Philips Lumea IPL review - final verdict

Disclosure - PR trial/sample

I have now completed my eight-week trial of Philips Lumea. I have had four sessions, each two weeks apart, which took place under brand supervision at the Lumea "pop-up spa" in London.

The fact that it was a supervised trial meant that the timing was regular and my technique for using the device was exactly as intended by the manufacturer. I hope these reviews will be quite representative of the results you can expect if you follow the directions thoroughly.

In the interest of speed and convenience, I was testing the device on my armpits (which I photographed for you last time - no more pics though, it was just too terrifying).

After my first session, I noticed a real difference in the amount of regrowth (you have to shave before using IPL devices like Lumea, so this was shaving re-growth rather than regrowth from IPL-removed hairs). After that I saw slow but steady reduction in the amount of remaining hair patches over the subsequent weeks.

Now at 8 weeks, I'm seeing about 70% less hair on one side and 60% less on the other. I have also seen a difference in the skin around the remaining hairs - I don't see the dark shadow of new hairs lurking underneath the skin anymore - just clear skin, as if hairs had never grown there.

Sadly my time with Lumea has now come to an end, and since I already have a Boots iPulse Smooth Skin that I'm testing, I doubt I will buy a Lumea to continue my trial with (one IPL machine is enough, even for me). However in the 8 weeks I used it, I definitely saw a noticeable reduction in hair and I'm confident that if I kept going with it I could reach a more or less hair-free state given time.

In terms of useability and comfort, Lumea is superb. It is well designed, easy to handle and requires minimal prepping of the skin (no gel!). Its only shortcoming when compared to the Boots iPulse Smooth Skin (in my eyes its main competitor on the UK market) is that it only claims to provide a temporary result. If the power were increased to offer a permanent effect, I'd be recommending it wholeheartedly. However, I think most people will expect a permanent result for something at this price point (Lumea is £399), and would be disappointed that they'd have to keep using this every two weeks to keep their hair-free results. Don't get me wrong, it's a vast improvement on shaving and waxing. But ideally we want something we can stop using after a while, and Lumea makes no promises of that. I learned at the sessions that there has been anecdotal evidence of long-term users being able to space out their sessions to 4 weeks, but this isn't "official" information and shouldn't be taken as an indicator of performance.

Verdict - great design, great results, but the lack of a permanent outcome lets this product down.