What is facial cupping?

By Holly O'Neill
08th Oct 2018

Chinese medicine practitioners Emilia Herting and Maeve O’Sullivan run the gorgeous Escapada retreats, centred on delivering the perfect healthy escape for the physical body, mind and spirit. Here, they guide us through the next skincare trend about to erupt all over your Instagram feed – facial cupping.

Facial cupping has been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years and is transformative to your appearance either as a standalone treatment, or as an addition to facial acupuncture. Facial cups are small and come in various shapes and materials especially designed for your face. At Escapada, multiple sized vacuum silicon cups are used on the face, as they are softer and gentler on the delicate facial skin than glass or plastic and can also be used at home within your daily routine.

How do you use facial cups?

A key difference between body and facial cupping, is that the skin needs to be clean and lubricated for the small cups to easily glide over the skin. The “vacuum massage” effect of facial cupping allows the silicon cups move continuously, meaning there’s a much lower risk of bruising. The suction of the small cups allows the skin to lift which increases blood flow, boosts collagen in the area and drains lymphatic fluid.

What are the benefits of facial cupping?

Increased local circulation to the skin, drawing nutrients to the surface and enhancing absorption of lotions or serums
Increased blood flow (draws blood to the surface) to regain skins youthful appearance and give you the glow
Drainage of stagnant fluids to eases puffiness. By increasing

How do I facial cup at home?

You need a set of silicon vacuum face cups, two smaller and two larger ones. The larger cups can be used for the majority of the face, like the cheeks, jawbone and forehead, while the smaller ones are great for the more delicate skin around the eyes and nose.

Cleanse skin and lightly apply your favourite serum or oil on your skin, this helps slide the cup over the skin stopping the suction from leaving any marks. Please make sure you don’t park the bigger cup on the skin as this may cause bruising.

Start at the centre of the face, you place the cup over the skin and squeeze it so that it creates suction with your face. You then need to quickly swipe it outwards and upwards, as a sort of knuckle-free face massage. The suction created by the cups helps stimulate collagen and elastin, plumping and tightening your skin and helping with lymphatic drainage to reduce puffiness.

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Repeat daily. It can take a little practice to get the hang of it, but you will see and feel the difference. Get ready for plumper, lifted, contoured and firmer skin!

Featured image by @estie_bestie_.