Live and learn! Kelsea Ballerini has her beauty routine down pat these days, but rewind the clock to middle school and it wasn’t such smooth sailing.
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“It was supposed to be my first kiss and all my friends told me I had to wax my top lip because god forbid women have hair anywhere,” the 28-year-old singer exclusively told Us Weekly while talking about her new book, Feel Your Way Through. “I was embarrassed, so I waxed my top lip by myself and burned three layers of skin off of my top lip. I had these oozing sores and obviously, did not get my first kiss.”
After that little hair removal session gone wrong, the “Peter Pan” singer decided to leave waxing to the pros. And, as time went on, she even picked up some skincare secrets (she swears by the Skin Pharm Glow Serum) and the power of a fabulous tinted sunscreen (Honest Beauty is her fave).
While she’s mastered tips and tricks about all things skin and makeup over the past two decades, Ballerini has also learned to embrace her inner beauty, a topic which she discusses heavily in her new book.
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“It hasn’t always been a love relationship with myself and the way I look. It’s been a journey,” she told Stylish. “I think that through all the struggles and neglect I put my body through and the eating disorders I’ve experienced, I’m finally at a place where I want to be healthy … I’ve really recalibrated what matters to me. It’s not so much how I look, it’s about how I feel. When I moved that value over to where it should be, it really helped me in my healing process.”
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While innumerable life experiences and hard work got Ballerini to where she is today, partnering with Aerie as an #AerieReal ambassador last year was a pivotal moment in her “journey” toward self love.
“I wouldn’t have posed showing my body unfiltered or un-retouched even two years ago — I still would have been too scared. So that fact that I feel safe enough in this campaign — and with this group of women — to do that is some growth I’m really proud of,” she told Us. “It’s about embracing who you are, not necessarily even about how you look, but who you are.”
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Plus, the fact that the brand has some fabulous pieces to scoop up for the holiday season makes their partnership that much sweeter. In fact, she’s already scooped up some “very cute” matching pajama sets for her, her husband Morgan Evans and their dog, Dibs. Because yes, they offer a flannel dog shirt to go with her plaid PJs.
