“If you’ve drawn blood, you’ve gone too far.”

I’m not one to labor under the delusion that quirky little TikTok beauty hacks are legitimate replacements for dermatological and cosmetic surgical treatments, especially when you consider that some of them are dangerously misguided. But I’d be lying if we said I haven’t been tempted to try the harmless ones, just to see if there’s any benefit. I just never thought I’d learn one of these harmless hacks from Anne Hathaway.

On Monday, June 17, the Oscar winner posted a video to TikTok in which she’s getting her hair done by stylist Adir Abergel for a new Shiseido campaign she’s shooting. But the beauty hack she’s about to share has nothing to do with hair — other than the tool she uses.

Skin Check

An insider’s guide to all things skincare. Are you the friend everyone comes to for serum recs? This is the newsletter for you.

By signing up you agree to our User Agreement (including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), our Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement and to receive marketing and account-related emails from Allure. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

“We get on the set, and I take a look at the monitor, and I noticed — I thought my upper lip looked a little, I don’t know, just a little wilted,” Hathaway says, adding that she then asked Abergel for a hairpin. “I went in and I sort of stimulated my lip to try to get some blood flow back there to get some circulation. And everybody looked at me like I had three heads.” Hathaway then demonstrates what she means, gently pressing the prongs of the hairpin against the edges of her upper lip.

Now, this may not have the same impact as, say, a topical lip plumper that causes temporary swelling through its ingredients, and it definitely can’t do what injectable fillers can do, but according to board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, Hathaway doesn’t deserve the strange looks she received.

“This creates trauma which sends blood to the site and plumps up the skin in the short term,” Dr. Gohara says. But she warns that going too hard can cause problems. “At home poking can increase infection so caveat emptor!”

And Hathaway knows this. “Safety disclaimer: You can overdo this. You can push too hard. It’s meant to be a gentle, gentle thing that you don’t do for longer than 30 seconds. Don’t stab yourself,” she says. “If you’ve drawn blood, you’ve gone too far.”

Good advice for pretty much any beauty hack you’ve gotten from TikTok.