Swap Needles for Kneading
MARIKO JESSE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
THE PLAINEST BEAUTY tricks are usually the best, but they tend to be obvious and overlooked. Facial massage is all of these: easy, intuitive and mostly absent from skin-care routines even though it can be a great alternative to invasive treatments like Botox. Like the rest of your body, your face has many muscles, and like your shoulders or back, it gets tight and holds on to stress.
This type of massage has long been a secret weapon of aestheticians (think of all that stroking and swirling during a facial) and makeup artists, who often give clients a face rub before sending them down a catwalk or red carpet. Makeup artist Gucci Westman,who can be found backstage prepping models for Oscar de la Renta and Jason Wu, is a devout practitioner. "For early morning shows when everyone's puffy and not quite awake, facial massage is like coffee for the skin. Everything comes to life," she said.
By relaxing muscles and connective tissue, massaging the face softens expression-induced lines around your eyes, lips and brows, helps expel acne-causing toxins and de-puffs and brightens the eye area, according to London facialist-to-the-fancy Abigail James. "It also increases circulation, oxygenating the blood and encouraging the presence of fresh, healing red blood cells," said Ms. James, who's known for personalized facials that include extensive massages.