Anna and Mandi Vakili reveal plans to share their boyfriends’ identities after growing fed-up of keeping them secret
ANNA and Mandi Vakili admit they’re desperate to reveal their boyfriends’ identities after years of using nicknames to keep them secret.
The Sisters in the City podcast hosts’ other halves have been shielded from the public eye, with Anna referring to her man as ‘Cowslick’ while Mandi’s fella is known as ‘Gingerbeard’.
Neither had any say in the moniker they were given, and the girls admit they hate them.
But it might just be a matter of time before the pseudonyms are discarded.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Anna, 35, says: “I’m just so ready to put his face out there now.
“I just feel like this whole hiding his face has become such a long and annoying… like my poor editor has to keep blurring his face out in the YouTube vlogs and I want to take cute pictures with him and put it on my Instagram and I can’t do that, so I’m like maybe I’m past the stage of hiding his face.
Mandi, 34, adds: “I feel like the nickname though is kind of a comedic side of it and it’s stuck now. I love my boyfriend having a nickname. It just makes all of the serious stuff a little less serious when I’m calling him Gingerbeard.”
Chiming back in, Anna says: “But the only problem I have is that my boyfriend hates his nickname Cowslick, he’s really like recently he’s trying to like protest against his nickname.”
Her sister playfully jokes: “He has no choice though, he’s got no legal rights.”
It was four years ago that the girls came up with the names as they launched their podcast, which has grown massively and now has 108,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Initially, it was the boyfriends who were desperate to avoid any mention on the pod, and that was before listening figures began to soar.
They settled on the names to highlight parts of their appearance that differed from one another.
There have been ups and downs in Anna’s on/off relationship during that time, which she admits has had “toxic” moments, though things are currently going smoothly.
Last week, she bravely shared her most personal story to date, revealing she suffered a miscarriage just days after discovering she was pregnant. It was met by widespread support and praise from listeners who were moved by the story, as was Mandi beside her sibling in the studio.
Meanwhile, Mandi’s relationship has been stable throughout, with the odd bicker coming on holiday or off the back of pranks and other media appearances.
Reflecting on the early days of the podcast and deciding how much personal information to share, Anna says: “At the beginning there was arguments,” says Anna.
Mandi continues: “When it was like we were becoming really popular and everyone was starting to know that we’re talking, their friends and their community, then they were causing a scene about ‘we don’t want to be talked about’, and now are they have given up. They accept it now.”
She continues: “I’ve been thinking about this reveal, but it needs to be major. You know what, I thought about a really good reveal would be like come to our next tour because we’re going to do a Gingerbeard and Cowslick reveal on stage and sell tickets at the same time.”
While their other halves’ faces might be under wraps for now, Mandi and Anna’s certainly aren’t.
The duo have teamed up with Adored.by to create their own brow and lip edit so fans can replicate their flawless aesthetic.
The new range follows a previous release with beauty influencer Lottie Tomlinson, which the girls were a big fan of.
Anna says: “We liked how they tailor the collection to the influencer so it’s not like we just put our name on the product. It’s inspired by us, our podcast, our personality, our makeup looks, so it’s just literally us in a makeup brand.”
Mandi says: “We knew it was going to be like really unique and it wasn’t going to be the same as other ranges they do because they want influencers to create an edit which reflects them and their brand so that’s what Adored by has done with us right now.
“All of the products, the shade, the names, all of them have been chosen and tailored by us, so it’s really exciting.”
She called the importance of good brows and lips “game-changing” an said it could take a 10 out of 10 looker down to a two if not styled correctly, and vice versa.
The girls were committed to putting out products that they personally use and this is reflected in their combo kits.
Mandi says: “We chose shades that we love, you know there are so many shades and everybody likes a different shade but we chose Anna’s lip kit, my lip kit, is our sort of go-to and we always get asked like what’s your lip combo?
She continues: “They say men always notice a woman’s lips so lips are very important.”
But perfection isn’t the goal for the girls, it’s rather about feeling comfortable in your appearance whatever the situation or style.
Anna says: “I feel because of our podcast we’re quite relaxed attitude, because like what’s perfect? I think like that’s so like old news now, people like to relate to people that are real.”
“We love glamming up, we love doing our makeup but we’re in tracksuits on podcast.”
Mandi says: “When you do a podcast you’re just sort of in like an environment, you’re in a kind of dynamic where we’re sitting on a sofa gossiping together, we’re not like catwalk supermodels.
“People want to see the real us, they don’t want to see perfect looking two girls, they just want to see like two real people, but I feel like there’s a balance between being content with how you look but also wanting to glam up and do your makeup, put your heels on and get going.
“At the moment we’re just adorned by Adored By, you know, so we’re really excited about the launch and showing everyone how we do our lips and brows with these products.”
Anna and Mandi have collaborated with Adored.by on the newest makeup edit now available to shop on www.adoredby.com
