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Want to know how the latest tech and tools can solve virtually any beauty dilemma? You’ve come to the right place.
No piece of tech will ever render your favourite serum obsolete but the best beauty gadgets are getting ever-smarter and more intuitive as they revolutionise almost every aspect of our at-home routines.
They can drive active ingredients deeper into the skin, carve more pronounced cheekbones and cajole skin cells into producing more collagen. In the case of hair, some mimic a professional blow-dry, while others defuzz limbs (if you so wish) with virtually no upkeep.
No wonder sales of high-tech beauty gadgets have experienced a triple-digit growth over the past 12 months – Net-A-Porter has seen demand double since last year.
While some gadgets are all hype and pseudoscience (eyelid trainers, anyone?), we’ve curated an edit of the best beauty gadgets based on proven technology. From LED devices, which were born of NASA technology for wound healing in space, to a pair of high-tech hair straighteners that took seven years to perfect, the future of beauty is only getting brighter.
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Best beauty gadgets for every budget
NuFace Trinity Facial Toning Device
Microcurrent is a good entry point for those who don’t currently use gadgets, says laser expert Debbie Thomas. “Microcurrent contracts and relaxes facial muscles, which helps to make them stronger and tighter. With multiple sessions you will see improved lift, definition and circulation.”
Arguably the most popular device (Jennifer Aniston is reportedly a fan) is NuFace. Simply apply the gel primer and glide the device over your skin in an upwards and outwards motion. This exercises the 42 muscles in your face, with results likened to a 24-hour facelift when used for 20 minutes daily. The pleasantly cooling sensation of the metal spheres hoicking up your skin is as addictive as it is contouring.
Shop NuFace Trinity Facial Toning Device at lookfantastic, £329
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Oxygen Boutique Cryo Facial Tools
Shaped like chic maracas, these medical-grade stainless steel ice globes glide over the contours of the face to help reveal tighter, brighter skin. Simply store in the freezer until your hour of need, or for immediate relief from puffiness and dark circles, hold the spheres over each eye for 10 seconds. The benefits don’t stop there, either. Chilly temperatures cause muscles to temporarily contract, effectively putting lazy skin on ice.
Shop Oxygen Boutique Cryo Facial Tools at Oxygen Boutique, £55
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Lyma Laser Starter Kit
Consider this the Peloton of the beauty world: a bit flash, very high-tech and at the top end of the market price wise. Yes, at a cool £2,000, Lyma probably costs more than your rent. But you’re investing in medical-grade infrared, which used for 10 to 30 minutes (building up over time) three times a week, is arguably the closest you can get to an in-clinic treatment. Beamed onto the skin, it targets the energy centre of cells, encouraging them to produce more collagen, decrease hyperpigmentation and help improve skin conditions such as acne and rosacea with the gusto of young cells.
Shop Lyma Laser Starter Kit at Net-A-Porter, £2,000
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Sarah Chapman Pro Pore Refiner
Facialist Sarah Chapman is practically synonymous with skin so clear and dewy it could belong to a 90s supermodel. So this game-changing device does not disappoint. The basic deal is this: the thermo-therapy plate gently heats the skin and opens up pores before positively charged ions step in to coax negatively charged grime to the skin’s surface.
Vibration mode further loosens any gunk but the real fairy-tale happens when you attach the ‘sucker’. We challenge you to name a more satisfying pastime than – literally – vacuuming away blackheads.
Shop Sarah Chapman Pro Pore Refiner at lookfantastic, £128
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Foreo Bear Facial Toning Device
If a vibrating facial roller and a microcurrent device had a lovechild, it would look a lot like this palm-size gadget. Combining microcurrent with sonic pulsations, 15 minutes of daily, painless zapping allows you to boost circulation, drain fluid build-up and sculpt cheekbones like a modern-day Michelangelo.
Shop Foreo Bear Facial Toning Device at Cult Beauty, £279
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Unicskin UnicLED Korean Mask
Everyone from Victoria Beckham to Chrissy Teigen has been spotted in a Stormtrooper-esque LED face mask on Instagram. And with good reason. “Our skin is photosensitive,” explains Thomas. “Different light waves trigger reactions, helping to strengthen it and manage conditions like acne and sensitivity.” With seven treatment protocols, this is a serious overachiever: red light packs a mighty punch against deep wrinkles; there’s also yellow for dialling down inflammation, green for pigmentation, and blue light, which kills off acne-causing bacteria.
Shop the Unicskin UnicLED Korean Mask at Net-A-Porter, £315
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The Light Salon Boost LED Face Mask
We know only too well that dry skin has no favourite season. And that cell renewal slows down with age, bringing with it a dull topcoat. Here the combination of red LED and infrared light – two light treatments with robust clinical trials behind them – recharges the ‘battery’ of your skin cells and improves their hydrating, healing and collagen-producing powers. Made from soft silicone, this face mask moulds to your face for a better fit. 10 minutes, three to five times a week, is all that’s needed to achieve a professional-level treatment.
Shop The Light Salon Boost LED Face Mask at Net-A-Porter, £395
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Peep Club Heated Eye Wand
Textbook symptoms of digital eye strain are dryness (you blink up to eight times less when staring at a screen), redness and irritation. Soothe tired eyes with this massaging wand, which heats to 45°C, melting away tension and unblocking the tiny glands responsible for hydrating the eye. Plus it emits red light to support skin’s elasticity and smooth crow’s feet over time. Win-win.
