SKIMS has launched a brand new product that claims to help sculpt your face and help you wake up with a ‘seriously sharp and contoured face’ – but critics question whether it’s taking beauty standards one step too far
Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand has never held back when it comes to unconventional standards of fashion lines – but the latest launch has left people divided. From bras with fake nipples on show to micro bikinis that would struggle to even cover a Dorito, it’s a brand that always gets people talking.
Renowned for their ultimate body shapewear, promising sleek silhouettes and serious tummy control knickers, the $3billion (£2.2bn) SKIMS empire has just released Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap designed to give you a snatched and sharp jawline, reduce puffiness and improve facial definition – apparently.
Amid the launch, Mirror writer Danielle Kate Wroe called for the product to be “stopped”. The shapewear, inspired by lymphatic drainage massages comes in two colours and tightly wraps around your face and neck and fastened with a Velcro strap. It’s designed to be worn to bed, in the hope you wake up with a seriously sculpted face – but does it work?
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According to Kim, it’s an “absolute necessity”, as the contraption is infused with collagen yarns and the new launch, in true SKIMS style, has already sold out after only launching on July 29. Costing a staggering £52, shoppers are hoping to copy Kim’s ultra-sculpted face shape.
With many calling for women to just “sleep in peace”, they aren’t convinced this product is a good idea – including renowned skincare guru and expert Caroline Hirons, was seen chiming in on the Skims Instagram comments, asking: “Is it April Fools?”
Another Instagram user wrote: “Guys, there’s straight up no science to back this. Believe me, I’ve looked (I’ve always had a double chin) Save your money.” While others are comparing it to Hannibal Lecter as well as The Handmaids Tale and slamming the “disturbing” product to pressuring women to conform to these beauty standards.
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One of the unique selling points of the product is the collagen yarn, and according to Olga Skydan, dermatologist and member of the Medical Expert Board at the face yoga app Luvly, the term sounds scientific, but it’s “largely a marketing ploy”.
She told The Mirror: “Collagen yarn refers to textile fibres infused with collagen peptides derived from fish or bovine sources. In some garments, these are used for moisturizing or skin-conditioning benefits. But the thing is, collagen molecules are far too large to penetrate intact through the skin barrier, and certainly too large to do so via a garment.”
She highlighted that it can’t help promise a snatched face and compared it to a Gua Sha. She said: “Gua sha, at least, is based on traditional massage techniques that stimulate lymphatic drainage and blood flow. On the other hand, the SKIMS face wrap does something similar, but in a compressive way. It can temporarily reduce puffiness, just as sleeping in an upright position can. But make no mistake, there’s no rejuvenation happening here.”
The expert also notes concern over the wording used for the product. The product is called ‘Seamless Sculpt” and Olga said ‘sculpted,’ and other similar adjectives, “feeds into an already dangerous obsession with facial perfection and symmetry among women” and added: “The implication is that natural softness or aging is something to be concealed or fixed. And the fact that the solution is marketed as something you can wear at home while multitasking suggests that we should always be optimizing ourselves, even during rest.”
here are a lot of effective, non-invasive options out there, according to the expert. For example, professional-grade radiofrequency and ultrasound can stimulate collagen and elastin and at-home products such as retinoids and peptides can help improve skin density over time.
As well as lifestyle habits like a consistent use of SPF, a protein-rich diet, adequate hydration, and quality sleep still form the foundation of skin health.
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