Today we're visiting facialist Matthew Miller,
where I will be trying out his lifting facial
that's supposed to leave my skin
feeling really sculpted.
Honestly, I feel like my face
has been drooping lately
in both the way it looks and feels,
so I'm curious if the different steps of this facial
can help leave it more contoured and fresh.
He also uses algae instead of plain water
in his facials, which is really cool
because it has all these nutrients to calm the skin.
So let's go check it out.
Matthew: So, what we're gonna do first
is just double-cleanse your skin.
So we'll go in first with a nice gentle gel cleanser,
and then we'll go after that
with a nice warming honey cleanser,
and that makes sure we're starting with a clean slate
so the treatment's more effective.
This is the algae we use during the treatment.
It's actually a freeze-dried Gigartina seaweed,
which is more of a red algae.
And it's loaded with polysaccharides, minerals,
nutrients that help calm down and hydrate the skin
as we're doing the treatment.
And I'll use this for the water
throughout the whole treatment.
Oh, interesting.
How does it feel?
Matthew: It feels almost like a gel.
It makes the water -- you can touch if you want.
It's like a gel.
Caroline: Yeah, it is very slimy.
Matthew: For sure. So, what we're gonna do
is do something called Bio-Brasion,
which is like microdermabrasion,
but what it does is it uses a little cap.
This way it's more gentle.
And then we also infuse it with a chemical exfoliant.
This way we're getting chemical and physical exfoliation
without overworking your skin.
For the chemical exfoliation,
we're gonna be using a little --
it's called Aqua Peel, but it's really gentle.
It's more of a foam,
and that's gonna sit on the skin
while we do the Bio-Brasion.
So, facial massage I like doing before extractions.
It helps kind of soften everything within the pore,
soften the skin a little bit,
so when we do extractions
everything kind of just slides out.
So, next we're gonna do some extractions.
I leave the facial oil on
just so it gives us more slip
and so we're not irritating the skin,
because I do use a skin scrubber.
So, next, we're gonna apply
another gentle cleanser onto the skin,
and that's gonna act as providing some slip,
because we're going to do a cold hammer.
And what the cold hammer is going to do
is kind of reduce any redness
and cool down the skin.
This way we're not going into the rest
of the treatment with irritated skin.
And then we'll also add some of the algae gel
to kind of help with that and soothing.
Yeah, I love this algae gel.
It really does feel nice.
Ooh.
Matthew: Feel OK?
Oh, feels great.
Wow, especially after the extractions.
Matthew: So, for the next part,
we're going to apply a mask to the skin.
It's a hydrating gel mask.
It has a little bit of a cooling effect to it,
so if you feel that, it's totally normal.
So, this is gonna double as a conductivity gel,
so when we do the microcurrent,
you're actually getting a benefit
of not only a conductivity gel,
but also a hydrating treatment.
And before we do the actual microcurrent treatment,
we're gonna go in and do
some needleless mesotherapy.
And what that is,
it uses an electrical field to kind of
temporarily make the skin cells more permeable
so the ingredients we have on your skin now
can go down deeper
and they have more effect on the skin.
So, what microcurrent is doing
is helping stimulate,
and it's almost like a workout for the skin.
So it's affecting the muscles,
and it's also affecting cellular activity.
So not only is it giving you
more of a lifted, sculpted appearance,
but it's also helping produce
something called ATP in our skin,
and that's like the energy pack for the skin cell.
So that helps with cell metabolism,
and it also helps give you
a really nice healthy glow.
So even without the benefits of lifting and sculpting,
the glow and health of the skin that it gives
is worth it in itself.
And then we'll go in after and do more of a --
it's a different probe
that works more with smoothing
and almost, like, ironing out wrinkles.
So, we're gonna move on to the next step,
which is going to be the cryo gun.
We're using a cartridge that has CO2 in it.
It's compressed CO2.
And then we load the gun
with a hyaluronic acid blend,
and this actually dries on the skin,
not only to hydrate,
but to tighten everything and firm everything.
So between the two,
it's really helping to kind of calm down the skin,
help with healing,
and also plump out any fine lines
and deeply hydrate.
Feel OK?
Yes, wow.
Oh, my gosh,
it feels like a laser is being zapped.
Matthew: Between the coldness and the air pressure,
it can sometimes feel like little icicles
blasting on the skin.
So, LED helps a lot with collagen production,
elastin production,
calming down the skin and healing it
because of the infrared in there as well.
That's gonna stay on the skin,
and while that's on the skin,
we'll do a little hand and arm massage.
So, with the microcurrent and the cryotherapy,
the results last about a week.
So I always tell clients
if they want more permanent results,
they have to come in once a week for a month.
And then after that,
they can come in once a month
just to maintain the results.
It's been a little over a week
since my facial with Matthew,
and I definitely have been enjoying the result.
Here's how my skin looked
immediately after the treatment,
but it wasn't until the rest of the day
that I started to really notice the difference.
I felt super lifted and awake,
and I feel like the final product
Matthew applied on my skin
was working throughout the day.
So it's like the facial never ended.
I do think between the algae,
microcurrent, and cryotherapy used,
this is a really effective lifting treatment,
especially right before a big event.