How to Glow Up: Your Guide to Luminous Skin
Ready for the very best glow up challenge out there? If you want to learn how to glow up, you first have to figure out what “glow up” means to you. Personally, the term kinda makes me want to roll my eyes. It seems like just another way for the wellness industry to market its tips, tricks, and, most of all, products. Here, drink this concoction or take this supplement or use this moisturizing mask and you will surely radiate from the inside out.
That’s not to say that the term "glow up" is completely meaningless, or that I think it’s just one big marketing ploy. I do think there is some real health-based merit to the term, depending on how you frame it.
What Does “Glow Up” Mean to You?
Does it mean…
...rejuvenating (or creating) your self-care routine?
...getting luminous skin?
...boosting your mental clarity (and mental health)?
...igniting a spark of passion for something (a hobby) or someone (yourself)?
...energizing your body through exercise?
...highlighting and/or revealing your true natural beauty?
...all of the above? Or none?
I cannot help but think of glow ups in literal terms. For me, a glow up is all about achieving luminous, glowing skin. That’s probably because I’m a skincare obsessive and always on the hunt for ways to take care of, nourish, and improve my skin.
More than anything else external — clothes, hair — I feel most confident when my skin looks healthy and glowing.
Now that I am a mother (read: I have fewer hours of sleep and less zero time to myself) and I’m getting older, I’m really doubling down on my skincare.
Can you relate? Are you on a perpetual quest for gorgeous skin?
Glow Up Challenge: Skincare Edition
Here are my top tips for how to glow up and attain glowing, luminous skin.
For the record, I have pretty dehydrated skin that can also get a little oily in my T-zone, though this is becoming less and less the case. I also get hormonal acne around my jawline and neck, so I avoid ingredients that can clog my pores and exacerbate this (no coconut oil here!). If you have acne prone skin, this glow up challenge and associated skincare routine can definitely work for you.
1. Face Massage
My top tip for how to glow up is facial massage. Seriously, face massage has changed soooo much about my skin: it feels smoother and looks clearer and more lifted and sculpted.
At first, I thought I had to have a beauty tool to do face massage properly and even invested in a NuFace. I definitely saw results with NuFace, but after a while, I realized I didn't really like doing it.
I stumbled across face massage on Instagram and my mind was blown. All you need are clean hands, either a moisturizer or face oil to create a little slip, and a few minutes of your time.
Face massage becomes second nature after a while. I notice I do it automatically when cleansing and moisturizing. It feels so good and can be really relaxing — like you've had 8 hours of beauty sleep when you've actually had, like, 4.
I’d stress though that you absolutely must learn about face massage from either a dermatologist or a licensed aesthetician. There are a lot of people on Instagram and YouTube who claim to be “face massage” experts but who really don’t know jack.
I love, love Abigail James, an aesthetician from London. Not only does she have beautiful skin and is a wealth of skin health knowledge, but her ethos is so refreshing. She’s in her mid-40s and doesn’t seek to wind back the clock and make you look out of place in your own skin. No, she’s all about nourishing and optimizing what you have and embracing the aging process.
Check out Abigail’s videos below. Her voice is like butter. And she'll help you get to that place where you naturally glow.
2. Gua Sha Glow Ups
OK, so I said that you don’t need tools to do facial massage effectively. And you don’t! But it can be nice to mix things up a little bit and use different types and levels of pressure to achieve different effects and soothing sensations.
A healing treatment in traditional Chinese medicine, gua sha has historically been used to relieve chronic pain in the body, alleviate heatstroke, and treat seasonal illnesses such as cold viruses.
Today, practitioners of gua sha stroke the skin and underlying muscles and fascia with a small, smooth tool made from stone, often jade or quartz, which purport to have different “vibrating” energies. Gua sha can smooth fine lines (a cumulative effect that builds up over time), brighten and lift, and create an overall sensation of lightness. Basically, it can make a huge difference in the clarity of your skin.
Writing in Vogue about her gua sha treatments, Meng Jin describes this sensation the best:
“My face is bright and clean, its natural lines defined as if the angle of my jaw and the plane of my cheek have been sculpted anew. And I feel oddly drained—in a good way…. [With a] lightness coursing throughout my body."
I use Odacite’s rose quartz gua sha tool, which I highly recommend. Definitely incorporate it as you move through your own personal glow up challenge.
Related Read: 11 Habits of High Vibe, Highly Attractive People
3. Breath and Posture
One of the reasons massage is so effective in helping you achieve glowing skin is because it boosts cutaneous (i.e., skin) blood circulation.
Beneath your skin is a complex network of blood vessels and capillaries, which feed your skin oxygen-rich (red!) blood and nutrients while also transporting away waste and toxins. A healthy overall circulatory system and cutaneous circulatory system is key to unlocking the glowing skin / how to glow up question.
The heart of your circulatory system is, well, your heart, which pumps out blood to all other organs, your skin being one them.
One way to nourish your circulatory system is of course through movement and exercise.
But there are two other unsung heroes that I bet you’re not as focusing on: your breath and (gasp) your posture.
a. Breath
I like o practice deep diaphragm breathing periodically throughout the day. This involves consciously pulling air all the way down to the bottom of your diaphragm, fully filling your lungs. I find that an ideal count for me is 8 - 2 - 6. I inhale for a count of 8, hold for a count of 2, then exhale all the way for a count of 6. This ensures that I am completely flooding my lungs with oxygen rich air, that then.
