THE PLAINEST BEAUTY tricks are usually the best, but they tend to be obvious and overlooked. Facial massage is all of these: easy, intuitive and mostly absent from skin-care routines even though it can be a great alternative to invasive treatments like Botox. Like the rest of your body, your face has many muscles, and like your shoulders or back, it gets tight and holds on to stress.
This type of massage has long been a secret weapon of Estheticians (think of all that stroking and swirling during a facial) and makeup artists, who often give clients a face massage before sending them down a catwalk or red carpet.
By relaxing muscles and connective tissue, massaging the face softens expression-induced lines around your eyes, lips and brows, helps expel acne-causing toxins and de-puffs and brightens the eye area. It also increases circulation, oxygenating the blood and encouraging the presence of fresh, healing red blood cells.