It may seem stupid, but letting a spouse see us without makeup for the first time is always a big step. Even though Emily Hallett and her fiancé Adam have been together for five years, the mother of three has yet to take this step.
The 33-year-old from Leatherhead, Surrey, was born with a port wine stain birthmark that covers nearly half of her face, which she has spent her whole adult life concealing with layers of heavy foundation.
She explained: “My partner hasn’t seen me without make-up. He knows it’s there because you can still see it with make-up. I hate it, I think it’s disgusting.
“I don’t take my make-up off and I top it up constantly throughout the day.
“When I shower in the evenings, I put it back on before I go to bed. I get up first to do my make-up in the morning but if Adam is having a lie in, I go downstairs to do it.
“When we met, I felt like I had competition and I wanted him to be attracted to me. I told him I didn’t like talking about my birthmark and I gave him firm rules about it and he’s accepted that and we don’t talk about it. It’s not part of me.”
When small blood vessels called capillaries become too dilated, they cause port wine stains, which turn the skin a reddish colour.
Emily Hallett claims she was bullied so badly as a child that she was eventually sent to a boarding school.
She explained: “They would say anything, my mum said they’d laugh, stare and call me names.
“They’d call me burn face. It was mainly the boys. I was quite affected by it.”
Emily’s self-esteem was so low as a result of the bullying that she felt she’d never find love.
She met her first lover while working in a pub at the age of 18 and began concealing her birthmark with makeup.
She said: “It made me more confident when I found make-up because I could cover it up. I’ve hidden it ever since.”
Emily Hallett got laser treatment between the ages of six months and fourteen to try to prevent the birthmark from developing or becoming elevated in appearance.
She’s put up a GoFundMe campaign to assist pay for the remaining eight procedures, which cost £600 apiece and are classified as cosmetic by the NHS.
Emily Hallett said: “Last year my daughter showed me a filter on Tik Tok which shows you yourself from how other people see you and I was mortified.
“I looked so ugly and my face looked so wonky. And when I put my mascara on, it rubs on my cheek so I know it’s raising.
“It’s grown with age and it’s a lot darker. It gets darker depending on the time of year and hormones. The colour changes, it goes from purple to pink. It’s all I think about and it’s constantly on my mind.
“The laser treatment just decreases it and stops it from going lumpy or raised which is my biggest fear. Menopause can change it. It should help the colouring as well.”
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