The ZIIP Routine We’re Now All Obsessed With
Bring up anything ZIIP around the goop staff and prepare for some full-court-press proselytizing: Whatever your skin needs—lifting and sculpting, depuffing, radiance, breakout-soothing—the ZIIP probably has a strategy for it. And when you combine the ZIIP’s nanocurrent and microcurrent with skin treatments, you supercharge it, says ZIIP creator and legendary Los Angeles electrical aesthetician Melanie Simon, who gives us her favorite (easy) ZIIP routine for maximum glowiness.
“ZIIP supports collagen and elastin production to help make skin appear plumper and firmer,” says Simon. “This means products don’t have to work as hard to give you minimal results. When layered correctly—from thinnest to thickest in most cases—products can work wonders on the epidermis (the top layers of skin). Although the epidermis is not alive, it’s like your fingernails or your hair: The better you care for it, the more beautiful and healthy it will look. ZIIP focuses on the lower levels, the foundation of the face. When the foundation is healthy and you have a good product routine, your skin can look amazing. This is true for anyone—with any skin type, at any age.”
The new, improved ZIIP, called Halo, has even more benefits than previous iterations: Powered by a more high-tech switchboard (think of it like an iPhone upgrade) and something called dual-waveform technology, it combines varying frequencies of nanocurrent and microcurrent to create targeted skin-care treatments, experiences like full-on facials, and even long-term treatment plans, all connected through the ZIIP app on your phone. It comes preprogrammed with The Lift, a powerful four-minute facial.
THE BEFORE-YOU-ZIIP ROUTINE
1
CLEANSER
“I recommend washing with a non-oil-based cleanser, because oil blocks electricity,” says Simon.
2
TONER
“A proper toner lightly exfoliates the skin and moisturizes at the same time for optimal results,” says Simon. “I recommend pressing toner into wrinkled tissue (unless it is directly around the eye). Many times we apply a product and we don’t actually get it into the wrinkles: Use a firm hand to make sure products are penetrating the areas that are most in need.”
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With Flower Acids
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With Lactic Acid and Probiotics
3
SERUM
“Apply a lightweight serum that absorbs quickly,” says Simon. “Look for one with hyaluronic acid. This ingredient is already present in skin—it’s also what most fillers are made of, and it pulls many times its weight in water into itself, naturally plumping the look of areas around it.”
4
CONDUCTOR GEL
“For the ZIIP to work, you need a conductive medium,” says Simon. “Mine is lightweight and infused with moisturizing organic glycerin.” To get you started, the ZIIP Halo comes with a 50 mL bottle of Electric Complex Gel.
THE AFTER-YOU-ZIIP ROUTINE
1
CLEANSER
“After ZIIP-ing, wash your face again with cleanser,” says Simon. “You can use a more moisturizing oil-based option this time if you like.”
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Oil
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Balm
2
SERUM
“Next, apply serum—I love ones with vitamin C,” says Simon. “Vitamin C is a free radical scavenger and helps keep the skin from breaking down and losing firmness.”
3
MOISTURIZER
“Follow with an ultrahydrating eye cream and face moisturizer,” says Simon. The goop eye cream is indeed ultrahydrating, and it also includes active ingredients like caffeine, phytomimetic vitamin A, and vitamin C to work on eye area issues beyond just moisture, brightening, firming, and depuffing.
The super rich goop face cream combines a megadose of moisture (ceramides, squalane, and illipe butter are a few of the hydrators in the formula) with powerful active ingredients to make a difference on the look and feel of skin. (Its results in four-week trials are also spectacular: 100 percent of test subjects showed significant improvement in skin firmness, and 97 percent showed the same in fine lines and wrinkles.*)
4
SUNSCREEN
“Your last step should always be sunscreen, unless it’s the end of the day,” says Simon. Below, some of our favorite options.
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Creamy SPF 50
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Sinks-into-Skin SPF 30
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SPF 30 and Makeup
HOW NANOCURRENT AND MICROCURRENT WORK
“I work with both nano- and microcurrent in my in-office treatments, and both types of current are included in most treatments available on the ZIIP device,” says Simon. “These currents can help push active ingredients deeper into the skin. You can use alternating current, which goes back and forth, or direct current, which runs in one straight line, and waves in different frequencies and shapes. All of these intricacies and their combinations determine how a particular treatment performs. In my experience as an electrical aesthetician, I see ingredients pushed into the skin much deeper than they would go on their own. This is why using the proper conductive medium is so important.”
*Based on an eight-week third-party consumer-perception and clinical study conducted on 33 women ages 35 to 65.
