Happy hump day!

I know that the days of the week don’t mean much anymore but we have a Bank Holiday coming up and I intend to spend mine eating good food, drinking good wine and partaking in a lot of self care.

I am a strong believer that skincare is self-care – when my skin is glowing I feel more confident, happy and relaxed knowing that I am doing my body good by taking care of the enormous organ we call our skin.

I could talk all day about the various avenues of skincare that I love and continue to revisit but today I am going to focus on my favourite face tools. In 2020 there are too many face tools to choose from, you can get lost in the jade vs. rose quartz roller conversation, the people who love themselves a Clarisonic or those fun looking laser and LED face masks that are everywhere these days.

Fortunately I have found my ride or die tools and today I am going to share them with you.

Foreo Luna Mini

I got the Foreo Luna Mini two and a half years ago and it is one of the best things that I have done for my skincare routine. This handheld facial cleansing tool uses sonic pulses to clean your face really thoroughly and it is so easy! You just put your cleanser onto the brush with some water and move it around while the Foreo gets to work around different areas of the face and leaves you feeling bright and fresh faced.

Timewise you do 20 seconds on your lower face, 20 seconds around your forehead and then 10 seconds each for your nose and eye area, it pulses when it’s time to move to the next area.

I have quite an old model but it’s honestly perfect for me, the silicone bristles are really soft so they don’t interfere with oil production or pull the skin during use which leaves skin perfectly primed for the next step in your skincare routine. Another highlight of this silicone tool is that it is really easy to clean and dry, it’s completely waterproof so you can use it in the shower as well.

I use mine twice a day and charge it once every three to four months. They are quite expensive but I would say that you only really need a Luna mini which are a lot cheaper and I have gotten so much use out of mine and it’s still in great condition, I couldn’t see myself without one of these.

Gua sha

I knew I loved facial massage before but it wasn’t until lockdown began that I realised quite how much and how easy it was to do at home. I have spent a lot of time over the past couple of months enjoying Instagram Live facial massage tutorials from FaceGym (one of my favourite facials going) and Jasmine Hemsley amongst others. A gua sha is a perfect massage tool, it aids lymphatic drainage, is extremely cooling and is seriously good at promoting collagen production.

I love using this tool in the evening with a nice face oil, your skin needs to be well lubricated so that the gua sha won’t pull on the skin which would cause sagging. If you don’t love oil, I’d recommend a heavier serum or even going in with your moisturiser or an overnight mask (here are a few that would be great, I use mine often with Plenaire’s Skin Frosting).

I use this tool to massage my neck, working from top to bottom and then my jaw, working from chin to ears and moving on up and outwards until I get to my forehead. It is important to not pull too hard with a gua sha, they aren’t meant to be heavy strokes and to ensure that there is as much skin to tool contact as possible.

My favourite gua sha tips include:

• Keep it in the fridge in the warmer months, it is insanely refreshing, especially just held under eyes in the mornings (this is a fantastic way to depuff hungover eyes and invigorate your senses in general)
• Work the pointy bit around a spot, this will get the blood flowing and it goes down within days which has been an absolute revelation for me
• Work the pointy bit all over the forehead, this is a great way to promote collagen and prevent lines

Below is a great tutorial which is far better at explaining the method and the madness than I:

You can buy these all over but trust me you don’t have to break the bank, I got mine from eBay for less than £4 and it is perfect.

Nurse Jamie Uplift Roller

The Nurse Jamie Uplift Facial Massaging Beauty Roller is encrusted with 24 tourmaline quartz stones which work your face to tighten, tone and energise skin and encourage collagen.

I bought this two years ago after seeing it all over Instagram and I absolutely adore it. I use this every morning with my serum and I feel like it really wakes up my face. It is also very cooling so perfect to depuff the eyes and cheeks in the process.

Unlike the gua sha, this rolls itself so it is also suited to much lighter products or none at all and it won’t pull your skin. This also helps serums to penetrate skin and have a greater effect and it is brilliant with a sheet mask as well – it improves efficacy and helps it get as close to to the skin as possible which is always a benefit if you want to sit up while masking.

I got this in a sale but they are £55 usually, I have had mine for a while and use it everyday and it still looks brand new so you’re definitely paying for quality and I’d heartily recommend it.

So now I’ve shared mine, I’d love you hear about your favourite facial tools, let me know in the comments or over on Instagram.