obscene amount of pictures of my face, please know that my dignity has died as a result of having to look at my face so much.
Here’s a picture of me on a normal day with a nice filter
*Please remember me like this always.
The situation doesn’t look too bad yet, but just you wait til I dare form an expression on my face!
A close up look will show you that I’ve got a good amount of lines going on, and those little ones on the sides of my forehead are especially annoying.
I guess I should just be grateful that I don’t have those no. 11 lines above my nose that make you look angry — though come to think of it, I could use another layer to my RBF.
Here’s what you get when you order Fillerina:
Two “syringes,” Replenishing Gel Preparation, and Nourishing Firm cream. This type of box can cost anywhere from $150 to $175.
The syringes are clearly a gimmick to remind you that this is basically like getting Botox — a little wink, wink between friends. First, you suck up the Replenishing Gel into the syringe and deposit it anywhere you have fine lines and along your cheekbones, since it claims to also tighten up the cheekbone area. I’ve had precious chubby cheeks my whole life, so you better believe I’ll be putting this on my cheekbones to see what happens!
It was much goopier than I expected, so I always gently rubbed it into my skin once I used the syringe to drop it all over my face. After a bit of trial-and-error, I decided to wait about five minutes in between application of the two, so that it’d have some time to absorb into my skin and not be such a mess.
I quickly abandoned any attempts at using the syringe with the Nourishing Firm cream; it’s basically impossible and it needs to be smeared into the skin anyways, so like, proceed as normal and use fingers. Or, at least, I did. The directions say that you should spread it around “the oval of your face” which has to be the most perplexing instruction in the beauty world. After much debate, I decided that must mean my entire face, so that’s what I did. Every night for two weeks.
Here’s how my skin was looking after 3 days of using Fillerina:
Not too much of a difference, though I will say I can feel that it’s a bit tighter!
I was really jazzed for this to work and could have sworn that I could already see results. My skin did feel very smooth, though.
After 5 days of Fillerina:
Scrunching the forehead:
Both while relaxed and while crinkling my forehead, I definitely feel like the lines are less deep and aggressive than they were less than a week ago. It’s not a HUGE difference, but I can see how this would help me feel more confident sans-bangs after two weeks of this. So far, I’m pretty pleased. I especially feel like it’s helped to erase the lines on the sides of my foreheads, and those really made me mad so that’s helpful.
After a week of using Fillerina:
Can you tell that having to take so many selfies is sucking my life force?
Okay, am I crazy, or does it really seem like these lines are looking less deep? My relaxed face looks and feels smoother than it did before starting Fillerina, and the smaller wrinkles that were along the sides and bottom of my forehead are virtually gone.
After 9 days of using Fillerina:
Part of my issue with my forehead is that I have lots of old chicken pox scars on them from childhood that make me feel super self-conscious. I don’t know if it’s my mind or not, but I do feel that those scars are a little less prominent and ravaged than they used to be. It’s like they’ve been softened just a touch.
While my deep wrinkles are still obviously there even when my face is relaxed, those thin, new wrinkles that had been forming on the sides of my forehead do seem to be softening.
Day 12 of using Fillerina:
I may never be able to take a selfie again once this is over. This article has really been a study of my eyebrows, hasn’t it?
Day 15 of using Fillerina:
Can it be? Am I finally done with the bottles? Praise be, we did it!
While my face is still relatively unchanged when I give it a good scrunch, my resting forehead is noticeably smoother than it was before, at least in person. Now, I am aware that a lot of this has to do with the fact that I have been paying WAY more attention to my forehead these past two weeks than I ever did before. It hasn’t been this moisturized in years, mainly because I don’t want to make my bangs look gunky. Obviously, being more moisturized makes my skin look better in general, but I really do think this made a difference with those small lines that were not yet so deep.
I would recommend this to anyone who was looking for a way to soften fine lines the way a little gentle airbrushing would. It’s an investment, and I’m curious to see how long I feel like the results last. The area that bothered me the most — the sheer number of lines on my forehead, especially the ones on the sides — are definitely plumper and less noticeable than before. Not by a ton, this isn’t a miracle worker, but enough that I feel more comfortable with my big ol’ forehead.
The biggest takeaway for me out of all this though has definitely been that I need to chill out in regards to my forehead. I’ve been on this planet for 32 years, during which I have cried a lot, laughed even more, had chicken pox, thousands of mosquito bites, fallen on my face, and eaten my weight in pizza many times over. It’s not such a bad thing to have evidence of a life that’s been lived on my face.
What do you think, would you give Fillerina a shot? (See what I did there?)
