Removing make-up is a nighttime routine that is shared by the majority of women, and many of us will find ourselves going through the motions as we cleanse, tone and cream up every evening. Skincare guru Emma Hardie points out that this mundane evening task is actually the perfect time to sculpt your face, bringing out a glow you never even knew was possible. Read on for Emma's guide to sculpt your face to bring out glowing skin while you cleanse.
"I always like to work down towards the ground because you're draining lymph fluid that gets stuck in the skin that makes us baggy," she told us during the launch of her new Emma Hardie Lift & Sculpt Firming Neck Treatment, an aluminium roller that helps cool, tighten and firm the neck area.
Get glowing skin by sculpting your face while you cleanse
Massage cleanser into the face and neck, holding the skin in an upwards direction and bring your microfibre cloth down, helping to drain the lymphatic system. From here you can begin to sculpt the face, using the "lines not circle" technique, developed to stimulate the draining of the lymphatic system, bringing the cloth down in lines and not rubbing in circles.
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"The connective tissue that surrounds muscles, that's the collagen and elastin, and that's what supports the muscle and gives it its shape," Emma explained. "So when you work on your face you're working with a linear structure, smoothing it out, rather than doing little tiny circles."
Emma Hardie has her own skincare line
And for the people that are adamant about pushing their cloth upwards to avoid wrinkles? "That's rubbish, it's what they did in the old days," Emma spluttered. "The skin, the muscle, is held together with connective tissue which is a linear structure, collagen fibre, muscle fibre, lymphatic vessel. If you want to create a lovely bright skin, and your skin is a bit puffy, the puffiness is the lymph that's all stuck there. Which way does the lymph want to go? Down. Water wants to go down to the ground, gravity wants to pull down. You don't want push all that dirty water up in your face. You want it out of your body.
"The tension that you're creating (pulling the skin up) stimulates the movement of the lymph to drain away. And help to elongate your collagen fibres too. It's a weft and weave we're working with - think of the facial tissue like fabric, like a silk pillowcase, that you're smoothing out." She concludes that the more you work on your flesh, the better it will become.
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