The secret to Margot Robbie’s doll-like skin in ‘Barbie’ found in tea

Barbie’s beauty is more than skin deep.

Skin health specialist Jasmina Vico was given the task of helping the cast of “Barbie” get the perfect doll skin — and it didn’t take just makeup and facials to get there.

“It’s Barbie and she needs to look perfect, so the brief for the skin was to create that halo of light often seen in 1940s photographs,” Vico, a London-based facialist, told Vogue.

“Everything in the movies is about lighting. That’s when I thought, okay, we’re going to work on the liver; calm the nervous system; and make skin glow, but crucially, we’re going to work on that glow from within.”

To help cleanse the liver and make the skin “more radiant,” Vico gave the cast — including Margot Robbie, America Ferrera and Emma Mackey — milk-thistle tea, a drink popular in her native country of Croatia.

Margot Robbie drank milk-thistle tea to help achieve doll-like skin.REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo
“Milk thistle cleanses your liver,” she explained. “When that happens, our liver automatically produces more glutathione, which then makes the skin more radiant. One of the most important ingredients within it is silymarin, which is now featured a lot in skincare formulas.”

Vico claimed that the tea needs to be brewed for 20 minutes to make sure it’s bitter.

“The liver likes anything bitter, because it helps it to flush,” Vico said. “This tea is like a witch’s brew!”

The tea was so popular with the Barbies that Robbie, 33, brewed a batch for the entire cast during the infamous cast sleepover hosted by director Greta Gerwig.

Margot Robbie as Barbie.© Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
Milk thistle has a slew of benefits including preventing insulin resistance, slowing the growth of cancer, lowering cholesterol levels, helping manage type 2 diabetes, promoting skin and bone health and, most commonly, supporting liver health, according to Medical News Today.

However, Mount Sinai warns that milk thistle can interact with certain medications — including ones for anxiety, cancer and allergies, as well as birth control and other hormone replacements — and use should be discussed with a doctor first.

Vico created a skin and wellness routine for each Barbie girl and saw them consistently for in-clinic treatment — mostly Robbie.

The tea was so popular with the Barbies that Margot Robbie brewed a batch for the entire cast during the infamous cast sleepover hosted by director Greta Gerwig.© Warner Bos. /Courtesy Everett Collection

“Sometimes it was twice a week, sometimes every two weeks, it depended on her schedule,” Vico shared. “I looked after her like a baby! Not just her skin, but her energy. It’s a stressful job so we worked on calming her and making her feel great.”

She shared that she gave Robbie kefir, a fermented milk drink, and advised her to eat lots of fermented foods, such as sauerkraut.

“Margot is like a soldier – she’s so disciplined, and she’ll do what you advise her to do,” Vico said.