by GeniustoBurn

Created on: October 08, 2010

Every so often a magazine will have an article featuring the very latest in skincare technology - and this hand held “sonic cleansing system” is frequently mentioned. This makes me super smug, because I've had mine for about 18 months. You see? It pays to spend hours on makeupalley.com…. Not a waste of time *at all.*

This little gadget was one of Oprah’s “favourite things” in 2007 – and I think it’s safe to assume she has access to every beauty product known to man. It divides opinion down the board - some say it is miraculous and has transformed their skin, some say it is a gimmick that wastes your time and money - and “you might as well just wash your face with a flannel." Me? Well, I'm somewhere in between...

The claims are thus:

Leaves skin feeling and looking healthier and smoother

Removes 6 times more makeup than manual cleansing

Cleanses so well that products absorb better

Pores appear smaller

Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

Reduces oily areas, dry skin patches and blemishes

Gentle for use twice daily for different skin types

The brush oscillates with a sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second, (there’s a nifty video here: http://www.clarisonic.com/us/professionals/technolog y.php) which apparently “flexes” the pores. So it’s kind of like yoga for them.

All this, and it claims to be gentle and not abrasive; like an electric toothbrush, the brushes won’t move if you press too hard. The brush heads come in three varieties : Normal, Sensitive and Delicate (for extra sensitive skin).

The Clarisonic is blessed with a system by which beeps will be emitted to let you know how long to spend on your forehead, on your cheeks etc. However, as I think we can probably stretch to washing our faces UNSUPERVISED, I’d say ignore these and do what you feel like. You can set it to run for either one or two minutes.

The instructions also ramble on about the more complex system of beeps – I would summarise here but it honestly started to sound like a guide to the morse code, with “one long beep and two short beeps” being just one of the long list of possible cryptic messages your clarisonic could convey.

The only important beep is the low battery signal; luckily a fully charged battery lasts for 30 minutes, so you don’t have to charge all that often.

So, having been convinced by the ladies on the makeup

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