The Clarisonic Diaries

I've been hankering after a Clarisonic ever since I heard about them.  It's a beauty product! It's a gadget!  It vibrates!  Instant love.  However, it's also pretty darn expensive, with the classic version costing a cool £150.  Which goes some way to explain why I didn't buy one as soon as they landed in the UK via SpaceNK.

I was lucky enough to get some SpaceNK vouchers for my birthday this year, and as I pondered just how many NARS blushers and Rococo nail polishes I could buy, it struck me that I could buy a Clarisonic.  Actually getting hold of one was pretty difficult - I walked into SpaceNK, and asked for one, only to be told that the classic isn't normally stocked in store, and that I couldn't use my gift vouchers online.  The store ordered one in for me, and I faced a gruelling wait of a whole week before I could get my hands on my new gadget.

So, now I have it in my sticky hands, and I've charged it for the requisite 24 hours (which was a bit of a chore - honestly, if I buy something, I want to use it IMMEDIATELY, not wait a full day).  What I propose to do is this - in order to decide whether it actually makes a difference to the skin, I will use it for a month without changing any other product in my regime, take photos every week, and compare at the end.  Read on to see my initial before photos (if you dare).



So, here are the photos, taken in natural light.  My skin is slightly dry, with a little bit of oiliness around the nose.  In recent years, my pores have become more prominent around my nose, and I'm developing a set of frown lines from scowling when I concentrate.  While I don't get spots all that often, they tend to be of the cystic variety when they do pop up (and I can't help squeezing them.  I know.  I'm sorry).  Mostly, I'm looking for some evenness; I don't feel confident enough to go without foundation, as my skin can be blotchy, and I have a little residual scarring from a few pretty nasty spots.

My first use of the Clarisonic was strange - I was expecting something quite harsh and abrasive, and I was expecting my skin to be pink and very well scrubbed afterwards.  Not so.  My skin was left feeling squeaky clean, but not at all scrubbed; in fact, it was just soft and smooth.  The classic model has a handy timer that allows 20 seconds for the forehead, 20 seconds for the nose and chin, and 10 seconds for each cheek, with little beeps in between each phase so you don't overdo it.  Gently smoothing the brush head over the skin in circular movements feels slightly tickly, but that's about it.  It's worth mentioning that the classic comes with a "sensitive" brush head, presumably so you start off slowly, moving on to a less gentle brush head if necessary.

So far so good.  My moisturiser sank in very quickly after I'd cleansed with the Clarisonic, and my skin feels soft.  I'll be interested to see how it deals with removing the residue of a full face of slap after a normal day at work!