The French Way to Maintaining Youthful Skin

As you guys know, I have discussed facial massage at length. This is by far THE beauty tip of the century. But when I travel I find it interesting to observe other cultures & see how they implement specific beauty tips into their routine & I like to see how it differs from Americans.

Anyway facial massage is LITERALLY everything. My friend, Jules Wick first told me about facial massage when I was recovering from double jaw surgery & was experiencing major swelling. It totally changed my skin! It drained my face, smoothed out wrinkles, plumped up my face in the best way, & got rid of bloating.

Today though, I want to talk specifically about the way French women utilize facial massage because it’s different than Americans. I’ve been reading Ageless Beauty the French Way: Secrets from Three Generations of French Beauty Editors by Clemence von Mueffling.

& she states that facial massage is a French woman’s best kept secret. Women in other countries treat facials as a luxury, but French women treat it as a NECESSITY. I wanted to share EXACTLY, in detail as possible how French women do facial massage with only their hands, AKA free.

These are specific graphics on how to remove & drain fluid & congestion from your skin while massaging your eye area, chest area, lips & face. We’ll even discuss how to massage out the frown lines between your eyes. These visuals & instructions are all taken from Ageless Beauty the French Way….. It’s really taught me a lot about French beauty & how to facial massage properly when I don’t have my massage tools. You will be so fucking contoured you won’t know what to do.

♡ Massage the Eye Area

You need a very small amount of cream to massage the eye contour. Place a dot of cream on the tip of your index or middle finger & pat it under both eyes. Apply a light pressure along the bone of your eye socket. For more mature skin, use one index finger to hold skin taught while the other finger applies the eye cream.

Alternatively, place the tips of your fingers under your eyes & apply light pressure as you move up toward the outer corners of your eyes. Then repeat this motion from the bridge of your nose along the brows to the outer corners of your eyes. Next, pinch along your brows toward your temples.

Mo, my favorite facialist, is a big fan of under eye massage. Using your fingers for this area is so effective at removing excess fluid ( aka, puffiness & bloating ). It’s super important to start on the inside & work outwards then down to really drain.

♡ Massage the Frown Lines, Between Your Eyes

Use both index fingers to create a knitting-like motion or zig-zag between your brows. You can do that for two or three minutes a day.

OMIGOD, frown lines between perfectly brushed up brows just doesn’t fit. The dreaded ’11’ hit me one day while I was driving. Let me set the scene:

I was driving to my sister’s graduation, all dressed up, of course. Think white deep V-neck with a cute mini & some pumps. I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday. My latest Spotify playlist was blasting from the car’s speakers & it was that time of day where the light shines directly in your face. Around 5 PM-ish I think.

As I was driving along, I casually glanced up at the rearview mirror. & there it was, NO DENYING IT GUYS, a total number 11. That’s right, smack between my eyebrows. The eleven was there. I wasn’t being crazy. And the light? Let’s just say it was very much intensifying the sitch.

You should know facial massage has really helped with this, but I also get Botox ( full disclosure over here ).

♡ Massage the Lips

Use the same small amount of cream as you did for the eye massage. With two fingers, hold the left side of your upper lip taut while your right finger glides above the upper lip. Repeat this exercise on the other side of the mouth.

Complete the massage beneath the lower lip. This will help prevent the little wrinkles above the lip.

So many people forget about their lips. We’re so focused on our face, neck & chest that we forget about the lips!!! Which by the way is especially important if you’re a big fan of silicone straws, like moi. When I saw The God of Facial Manipulation he really got into the lip area. If you want to know more about that, scope this post.

♡ Drainage ( helps to remove fluid & congestion from your skin)

Place your thumbs under your chin, then use your index fingers as pliers as you pinch along your jawline up to your ears. Repeat five times.

Can we go off about jaw surgery again for a sec? Like, I know you guys know I had jaw surgery & that’s how I became such a fan of facial massage & lymphatic drainage. You’re probably all so sick of it, but really, it just is LIFE-CHANGING. It feels good, reduces the appearance of fine lines & wrinkles, makes you look contoured like a Kardashian & increases blood flow & collagen. The swelling & bloating in my face totally went down when I started doing this & STILL DOES. Especially when I travel my face goes super bloated & facial massage & lyphatic drainage make all the difference.

♡ Massage Your Neck & Décolleté

Lightly pinch the skin beneath your chin where the neck meets the jaw. Practice an upward movement toward the ears for a lifting effect.

Place your hand flat on your neck beneath your ear, parallel to the jawline. Then, slide your hand firmly down toward your chest/décolleté. Keep your fingers together, thumb included, to avoid touching the thyroid. { via }

If using your hands isn’t your style, I have 3 other ways of facial massage for you:

Clarisonic Uplift

The Clarisonic is my favorite & totally worth the investment if you ask me. I like to apply a little oil & move it around in circles. I take the massage down my neck & sometimes down to my chest to really get the circulation going. We’re all about the lymph system over here. It totally depuffs & contours.

The Ice Roller

Ever since my jaw surgery I’ve become obsessed with finding ways to reduce swelling. The ice roller is it. Use it every morning when you wake up to reduce swelling & redness. Plus it helps shrink your pores & is way more convenient than an ice facial. It’s a MUST…especially when you’re hungover.

The Jade/Rose Quartz Roller

Gua sha tools usually come in jade & rose quartz. I like rose quartz because Cleopatra used soak in a bath with rose quartz. Obviously I’m gonna copy Cleopatra. When doing this at home, the key is to always work from the inside of the face then go outwards. And ALWAYS scrape UP, never down. Don’t ever pull your face down. This is so important, I can’t say it enough.
Make sure you use an oil with your gua sha tools, too.

Some other tips to keep your skin tight & right…

♡ Keep your eye pads & masks in a skin fridge.

♡ Try an ice facial ( Sonja Morgan & Kate Moss’ favorite ).

♡ Learn how to micromanage your facialist.

I wanted this post to be super in-depth about French beauty but also give you some other options. French beauty is something I’m going to continue to talk about on the blog because I find it all super interesting & I’m obsessed with anything & everything French right now. So expect more on that.

With that, I G2G massage the shit out of my face. It’s feeling super bloated after this post. Staring at the computer screen will do that to you.

( Also note: I feel like we need to talk more about massaging the lips but I have some more research to do first. But we will dissect, I promise. )

Peace, love & facial massage.

x, lauryn

+ check out Ingrid’s post on eating the French way. Ingrid tips on French whatever

++ scope how to get rid of a turkey neck in 5 seconds.

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