Description

A Black Obsidian gua sha is the most dramatic thing in my entire skincare routine, and it absolutely knows it!

The first thing I noticed when I unwrapped these is how much presence they have. Jet black, mirror glossy, and curved in all the right places to reach every bit of your face, cheekbones, jaw, brow, neck. Some skincare hides in a drawer, but this one wants a spot on the shelf where it’s centre of attention. It’s dramatic, but in a good way.

Run your thumb along one and you’ll notice how impossibly smooth and cool it is, and that’s because Obsidian isn’t technically a crystal at all. It’s volcanic glass, born when lava cooled so fast it never got the chance to grow a structure, which means the thing gliding across your face came from a volcano, to your bathroom shelf, via a few million years of waiting for its moment.

And Obsidian doing beauty work is not a new idea, because this stone practically invented the beauty routine. The very first mirrors humans ever made were from polished Obsidian, thousands of years before glass ones existed, so the first face anyone ever properly studied was looking back out of this exact stone. Thousands of years later it’s still in the business, just working the other side of the reflection.

The gua sha part comes from traditional Chinese practice, and it’s beautifully simple. With a little facial oil, those smooth curves glide over your skin in slow strokes, easing out the tension your face has been quietly collecting, and it collects more than you’d think. The clenched jaw from that email. The eyebrows that have been slightly raised since Tuesday. Most of us are wearing our to do list on our face by the end of the week, and five slow minutes with one of these is how you take it off. People love what it does for tired looking skin, but the bit nobody warns you about is how quickly it becomes the five minutes of the day that belong entirely to you.

Obsidian was always going to be brilliant at this job, because letting go is its whole speciality. This is the stone long trusted for release, for helping you put down what you’ve been carrying and cutting ties with what’s weighing on you, so sweeping it across a tense jaw is just asking it to do its favourite thing, physically this time. It’s a fiercely protective, grounding stone too, the bodyguard of the crystal world, known for soaking up negativity and keeping your feet on the ground, and there’s an old nickname worth knowing as well. Obsidian has long been called a stone of truth, the one that shows you what actually is rather than what you’d prefer, which feels like precisely the right energy for the stone that gave us the mirror.

Each gua sha is cut from natural Obsidian, so every one carries its own depth and gleam, and being glass, it deserves a little care. Use it with a facial oil rather than on dry skin, rinse and dry it afterwards, and keep it somewhere safe between use, because it will not enjoy being dropped, and you won’t enjoy it either.

The Run Down
Who it’s for:

• Anyone wearing their to do list on their face
• Skincare lovers ready to slow down
• Fans of dark, dramatic, beautiful things
• A properly special gift for someone who needs five minutes back

What it does:

• Eases the tension your face collects all week
• Helps tired skin look fresher and more awake
• Turns skincare into the calmest five minutes of the day
• Obsidian grounds, protects and soaks up negativity
• Long trusted for release and letting go
• Known as a stone of truth, fitting for the stone that invented mirrors

Why you’ll love it:

• Once molten lava, now the coolest thing on your shelf
• The first mirrors ever made were polished Obsidian
• Curved to reach cheekbones, jaw, brow and neck
• Dramatic enough that visitors will ask about it

The details:

• Black Obsidian gua sha, approx 10 x 5.5cm
• Chakras: Root
• Use with facial oil, rinse and dry after use, and store safely, it’s natural glass

Screens all have their own opinion about colour, so the shades you see here may sit slightly differently in person. Every detail and marking is true to life though, and there’s always a little something extra that only shows up when a crystal is finally yours.