I looked like I’d been attacked after wasting my birthday money on cheap lip filler I found online
A MUM was left looking like she'd be attacked after a botched lip filler job.
Natalie Overton, 24, has since warned people against opting for cheap filler deals and researching practitioners before booking.
The mum-of-one from Denbighshire, Wales, claims she was left "looking like a bowling ball" and was forced to spend a month hiding behind a mask after the traumatic procedure in January.
She said: "I was working with kids at the time and all the teachers thought I was having trouble at home.
"They thought someone had been hitting me. All the kids kept saying 'what's that on your face?"
Natalie had undergone lip filler treatment once before and was "really pleased" with the results, so saved up her birthday money to have a touch-up a month later.
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She found the injector on Facebook and got in touch after seeing the results of some of her clients.
After checking the practitioner had insurance, Natalie was told she would only have to pay £75 for 1 ml, which she said was "very cheap."
She said: "[I had] my top lip done first and that went well to be fair, it was very quick.
"Then she did half my bottom lip, got to the other side and I felt my lip touch my tooth, it was going inwards.
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"My lip just immediately went into a purple bowling ball on my face."
The practitioner then started to squeeze the filler out of Natalie's lip in a bid to stop the swelling.
Natalie added: "I didn't know at the time but after I went to somebody else, they said she'd gone too far into the lip and popped a blood vessel.
"Obviously I was numb at the time so couldn't really feel it but the next day my face went black."
Natalie claims the practitioner asked her not to tell anyone about the mishap and said she'd give her a £10 refund if she "keep what happened between us".
"A tenner was such an insult," the mum said.
Natalie said: "She was begging me and begging me to come back and get more filler.
"She wanted to sort them out again and I thought 'I don't want to go anywhere near you'."
After seeing another client raise concern about the practitioner, Natalie decided to share her story on social media months later - and logged a complaint with Trading Standards.
She said: "I would definitely warn other girls to be suspicious of cheap filler. It's dangerous and it's your face at the end of the day."
Denbighshire County Council confirmed that Public Protection officers are investigating.
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Currently there are no laws that prevent anyone from picking up a needle and injecting the faces of Brits with filler.
The Sun’s Fabulous campaign, Had Our Fill, launched in 2020 in conjunction with , has detailed dozens of botched cosmetic procedures that are the result of lax rules.