On Saturday afternoons you may spot a crowd outside the Georgian townhouse at 57 Wimpole Street in London. These folks are on a Beatles walking tour, come to see where Paul McCartney woke up one morning with a melody in his head that became 'Yesterday'.
I made the pilgrimage to Wimpole Street in search of my own yesterday. That’s because the house is now the headquarters of Jasmina Vico, the facialist whose work with Jodie Comer went viral when Killing Eve premiered. Vico’s 'VicoGlow Laser' is a 60-minute treatment that uses a custom mix of lasers, LEDs, masks, and massage to coax skin into radiance.
I was eager to see if Vico, who also counts Comer’s Killing Eve cohorts Sandra Oh and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as clients, could give me a killer complexion, too. A quick look at Vico's Instagram feed reveals she also treats Claire Foy and Olivia Colman too—she even gave Colman a shout out after winning a BAFTA in February.
“Tell me honestly what you see,” I say as she leads me into her treatment room. “It’s not too bad,” she says diplomatically. I should have stopped there, but I’m a sucker for punishment. “Sandra Oh and I have the same birthday, and people tell me we look alike,” I volunteer. Awkward silence, then a chuckle. “Well, Sandra has very good skin.”
First, Vico double-cleanses my skin. Then she goes to town on my pores, exfoliating and squeezing, all while delivering bad news about my diet. “Carbs, sugar, dairy—these are not helping,” she says. Next she brings out the lasers and zaps my cheeks, forehead, and the reddish parts around my nose. She even performs an intra-oral laser treatment to soften my puppet lines. As I open my mouth, I feel simultaneously humiliated and thrilled, as if I’m at the world’s most glamorous dentist.
After some gentle facial cupping and the application of more potions, my time at 57 Wimpole is done. I don’t emerge with the bright complexion of Jodie Comer, but I do leave with a dewier glow—maybe, I dare say, a bit more like Sandra Oh.
