3 Now calm each area of your face in turn:
• Take away negative tension from the temples: using the first two fingers of each hand, massage your temples in small circles, anti-clockwise.
• Relax your brow area: with a thumb below each eyebrow and index finger above, start in the centre and slowly and gently pinch and lift along each brow right out to the temples.
• Relax the eye socket: with the three bigger fingertips of both hands (include your little fingertips if you can, although some find their hands are too big), circle all around the eye with a light tapping motion, starting at the top of your nose the working out, round and back.
• Relax the forehead area: starting at the brow line, use the pads of your fingers to gently press and lift upwards, sliding up in 1cm(1/2in) steps, up and into the scalp.
• Relax the cheeks: with your index, middle and ring fingers under your cheekbones on each side, lift and hold for a count of three; you may find you inhale naturally as you lift; the exhale slowly for a count of three or six if you can manage.
• Relax the jawline: starting in the middle of your chin, with your thumbs below the jawline and middle fingers just above it, pinch, lift and hold the skin, working outwards to your ears.
• Supporting the back of the neck with your fingertips, stretch your neck gently forward; place the right hand over your head onto left ear and gently stretch your neck towards the right, then reverse the procedure. Then massage the base of your skull, just where it meets the neck at the back, gently lean backwards if comfortable.
• Complete the relaxation with an eye-soother. Susan recommends damp cotton pads sprinkled with ESPA Soothing Eye Lotion (or cold chamomile tea). Split one pad in half and mould halves to each eye ball; tilt the head back, or lie down and cup the face and eye area with the palms of the hands to create a dark cocoon of peace. (Alternatively, try chamomile tea bags, which have been infused in water and then left to cool in the fridge.)
Get Glowing!
The secret of smooth, soft, touch-me skin is simple: buff until beautiful!
Not to put too fine a point on it, the skin you can see with the naked eye is actually dead. As a result, it’s often dry and dull. This surface layer also makes it harder for moisturisers and oils to penetrate. So while we believe in a softly-softly approach to exfoliating faces, we scrub areas like elbows, knees, ankles and upper arms regularly. For extremities and limbs that gleam healthily, you should make body exfoliation a part of your beauty ritual. (Not just in summer, but winter too – when it’s easy to forget everything below the vest-line.)
Exfoliation is also essential before fake tanning – to smooth away the dead surface cells that self-tanners just love to cling to (which results in those tell-tale darker patches around the elbows, knees, ankles). So just how often should you exfoliate? As ESPA founder Susan Harmsworth told us: ‘The drier the skin, the more often you can exfoliate.’ She owns up to dry legs, ‘so now I exfoliate these three times a week’. Use salt scrubs and other body exfoliants on damp skin, Sue advises, except on areas of thicker skin like knees, elbows and feet, where they can be used dry.
Scrubs We Love!
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? A must for us is a weekly hair mask to keep our hair in top condition, shiny and manageable. We swear by ESPA Pink Hair and Scalp Mask! £27.50 for 200 g.
