If there is one thing Korean celebrities have in common, it’s the size of their face. The general consensus on celebrity face shapes is that smaller and slimmer is better, and that goes for both male and female celebrities.
The Ideal Korean Face Shape
The ideal Korean face shape of-the-moment is a heart-shaped face, with a slim jawline and a slightly pointy chin. Together your jawline will connect with your chin to form an acute-ish angle (aka the “V-line”), which makes your face less wide-set and masculine, and more slim and small. If you noticed, many K-beauty products allude to this “V-line” directly on the packaging itself, such as Lioele’s V-line Sleeping Pack and the Banila Co VV Bouncing Cushion.
While you can contour your face with makeup to get closer to this “V-line” look, Korea also offers slimming facials, that are extremely popular among Korean celebrities and you can bet that non-celebrities are also investing in these treatments to achieve the look too.
As an esthetician, it’s hard to believe that any facial that you get can actually make your face physically smaller without making adjustments to your bone structure (and that would be painful!) So out of curiosity I decided to try the treatment myself with Park Hye-Jeong, a pro-esthetician who has not only published a book about body and facial slimming but has two esthetic clinics in the ritzy Cheongdamn area and caters to dozens of Korea’s top celebrities.
The Facial Slimming Massage
After removing my makeup, Park Hye-jeong went into a deep cleanse of my skin (a double cleanse, followed by a light exfoliating peel).
The next step was to massage my neck muscles, specifically the muscles that extend into my jaw and into my shoulder. Park Hye-jeong explained that a lot of the tension in our shoulders and neck pulls at our jaw and facial muscles, which makes our skin droop and sag. When you release that tension, a more lifted and firm appearance of the skin is the immediate result.
Then she used her knuckles, fingers and palms of her hands to release the tension in the muscles of my jaw, promote blood circulation and the lifting of the muscles. With a boost in circulation, your face complexion will look healthy and bright!
She was strong and firm throughout the entire process, but it surprisingly did not hurt. I wanted my double chin and tension in my jaw lifted away so I did not mind at all.
The next step involved applying a clay-based mask on the areas I had blackheads (nose and chin) and the rest of the face was covered with a hydrating mask. This part not only looks fascinating but feels out of this world, because she tightly cocooned my entire face with an elastic wrap, to lift my muscles for 20 minutes. The bandages, made it look like I had just gotten an entire face transplant.
After resting in this mummy-like state, she poured a cold solution into the bottom half of the mask which cooled down the jaw area, to tighten the muscles that she had just warmed up. I would not advise this facial for those who are claustrophobic, as you do feel enclosed and the only opening is your nostrils and your mouth.
The next step was unwrap the “bandages” and then apply a modeling mask to cool and soothe the skin. The red-colored modeling mask could be a great Halloween costume for next year.
After 15 minutes everything was removed and they applied a moisturizer and sunscreen.
The Results
I could not believe what resulted after 1.5 hours of lifting, massaging, and application of a cooling and soothing mask. My face was completely rejuvenated! Not only did my face look and feel lifted and slimmer, the other friends I met later that night noticed the difference in my appearance too.
The biggest shock was when she massaged my right side of my face and let me look in the mirror and see the effects on the massage technique on the right, which was definitely more lifted than the left! The skin around my eyes, mouth jawline felt and looked tighter. Everything was definitely less puffy.
The effect lasted only a few days, which makes me understand why celebrities get these slimming facials weekly. Park Hye-jeong claims that with repeated slimming facials, the effect is longer lasting, which I completely believe.
The price for the 1.5 hour treatment is 250,000 krw (roughly $230 USD), but considering you see immediate results on your face and it’s technically a facial, shoulder and body massage rolled into one, I’d find a way to treat myself to this regularly if I were living in Seoul, just like the Korean celebrities do.
Where To Experience The Slimming Facial
Myrthen is located in Seoul Gangnam-gu, Nonhyun-dong 95-16, 5th Floor (Ph: 02-512-0625)
Steel & Stone is located in Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Cheongdam-dong 91-4, 5th Floor (Ph: 02-3446-0549)
