I did something a bit silly the other day: I asked AI to play aesthetician and generate an image of my face after the recommended treatments. The woman (or should I say girl) staring back at me looked fantastic—air-brushed, flawless, and unmistakably younger. Which is all rather lovely—but not actually what I’m chasing at this stage in my life. (Although kudos to AI for sorting out my hair, too.) As a dermatologist and founder of Eudelo, Dr Stefanie Williams puts it, "AI can’t predict how your face will actually respond—and it has no way of adjusting as it goes. Worse, it tends to iron out individuality, treating things like smile lines as ‘problems’ to be fixed, rather than features you might actively want to keep." What I want now isn’t youth, but quality: skin that looks clear, lifted, bouncy and expensive—still recognisably me—not frozen, overfilled, or stuck in a constant state of recovery. However, I also want momentum. I want to look my best now. But even as a long-standing beauty editor, I still feel overwhelmed by the noise around aesthetics. In-clinic skincare has never been more advanced, from next-gen injectables and regenerative facials to devices promising cellular-level change, yet knowing what’s genuinely worth your time (and money) has never felt more confusing. So, I’ve been road-testing the best aesthetic treatments aesthetic doctors are excited about for 2026, discovering what truly delivers cumulative results and what actually suits skin in its late 40s and beyond.
