A woman is speaking out after a horrific experience with a celebrity facialist!
Taking to TikTok in late August, a woman named Victoria Nelson revealed her face was permanently scarred by Beverly Hills-based esthetician Sonya Dakar. Sonya, nicknamed “The Skin Jedi,” has worked with clients like Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, and Drew Barrymore. They might be second-guessing that now after learning how this woman was left “disfigured”!
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Victoria began in her 13-minute video:
“I don’t really know how to accurately convey how little I want to be making this video right now, but I’ve kind of run out of options. … I’ve put off making this video for literal years. It’s a pretty scarring — literally — experience for me.”
She explained that she started seeing Sonya in 2019 after using her products. She was 26 at the time and dealing with bad acne, which the beauty guru claimed she could “clear”:
“I was immediately enthralled. She was so intelligent and so convinced that we’d be able to clear my acne, which, if anyone’s been through that, that’s the dream.”
And the esthetician actually delivered on her promise. The acne cleared up! So, Victoria kept seeing her for routine facials, and they became like “family” to each other, she recalled:
“Our sessions were like half skin care, half therapy. I really felt like I was hanging out with and getting advice from my mom.”
Everything changed, though, in April 2021. Victoria, around 28 at the time, went in for a routine facial, but at the end, Sonya asked if she wanted to finish with a chemical peel. The client had a peel from her before, and she “trusted her.” The specific treatment was also marketed by the professional as having “no downtime or irritation,” so she went for it. Sonya applied a liquid solution to each cheek and her forehead — and Victoria immediately felt like something was wrong:
“I kind of felt this immediate burning and stinging, which, if you haven’t had a peel before, they can have a little bit of a bite to them, but this definitely felt different.”
Her eyes even started watering as she was given no eye protection. When she complained about the pain, Sonya washed off the solution and also gave her a fan to cool her face down — and that’s when Victoria realized the damage that had been done:
“It was still really on fire, and I was kind of confused as to why this hurt so badly. So I opened the front-facing camera on my phone … and saw what I thought looked like a white cream or white lotion, but pretty quickly realized that that was actually my skin just burned.”
Holy s**t!
Of course, she was really concerned — but Sonya insisted “it would be fine” and that the burns would resolve in a month of treatments. But after 18 sessions in 2021 and 12 in 2022, including some “pretty aggressive microneedling,” there was NO change.
She still has burns on her face and remembers “feeling on the inside like I was permanently disfigured” at this point. Oh, and this is AFTER spending about $30,000 on treatments from the woman in 2021 and 2022! Ugh!
Victoria still has “no idea” what was in that solution. It couldn’t have been anything good…
In July 2022, Victoria finally sought help from someone new. She discussed her scarring with her dermatologist during a routine skin check, and the doctor was shocked, she recalled:
“She was pretty immediately, one, really confused as to why Sonya hadn’t immediately referred me out to a burn unit or a plastic surgeon when this initially happened, and two, was really concerned as to what was actually in this peel since in her experience, what an esthetician would have shouldn’t do this level of damage.”
Victoria then did six sessions of laser treatment at the recommendation of the dermatologist, costing her $8,000. In January 2023, she told Sonya she was seeing this medical professional — and the esthetician convinced her to come BACK FOR MORE TREATMENT! WTF. Victoria spent “in the ballpark of $10,000 with her.” Jeez.
But we know what you’re thinking: why’d she keep going back?? Victoria explained that she kept returning to Sonya because — whether or not it was the right thing to do — she believed, because she was the one to cause the damage, that Sonya would have the best chance of fixing it. And TBH, it sounds like she was getting gaslit into thinking Sonya knew of a solution the whole time!
Soon after that 2023 interaction, though, they stopped communicating. Victoria has since learned how out of line Sonya’s practices allegedly were:
“Sonya and I have not spoken since 2023. I’ve since been advised by a number of professionals that the liquid probably was medical grade or at least was something that an esthetician shouldn’t have access to, and that’s what her license is under, the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. I’ve also since been informed that the microneedling treatments that she was doing to fix the issue are also not covered by that license.”
WOW.
According to the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, medical-grade products and microneedling are out of the scope of an esthetician — AKA, she wasn’t legally supposed to be doing that at all! They note it’s “ultimately a licensee’s responsibility to understand their scope of practice as provided in Business and Professions Code section 7316.”
After all this time and money, Victoria is left with visible marks on her face to this day, and “it’s something that I’m very self-conscious about.” See what her face looks like these days:
She’s also worked tirelessly to get justice and protect others from this nightmare — but little has been done:
“In total, over the years I spent in the ballpark of $60,000 with Sonya. I trusted her with my face, with my skin, honestly, with a lot of my inner-most feelings, and to feel like this person wasn’t looking out for me in the way I had hoped is just really disappointing at the end of the day.”
She wasn’t looking out for her — and then took advantage of her when she was desperately trying to resolve the damage the so-called skincare expert caused! So awful.
Victoria went on:
“I’ve also spent another $30,000 on other treatments with other professionals in hopes of getting my face back and having the pigment and the texture go back to normal.”
She’s contacted and filed a complaint with the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, but there’s been “no resolution” to her case at this time. It’s been YEARS. No wonder she feels forced to go public with this.
Also, this isn’t the first time the facialist has faced trouble with the board! Victoria slammed the board’s past disciplinary action on Sonya’s license — in which her license was revoked in 2011 and she was placed on three years of probation (but the reasoning for why is unclear). What happened then?? And why are they being so slow to take action on another complaint?
Also, Victoria claimed there have been many other complaints and allegations levied against the woman from both past clients and employees, including a discrimination suit. Yikes.
Concluding her video, Victoria expressed concern that Sonya is still operating a business and even allegedly working with teenagers! She urged:
“To be clear, this isn’t a woe-is-me video. It’s a ‘be warned’ video.”
Seriously! Not even a celebrity endorsement is enough to ensure your safety, apparently. Always do your due diligence, y’all! See the full thing (below):
@victoria.nelson sorry, it’s a bit long but it’s long overdue. This is my story about how celebrity esthetician, Sonya Dakar burned, scarred and irreparably damaged my face. I’m perpetually consciously and subconsciously covering it up, but I’m not sure why I’m the one who feels ashamed and like I have to hide something in this situation. In an ideal world, this would’ve all been handled privately and professionally..but after doing everything in my power to take the “right” steps and handle things the “right” way through the proper channels, unfortunately, I have been left no other option but to publicly share about such an incredibly vulnerable experience. All I ask is that you please be kind, and please.. be safe ????
We hope Victoria gets some justice!
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[Image via Bachelor Nation/YouTube & Victoria Nelson/TikTok]
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