The hottest trend to rock the premium skincare industry is the gold facial. Celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz are doing it, London’s elite are supposedly crazy about it and you can even indulge in it at home for a fraction of the beauty clinic price when you use a DIY kit.
According to HowStuffWorks, “Cleopatra is rumored to have done it every night—covered her face in a pure gold mask in hopes of maintaining her youthful appearance. It turns out she wasn’t alone in thinking the precious metal contained anti-aging properties; for thousands of years, the metal has been used in Ayurvedic medicine, one of the oldest medical systems in the world.” The modern anti-aging usage of gold was said to have been discovered in 2006, when the first 24-karat gold facials were developed.
A gold facial at Oro Gold in London is a “blend of 24k gold and ingredients including aloe vera and vitamins,” which is claimed to “provide immediate rejuvenating results,” the Daily Mail says. Each 60-minute treatment costs US$400 and clients can opt for a program of 12 treatments per month.
In her review of the $50 Bella Schneider Beauty Glow Facial Kit, InStyle.com associate producer Katie Donbavand raves, “I might have looked like a Bond villain during the facial, but I had Bond Girl skin afterwards. As promised, my skin was luminous. It was plump and so soft that I couldn’t stop touching it. It looked like I had applied the Valencia filter IRL. I loved the results so much that the next day at work, I skipped wearing any makeup (seriously!). In spite of my bare face, I got several compliments on my glowing skin. Would I use the BSB Glow 24 Karat Facial again? Absolutely!”
Not everyone is convinced, though. Some are calling gold facials a gimmick, citing the metal’s “unreactiveness” and lack of beauty benefits.
However, others claim that the softness of gold allows for it to be absorbed into the skin. WiseGeek explains, “This kind of facial can often help to diminish the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines for a more youthful appearance. This softer precious metal’s composition allows the skin to more readily absorb it; a gold facial can have benefits for both dry skin and oily, acne-prone skin.
“Gold has been shown in some lab tests to speed up the regeneration of skin cells, which can often have noticeable skin brightening effects. Since gold face treatments have detoxifying properties, they can also help reduce levels of acne-causing bacteria on the skin as well as prevent some new blemishes from forming.”