After an evening of celebration, your skin can often betray the signs of fatigue with a dull complexion, tired-looking skin, and visible marks. This is usually due to two main culprits.
First, alcohol, a typical party companion, saps the skin of moisture, leading to fine lines and a lacklustre complexion the following day. The second is a lack of sleep, which interferes with the skin’s crucial regeneration process, typically between midnight and 4 a.m.
When the party stretches into the early hours, your skin faces an uphill battle to repair itself and bounce back from the day’s wear and tear, resulting in a noticeably weary appearance. This recovery process becomes even more challenging as the skin’s natural defence and repair mechanisms gradually wane as we age.
So, how do you achieve radiant skin, giving the impression of a well-rested glow even after dancing the night away? Here’s where self-massage and emergency skincare tips come into play. Three expert facialists, specialists in maintaining healthy, vibrant skin, reveal their go-to strategies to rejuvenate and restore the skin’s vitality after a night of indulgence.
Against tired eyes: Gua Sha, Elodie Cathagne-Martin’s tip
To achieve radiant skin, start by gently smoothing the area between your eyebrows, known as the third eye, with your fingers. Proceed to lightly pinch your eyebrows, moving from the inner corner outward. Next, tenderly smooth around your eyes, starting from the inner corner and extending outward. Then, use a Gua Sha, a traditional Chinese medicinal tool known for its decongestant properties, to gently glide over your eyebrows, moving from the inside toward the temples with light pressure.
For the lower eyelid, apply gentle pressure with your finger, moving from the inner corner to the top of your cheekbones. Following this, utilize the tip of the Gua Sha to facilitate drainage, moving upward and ending with a swirling motion at the temple. Proceed by softly tapping around the eye contour with your fingertips. To uplift the eyebrows, apply three swirling pressure points using the tip of the Gua Sha at the head, middle, and end of the eyebrow, concluding the routine at the temple. This method relaxes the facial muscles and contributes to achieving a more radiant skin complexion.
The facialist’s recommendations: “Before starting to massage the skin, it’s important to cleanse it well. Good makeup removal and skin cleansing are essential before going to bed, even if it’s very late (or very early). When the skin is clean, it’s time for the massage with the Gua Sha, either dry or with eye contour cream. The pressure should be light, and the movements should be made with care and gentleness in this particularly fragile area. Don’t hesitate to drink ginger and lemon-infused water for a detox shot at breakfast and continue to stay hydrated with water throughout the day.”
Against a dull and blurred complexion: Pinching, Delphine Langlois’s tip
To achieve radiant skin, gently use your thumb and index finger to execute small, dry, deep, and brisk pinches of about half a centimetre, ensuring you engage both the skin and muscle. It’s crucial to avoid separating the skin from the muscle by pulling outward on the face, as this could reduce the skin’s firmness. Commence this technique along several lines for optimal skin radiance: begin along the neck, pinching from the top downwards and then from the bottom upwards.
Progress to the chin area, tracing the jawline and the mandible bone towards the earlobes. Subsequently, move from the corners of the lips, across the middle of the cheeks, culminating at the middle of the ears.
Lastly, start at the side of the nose, following the cheekbone up to the top of the ears. Continue this process until the skin shows a reddish tone, indicative of stimulated and potentially more radiant skin.
The facialist’s recommendations: “The massage requires very little product. You can skip it and perform the dry pinching technique if the skin is not too sensitive. Why? Too much product will make it difficult to pinch both the muscle and the skin. Personally, I like to do this massage with my serum just before applying my day cream.”
Against marked skin: Smoothing and draining manoeuvres, Alix Saint-Georges’s tip
.To enhance lymphatic circulation and promote radiant skin, begin with the décolleté area before moving to the neck and face. You can do this on dry skin or with day cream. Initiate with gentle, smoothing strokes across the décolleté, starting from the collarbone and sweeping outward. Repeat this several times on each side. For the neck, employ gentle pinching movements along its natural lines, working from the nape towards the diaphragm, front to back, until the skin shows a healthy reddening. Next, focus on facial drainage with gentle smoothing actions.
Using each hand’s index and middle fingers, work symmetrically on both sides of the face. Begin from the centre and move outward, following parallel lines with a light touch. Start from the middle of the chin, then just below the lips, at the lip hollows, on either side of the nostrils, and lastly, down the centre of the nose. Each stroke should end at the lymph nodes located behind the ears. Extend these movements down along the neck to the collarbones for a complete routine, ensuring a comprehensive approach for radiant skin.
The facialists’ recommendations: “In addition, nothing beats a 20-minute nap during the day to regain plump, well-bounced skin.”
This article was syndicated from Marie Claire France
Translated and adapted by Praise Vandeh, Marie Claire Nigeria Content Writer
