Facial massage has been a pretty popular topic with people using jade rollers and gua sha tools. The Skinny Confidential has a great series of blog posts and YouTube videos on how and why she swears by facial massage. We’ve linked a few here: Facial Massage, Facial Massage Techniques, Wrinkle Prevention, Lymphatic Drainage.

Lymphatic drainage will reduce swelling and helps detoxify your body. You can do it for your body by getting a lymphatic drainage massage or for your face through facial massage.

We wanted to test out 4 different tools that can be used for facial massage to see if they really made a difference. For each tool, you should use a serum or moisturizer first (exceptions noted).

Jade Roller

[Grace] I feel like the jade roller was one of the first tools that became super popular online. I’ve personally never used one until trying it out for this blog post because I just didn’t get the point of it, to be honest. I didn’t think it would make a difference for my face.

I put my jade roller in my mini fridge for all my skincare products. No, I don’t have one of those tiny desk ones. It’s a regular sized mini fridge lol. I tried it out both morning and night after applying my Skinceutical C E Ferulic serum. You should roll upward and outward. It felt amazing on my face and super cooling.

I don’t think it really made a difference on my face. But I also have had gua sha tools used on my face during facials and didn’t see a difference while my facialist said she saw it immediately. So maybe I just don’t have a trained eye for it or aren’t looking closely enough. But overall, I’d continue to use it just because it felt cooling and great on my skin.

Ice Roller

[Joanna] I mainly use the ice roller after a night of drinking and lots of drunchies (drunk munchies). I wake up puffy, so the first thing I do, after chugging some water, is ice roll. Before I had the ice roller I used to put a bag of ice on my face and use spoons for my eyes.

The ice roller is way more effective and less messy. I’ll usually use it twice after a night of drinking. The first time is mainly for de-puffing, and I won’t use a serum. If I’m going out later that day and have to wear makeup, I’ll use a moisturizing serum with the ice roller.

While there are a ton of sites and videos on how to use an ice roller, we love the one on the Klog.

“For an overall treatment that helps reduce puffiness, redness and uneven skin tone, start by rolling across the forehead and temples, working around the eyes, down the cheeks, around the mouth, along the jaw and then downwards on the neck to boost lymphatic drainage and give an overall calm and cool glow to the skin.”

NuFace

[Joanna] NuFace is basically a workout for your face. It uses microcurrents, which stimulates collagen and elastin. Energizing the facial muscles will improve and lift the skin and visibly reduce wrinkles

NuFace recommends using the device 5 days a week for the first 60 days. Um, that’s a bit of a commitment for me so I knew from day 1 that wasn’t going to happen.

I did use it for a few days but didn’t notice an overnight difference. Thankfully I still don’t need a lot of lift, so I knew I wasn’t going to see a dramatic difference. But if it’s like working out, you’re not going to see a difference after going to the gym for a few days. Sometimes it takes a while to see changes, but you know that you’re getting healthier and your muscles are getting stronger. So that’s the approach I’m going to take with this. You just have to be consistent and patient with it.

Also, you have to use the device with the NuFace Gel Primer but a lot of people will use aloe vera as another alternative.

Watch the NuFace video on how to do a 15-Minute Facial Lift.

FOREO Luna Play Plus

[Grace] The FOREO Luna Play Plus is actually a sonic facial cleanser and massager. I use it every night with my gel cleanser during my double cleanse (oil cleanser followed by gel/water based cleanser to get all my makeup and dirt off).

You first apply your cleanser. Wet the device and turn it on. Then you’ll move it in a circular motion around your face for 1 minute. Afterwards, rinse and dry your face.

But The Skinny Confidential has used it before on her Instagram stories as an easy, travel-friendly tool to do facial massage even on the plane with oils and serums. It’s small and fits easily in the palm of your hand. So it’s definitely easy to take with you anywhere.

While I don’t notice a significant difference with really any facial massage, maybe it’s because I technically do it twice a day already with my FOREO? Lol. But in general, I think this is a great tool because it’s so convenient and has multiple uses! Not only will it exfoliate your skin and help cleanse it, but you can also use it as a massager tool.

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What’s your experience with facial massage been?

J&G