“We regret a lot of things and if we could go back in time, we would do things a lot differently.”
The raven-haired siblings say they were driven to change their “spider-eyed, trout pout” looks after online trolls started making fun of them. “We would block the comments, but down deep inside they were hurtful,” they chime, one finishing the other’s sentence.
“The more popular we got, the more haters we had and we were getting called everything from ‘plastic Barbie dolls’, to ‘fish lips.’ We wanted the biggest everything – particularly lips. We loved the look and feel of big lips. Now we realise they were too big.
“They stood out too much and were disproportionate to the rest of our faces. We were trying to follow a trend but we went too far.
“People would also call us plastic, saying we’d overdone it and now we’re admitting, we did.”
Two years ago, at their lowest ebb, Anna and Lucy even considered ending it all. They’d lost their jobs looking after the elderly in a nursing home and hated their looks.
“We didn’t like what we’d done to ourselves and it felt like we had a monster in our brains.
“We thought that people thought we were gross,” confesses Lucy, who sports a small beauty spot on her right cheek, the only point of difference from her sis.
Doctors prescribed anti-depressants and the girls had a major attitude shift, beginning to accept who they were, before putting a broom through their beauty routine.
First on the hit list was eyebrow and lip tattoo removal.
Says Anna: “Originally, we wanted thin eyebrows like Pamela Anderson, so we plucked them off and got them replaced with ink, like hers.
“We didn’t think about it too much, we just went and did it. But the colour kept fading and then eyebrow shapes changed, so we’d covered them up with concealer.
“They’ve half grown back now, but big mistake! If we could turn back time we’d never get any tattooing.”
Consigned to the bin also are hair and eyelash extensions and lip fillers.
“We feel like we look 20 years old now,” laughs Anna, boasting they were asked for their ID before being allowed into the casino recently.
“Mum thinks we look better and we’re pretty sure our boyfriend Ben likes the changes too,” she says.
In their eight years together, auto engineer, Ben Byrne, has never chided his live-in girlfriends for their appearance.
“We think we’re going to look better and better as we get older,” predict the proud sisters, of their new porcelain doll look.
“No more facial injections for us and we will never use botox – we’ve learnt from our mistakes. “We’re more confident and happily look people in the eyes now.”
For more Anna and Lucy, go to their YouTube channel, ANNA AND LUCY.
For the full story see this weeks issue of New Idea, on sale now.
