King of Cups

By now, you’re probably familiar with Facegym: ever since its founding in 2014, the brand’s facial workout treatments have amassed a cult following for anyone in need of instant contouring, depuffing and definition. But you might be altogether less familiar with cupping, the thousand-year-old massage technique the brand has recently introduced as a booster. 

For the uninitiated, cupping traditionally involves ceramic or glass cups that are briefly held over a live flame, then applied to the body and left for as long as needed. The negative pressure caused by the suction can loosen muscle adhesions, increase blood flow to the skin and aid with lymphatic drainage. No wonder, then, that it is beloved by ancient Greek surgeons, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and Olympic athletes alike. 

I can’t lie: I was a little nervous before entering Facegym’s chic St John’s Wood storefront. Traditional cupping can leave you with painless circular marks like giant hickeys: areas with the most stagnation will leave the darkest bruises. More intensive variants of cupping include hijama or “wet cupping”, where the skin is stabbed with an acupuncture needle before being cupped to draw out blood. I’m all for a vampire facial, but even I must draw the line somewhere, and I was hoping to leave the store with all my blood stored safely in my body. 

Finally, we started on the cupping part of the treatment. Producing two sets of medical-grade silicone cups, she covered my face with the brand’s Youth Reformer Serum before pinching the cups and gliding them across my face. It was remarkable to feel her physically drain my lymph nodes, starting around the collarbones and slowly gliding upwards. That morning, I had been struggling with seasonal hayfever, and the smaller set of cups was particularly good at relieving sinus pressure around my eyebrows, nose and lips.

Another final round of cupping, some sun protection, and the Youth Reformer Serum and cupping set to take home and I was done. Compared to my bloated appearance that morning, my face felt more noticeably toned and my complexion was a lot more even. But the real effects were felt several days later: my allergy-induced tension headaches had dramatically reduced, and even after a night of wine and cheese that evening, I looked noticeably more snatched the following day. I’ve now taken to a nightly cupping ritual along with the serum stage of my skincare routine – gua sha, you have a new challenger!

Book your facial cupping appointment here and shop your At-Home Facial Cupping Set here!

Thankfully, my lovely therapist was on hand to assure me that my cupping facial would feel more like I’d received some gentle kisses than anything else. There would also be no bruising, as the cups would be in constant motion. She began by wrapping my face with a warm towel to open my pores before applying the brand’s Electro-Lite Gel Cleanser, whose brightening formula would help to revive my dull, dehydrated skin. Next came the Weighted Face Ball, which she used to stretch my facial muscles, focusing on my jaw, forehead and eyebrow area. Then came manual therapy, the massage method Facegym is renowned for. It sounds paradoxical, but ten minutes of having my face gently whipped, slapped and kneaded by her limber fingers, I was feeling deeply relaxed and almost sleepy.

It wasn’t to last, as the next step was contouring, for which she used an EMS device to tone and sculpt my facial muscles. Focusing on the jawline, cheekbones and neck area, we started with the lowest setting before slowly increasing the intensity based on my comfort levels. The sensation doesn’t hurt at all, but it can feel a little tingly, especially around areas of thinner skin like the temples and eyes. The results don’t lie, though.