Margaux Anbouba, Vogue’s senior wellness and beauty editor, is happy to be a bit of a guinea pig when it comes to wellness and beauty trends. “I think I am sometimes too game to try something, but it’s a lot of fun,” she says. “It’s a hazard of the job, I suppose.”
On this Tuesday’s episode of The Run-Through, she sits down with Chloe to talk about everything she’s been testing in the wellness sphere lately—and what she’s learned along the way.
They start off by discussing one of the hottest—and most hotly contested—wellness opt-ins on the market right now: peptides. Margaux recently visited longevity specialist Dr. Amanda Kahn, “the peptide princess” of the Upper East Side, for a lengthy introductory appointment in which they covered her full medical and personal history. “I talked to her about how I’m feeling emotionally, how I’m feeling physically, and then she came back to me with this incredible list of peptides I could try.”
Margaux plans to test out several different options in her stack, among them a microdose of an off-label GLP-1 to reduce inflammation throughout her body. She’s also trying GHK to boost skin regeneration, and CB-4211 for increased exercise capacity and energy.
As someone who is relatively new to exercising, Margaux tells Chloe about Emsculpt, a high-intensity electrical muscle stimulation treatment to tighten and tone. (Another similar technology is the lower-intensity EMS, designed for use while working out.) “It’s sort of Black Mirror-ish, in a way,” she says. The first time she tried Emsculpt, Margaux was incredibly sweaty after removing the device from her stomach. The second time, less so. (Four sessions are generally recommended by practitioners.)
The pair also talk about one of Margaux’s favorite activities: the buccal massage, which she now gets done in the comfort of her home. “Buccal” refers to the mid-face area right below the cheekbone, and the massage is administered both inside and outside of the mouth (yes, you read that correctly!). Mariam Saprichyan, an esthetician at Karine Kazarian in New York, explains that the method opens up the lymph nodes, helps with blood flow, and relieves much of the tension we hold in our faces.
Not particularly squeamish, Margaux shares yet another recent trial: injecting her scalp with RADIESSE biostimulating molecules, informally referred to as a crown lift. (Trypanophobes should steer clear.) In a swanky room at The Hotel Chelsea, Margaux met with Los Angeles–based nurse practitioner Lauren Goodman to get it done. “She talked to me about how the scalp is a way to do a lot of lifting without showing anything on the face,” Margaux says.
