Late at night I find myself endlessly scrolling through Instagram and seeing every small luxury item and self-care purchase that’s currently trending. Sometimes, if I’m tired enough or I’ve worked too many hours that day I choose to splurge on new items as a treat for myself, and these are my honest opinion on a few recent purchases that are currently trending and whether I’d buy them again.
Crystal gua sha — $7.27
I have seen these ALL over TikTok and Instagram but I was pretty skeptical as to how (and if) they actually worked. The theory behind the Gua Sha is that they help you drain fluid that is being retained in your face. You can achieve the same results by using your knuckles and hands to massage your face, and after doing that for a few weeks and seeing decent — and surprising — results I decided to go ahead and order. There are a ton of YouTube videos of how to use a Gua Sha, and after following those directions for several weeks I — and some of my friends — did actually notice results of this little self care gizmo.
This is the one I purchased in particular, it’s a beautiful, affordable piece that has a nice weight to it — and it’s actual rose quartz, not some of the plastic or resin versions I’ve seen that the store:
Hyaluronic Acid eye patches — $18.73
I get absolutely atrocious bags and dark circles under my eyes and despite spending hundreds of dollars on a solution I haven’t found anything that really resolves the issue. These hyaluronic acid patches don’t FIX the bags under my eyes, but I use them daily, every morning when I wake up, along with my gua sha to help drain the fluid in my face, and I have noticed that the skin under my eyes is less puffy and generally firmer. I’ve seen these popularized by skin-care gurus promoting items of varying prices but I’ve founded these reasonably-priced ones work well.
Scale massager for hair washing — $7.99
When I first saw these things being used they put me on edge. I have long, wavy hair and the idea of scrunching up my wet hair just made me think of endless knots and nightmares. However, I finally decided to take one for the team and test out how the actually work. I wasn’t surprised by how relaxing they feel to use, but I was surprised that my hair wasn’t a complete birds nest by the end of using one. Because I was able to massage the shampoo into my scalp I think it helped get out just a bit more oil and dirt, too, and yes, I know I can do the same things with my fingers but it’s really not the same. For less than $10 this gave me big spa vibes for sure. My dog also really enjoys it, too.
Read more: I TRIED THESE AMAZON BEAUTY GIMMICKS SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO