Crystal Culture Is Taking Over Skincare For 2019 & It'll Change Your Routine Forever

The wellness and beauty industries have never been more interconnected. Stress is commonly known as a major contributing factor to skin damage, and wellness techniques and practises such as the Ayurvedic philosophy and using "clean" ingredients in our skincare are coming to our aid to improve our complexions and overall health. So it's no surprise that Reiki Healing has now penetrated the beauty world, but what is Reiki skincare and how can you use it to help your skin?

Well, let's begin with a little exploration into the practise of Reiki itself. You may have heard of it before but are unsure what exactly it does and how exactly you pronounce it (it's ray-key). The basic notion of Reiki is that it uses energy to help heal and relax the body and mind. Reiki concentrates on the seven chakras and ensuring they are unblocked and energy can flow freely. This is meant to in turn relieve tension, stress and upset from the body for overall improved health.

So how does this translate into skincare? Well, undergoing a reiki-style facial treatment claims to be able to target areas of tension or anxiety from the face and to leave skin with a glow. The Head Clearing & Face Treatment (Reiki facial treatment) at Harley Street clinic The Calmery, for example, promises to ease the mind in order to affect the way the face looks. "It’s often our minds that can’t stop spinning and this causes us the most anxiety and stress," the website explains. "By concentrating predominantly on the head and upper chakras, this treatment will give you a deep sense of peace, calm and clarity, which in turn affects how relaxed the body feels and how the face looks. This is a great pep-up in the middle of the day, so you can return to work refreshed and more productive. By removing the worries and anxieties from your face, it has the added bonus of making you look rejuvenated!"

Getting one of these treatments sure isn't cheap, however. At £120 per 50 minutes, it's a pretty spenny way to look after your skin. Reiki, while beneficial to many, has little basis in science, as the Guardian reports, and is seen as an alternative therapy. Its aim is a positive one — to help relax, reduce stress and ease anxiety in order to feel and look better — but an expensive treatment is not the only way to do that.

Taking time away from your phone is advisable, for example. Taking a step back from damaging blue light (which can directly impact your skin) and the pressure of social media are both beneficial for our wellness and skincare. Taking up things like meditation can also aid relaxation and stress management, while defending skin against UV rays and pollution are arguably the most useful things to do to prevent skin ageing.

But there are other, more affordable ways you can get on board with spiritual beauty too. Crystals have never been more popular, and are easy to incorporate into your skincare routine. Tools such as jade and rose quartz rollers have a vibrational energy and also contain minerals, which can aid skincare issues such as redness. Skincare brands such as Herbivore not only sell tools with crystals, but also incorporate crystals into their ingredients list, like this Pineapple + Gemstone mask, which includes Brazilian tourmaline gemstone. Dutch brand Rituals also does the trend well with their range of Ayurvedic products, which use ingredients such as Indian Rose to help to balance the body and mind for a calmer sense of self.

There are many ways to try out spiritual beauty techniques, it's just about finding what works for you.