French dermatological skincare brand Vichy Laboratoires hand-picked the broadcaster, podcast host and communication coach as its first New Zealand ambassador.
It’s lunchtime on a sunny Wednesday afternoon and Toni Street is beaming at me through a screen.
Both navigating the school holidays with children in tow, somehow we
managed to coordinate a moment of calm for our call.
“My daughter and her friend are doing a bake sale downstairs,” she tells me. “It’s a total cluster. I’m embarrassed of what they’re selling, so I’m hiding.”
Relatable – I’d hosed my son down moments prior after a backyard football session turned mucky.
Juggling work calls amongst kid chaos is not exactly the picture that springs to mind when discussing beauty routines involving global skincare brands. But if there’s one thing to learn from the years Street, 42, has spent in the public eye, it’s that a rolling stone gathers no moss.
Across two decades, she’s tried her hand (and succeeded) in several fields – television presenter, sports commentator, author, broadcaster, communication coach, keynote speaker, podcast host and mum of three.
But her latest gig is one that’s less radio and more radiance.
Toni wears Juliette Hogan blazer and pants, Camilla and Marc shirt, Zoe and Morgan jewellery. Photo / Babiche Martens
Announced this week as Vichy Laboratoires first New Zealand ambassador, Street will become a spokeswoman for empowering women to feel their best whatever skin they’re in – something she’s always been preternaturally good at.
Street says she’s always been selective about the skincare she uses, explaining how she’ll “use two or three skincare brands” but she “won’t really go outside of that”.
While she was already familiar with the 95-year-old French dermatological brand, it wasn’t until Vichy approached her for the ambassadorship that she had the chance to try it.
“I love that Vichy has been around for almost 100 years and that it’s been approved by a ridiculous number of dermatologists [80,000, to be exact]. It made me feel better about using it, as I have a history of eczema. I have to be careful because I’ve tried quite a few skincare brands that have reacted to my skin, and luckily this one doesn’t,” she says.
“I live a rugged life in a lot of ways, but it’s real and it’s authentic and that’s what most of us do. I think it’s nice that [Vichy] chose me rather than someone who’s high beauty and doesn’t look like they’re 42. I feel really humbled that they did.”
Vichy Laboratoires is now available in New Zealand from Chemist Warehouse.
Vichy Laboratoires products are launched in New Zealand today, through Chemist Warehouse. But as part of the global campaign rollout, Street is flying to the skincare brand’s namesake town of Vichy in France this Saturday, alongside Australian ambassador, actor Jodi Gordon.
The Coast Feel Good Breakfast co-host says her boss was supportive of her taking an extra week’s leave (she’s spent the last two weeks off with her three children, Juliette, Mackenzie and Lachie, for school holidays) and jokes that her co-hosts Sam Wallace and Jase Reeves “would love to come to France with me if they get an option”.
“I’m going to the town of Vichy where it all began. It’s a wellness town and they use a special volcanic water in their products. I like that they want to fully educate me from the ground up,” Street says.
The trip’s wellness-centric itinerary includes yoga sessions and comprehensive biological and metabolic profiling at the integrated Health Clinic at the Vichy Célestins Spa Hotel.
“It’s a new age thing where people get a blood test and it gives you a full workup on everything your body needs,” she says.
Street, who was diagnosed with autoimmune condition Churg-Strauss syndrome in 2015 and hosts health and wellbeing podcast We Need To Talk with Toni Street, says the brand’s focus on wellness made the ambassadorship feel like a good fit.
Toni wears Camilla and Marc shirt and suit (available August), Zoe and Morgan earrings. Photo / Babiche Martens
Now in her early 40s, Street says she’s paying more attention to her skincare. In her 20s and 30s, a time where Street says her skin “bounced back so easily”, she’d switched from brand to brand, grabbing whatever she could find in the local pharmacy or in her mum’s bathroom drawer.
Over the past five years, Street says she’s started to see the signs of ageing creep up.
A busy home life and work schedule interspersed with coaching three netball teams mean Street is outside in the elements a lot, and sees a difference in her skin immediately if she’s not applying the right stuff.
“I start to look quite weathered and tired. I think that goes with the territory of doing early shifts on radio and having three kids, but it’s just become more important to me to work out what I like and what works on my skin,” she says.
“As you get older, you start to notice your skin isn’t what it was when you were 20. Looking after my skin makes me feel better. One of the things I pride myself on is having glowy, natural skin.”
But that hasn’t always come easily for Street, who says she’s gone through “really bad periods” with her skin.
