Martha Stewart has become Sports Illustrated’s oldest swimsuit cover star, surpassing Elon Musk’s mother Mae who posed for the legendary magazine aged 74.
“I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic and that I better look really good,” said Stewart of her culture-defining cover. Mission accomplished. Or as social media users have said: there’s good skin, and then there’s Martha Stewart’s skin.
Over the last few years the 81 year-old has become the unlikely Gen Z beauty influencer du jour, having fronted viral campaigns for Clé de Peau and for posting the most outrageously good skin selfies. The most recent of which has — once again — broken the internet.
Back in March the mogul posted a close up to Instagram captioned: "Lying in the shampoo area of @FredericFekkai the light was perfect for a new selfie. Absolutely no re-imaging!!! Skin looking good after a mostly dry January and pilates @bedfordpilates every other day. By re-imaging I meant no filtering my selfie!"
Her glowing, poreless face and perfect pout seemed almost too good to be true — with fans urging the celebrity to be honest about her facial regimen. "No Photoshop, just hundreds of thousands spent for plastic surgery, Botox, Restylane, fillers, and more,” one fan commented, while another insisted that she had had a face lift.
Stewart addressed the naysayers by sharing three more selfies "These are the other three selfies I took. My expression was better in the first one but my skin looks great in all of them. Un filtered. No face lift," Stewart wrote in her post caption. Instead she listed what she actually did to get her incredible, ageless skin…
Dr Daniel Belkin
One of the two dermatologists that Stewart attributed her glowing complexion to was Dr Daniel Belkin. The board-certified dermatologist graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College and was voted as one of America’s top cosmetic dermatologists (particularly for injectables) by News Week.
As Stewart’s skin has long been the fascination of beauty journalists, last year The New York Times ran the feature: “Martha Stewart Welcomes You to Generation Ageless” to discuss her youthful complexion and TikTok campaign with luxury beauty brand Clé de Peau. In it Belkin revealed that she had only “Non- or minimally invasive” work done “probably twice a year”, adding that “she’s doing it thoughtfully and conservatively.”
He then went on to describe her treatment plan, which consisted of lasers for redness, gentle resurfacing and brown spots; fillers for volumising and collagen stimulation; and radio-frequency and micro-focused ultrasound for sprucing up the brow area and for “lifting, tightening and plumping” under the chin. As for her lips: “a soft hyaluronic acid, more for hydration than for plumping.”
Dr Dhaval Bhanusali
The other dermatologist mentioned in her Instagram caption was Dr Dhaval Bhanusali, or Dr B to his patients who also include Hailey Bieber (the two even collaborated on her best selling skincare brand Rhode). Based in New York City, he is considered one of the most ground-breaking millennial cosmetic dermatologists having created Skin Medicinals, a platform that enables other dermatologists to provide highly effective and individually customised skincare solutions to their patients for an affordable price.
Dr B has used the platform for Stewart, where he has customised her a holistically grounded, CBD-infused hydrating serum, calming mist and night cream. The two are also developing similar CBD topicals for Stewart’s upcoming beauty brand, 86 Elm, with Stewart reportedly “obsessed” with the trendy skincare ingredient.
In a 2020 Wall Street Journal Interview Dr B revealed that Stewart also shares skincare advice with him, and is constantly reminding him to put on sunscreen whenever they are together. “She’s always about nurturing and creating good habits.” he said. “It’s a constant active decision for her to care for her skin.”
Facialist Mario Badescu
Founded in 1967 with Mario Badescu mixing products and giving facials in his two-room apartment in New York City, the brand has since grown to a 34-room signature salon filled with Badescu-trained facialists and a line of 200 products available around the world — many of which are well-loved by Stewart.
In a 2022 press release Martha Stewart said, “I have been a customer of Mario Badescu since the 1960s when Mr. Badescu was still alive and creating his magical products.” She added, When Mario died, the business was taken over by his second-in-command Mr. Genesco and I continued to avail myself of all of the wonderful services.” The presenter is true to her words — having used her viral selfie moment to once again praise her weekly Mario Badescu facials.
In fact, the beauty brand’s flagship New York store even offers "The Martha Facial” to customers wanting to try out Stewart’s go-to treatment. The $130 three-part facial comprises Mario Badescu’s European Facial, The Luxurious and Age Defying Gold Treatment, and the Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Collagen Eye Treatment, all of which has been co-signed by the TV presenter. What’s more she says she, “always stocked my guest rooms, as well as my own bathrooms, with everything Mario.”
An ultra clean diet and daily green juice
Another factor that Stewart credited for her gorgeous skin texture was her diet. In a Harper’s Bazaar What I Eat in a Day YouTube video Stewart revealed which part of it she especially contributes to her looks.
“My green juice is very special to me. I think it’s really the secret of good skin, I think it’s the secret of good healthy hair,” she said.
The former catering business owner went on to explain that she wakes up every day at 6:15 and reads The New York Times cover-to-cover before making the juice, which includes cucumber, parsley, mint, half of an orange including the skin, and celery all from her greenhouse and garden. She also adds “a little piece” of ginger and pineapple.
She also confesses that she is “not a snacker” and instead relies on a light lunch — usually a tuna salad — and hardly stocks her industrial-sized glass-door refrigerator. Instead she keeps a rotation of good quality ingredients that include, “really good organic milk,” “lots of good butter,” creme fraiche “for omelets,” and fresh eggs from her chickens. “That saves me all the time,” she said. She also reiterated that a lot of her food is harvested from her very own farm, explaining: “I want organic, I want clean, I want tasty, and I want healthy”.
Bedford Pilates
Although her home gym is stocked with a Peloton, a DB machine, exercise balls and weights and she’s regularly spotted horse riding around her farm, in her Instagram caption she also swears by Bedford Pilates every other day.
Founded in 2003 in Bedford by sisters, Lorraine Canzoniero and Dale Weber, the studio describes itself as “a healing and non-intimidating, friendly environment that offers both classic and contemporary pilates.
“There are some mornings when I don’t feel like exercising, but I do it anyway, and I’m so glad afterward. I always feel refreshed and energised,” she wrote on her eponymous blog. “Just keep doing something—any exercise, any length—on a daily basis, and it will eventually become a positive part of your lifestyle.”