Shop Peep Club Heated Eye Wand at Peep Club, £60
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FaceGym Electrical Muscle Stimulation Mask
This gadget isn’t as scary as it might look. That said, it is the equivalent of cardio for the lower half of your face.Slack muscles are put through their paces with EMS (electrical muscle stimulation) technology, which feels like lots of teeny non-painful, electric shocks. There are three workout options to choose from – jaw definer, cheek sculptor or HIIT workouts—and six intensity settings for sharply defined facial features.
Shop FaceGym Electrical Muscle Stimulation Mask at Net-A-Porter, £415
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Philips Lumea IPL 9000 Hair Removal Device
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with body hair and power to you for rocking it. But if you’re looking to stop fuzz in its tracks, you’ll want to get to grips with this IPL gun. It rapidly flashes light at the melanin in your hair follicles, which converts to heat beneath the skin and damages the hair at the root, effectively putting it to sleep. Depending on the attachment, the device will switch to a programme for either the face or body. There are five light settings and once the head is slotted into place (curved, so it easily works around the body), a built-in sensor automatically selects the right setting for your skin tone and sensitivity, taking away the guesswork. Despite the hefty one-off price, it still works out to be cheaper than a course of salon treatments.
Shop Philips Lumea IPL 9000 Hair Removal Device at John Lewis, £449
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Charlotte Tilbury Cryo-Recovery Mask
Complete with acupressure points and cooling gel bead pockets, this wraps around your face like a high-tech silicone sheet mask. Placed in the freezer for 30 minutes before use, it creates a jolt of blood-circulating cold on the skin’s surface to shrink-wrap and tighten, as well as ensure you experience an uptick in radiance. The sub-zero temperatures are almost as shocking as how effective it is at lifting, brightening and de-puffing.
Shop Charlotte Tilbury Cryo-Recovery Mask at Cult Beauty, £49
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Dyson Corrale Straightener
Behold the straighteners where no scary clouds of steam come off your hair to raise a red flag. In fact, the Corrale uses 50% less heat than its competitors and a much gentler 165°C to iron out kinks.And that’s not all: while most flat plate straighteners only heat the thickest section of hair, its copper plates bend around it to avoid splaying. Hence, the name’s inspiration – a corral, or enclosure – and why no less than a mind-boggling seven years and 600 hours of trials went into making them.
Shop Dyson Corrale Straightener at John Lewis, £399
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Panasonic EH-XS01 Facial Steamer
There’s nothing more gratifying than feeling a gust of heated mist melt away the paste-like mixture of oil, dead cells and leftover make-up in your pores mid facial. Panasonic’s at-home steamer replicates that experience with nano-sized particles of steam, as well as improving blood flow and the production of collagen, which keeps the mattress of the skin bouncy. You’ll also find that your favourite serum penetrates better as there’s nothing gritty standing in its way. Add a three, six or 12 minute steam to your skincare routine, for a clearer, brighter complexion.
Shop Panasonic EH-XS01 Facial Steamer at Boots, £129.99
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ghd Glide Professional Hot Brush
Achieving light-reflecting, glass-smooth, fluff-free ‘second-day’ hair normally requires a paddle brush and a heated tool. Better still, here’s a paddle brush that is a heated tool thanks to the clever folks at ghd.The Hot Brush takes just three minutes to straighten a full head of hair. An anti-static ioniser cancels frizz and the just-right Goldilocks temperature of 185°C prevents split ends. No wonder it sold out globally in just two weeks when it launched.
Shop ghd Glide Professional Hot Brush at look fantastic, £139
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Jovs Venus Pro
There’s no cheap white plastic here; just sleek metal curves that do the unthinkable and make a hair removal device sexy.If the aesthetics aren’t convincing enough to add the Venus Pro to your routine, it’s also the only gadget to double up as a hair removal tool and anti-ageing skincare treatment. For the purposes of IPL, the device has six targeted treatment heads, which rotate at 180-degrees –another world first – so you can remove fuzz from any angle. There’s also cooling technology to numb the area you’re treating. At the end, you can reward yourself by adjusting to ‘skin rejuvenation’ mode and the device will convert into a collagen-boosting red light treatment.
Shop Jovs Venus Pro at Currentbody, £319
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Shani Darden Facial Sculpting Wand
There’s a reason facialist Shani Darden, who counts Jessica Alba as a client, is one of LA’s most in-demand skin whisperers. The tangible results of the 10-minute vibration therapy she includes in each treatment is the stuff of beauty legend. And now you can recreate the experience at home with her Facial Sculpting Wand. These vibrations travel 2.4 inches below the skin’s surface for deep-down collagen production; they boost circulation, increase oxygen uptake and stimulate the muscles. As Darden explains, this technology “targets crow’s feet, eyebrow furrows and nasolabial lines at the source rather than on a superficial level.” The pursuit of immaculate, luminous skin, that’s firmer than Jack Grealish’s calf muscles, just ended here.
Shop Shani Darden Facial Sculpting Wand at Cult Beauty from November, £430
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