A Ten-Minute Evening Routine With a Facial Device
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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Evening is when you have time, when the cleansing is happening anyway, and when nobody is waiting for you to leave the house.
This article walks through the routine step by step, such as:
- Why evenings suit the muscle work
- The sequence
- The retinoid gap
- Managing expectations about the same evening
- If you clench your jaw
and many more!
An hour between the two solves it, and the rest of the routine is straightforward.
Key Points:
Device first with a plain serum, then wait an hour, then the retinoid.
Double cleanse if you wore makeup or sunscreen, since both block contact.
The muscle work is the main event at night, with a short drainage pass to finish.
Expect no visible payoff the same evening; that is normal and correct.
Three minutes per side is the maximum, and the session ends itself at ten minutes.
Why evenings suit the muscle work
You are not rushing. A session done properly means moving slowly enough for the muscle to complete a contraction and release in each area, and most people move the probe twice as fast as that when they have somewhere to be.
The cleansing is happening regardless, so the session slots into a routine that already exists rather than adding a step.
And the drainage payoff that makes mornings satisfying is smaller at night, which paradoxically helps, since there is nothing to mistake for the cumulative result.
The sequence
Cleanse properly. If you wore makeup or sunscreen, cleanse twice, since anything left on the surface sits between the probe and your skin and both are formulated to stay put.
Apply a plain water-based serum generously. Plain is the operative word: hyaluronic acid, glycerin or niacinamide, and nothing active.
Work the muscle. From the chin along the jaw toward the ear, then from the corner of the mouth up and outward across the cheek, slowly, watching for the contraction in the mirror. On PureLift, level 3 is where the motor threshold is crossed and levels 3 to 10 are EMS.
Finish with a short drainage pass down the neck toward the collarbone, clearing what the contractions moved.
Then moisturiser.
Then, an hour later, the retinoid if you use one.
The retinoid gap
A device session applies a product across the whole face and works it in for ten minutes, which is a far more thorough application than patting something on before bed. Infuse mode is designed specifically to drive ingredients further into the skin (10.1073/pnas.90.22.10504).
So a retinoid used as the session serum is a retinoid delivered harder than its formulation intended, and the result is irritation rather than better results.
An hour between the session and the retinoid removes the problem entirely. If an hour is impractical, alternate nights instead, or move the device to the morning.
The same applies to exfoliating acids, benzoyl peroxide, and anything described as a peel.
Managing expectations about the same evening
You will see very little in the mirror afterwards, and that is correct. The fresh look people describe is drainage, and there is less fluid to move at night than there is at seven in the morning.
What is happening is the cumulative work, which is invisible week to week and shows at about twelve weeks. Kavanagh and colleagues ran a 12-week protocol and measured an 18.6 percent increase in cheek muscle thickness (10.1111/jocd.12007).
Expecting nothing tonight is what stops people quitting in week four.
If you clench your jaw
Release the masseter before the session rather than stimulating it, with firm slow pressure on the muscle itself. An overworked chewing muscle does not need more work, and evening is when a day of clenching has left it tightest.
If you wake with a sore jaw or headaches, that belongs with a dentist and is worth dealing with before anything else you do to your lower face.
Fitting it into the evening
Attach it to cleansing, which you do anyway, rather than leaving it floating in the evening to be remembered.
Four or five evenings a week is plenty, and the person doing four in March beats the person who did seven in January.
Clean the probe afterwards with a damp cloth and dry it, since residue raises resistance over weeks.
For the morning version, see the morning routine, and for the actives question, using a facial device alongside retinol and acids.