Phantasmix

I read about Frownies a little over a year ago, but only recently discovered there is a bunch of imitators. I only use the original Frownies so can’t speak about other products.

My short verdict:Frownies are great and they work!

More elaborate version:
I sleep on my face and stomach and I don’t use a pillow (can’t fall asleep on a pillow). Even though I really don’t frown that much, when one sleeps one’s face, it gets kind of folded in places. One of my folds runs right trough my forehead and it looks like one of the “elevens”, or frown lines. I also have one naso-labial fold and a strange-looking indentation in the middle of one of my upper eye-lids - ALL OF THIS FROM SLEEPING ON THE FACE! I recently started using satin pillowcases but I only move up on the pillow about one hour prior to waking up. Still it seems to smooth out my face in that one hour quite well.

I think I’m too young for Botox, but mostly too scared of it and don’t think it’s the right thing for most people, but whatever… it’s your choice and everyone has to do their own research. Frownies really do the job well enough for me.

Initially, you’re supposed to wear these patches for 30 nights in a row, for the accumulated effect to “hold”, and then 3-4 times a week. I guess my line wasn’t that deep, because I saw an almost immediate effect. After 4 nights, I had a virtually smooth forehead, even in high-contrast lighting or out in the sunlight I couldn’t see any creasing.

That relaxed me quite a bit and I now only wear the patch about 2-3 times a week. It works best if worn a few times in a row, then you can take a longer break. By the way, I’ve heard of people trying duct tape, but I had a couple of problems with that idea:

• The tape is very flexible so it would just fold with the face when I was asleep
• Adhesive used in the tape is not intended for cosmetic use, I’m sure - and don’t think I’d want to put God knows what on my skin

The upsides of Frownies as I see them:

1. Cheap . You get 144 patches for $13-15 US (In Toronto they are $25+tax at the Shoppers Drug Mart, which is considerably more than in the States, but that still works out to 20 cents per use - gotta be the cheapest beauty aid I have )
2. Non-toxic. Adhesive hasn’t irritated my sensitive skin (prone to breakouts).
3. Fast visible results.

The downsides of Frownies:
I can only find one - slightly ridiculous look. My husband is pretty emotion-less when it comes to my masks and stuff, so he didn’t react very strongly to the patches. I got one eye-roll and then he was “trained”. So it’s not that big of a deal. Don’t know how conscious of your look your partner is, might be an issue. I still sometimes avoid wearing them on romantic nights but mostly for my own sake than his.

There are 2 types of Frownies - 1) for eye and lip lines, and 2) for forehead. I’ve used both on my forehead only. Both are okay, but forehead shape is better suited for where I stick them. They only come in one shade, which is deep reddish-beige. In yellow lighting (at night) it almost blends in with my skin color.

To use them, you just wet the shiny side and glue “activates”. When taking the patch off, if it’s dead-stuck and your skin is dry, wet the paper well (easy to remove in the shower). Don’t tear it off like a bandaid. If your skin is somewhat oily, just pull the patch off slowly, it should come off easily.