This magical product has been around for quite a few years, although seems almost unheard of in Australia, so I'll quickly explain what it is, then outline my first thoughts of it.
So basically it is a sonic cleanser for your face. There's the removeable brush head attached to the handle thing, which uses a "sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to cleanse the skin" (from the website). It claims to cleanse your skin 6 x better than manual washing alone. Which, I'll admit sounds like a bit of hype.
Unfortunately, it doesn't come cheap, so you wouldn't want to splash out for it and then be disappointed and a little bit poorer. This is definitely an investment product.
I first heard about it almost 3 years ago, but could never justify the price to myself. But every review I've read of it raveeeeeees, so I thought "hell, let's try it out." carpe diem.
I bought it on Friday night, and it had been shipped (free shipping) by Monday. Which is actually insanely quick. However, unfortunately the postman didn't leave a note card for me telling me he had come and gone. Luckily though Australia Post has online tracking! So I looked it up and saw it was at the post office, ran over and picked it up today.
There's a few different models:
- Clarisonic Mia
- Clarisonic Classic
- Clarisonic Plus
I went for the Classic, as you can see on the photo above.
This has 2 speeds and came with the following:
3 sample cleansing products, brush head and plastic cover, and charging dock.
These are the cleaning products it comes with, all specially tailored for different skin types. None of them contain parabens, which is always a plus! and they all seem to have been made from natural ingredients.
It also came with these two sample foundations from Dermalogica. I loveeee free samples!
You're supposed to charge it for 24 hours before first use, however it had a little bit of battery already loaded up so I took it for a quick whirl when I undid it from the packaging. Can you tell I'm incredibly impatient!!?
I used this one (gentle hydro cleanser for all/sensitive skins with aloe, cucumber and Japanese green tea) to trial it, as I have sort of got sensitive skin.
The cleanser smells incredibly fresh, and like Cucumber. It's a thin sort of consistency, and you only need a tiny bit.
So you wet your face and the Clarisonic brush head in warm water, I scrubbed in a bit of the cleanser and then you use the Clarisonic over it, in circular motions.
It literally takes a minute to work - 20 seconds on your forehead / 20 seconds on chin and nose / 10 seconds on each cheek.
The Classic (and I think the Pro?) version beeps after each 20 seconds / 10 seconds and stops for a second to indicate to you to move on to the next area. After the minute is up, it turns off.
I think the Mia just works for a minute and then turns off, no beeping.
Obviously I'm not going to get amazing results from the first use. But after that use this is what I noticed:
- All make up has come completely off. (I went over an area with a cotton pad soaked in toner and it came up completely clear which never happens when I handwash my face)
- My face was a bit red, but did feel incredibly silky smooth
- I noticed my pores had opened up and some were a bit "pussy" (gross, I know). I think this is because the cleanse is so deep it really pushes the grime and crap out.
- I'm worried I will break out over the next day or two because of this (apparently some people experienced their skin doing a "purge"), but I'm confident that if it continues to cleanse deeply then soon I won't have any more grime to be pushed up and it will all clear up!
I will of course do an update after I've been using it for a bit longer, to give a more accurate review. Until then, enjoy these pictures. I'm loving it so far:
