Don’t Sleep On This: The Skincare Line that Teaches You Facial Massage

Welcome to Don't Sleep This, a series dedicated to the products NYLON's beauty team will rebuy over and over again and want you to know about.

For a beauty writer, there’s always a new product or treatment out there to test. That means it’s very rare that a tester finds its way into my everyday roster. But when I do come into contact with a gem, it instantly becomes a new favorite and gains a place of prominence in my routine. The latest to join the team is FaceGym’s skincare line. Yes, I said line—every product has completely impressed me.

For those that may not know, FaceGym is not really a spa, but they offer face “workouts” that are somewhat akin to a facial. Unlike a serene facial from a day spa including light facial massage and layers of masks and products, it’s an intense muscle lifting treatment for your face. It was founded by Inge Theron, who says she “wants to make FaceGym the Peloton of skincare,” by changing the way we approach the muscles in our face. Now, you can take home part of that experience thanks to their new range of skincare products.

The high performance range includes a cleanser, two serums, and a moisturizer that are meant to prep, train, and recover your skin. I didn’t know what to expect when I started testing out the line, because I have relatively normal skin. I also think most cleansers tend to all feel the same. However, my lack of interest was immediately piqued after I squeezed a dime-sized amount of the Electro-Lite Energizing + Brightening Gel Cleanser in my palms. The gel-to-foam cleanser felt soft and gentle on my skin while doing some serious brightening on my then-dull complexion. The results are due to star ingredient of the cleanser, papaya extract, that gently exfoliates your skin and gives the appearance of smaller pores right away.

After trying the cleanser, I couldn’t wait to try the serums. The new Hydro-Bound Hyaluronic Acid + Niacinamide Serum is formulated with very high levels of hyaluronic acid and polyglutamic acid to help your skin stay hydrated all day. The Youth Reformer Firming Vitamin C + Nootropic Oil-In-Serum is a vitamin C serum serum formulated with Palo Santo for the ultimate cool down healing effect to your face.

As much as I loved the formulas, what really won me over was the packaging and thoughtful design. I believe, (when spending hard-earned cash) you should be able to enjoy every aspect of a product from beginning to end. These deliver. Both serums have well designed dropper tops that pick up just the right amount of product you need per use. They also lock completely when closed, so you never waste a drop, even if you throw them haphazardly in a suitcase. On an aesthetic level, the collagen boosting Supreme Restructure Cream comes in a sleek, refillable aluminum case that can even be engraved–the perfect addition for your bathroom shelfie.

The intelligent packaging doesn’t end there. All of the products come with a have scannable QR codes that link to tutorial videos for the suggested facial workout to go with each product. At first, I thought the QR code was only on the box, which would’ve been a pain to keep around. Then, I discovered the QR codes are also ON THE BOTTLES themselves. So convenient. With every use, I was able to learn a massage and practice each move until I figured out which workouts I wanted to implement into my everyday routine. I settled on three very easy, yet effective, moves that could work with any of the products. My absolute go-to is the “cheek sweep”. It’s where you take the opposite hand from the side of your face and swipe it across your face from the bridge of your nose outwards until your index and pointer fingers reach just about your ear. From there, you’ll take those two fingers and with light to medium pressure press down and slide your fingers down your jawline. It helps define and lift the muscles in your jaw to give you the look of a super sharp bone structure. I like to do this while washing my face with the cleanser, but you could do it with a serum or moisturizer as you apply.

I’ve started using the Electro-Lite cleanser daily and started doing the four signature face workouts every morning and using both serums most days. It takes some time of consistent practice to see results (just like with any workout) but after two weeks I visibly saw a difference in pore visibility and the my jaw line has never been so pronounced. Trust me, you don’t want to sleep on this.