Charlotte Ryan reviews NeoLifting and buccal facial massage, the trending treatment allegedly beloved by Hollywood stars.
Sitting in her studio in Windy Arbour, accupuncturist Amanda Nordell is laughing, remembering a recent client who couldn't understand why she asked for consent so often in their session.
"Because I'm putting my fingers in your mouth", she said. "It requires consent."
Nordell, a herbalist as well as trained acupuncturist, is one of the few therapists in Ireland offering NeoLifting and Buccal Facial Massage, a combination that offers a more contoured and lifted face without Botox or filler.
I was recently invited to try the treatment in Nordell's studio in Dublin and while I – hanging onto the last of my 20s – have fewer deep lines and wrinkles than this massage is designed to banish, I had noticed the inevitable drop in softness in my face, something that happens naturally with age as the body stops producing collagen.
I currently don't want or need to look more snatched, thank you very much, but I and my skincare routine are devoted to maintaining any trace of cherubic plump in my cheeks. With this, NeoLifting can allegedly help.
A form of sculptural massage, the method is very "anatomical", Nordell says, in that it works deeply on the muscles of the face. It also soothes the nervous system by "balancing the sympathetic and the parasympathetic", so that the body is "in healing mode".
Meanwhile, buccal, pronounced "buckle", fat has nothing to do with belts or your waistline. It is one of the deep fat compartments in the face that gives shape to the cheek, and each person is born with a finite amount that doesn't fluctuate with our weight.
Buccal fat, and specifically the removal of it, has garnered some notoriety in celebrity 'tweakment' circles as a trending, albeit comparatively more extreme, procedure in the quest to get a chiseled, contoured face. Some celebs, like Lea Michele, are speculated to have undergone it, while Chrissy Teigen confirmed that she had.
In any case, buccal facial massage can offer a non-invasive, non-permanent way of redefining the face's natural contours, by relaxing, massaging and de-puffing the facial muscles so that they sit as they should, newly massaged back to plumpness.
Both elements promote circulation and a replenishing of collagen, as the body is triggered into its healing mode, leaving the face full, relaxed and glowing – hopefully.
Each massage takes an hour and is "completely bespoke", Nordell says.
"I think one of the most important things to remember about faces is that everything is connected. So like you'll never see me just doing an eye treatment or a jaw treatment. You have to treat the whole face."
And treat the whole face, she does.
Once I was settled on a heated bed, covered with a blanket and with music playing in the background, we got started. The massage begins with lymphatic drainage, as Nordell pushes the lymph through the face and neck down to where it drains in the upper chest.
Given all of this is done using just her hands, I was curious as to what Nordell was sniffing out that I might be oblivious to. Here, she was looking for "crunchy bits", the blockages in the lymph nodes. Probably best not to think about that for too long.
The sculptural massage itself is more firm, as Nordell taps, rolls and cups each section of the face. She started by applying a rich cream to the face, the Get Better Butter by Irish vegan brand Holos, smoothing it in deft movements across my cheekbones, forehead and jaw. It's not painful or unpleasant at all, but it's nicely vigorous.
What I found most interesting, however, was how by the end of it I could feel each contour of my face, like a map had just been sketched of it. I started to notice how one cheekbone was shaped a little differently, how one side of my jaw sat a bit more to the right and how, actually, my temples were sort of always bunched up from concentration.
The buccal massage was far quicker than I imagined, lasting only about five minutes, ideal if you feel uneasy about having someone's (gloved) hands in your mouth. Nordell first checked to see how my jaw was working by asking me to open and close it while she felt the hinge with her fingers, soon feeling that my pterygoid muscles were taut.
She placed one finger in my mouth, high up along my upper jaw between my teeth and my cheek, and started rolling and massaging the muscle from the inside. This was the most sensitive part of the process – though still not painful – and the feeling reminded me of holding a pose in challenging yoga that almost hurts, but in a really good way.
Each time she released a muscle my body relaxed into the bed, a reminder of how much tension one part of the body can hold for the rest of it.
Nordell rounded off the massage with a face mask of Chinese herbs she makes herself, leaving me to rest and unwind for 10 minutes or so.
Immediately after I saw a difference in my face, which had looked tired and a little drawn around the eyes when I came in. Now, it was plump and slightly lifted, with my eyebrows seemingly sitting a bit higher and my nasolabial folds a little less prominent. Even my jaw looked a little more defined.
In short, I looked miles away from a woman who spends the vast majority of her week bent over a laptop.
Admittedly, some of this could be down to the physical massaging of the face, which will naturally make it feel fuller and rosier as blood is drawn to the surface, but four days later I'm still seeing results.
I was gifted a session of NeoLifting and buccal facial massage for the purpose of review. A one-hour session costs €130 per treatment, or €650 for a course of six.
For similar treatments, check out:
- Natural face-lift massage, The Bodywise Clinic, Dublin - €79 for 60 minutes
- Sculpture lifting and buccal massage, Aqua Beauty, Dublin - €150 for 75 minutes
- Zone facelift, Holistic Hands, Dublin - €80 for 60 minutes
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