Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Garnier Nutritioniste: Skin Renew Awakening Face Massager

Garnier Nutritioniste: Skin Renew Awakening Face Massager is another one of Garnier Nutritioniste's handy facial tool and product in one. The daily moisturizer is massaged onto your face with a roller ball, which boosts circulation.

How to Use It

Garnier Nutritioniste: Skin Renew Awakening Face Massager is your daily and nightly face moisturizer. Instead of applying with your fingers, you simply start rolling the massage ball across your face in circular motions. This allows the moisturizer to start to roll onto your face. Garnier recommends massaging for 1 minute, then rubbing in excess moisturizer into your face with your fingers.

What We Loved

The massage is heaven. It's funny how such a simple concept can feel so good in the morning. Honestly, we looked forward to putting on our face cream each day.
Also, the scent is pleasant and bright, but definitely on the heavy side.
Unlike Garnier Nutritioniste's first roller product - Skin Renew Anti-Pull Eye Roller, which leaves a sticky feeling behind, this moisturizer soaked into our skin and left it feeling hydrated without a hint sticky residue left behind.
The light, almost watery texture of the moisturizer was a nice change from the sometimes heavy creams we put on our skin.

What We Didn't Love

We really wished there was an option - day or night - so that getting our first dose of sunscreen in the morning wouldn't mean using an extra product.
One minute doesn't seem like a long time, but when product is getting rolled onto your face, it does provide a lot of moisturizer. More than we typically put on. Yet, if you massage less to get less product, you're getting less of the massage benefits, too.
Because of the above mentioned, we felt like we were dousing our skin with moisturizer. And there are two cons to that. First, we're using up too much product, and it is costing us money, and two, it's taking forever to sink in and dry.

Final Thoughts

We honestly do enjoy using this product. Our solution to the abundance of product on our face was to massage for the full minute, because it felt that good, and when the time came to use our fingers to rub in the excess, we'd use a tissue to wipe some away if we thought there was too much. Not very cost effective, right?

It's a tough one for us, because we loved the experience, we loved the product itself, there were just some kinks. You might not mind kinks because it's a drugstore-priced product. But if you don't have time for kinks altogether, just take note.

Finish the Massage the Way it Began

Self Massage of the Face - Face Massage Techniques

Finish the Massage the Way it Began

The red circles are starting and ending points for your fingers. The lines and arrows show the direction for the massage strokes. Where there are simply circles, there is little to no movement from that one area of the face.

Arlene Fleming

Finish the massage by repeating the general strokes from the top of the forehead to the chin, and sweeping your fingers off the chin at the end of each stroke.

Your hands are almost fingertip to fingertip across from each other - with each set of four fingers beginning at the center of the forehead gently stroke down and across following the outside frame of the face.

Slowly, from forehead to temples to cheeks along the jaw, and bringing the fingertips together under the chin, then sweeping the fingers off the face and beginning again at the center of the forehead.

Repeat at least 10 times.

Self Massage of the Face - Face Massage Techniques

A Little Pinch of the Ears

Arlene Fleming

Pinch and gently pull all over the ears by taking your thumb and index finger and using them as pincers. Start from the top inside portion of the ear and gently work your way around the contour of your ear.

In Eastern medicine, the ears are connected to the organs of the body, in the same manner that the hands and feet are in reflexology.

Stretching over the Sinuses

Arlene Fleming

It is not uncommon to feel stuffed up during a flight, so this part of the massage targets the sinuses on either side of your nose.

Keep your head upright and centered. Use your thumbs for this exercise. You turn your hands outward, palms facing away from you. Place your thumbs at either side of the nose, beside the flares, where you feel a slight depression. Gently push in with your thumbs. You drag your thumbs across the sinuses as outlined by the red lines in the illustration, and maintain an even pressure throughout. Keep your thumbs on the face for the entire motion.

While pulling your thumbs slowly across the maxillary sinuses (named for their location on the face, essentially the cheek bones) you may feel them clear a little or drain. This motion should be done very slowly and take you at least 15 - 20 seconds. Count quietly if you need to. Repeat several times if you wish.

To encourage drainage if one side feels more clogged than the other, gently tilt your head towards the side that feels less full. So if my left maxillary sinus seems more clogged up, I may even repeat this massage stroke after I have already done it on both sides. In this case I would tilt my head slightly down to the right to promote drainage of the left, and would only do the massage stroke along the left side.

Target the Temples

Arlene Fleming

Beyond the curve of your eyebrows, at each side of your face you will feel an indentation, almost like a hole. These are your temples, and where the next bit of pressure will be applied, again with the gentle pressure you used in step 3.

Use your thumbs or your index fingers and simply apply and hold pressure over these two points for at least 30 seconds.

It is no surprise that people often start rubbing their temples when they feel the pressure and discomfort for a headache. In fact, the point along the temples is often used for the treatment of headaches.

Gentle Pressure Between the Eyebrows

Arlene Fleming

We continue more specifically by placing your index fingers just above the nose and in between the eyebrows. You can rest your head in your hands as you do this if it is more comfortable for you.

Apply about the pressure of squeezing a fresh lemon when pushing your index fingers into the spot between your eyebrows. Hold for at least 30 seconds and breathe deeply.

If you were to go directly behind the bone at this point, deep in the center of the skull, you would reach the pineal gland which is often referred to as the third eye in many cultures and is thought to have some influence over your circadian rhythm (the sleep-wake cycle affected by night and day).

In Chinese massage, for example, applying pressure and gently rocking a finger or thumb over this point is believed to calm the mind, and aid with insomnia. Frontal sinuses basically extend over the eyebrows so this is the center point where they almost meet.

Self Massage of the Face - Face Massage Techniques

Basic Face Massage Techniques – Forehead to Chin

Arlene Fleming

Begin the face massage with very general strokes. Take your hands, which were covering your face, and bring the fingers up to your forehead - almost fingertip to fingertip across from each other - with each set of four fingers beginning at the center of the forehead gently stroke down and across following the outside frame of the face.

Your thumbs will naturally start the motion along the sides of the face and slide underneath the chin.

Slowly, from forehead to temples to cheeks along the jaw, and bringing the fingertips together under the chin, then sweeping the fingers off the face and beginning again at the center of the forehead.

Repeat 5 to 10 times.