How to Get a Smaller & Slimmer Face

I’ve always had fuller cheeks, as do most of the women in my family. We call them the ‘Raeburn cheeks’ as most of the relatives on my mum’s side have them. They’ve never been the favourite part of my face. You know how when people put on weight, it goes to different areas for different people – some put on on the thighs and hips; some the butt; these actually makes the body a little curvier and more feminine. Unfortunately, if I do put on the odd kilo or three, it NEVER goes to these areas, it just goes straight to my face!

Some earlier photos, to illustrate my point about the cheeks:

Cambodia in 2008. This was beautifully shot by a wonderful person, but the cheeks, the cheeks! LOL.

This was taken in 2009, five years ago. Age (or the lack thereof – a whole 5 years ago!) may have contributed to the more cherubic face then, but the extra volume in the lower part of the face is pretty apparent.

Slightly more recent, this was taken in 2010 during a photoshoot for this restaurant that serves awesome ma la (that literally means “spicy and numbing”); it’s indeed a spicy, oily and numbing Chinese sauce that hails from Sichuan or Chongqing; a combination of Sichuan peppercorns that numb the tongue when you bite into them, fiery red chilli peppers, spices and oil.

Yes, the love affair with ma la (I am absolutely addicted to the stuff; in soup, hot pot or stir-fried form) and with eating in general has always been there. This of course, does not help the face look slimmer – oily and salty foods contribute to water retention, and these are my favourite kinds of foods which I eat on the daily!

So what’s a girl to do to get a smaller face? Surgery? I don’t judge those who choose that route, but I personally am not an advocate. I think we were given the faces and bodies we were given for a reason, and I prefer to try to learn to love it and make the most of it instead of messing with the One Above and His work – I don’t want to permanently alter it.

A friend of mine (who is already very slim with a very small and slim face, mind you!) introduced me to this product more than a year ago, at one of our girly catch-up sessions. It started when I asked if she’d lost weight and she said no – but that she had been using this new product. I was sold and had to try it.

So therein started my journey with Clarins and their awesome Shaping Facial Lift. I bought a bottle and gave it a go. I was told to use it after toner and before any other skincare (I don’t really use toner though, so I use it straight after washing my face) using this “Manual Auto-Lifting Method” that is a lot easier and enjoyable to do than it seemed at first. Two extra minutes before regular skincare was do-able, even for a lazy beauty regime person like myself!

Here’s a video on this Manual Auto-Lifting Method if you want to learn how it’s done – this is my routine before I hit the sack and when I get up in the morning!

To be really honest, it wasn’t immediately apparent to me – like I didn’t feel like my face had ‘shrunk’ – but friends kept asking if i’d lost weight, and I really hadn’t. This was taken at the bestie’s wedding – I think I’d just started using the product then. There’s more facial contour definition for sure – you can see a slight indentation in the cheek area that you couldn’t in the previous picture.

Have to make mention of certain not-so-nice “friends” who insisted and/or insinuated I’d gotten work done – same sort of people who on earlier occasions apparently said I “confirmed” did something to my nose – surgery or botox or fillers or whatever – or eyes – for the record, I have not. And I still struggle with uneven eyelids (some days double, some days triple, lol) though I am better at concealing them with makeup. Interesting how people can “confirm” such things, lol. I attribute it to being unhappy with their own lives and I try to say a prayer for them. Sometimes not so easily, I’ll admit!

Moving on from negative people – here’s one in more recent times (taken early this year). You can really see the reduction in cheek volume.

It works – I was convinced! And so…I was super stoked when Clarins began talks with my manager on becoming their spokesperson for the product! I am particular about the products I endorse, and I have turned down some offers as I didn’t believe in what I was supposed to be endorsing. So to be asked to front a product I already believed in and had already spent good money on purchasing was quite a dream. The deal went through, and I was flown up to Tokyo for the re-launch of the new Shaping Facial Lift in March 2014!

There was a dinner to launch the new Shaping Facial Lift that was held in Happo-en, a beautiful Japanese garden – love pretty places like that.

This was us on stage at the dinner for the Kagami Biraki ceremony (a Japanese traditional ceremony which translates to “opening the mirror”), together with Dr. Olivier Courtin-Clarins, Managing Director of the Clarins Group; Mr. Laurent Lautier, President of Clarins Asia Pacific and Ms. Sumiko Vormeringer Kobayashi, General Manager, Clarins Japan; that’s Ms Universe Japan, Ms Ayako Hara, next to me and Mr Perry Liu (also known as xiao P lao shi), celebrity makeup artiste from Taiwan on the right.

Sharing my Shaping Facial Lift experience at the dinner.

It was a fun trip that didn’t quite feel like work! Plus Cheryl from Clarins Singapore took great care of us – arranging an awesome makeup artiste and hair stylist for me so I’d look good, and researching yummy food places to take us to. I also extended my trip to check out Tokyo again (I haven’t been back in almost a decade!) and also to hit the slopes at Shiga Kogen. Will post more on that trip soon, I promise!

We also had a photo shoot in Tokyo – results in Her World magazine!

Also in CLEO magazine.

What I learnt as part of my training as Clarins Shaping Facial Lift ambassador in Tokyo is that we Asians really are “blessed” with a larger face than our Caucasian counterparts – a whopping 40.3% wider on the lower part of the face and 14% thicker in the cheek area! I was a little bummed about that till my Caucasian friends reminded me that Asians and Asian skin ages slower and “better” on average too – you win some, you lose some, I guess!

This product works to enhance your facial features by uplifting the face with three key actions: anti-fat, anti-sugar and anti-fluid. This basically means it helps with the release of excess fats on the face, the draining of excess fluids (it rids the face of water retention) and tightens and lifts the skin.

Results on over 200 Asian women after using the product for a month have shown a slimmer face (22.8% overall refining of the face), refined cheeks (5.4% reduction – and my biggest problem area!) and a lifted jawline (13.2% reduction in jaw-to-chin line sagging – no more double chin!).

It definitely worked for me, but if you want to give it a try before you buy, here’s your chance: click here for a 5 piece trial supply of the new Shaping Facial Lift.

Will update on all my travels soonest!