There have been few beauty products launched with more hype this year than the Skims Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap.

Touted as ‘shapewear for your face’, brand founder Kim Kardashian promised her loyal Instagram following the £52 compression garment would ‘snatch [i.e. tighten] your little chinny chin chin’ – and it promptly sold out online within hours of release.

But can it really tone my jawline?

As a beauty editor, I’ve tried some out-there treatments over the years in a bid to turn back the clock, like the time I had salmon sperm injected into my face to fight under-eye bags. But even I balked at this one.

At first glance, the Face Wrap looks like a cross between a balaclava and something you might wear post wisdom-tooth removal.

It is described on the Skims website as giving ‘strong, targeted compression for shaping and sculpting’ and made from the brand’s ‘signature sculpting fabric’.

Yet there is no clear information about precisely what the garment is designed to do, how to use it or what results wearers can expect. Is it meant to minimise your double chin? De-puff your face? Should I wear it for an hour, all night… or will ten minutes a day do the trick? No one, it seems, really knows.

I can’t help but feel sceptical, and I’m not the only one.

‘There’s no evidence that wearing a garment like this on a regular basis can achieve a tighter jawline,’ says Dr Ash Soni, plastic surgeon and founder of The Soni Clinic.

‘I don’t believe this can change the anatomy of the jaw in any way, shape or form, or provide more of a lift.

‘While there are certain types of compression garment we use to help with post-operative swelling (usually after facelift procedures where there’s been liposuction in the chin and neck area), this garment itself won’t change the contours of the face.’

Still, I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a big fan of Skims ‘hold-it-all-in’ shaping underwear. So I decided to give it a go. Not least because, since I hit 40, I’ve noticed my jowls heading south and my jawline slackening further with each passing year.

The Face Wrap comes in two shades – clay or cocoa – and I ordered cocoa because it was the only shade left on eBay, my only hope to get my hands on one. I then waited a month for it to be shipped from the US.

Once it finally arrived, confusingly, there weren’t any instructions. Some digging revealed Kim mentioned on her social media it ‘can be worn at night or around the house’, while some users suggest the Face Wrap is best worn overnight.

But Dr Soni advises against this. ‘People should not be compressing their face and neck area every night,’ he explains.

‘Your lymphatic channels run in those areas of the face, so this could block lymphatic drainage, which can lead to more swelling or puffiness.’

I decided to wear my Face Wrap at home during the day. I wore it daily for at least 30 minutes for a fortnight. It took a while to struggle into initially, until I worked out that the garment fastens around the top of the head and back of the neck using Velcro tabs, leaving gaps for the ears.

Once it was finally on, my husband pointed out that I looked like something from a horror film. The wrap felt unbearably restrictive at first – the fabric feels like a firmer version of Skims shapewear, so it was like being mildly strangled by a pair of underpants.

I had to keep loosening it around the neck to get comfortable. My jaw did feel supported – to the point that I could only really open my mouth to take sips of water.

But when I was sitting still and not speaking (so no work Zoom calls) I eventually got used to it.

After the first 30 minutes, I was relieved to take it off and, after inspecting my face, I noticed… no difference. The only discernible change was an indentation mark along my chin left behind by the wrap’s seam. Which was surprising, because the wrap is advertised as ‘seamless’.

After two weeks, I noticed the area under my chin looked slightly flatter each time I took the Face Wrap off – but each time it quickly wore off.

Indeed, my skin would go back to its original slackness within ten minutes – so there was no lasting effect on my jawline.

Apart from looking ridiculous, I didn’t notice any difference.

‘If you’re looking to achieve a more defined jawline, injectable treatments like Sculptra, which stimulates collagen production, help to give a natural lift and improvement in elasticity,’ says Dr Soni.

‘Effective skincare with collagen and elastin-stimulating peptides can help improve overall skin quality, too.’

Collagen is vital to skin elasticity and firmness, and the Face Wrap’s description says it features ‘collagen yarns for ultra-soft jaw support’.

But there’s little evidence that fabric containing collagen can deliver the same benefits as skincare and tweakments.

Yet despite the lack of scientific or even anecdotal evidence that the Face Wrap works, there’s still a waiting list on the Skims website, where it will likely sell out again when restocked – particularly since Kim and her sister Khloe, both masters of self-promotion, recently shared photos of themselves sporting the product.

Having tried it, do I think it’s worth the £52 investment? No. I think we’ve all got better ways to spend our money – and time.

Besides, if I carry on wearing it around the house, I’m not sure my marriage will survive.

Source Notice:

This article is republished from
www.dailymail.co.uk
on 2025-09-26 16:29:00.
Content and views belong to the original publisher, not UAE Today News.