Your skin, hair and even the inside of your mouth can benefit from the latest advances in beauty tech
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Spurred on by mounting concerns over pollution and stressful lifestyles, the beauty world is funnelling its most innovative breakthroughs into at-home devices. Rolling out at the same dizzying speeds as the latest iPhone, these gadgets are just as high-tech with ‘muscle stimulation’, ‘cheekbone sculpting’ and ‘increased collagen production’ just a few of the benefits they boast.
With that in mind, these are our pick of the best gadgets to invest in – from the practical to the boundary breaking.
The best beauty to tech up your routine
With a bigger brush head and longer touchpoints than the original, it's easier to purge the pores in hard-to-reach areas around the nose and hairline. Simply choose the device that corresponds to your skin type, then hit the app and choose from three guided facial massage programmes - eye, neck or all-over contouring - to target acupressure points. Think a deep cleanse, but 2.0.
Therabody literally shook up the wellness space in 2016 with the launch of its at-home muscle-pummelling massage tools. Now the brand has concentrated its efforts a few centimetres north of your biceps to the face with a gun-like device that delivers eight different treatments to work both the surface skin layer and underlying muscles. Standouts include microcurrent toning, LED light therapy, and the brand's signature percussive massage with a rubbery cone-shaped attachment. You can control both the speed and the strength of the treatments and don't be alarmed by the number of attachments. Magnetic technology means they easily connect to the device and even novices will find a modality that suits their needs.
NuFACE's 'FIX' device is a mascara-sized tool that targets fine lines and wrinkles on the mouth, eyes and forehead. It comes with a Line Smoothing Serum to give the skin slip for moving the device over the face and to stop any elastic band like flicks from the micro current waves as they get to work lifting and smoothing. The slim-line size makes it perfect for travel or treatments on-the-go. Better still, you only have to use it for three minutes per treatment area, two times a day so it doesn't involve much commitment.
LED was originally NASA technology, developed for astronauts to help heal wounds. The same can said for its effect on skin cells. “LED treats the deeper cell layers,” explains Laura Bonné, founder of Copenhagen’s Amazing Space spa and skincare line. “The light energy is transformed into ATP energy needed to create collagen and restore skin tissue.” This on-the-spot device deploys red light on specific areas of concern such as frown lines, or opt for blue light combined with cooling temperatures to take the sting out of a pimple.
Related: The benefits of LED masking
Like the Peloton of the beauty world, this cool laser sits at the top end of the market. Beamed onto the skin, it emits medical-grade infrared and is a hundred times more powerful than traditional LED when it comes to cajoling cells to renew themselves. Used for 15 minutes daily, it’s the closest you can get to an in-clinic treatment without any downtime. The starter kit comes complete with the restorative serum and rejuvenating face mist.
The most proven LEDs are red light to encourage our skin’s hydration and collagen-producing effectors, and blue light which effectively kills off acne-causing bacteria. Rock a StormTrooper aesthetic as the 100 red lights and 62 blue lights work together (or separately) to smooth wrinkles, diminish discolouration and clear acne. Optimal results occur after a 10-week course.
The equivalent of a cardio workout, this palm-size vibrating facial roller puts slack muscles through their paces with a combination of sonic pulsation technology and painless microcurrent. A handy app guides you through the different movements so you can easily achieve your goal of de-puffing, sculpting or revving up your circulation for a translucent glow.
Nurse Jamie
Dermascrape Ultrasonic Skin Scrubbing & Skincare Enhancing Tool
Via net-a-porter.com
This is the type of gadget you never knew you needed until you actually started using it. But if you prefer your foundation to be full coverage and suffer from clogged pores in the summer months – or you just want a deep cleanse every once in a while – derma scraping could be a robust addition to your routine. This tool has three settings: in 'Cleanse' mode, the spatula head lifts away dirt; the 'Extract' setting further unclogs pores while 'Enhance' gentle exfoliates to improve glow and the absorption of the skincare that follows.
Yes this gadget is at the top end of the budget, but it's a pretty clever piece of tech if you're worried about hair loss. In the same way that LED has been found to have transformative effects on the skin, here hundreds of red light waves and near-infrared gamma rays target the scalp to increase the level of oxygenation to the roots and stimulate hair growth. Research by scientists in South Korea on 50 patients suffering from mild to moderate Alopecia Androgenetica type hair loss who used the Hair Alpha Ray for 20 minutes a day for 6 months showed a 25 per cent improvement in hair density in 24 weeks and a 15 per cent improvement in hair thickness.
Huda Kattan, from Hud Beauty, is said to be a huge fan of the brand whose name 'Reduit' means 'Reduced' in French and aims to cut downtime, steps, and packaging while still amplifying results. A bit like a Nespresso machine for the hair, pods containing different hair treatments (sold separately) are attached to this next-generation device that then delivers the product via ultrasonic misting. Why? A super-fine spray is thought to maximise penetration of the nourishing ingredient into the hair shaft for softer, shinier strands in seconds. These actives are also more evenly distributed as a replenishing film over the hair and there's 20 times less product wastage, making it good for hair and the planet.
At first glance, this looks like a re-usuable silicone sheet mask. And it is – sort of. Placed in the freezer for 30 minutes before use, acupressure points and cooling gel bead pockets wrap around your face and send a jolt of sub-zero temperatures into the skin to instantly tighten, brighten and de-puff.
Seven years in the making and powered by smart technology, the Corrale uses 50 per cent less heat than its competitors so there’s no alarming sizzle as they clamp down on your hair. The name's inspiration – a corral, or enclosure – refers to the first-of-its-kind copper plates that bend around the section of hair you are straightening, ensuring even results and no splaying. In the words of celebrity hairstylist Cim Mahony: "Game-changing".
The idea of puncturing the skin with tiny holes may seem like dermatological sadomasochism. But the small injuries that microneedling causes send a signal to get extra collagen and elastin to the site for firmer skin in the long run. While not exactly painful, a few runs over the face with this roller feels a degree or two more scratchy than a cat licking your skin.
The transformative results of aesthetician Shani Darden’s in-clinic vibration therapy can be seen on the ice-skating-rink smooth skin of her celebrity clients: Jessica Alba, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and January Jones, to name but a few. Shaped like a hairdryer with a disk on the tip, the at-home version shuttles vibrations 2.4 inches below the skin’s surface for deep-down collagen production, an increase in oxygen uptake and more defined facial muscles.
Meet the gadget you never knew you needed: a toothbrush sanitiser. That is until you think of the billions of bacteria that have set up home in between the bristles. Simply insert Spotlight's toothbrush head into the slot and let the UV LED technology get to work killing harmful bacteria. There’s even a built-in fan to dry the bristles, making it safe to use straight away.