The first was in 2002 after the tragic loss of her 14-year-old brother, Stephen, in a quad-bike accident. Street was 18 at the time.
“It only lasted six months, and I think it was stress-induced. I got to university and got terrible acne, which was a lesson in how you’re feeling mentally often gets reflected in your skin,” she says.
“Whenever I start to look too haggard or hollowed out, it’s my body trying to tell me to slow down or get more rest. I take more notice of the health of my skin now, because I want to be presenting as my best self. I don’t want to be standing up in front of people talking about connection and how to communicate well while looking a shell of a human.”
The second came when Street was hosting Seven Sharp and taking heavy doses of steroids for her autoimmune disease.
Appearing on prime time TV with half a million people watching felt daunting for Street, who says her treatment at the time caused hot flushes and significant hair fall out, to the point where she needed hair pieces.
“One day my skin was really red and puffy, the next day I looked really drawn. So the makeup girls had to work so hard to put me in a presentable state. Not just for what I looked like, but so that I could feel confident going on and not be a nervous wreck,” she says.
In those dark days, Street says it was hard to imagine functioning normally again.
“Now I’m here, being asked to be the face of an international skincare company. It’s crazy,” she says.
“With what I do for a job [as a communication coach], I talk a lot about how your confidence can get impacted by the way you feel and the way you look. Because if you’re not confident in the way you look, you’re not going to present as your best self, and those things matter.”
Toni wears Juliette Hogan suit, Zoe and Morgan jewellery. Photo / Babiche Martens
Up before dawn every weekday, you’d be forgiven for thinking Street has no time for an involved skincare routine before her breakfast radio slot begins.
Quite the opposite is true, and Street says she’s “the most efficient person you will ever meet” – getting up later than her co-hosts do and still arriving to the studio in full glam.
“Often, I film straight after radio. I’ll go straight from the radio studio to the podcast studio for filming, or to a keynote public speaking event. I’ve got my beauty routine down to a fine art – I’m literally done in 20 minutes,” she says.
“I really enjoy having nice skin and nice makeup, but it can’t take me too long. I get antsy when there’s too many things to get done with the kids and work, plus I coach netball three days a week. It’s a military operation.”
A telltale sign of tiredness, Street says she’s not immune to undereye circles and crepey texture, which has rendered the eye cream’s rich texture and hydrating properties a must. “If I had to choose just one thing to use on my face – it would be that.”
says a thick skin in the face of public scrutiny is something she’s developed over time.
“I really struggled in the early days. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. The comments when I was first at TVNZ in my 20s were crushing.
“You just mature to it, and there’s comfort in knowing that no one is immune to it. People don’t just target you, they target everyone, but that still doesn’t make it okay.”
These days, Street says she doesn’t get as much backlash being on radio as she did during her time on TV, and describes her approach to public trolls as “ruthless”: if anyone sends her a hurtful comment, she blocks them and won’t engage.
“You can’t reason with someone who’s being super nasty,” she says. “You’ll always get the odd [comment] being a public figure – that just comes with the territory – but you have to try and not let it affect you.”
Photo / Babiche Martens
Ultimately, Street hopes she can show others that you can have an autoimmune disease and still live a “really normal” life.
“I hope I’m a good role model in that sense. If for no other reason but to share the journey and show that yes, it impacts your life for a while, but it doesn’t have to long-term,” she says.
In the past year, one of the biggest shifts in Street’s health has been weaning off steroids. It’s thanks to a new injection called Fasenra, a biologic which was developed to help those with autoimmune conditions move away from daily steroid use.
She’s also embracing holistic practices, like regular movement, quality sleep and ample hydration. The self-confessed water baby loves therapeutic dips in the ocean, soaking in a hot bath, or taking a long shower.
“Immersing myself in water removes tension for me, and helps me relax. It’s one of my non-negotiables,” Street says.
The beauty advice Street wants to pass on to her children is to take ownership of what they have, rather than try to look like a clone of someone else.
“It’s a real problem with our young people – they think they have to look a certain way. It’s so boring if everyone looks the same. As you get older, you realise that beautiful people are the ones [who] own their features. That’s everything from the way you smile to the nose you have,” she says.
“I don’t feel like I’ve ever tried to look like anyone else – I’ve stayed pretty true to myself and that would be my wish for my teenage daughter and all of her mates. We all have things we don’t like, but you can try to be the best version of yourself by enhancing what you’ve already got.”
Photography | Babiche Martens
Beauty editor | Ashleigh Cometti
Hair and makeup | Carolyn Haslett
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