Our collagen lips are sealed

The first rule of Girl Club is you do not talk about Girl Club.

The second rule of Girl Club is… you DO NOT TALK about botox, non-surgical or surgical procedures. Except, perhaps, when talking to your girlfriends. The following interviewees have, of course, been given pseudonyms to protect their identities.

Earlier this month, one of China's most bizarre court cases involved a man suing his wife for giving birth to an "incredibly ugly" baby. The problem was, he said, that his now ex-wife had deceived him by concealing that she had previously undergone extensive plastic surgery to the sum of $100,000.

Up until that point she had remained true to the rules of concealment: she did not tell anyone, and the baby, supposedly belying her "natural beauty," was the only giveaway for the unsuspecting father.

In Beijing, getting botox or other non-surgical procedures has become commonplace. Non-invasive facial procedures administered by injection are quick, relatively cheap and more-or-less risk free."It's like going to the beauty salon," says Apple, 30, a manager at a luxury brand in Beijing. "The recovery period is about one week. I'll take a few days off work. No one notices." According to Apple, after the botox injection, her facial muscles will start to tighten as they constrict around her bone structure, giving her a sharp but delicate appearance.

Apple has been "doing botox" for about 7 years. She says she needs to "top up" every 4 or 5 months to keep up appearances as the results do fade over time. The same does not go for her more permanent facial re-alignments, though.

But while she is quick to tell her female friends about the secrets of her particular brand of beauty, she is also very strict when it comes to revealing the truth to boyfriends past, present or even in the future.

"If I showed you a picture of me in my high school, you wouldn't recognize it," she says with some pride.

Jenny, 26, originally from Shandong province, has never told past boyfriends about the "very painful" liposuction procedures she had on her legs at 19, which hospitalized her for more than a week. Like Apple, this seems to be common knowledge amongst Jenny's girlfriends.

She is now married to a successful American businessman in Beijing. Addressing her Angelina Jolie-inspired collagen lips, she says, "I'm worried when my husband kisses me that my lips are becoming too hard." When asked about whether this has roused any suspicion on her husband's part, she declines to comment.

Standing on the brink of self-improvement by injection or invasive surgery can be a dangerously tempting thing, according to Rebecca, 32, a successful Chinese businesswoman. She hasn't gone for any procedures yet but she is thinking about it.

"I've been confident my whole life. I was top of my school," she says. "But there is pressure as I get a bit older. When I go out, I see younger girls with the same sort of face and I know they have had something done. I'm tempted but I don't want to get addicted."

When asked if she would tell any future boyfriend or husband of any procedure should she get one, there is quiet on the phone line as she ponders the question for a moment. Finally, she answers: "Men here are so conflicted. They want a natural beauty… they don't want to know [about surgical procedures].Would I tell? Probably not."

Apple's lips are sealed as well. She alludes once again to her "hideous" high school photograph, but is reluctant to describe it in detail. One can only imagine that there is a striking non-resemblance. Her current boyfriend hasn't seen it, she says. What are the rules of Girl Club again?