FaceGym gave me super-sculpted cheekbones for 48 hours

When I arrive at Tira’s Kemps Corner outpost, inside which FaceGym has just opened its first-ever studio in India, uber stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania is on her way out of her session, barefaced, looking fresh as a daisy. I ask her if she’s feeling relaxed. “It’s not relaxing,” she warns me with a quick hug before heading out. We go up the stairs to a mezzanine where the new studio is located.

First impressions: the space feels like a salon-gym hybrid. There’s a wall of mirrors with a row of chairs in front, like in any salon, but the chairs look a lot nicer than your standard salon seats. To the back, there are rolls of towels neatly stacked on shelves, like you’d see in a gym locker room. The flooring resembles a workout space too—rubber matting with white demarcations enclosing each treatment section. I’m shown to mine by my personal trainer for the day, Nasrin, who hands me a tablet with a form.

I opt for the Signature Sculpt: a combo of FaceGym’s hands and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) workout—all done with the brand’s in-house skincare line. You can also choose an add-on (which they call Boosters), like a deep pore cleanser, buccal tension release, or cupping, if you like, but I wasn’t really fussed. I fill the form quickly, excited to have my face slapped into shape by her hands. She double checks if I’ve gotten any Botox or been using any AHAs or retinol in the last two to four weeks, or if I have any metal in my face or teeth, and goes on to reiterate that this is a workout, not a facial.

Before we start, Nasrin asks if I have any areas I want to focus on. I tell her my eyes are slightly puffy from crying that morning (I’m fine!), and I wouldn’t mind having more defined cheekbones. She places a towel on my chest, pulls my hair back with a headband, and instructs me to take off my earrings.

Then, Nasrin reclines my chair and the workout begins. First up is the Electro-Lite cleanser. Usually when I wash my face with a gel cleanser, my skin feels a bit tight, but I’m surprised how comfortable my skin feels. Then comes the warmup: light stretching with a 250 gram weighted ball being rolled and pressed across the expanse of my face. This feels unusual and fun enough.

After my face is all prepped, my trainer takes some of the Face Coach oil, pats it onto my face, goes over it with a guasha tool, and launches into the cardio part of the workout with a myriad of brisk motions. There’s some knuckling, sweeping, caterpillaring (where they pinch tiny bits of the skin)—all very fast. The pressure is more than a normal facial for sure, but all I can think about is how deeply relaxing this is, despite everyone up until now warning me otherwise. While working around my nose, Nasrin points out there’s a bit of texture and that the toner later on will help with that. The music is also like that of a gym—you know, when random members keep taking over the playlist? A remix of Willie Nelson’s ‘Always on My Mind’ starts playing.

A few minutes in, I am ready to go to sleep, but then Nasrin pumps out some cool Powerlift Activator gel, and spreads it evenly across the right side of my face before gliding the FaceGym Pro EMS device across my skin. This is what I didn’t see coming. It’s not painful, not one bit, but the machine makes my facial muscles twitch like crazy. My upper lip starts flapping about. My eyelid twitches every time she goes over the highest point of my cheekbone. I stop her to ask if this is normal and she assures me it is. The sensation is so strange, and I can’t help but wonder if I had a filling or metal plate under my cheek that I’ve conveniently forgotten. I try to focus on Dua Lipa’s voice blaring out of the speakers.

Once she’s done with the right side, my trainer hands me a mirror. I admit I do see the slightest lift, though not enough to completely blow my mind. My thoughts are preoccupied with having to feel the weird sensation on the left side of my face now. Nasrin then explains that people with sagging skin will see more prominent results. This is a lowkey compliment regarding my skin elasticity, so I happily take it!

We then move onto the cool-down part of the workout: a wipe with a warm towel, which I enjoy, and a light massage with the Skin Changer toner, which has exfoliants like succinic acid and pumpkin extract, and the Liftwear gel cream, which has vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide. At the end of the session, she shows me a couple of lymphatic drainage moves to do at home to prolong the effect of the workout. I thank her, adding that it’s unlikely I will do this at home. She appreciates my candour and says I should return in two weeks’ time.

 Despite owning multiple gua sha tools and face rollers, I’ve never really gotten around to doing the exercises, so I can’t speak to the effectiveness of routinely scraping your face with a blunt tool at home, but I can tell you what one session of FaceGym did for me.

Immediately afterwards, my cheekbones look more defined. There’s a subtle shadow under the apples of my cheeks—something I usually have to achieve with bronzer. Only now, I’m not wearing any. The pores on my nose appear less visible too; it seems like the toner actually did help. Though, the tip of my nose is a tiny bit red (it goes away an hour later). The most surprising effect, however, is that my smile lines have practically disappeared.

I go to the office the next day and my colleagues tell me my face, in fact, does look more defined. The effect lasts for about a couple of days. By day three, my smile lines come back and my cheeks are back to their naturally full, round shape, which is fine by me.

FaceGym won’t replace injectables. What it does deliver is an immediate, visible lift that lasts long enough for a wedding, a party or a special event. Would I do it again? If I have a big event to go to and I wanna look super snatched, yes. I would suggest getting a session right before a party if you want at least one person to ask if you’ve lost weight, have been sleeping more, or discovered some sort of youth elixir.

Price: ₹5,499 per session. Address: Tira, ground floor, Delstar building, Kemps Corner, Mumbai – 400007