What Is Blood Face Cream? Supermodel Karolina Kurkova Uses It To Maintain Her Skin

You read that right – it literally involves putting the proteins from your own blood back onto your face

Posted on

19 December 2018

All Credits: PA

From vampire facials to leech therapy, celebrities are known for trying some pretty gruesome things to maintain perfect skin.

The latest odd beauty trend comes from supermodel Karolina Kurkova, who has revealed she uses face cream made using her own blood. Kurkova told website Into The Gloss: “For me, beauty is a lot about the skin. Having great skin, that radiance, comes from taking care of yourself.”

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Karolina Kurkova (@karolinakurkova) on Aug 11, 2018 at 8:25am PDT

Other than exfoliation and regular facials, Korkova says: “I went to see Dr Barbara Sturm for the first time, and she took the proteins from my blood and put it into a cream for me, which I thought was really beautiful.”

Now 34, the Czech model’s skin is as plump and radiant as it was when she was a teenager. But how does reapplying your blood back to your face actually work?

First thing’s first: Who is Barbara Sturm?

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 10, 2013 at 6:14pm PDT

Sturm is a doctor who specialises in aesthetic, non-surgical treatments. This essentially means she has developed a host of ways to treat your skin, without having to go under the knife.

She specialises in “blood therapies” – Sturm is well-known for her work in vampire facials, beloved by the likes of Kim Kardashian West. It involves your blood being drawn and the platelets separated in a centrifuge. These are then either applied topically or injected back into the face via microneedling.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Dr. Barbara Sturm (@drbarbarasturm) on Oct 14, 2018 at 11:05am PDT

Sturm was originally an orthopaedic surgeon, and fun fact: She’s apparently best friends with Cher. As well as having her own clinic in Dusseldorf, Germany, she sells her products through exclusive outlets like Net-a-Porter and SpaceNK.

How does the face cream work?

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Karolina Kurkova (@karolinakurkova) on Jul 14, 2018 at 3:12pm PDT

Sturm was part of the team that developed what is now known as the Kobe Procedure (also called Orthokine). Used by athletes like Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez, this was the method of removing platelets from a patient’s blood and injecting back into the joints to reduce inflammation and encourage healing.

After this, Sturm wondered if she could apply the same logic to the face. Her MC1 Blood Moisturiserwill apparently set you back around $1,400 (£1,100) a pot, which admittedly seems a bit steep when you’re providing a key ingredient yourself. It works on the same principles as the vampire facial – it uses the platelets from your own blood and reapplies it back into your face in an effort to smooth out wrinkles and blemishes.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Karolina Kurkova (@karolinakurkova) on Apr 20, 2017 at 7:53pm PDT

Sturm tells Well + Good: “After about four to five hours [of incubating your blood], the concentration of healing factors in it is 147 times higher than before. After extracting the healing factors from the blood cells, they are [reintroduced] to your skin [via the cream], and they go on to help activate its own repair mechanisms to rejuvenate, repair damage, and keep the skin healthy.”

For Sturm, the power of blood is all in its anti-inflammatory proteins, which can apparently fight acne, clogged pores, eczema and the process of ageing.

According to Into The Gloss, the cream itself is pretty unremarkable – odourless and white. However, what is magical is apparently its ability to smooth and tighten up your skin. They say beauty comes from within, but this really is taking it to the next level.

Are there any other famous Sturm-lovers?

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Maria Sharapova (@mariasharapova) on Dec 13, 2018 at 4:12pm PST

Sturm has won herself legions of celebrity fans. Her clients include Cher, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angela Bassett. In 2016 she created a skincare range for darker skin tones with Bassett, which was something of a trailblazer.

Hailey Bieber reportedly uses blood face cream, and Bella Hadid has also tried out Sturm’s facials.