Clarisonic Mia

As you might have seen in my latest monthly favourites post I bought myself a Clarisonic Mia. Incase you've never heard of a Clarisonic before its basically an electric facial brush. It uses the same sonic technology as electric toothbrushes to thoroughly cleanse your face. You might think that using a regular cleanse, tone and moisturise routine is good enough but this method often leaves you with impurities still on your skin. The Clarisonic is said to clean your skin six times better than using a cleanser alone. The vibrations it gives off gently massage away anything trapped within your pores and it actually prepares your skin for better absorption of toners, moisturisers and serums.

There are quite a few different types of Clarisonic available including one you can use on your body. It would be perfect for treating stretch marks and keratosis pilaris (those horrible red bumps you get on the tops of your arms). I opted to get the Mia because I figured I only really want to use it on my face and it was the cheapest. The Clarisonic Mia is the baby of the Clarisonic family. It only has one speed. There is now a Mia 2 which has two speeds but I just have the original Mia. For me, the one speed is fast enough and I think that anything stronger might be a bit too abrasive on my skin. When you first get it you have to charge it up for a full 24 hours. This will then last you for about 20 washes before you need to recharge it. The charger is really cool as well, its magnetic so you just have to place it on the bottom of the Clarisonic. Its very petite which makes it ideal for traveling with and its waterproof so you can use it in the shower.

I bought mine from Space.NK in Leeds where it retails at £120. Some of the profit from all the pink Clarisonic models goes towards a breast cancer charity so you can do some good as well as getting a cute product. The sales assistant gave me a full demo which I really appreciated. She put some of the Eve Lom cleanser on my hand and then used the Clarisonic on it for one minute. I could immediately tell the difference as my hand looked brighter and felt a lot softer than the other one. She very nicely gave me a sample of the Eve Lom cleanser and some shampoo & conditioner sachets. I always get the best customer service in Space.NK. She even told me that she'd recently lost over two stone and because she had been using the Clarisonic on her body her skin felt tighter and she didn't have a single stretch mark. Maybe that was just an attempt to sell me the body one but I believe her.

I love Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish so thats the cleanser I've decided to keep using with my Clarisonic. You do the same as if you were using Cleanse & Polish normally by massaging a couple of pumps over your face. Rather than using the muslin cloth to wipe away makeup or dirt, you then wet the Clarisonic brush and move it round your face in circular motions. You need to spend about 20 seconds on each area of your face and it then turns itself off to tell you its been one minute. Its gentle enough to use morning & night for one minute each time. You need to use a normal cleanser rather than one with any kind of exfoliant in it as the particles combined with the brush would be too harsh on the skin. Thats why Cleanse & Polish is the perfect partner for the Clarisonic. It leaves my face feeling ridiculously soft, my pores looking smaller & my skin tone looking brighter and more even. I have normal/combination type skin and don't really get too many spots anymore. I tend to just get bumps under the skin on my cheeks and forehead. I bought a Clarisonic to get rid of these bumps and its done exactly that. My makeup would often highlight these bumps but now my skin looks really great under foundation.

The only bad thing I've found with the Clarisonic is that when you first start using it your skin goes through a 'purge'. Like I say I don't really get spots anymore but I broke out in places I don't normally do like on my chin and nose as well as my forehead. This continued for about two weeks but my skin never looked too bad because using the Clarisonic helped the spots to heal as quickly as they had appeared. All the blocked pores & blackheads I had on those areas feel smooth and are now barely visible. So even though it might mess up your skin to begin with if you persevere with using it, your skin will look amazing in the end. I've been using it for about two months now and I could never go back to any other form of skincare routine. There are only a few things I would be willing to spend such a large amount of money on but I'm so glad I decided to splurge on this product. It has completely transformed my skin and I wouldn't be without it.