There are a huge number of benefits to deep breathing, including improved circulation and enhanced cellular regeneration… which leads to glowier skin. And this glow is the real deal.
It also helps relieve anxiety. As someone who struggles with anxiety exacerbated by shallow breathing, focusing on my breath has been a huge gamechanger.
b. Posture
This is one of my favorite tricks, partly because it’s so unexpected as a glow up challenge strategy! Good posture isn’t just critical for a healthy back (and body), but also for a healthy circulatory system, which encourages blood flow everywhere, including the skin.
Maintaining correct posture while sitting and standing, no matter your body shapre or size, with spine erect and in line, can encourage peripheral circulation.
4. Vitamin C for the Ultimate Glow
No glow up challenge is complete without this one. My fellow skincare junkies are probably already all over this step. If you want glowy skin, you need to be using a Vitamin C serum as part of your morning skincare routine. This is a non-negotiable "how to glow up" skincare step.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that protects your skin from free radical damage (caused largely by the sun as well as environmental conditions, such as pollution). Vitamin C also stimulates collagen synthesis (collagen breaks down as we age), brightens, inhibits the production of melanin (which contributes to brown spots), brightens, and improves radiance.
I have noticed a huge change in how radiant and bright my skin has become since using vitamin C. I never knew what “bright” skin really meant or looked like until I started using a vitamin C serum. It’s so hard to put into words.
Forms of vitamin C
The most potent form of vitamin C is L-ascorbic acid. This is what’s in Skinceuticals Vitamin C + Ferulic Acid, cult-favorite beloved by dermatologists, aestheticians, and skin aficionados everywhere.
I’ve had great luck with SkinCeuticals Vitamin C + Ferulic Acid.
But if you have more sensitive skin — and vitamin C can be sensitizing for some — you might want to try Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Sodium Ascorbate, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, and Ascorbyl Palmitate. etc.
You just want to make sure you find a formula that’s stable, as vitamin C degrades when exposed to oxygen. That is, your serum can rapidly lose it effectiveness once your open the bottle. So be sure your product has been formulated to remain stable.
I used Sunday Riley’s CEO Vitamin C Brightening Serum this summer, which is formulated with tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. It’s gentler than the SkinCeuticals but I found it to be just as effective.
I layered it with the Sunday Riley CEO Glow Oil, which also uses tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and omg the combination is just gorgeous. The oil really dose impart a glow, both instantly and over time.
A note on SPF
It goes without saying the you also need to use an SPF daily. Beyond causing cancer, Uv damage from the sun causes photoaging such as wrinkles and sun spots: enemies of glowing skin.
I picked up Ultra Violette’s Lean Screen Mineral Mattifying Fragrance Free Skinscreen SPF50 and have been really loving it. Even their chemical sunscreens are top notch and don’t contain ingredients that harm the environment or are possible endocrine disruptors (e.g., oxybenzone). As Caroline Hiron’s pointed out, their packaging reads ““Formulated and created in the toughest place to get a sunscreen approved: Australia.” Yes and more yes.
5. An Illuminator
For an instant glow, I love a good illuminator, otherwise known as a highlighter. It can instantly make you look more awake and give you the appearance of clearer, brighter skin, thanks to its light reflecting particles.
But nobody wants to look like a kindergardener with glitter all over their face. That’s why I love the Ilia Iluminator in Polka Dots and Moonbeams, which makes you look glowy and dewy, not like some cos-play cartoon character. Definitely worth incorporating this beaute into your makeup routine.
As with all of my highlighters, Ilia is a stick / creme highlighter. I also try to avoid powder luminizers, as I find they’re often (though not always) more glittery and drying. A double whammy.
Ditch the traditional foundation
This is the ultimate glow up challenge–challenge: ditch the foundation. I also think that covering your skin in thick foundation to hide redness and uneven skin tone only backfires and makes your skin look worse. Yes, you may have achieved coverage, but at what price? It’s likely you’ve zapped your face of all radiance, creating a dull, matte canvas that you have to then build back up with bronzers and blushes and concealers, etc., to achieve dimensions.
It’s for that reason that I much prefer a tinted moisturizer or a BB or CC cream.
My favorite these days is Chantecaille’s Skin Tint. Yes, it's on the pricer side pricey. But Chantecaille's Skint Tint is so good, lasts a long time, does double duty as a moisturizer, and creates the most beautiful, luminous finish.
Related read: Secrets of high-vibe, highly attractive people.
6. Hydrate with EGCG
I’m not trying to insult your intelligence here! Of course you know that hydrating on the inside helps promote hydration on the outside. Not drinking enough water can contribute to dry, dull, lackluster skin. And that’s not your only problem — dehydration can also make you feel tired and unfocused.
No, I’m not here to tell you to drink your water (that’s a given). I’m here to encourage you to start knocking back green tea.
For a while now, the polyphenolic compounds in green tea (mainly EGCG) have been regarded as having anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anticarcinogenic properties that can be harnessed to combat a variety of skin ailments and concerns.
These include acne and rosacea, even — get this — wrinkles. Bottom’s up!
In Sum: How to Glow Up
I hope this healthy and realistic glow up challenge has been fun and empowering, and that you've learned some new things about your own beauty, outside and in. Because at the end of the day, the best glow boosts your mental health and gives you what we might call a mental glow.
Related Read: Best Beauty Devices for Gorgeous Skin
