Lucy Devine
A mum who was bullied when she was younger says her fiancé has never seen her without make-up.
Emily Hallett, 33, from Surrey, was born with a birthmark that covers almost half of her face. The mum, who admitted to wearing make-up to bed, is so self conscious of the mark that she refuses to let her fiancé, Adam, 33, see her without foundation.
The mum-of-three says she wakes up before Adam, who she's been in a relationship with for five years, to cover the mark with foundation. She then reapplies it after a shower in the evenings.
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Emily was bullied so badly at school, by kids who said she looked like her face had been burnt, that she was transferred to a boarding school.
"My partner hasn't seen me without make-up. He knows it's there because you can still see it with make-up. I hate it, I think it's disgusting," she says.
"I don't take my make-up off and I top it up constantly throughout the day. When I shower in the evenings, I put it back on before I go to bed. I get up first to do my make-up in the morning but if Adam is having a lie in, I go downstairs to do it.
"When we met, I felt like I had competition and I wanted him to be attracted to me. I told him I didn't like talking about my birthmark and I gave him firm rules about it and he's accepted that and we don't talk about it. It's not part of me."
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'Port wine stain' birthmarks occur when small blood vessels called capillaries become overly dilated and turn the skin a reddish colour.
"It bothered me when I was young. I hated the school that I was in," Emily continues.
"They would say anything, my mum said they'd laugh, stare and call me names. They'd call me burn face. It was mainly the boys. I was quite affected by it.
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"I didn't have a lot of friends, I just went with anyone who took to me. I didn't want to talk to people because I didn't know what people thought. My mum would tell me I had a back bone and to ignore it. I just kept myself to myself."
Emily started wearing make-up when she met her first boyfriend at the age of 18 after worrying she'd never find love.
"I didn't find make-up until I was 18. I wish I'd ask my GP for advice on make-up. I started working at a pub and met a man who was interested in me.
"I never thought I'd find anyone. It made me more confident when I found make-up because I could cover it up. I've hidden it ever since.
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"I get random people saying that it's an awful burn or asking what I've done to my face. Sometimes I'll see a man looking at me and think it's because he finds me attractive then I realise it's probably the birthmark."
Emily had laser treatment up until she was 14 to help reduce the colouring and stop the birthmark from growing or becoming raised.
She has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for a further eight treatments, costing £600 each.
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"Last year my daughter showed me a filter on TikTok which shows you yourself from how other people see you and I was mortified," she said.
"I looked so ugly and my face looked so wonky. And when I put my mascara on, it rubs on my cheek so I know it's raising.
"It's grown with age and it's a lot darker. It gets darker depending on the time of year and hormones. The colour changes, it goes from purple to pink. It's all I think about and it's constantly on my mind.
"The laser treatment just decreases it and stops it from going lumpy or raised which is my biggest fear. Menopause can change it. It should help the colouring as well."
You can donate to Emily's GoFundMe here.