I'm A Porn Star — & I Spend $8,790 A Year On My Beauty Routine

For the past 11 years, Lindsey Leigh has been an adult film actress. It's the kind of profession that comes with certain aesthetic expectations — despite many feminist directors working to make them more inclusive. Boobs, for the most part, tend to be big. Makeup tends be heavy. Hair tends be luscious, just like the lips. Skin is largely free of not only wrinkles, but also scars, body hair, and bumps.

As Leigh has worked her way through this industry, she has spent thousands and thousands of dollars on makeup, hair, and plastic surgery. By her estimate, 10% of her yearly income has routinely gone towards her appearance. "As I’ve aged through this industry, it’s become more about keeping a youthful look," Leigh, 29, says. "Not so much that I want to look 18 when I'm 29, but I don't want to be put into the M.I.L.F. category. As I've progressed, it’s been about taking off years, and enhancing things like my butt and boobs and lips."

Last year, Leigh shifted her career to include camming, using her own personal camera, laptop, and phone to film videos and chat with her clients. Leigh's approach to makeup is radically different when she's working as a cam girl. "You're able to look like yourself more," Leigh says. "In the porn industry, you’re more pressured to update your look, and in cam, it's more about your personality. It only takes me 20 minutes to get ready now, as opposed to the hour it did for porn."

With camming offering her more professional freedom, Lee says that her annual beauty expenses have dropped significantly. That being said, Leigh is still a person whose appearance earns her money. She naturally has to spend more on things like injectables, manicures, spray tanning, and, of course, makeup. Ahead, she breaks down what she uses every single day, and the monthly and yearly beauty purchases she makes for her job.