I have a love/mildly dislike realtionship with my skin. My skin can be super problematic and frustrating from time to time. Adult acne can be a bitch, even if it is fairly minor acne. The bottom line is, acne gets in the way and it makes you feel shitty and self concious. Apart from that, my skin has always been fairly soft and glowy and well behaved and I do like to take care of it. However, I decided to take this up a notch. Or should I say, my friend Dani decided to take this up a notch for me when she gifted me with something from a new brand she has launched, inner glo.me. The gift in question? This stunning rose quartz facial roller and gua sha set. I have seen facial rollers many times before on cult beauty and often seen some of my favourite bloggers use them, however I never decided to take the plunge as it seemed like an extra expense and an ectra step I would soon get bored of. So when I peaked inside the beautiful gift box, and I saw my shiny new facial roller I was immediatly thrilled at the thought of taking these bad boys home, doing my research and rolling the shit out of my face (not an offciail advised method).
I also was intrigued by the flat, curved piece of rose quartz that sat next to it. I had never seen or heard of this tool before but again, wanted to see what it was all about. Within the next few days I had scoured youtube for the best roller and gua sha massage tutorials I could find.
For the facial roller I found these two (one | two) tutorials, which I have now blended together. I keep mine in the fridge and use it after I have cleansed as I am having my cup of coffee/hot lemon and honey in the morning. I find that it makes me feel fresh, cool and calm and depuffs my eyes whilst also just feeling like a little bit of kindness to start the day. This doesn’t take long and has been lovely to do on hot summer mornings.
The Gua sha, however is the newest love of my life. I found this amazing routine, by Sandra Lanshin Chiu, who specialises in Chinese medicine. Just looking at how beautiful her skin is, is reason enough to give this a go. I do this every evening. And since starting I have only missed out on doing it once. I’ve even taken it with me in my skincare bag to friends houses so I can gua sha after a night out. And let me tell you, drunk, sleepy gua sha feeeeeelsss damnnnn gooooooood. Not only is it lovely to spend 10-15 minutes massaging your face to relax you before bed, but I also feel like it has given my skin an incredible little boost. My skin is glowier, smoother, softer and I feel like my face and jaw has more definition.
You can visibly see the results straight after you do it too. So I’m adding it to my getting ready routine on days when I have a particular event that I want to feel my absolute best for. I also feel as though my acne has cleared up considerably. I could be having a good skin patch but, I also think that the lymphatic drainage massage this gives could be a contributing factor. I’ve even got my mum onto this. She purchased herself a jade set from amazon as she struggles to keep up with a consistent skin care routine she enjoys she decided to test a cheaper alternative. She is now also a convert who, like me, worships at the alter of the gua sha every single night and is loving the results too.
With not knowing anything about Chinese medicine I had never given the facial roller much thought and had never heard of the gua sha before, however I wish I had known sooner as it’s such an important and amazing part of my evening routine. If you want to know in more detail about both of these tools I would definitely recommend watching the videos I have suggested in this post as they know their shit and also are great adverts for giving these a go as all three women have the most gorgeous skin. So these are my little, not-so-secret-as-it’s-a-traditional-form-of-chinese-medicine-that-has-been-around-for-years skincare secret tools, which I adore and wish I knew of and picked up sooner.
