Andrea (22): “No idea if my lips can tolerate more fillers, I don’t draw any boundaries”

Andrea Emilova Ivanova (22) from the Bulgarian capital Sofia has spent estimated thousands of dollars in recent years to achieve her ultimate beauty ideal: lips that are at least three times larger than they originally were. The student of philology (research into missing languages) is delighted with the result, but her followers on Instagram are divided to the bone.

According to Ivanova, she was born with a small mouth, including narrow and thin lips. “I have dreamed of having a big mouth ever since my childhood. Now that I am an adult, I have finally been able to do something about it.” Between all the classes at St. Kliment Ohridski University in Sofia, she regularly visits clinics where she gets injections for around 165 dollars per treatment.

Today it is limited to the usual hyaluronic acid filler, but other types have been applied for this. “What I am using now will stay longer,” said the Bulgarian who also had other, unmentioned, interventions.

On Instagram and in Bulgarian media, Ivanova is elated about her appearance, which many people call ‘absurd, ugly, over the top and dangerous’. “I now like my lips better than ever,” Ivanova bites off all criticism. “I’m a lot nicer, and this is simply fashion in Bulgaria. Many women have their lips enlarged, so I’m not the only one for a long time. But I haven’t seen mouths like mine on the street yet.”

Compliments

The Bulgarian, who regularly appears on international sites and in newspapers, receives almost daily hundreds of compliments from all over the world, she emphasizes. And especially from big lips lovers. She doesn’t care about bad reactions. “The opinions of others about my appearance are not relevant. Each person’s lips are so different. My lips were really too small. I saw that as a physical limitation. So yes, that’s why I had it enlarged.” She thinks it’s not nonsense that her mouth is too big now. “It’s fine the way my lips are now. I have no idea if they can tolerate any more fillers. I’ll see for myself. As far as my mouth is concerned, I don’t draw any boundaries.”

Ivanova finds ‘big’ a relative term. “What one person experiences as big, another sees as small. It just depends on how someone experiences something and what taste someone has.” She denies being addicted to fillers and wants to look like celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner: ladies who also regularly go to the Botox and fillers clinic. “I don’t copy anything or anyone, and I am 100 percent myself. And I am certainly not an attention junkie who does everything for publicity.”

The Bulgarian student doesn’t know if she has the biggest lips in the world. “I have the idea, judging by the many reactions I get, that I do.” She just keeps going with the injections. “I follow my heart, even when people keep harassing me with criticism. I don’t think so. I also hope that everyone prefers each other and doesn’t immediately have a negative attitude towards people who stand out or want to live outside the usual norms. If people were more tolerant of each other, the world would be a lot more beautiful, just like my mouth.”