Clarisonic Mia 2

I have been using my Clarisonic for over a month now and thought it was time enough to give you a full review on what it is, how it works and is it worth the hype that surrounds it.

There are 3 different Clarisonic cleansers for sales at the moment, The Mia 1, Mia 2 and the Aria. The Mia 1 was the first main stream launch for this brand. It has one speed, is slightly chunkier than later models and comes with a sensitive head. The Mia 2 is more of less the same as the Mia 1, except lighter, has 2 different speeds, universal voltage and can be used in the shower. The Aria, which I am not as familiar with, has 3 speeds and can be charged though a USB wire.

There is a bit of a difference in price on the 3 items, but this is not surprising as you will always pay for more up to date technologies. The Mia 1 is a little hard to get your hands on, but I have seen it retailed for around the €100 mark. The Mia 2 can be bought in Brown Thomas for €149. While the Aria is exclusive to Brown Thomas costing €199.  Expensive, but are they worth the price.

In one word. Yes and I am going to detail below exactly why I would pay this price again and again.

So what is the Clarisonic and what does it do? Basically it is like a giant toothbrush for your face. As you can see from the picture below, it has a plastic body with a brush head on top. The Cleansing system is said to cleanse 6 times more than your hands or any other manual cleansers can do. It does this by penetrating down to the deeper layers of your skin and removing all the dirt, bacteria and removing the dirt from trapped pores. It is said to improve the texture of your skin while at the same time, helping slow the anti agin process, by reducing fine lines and wrinkles. I am all about reducing the ageing process at the moment.  Overall I would say that the Clarisonic really just gives your skin and all round healthier look.

The Mia 2 comes with 2 speeds. The first speed comes on automatically and this is a little gentler on your skin. If you press the button on the handle the second speed kicks in and this is a little more thorough on the skin. I tend to switch it up during the week and will use both speeds depending on what I think my skin needs.

The Mia 2 is very easy to hold and is extremely light weight. It is waterproof, however I wouldn’t leave it at the bottom of the bath while I soak with a face mask and glass of wine. I would say it is more shower proof, than relaxing Friday night in the bath proof.

So how do I use it?  Firstly you do need to remove your eye makeup before use. I made this mistake the first time I used it and end up with mascara everywhere. I use my Liz Earle hot cloth cleanse and polish to remove my eye makeup and some of my face makeup, but you could also use something like the cleanse off mitt here too, as you will be using a facial cleanser with the Clarisonic.

Once I have removed my eye makeup, I put a ring of the Philosophy purity cleanser on top of the Clarisonic. The Purity cleaner costs €26 a bottle , which isn’t too bad cost wise. Any foaming cleanser will work, but this is the most recommend cleanser to go with the Clarisonic. I then splash my face with water, run the Clarisonic under water and off I go. I start with 20 seconds on the forehead. The Clarisonic will then beep to tell me to move onto the next zone, which is 20 seconds on the chin and then beep for 10 seconds on either cheek. To finish, I splash water on my face to remove any excess cleaner and rinse the Clarisonic under water and I am done. It is important to note that you only need to hold the Clarisonic gently on the face and you don’t want to push it harshly onto the skin as this will do more damage than good.

When you buy your Clarisonic it will come with a sensitive brush head. The brushes are said to last between 3-4 months, but just like a tooth brush you will know when the head needs replacing as it will look frayed and won’t be doing as good a job. There are 5 different types of brush heads, normal, sensitive, delicate acne prone and deep pore cleanser. Each retailing for €26 and you can buy them on Brown Thomas online here. I have read that the deep pore cleanser can be very harsh on the skin so I am going to avoid that one, but I think when my brush head needs to be replaced I will buy the normal brush head.

There is one down side to the Clarisonic, but it’s a case of short term pain for long term gain, and that is that when you first start using it most people have  a tendency to break out a little. This is not surprising really since you are deep cleansing, you are bringing all the gross stuff from deeper down in the skin to the surface. The break outs generally last between 1 to 2 weeks  and after that it is like Hallelujah gorgeous skin. When I broke out, it actually wasn’t that bad, nothing worse than I would get at certain times of the month.

The charger for the Clarisonic is magnetic and when you first buy it you have to charge it for 24 hours. I have been using mine for over a month now and still I don’t need to charge it. It also comes with a plastic travel case, to keep it clean when traveling. It is light weigh enough that it wouldn’t be difficult to stick in your bag when going away.

For me the Clarisonic has been a real game changer in my skin routine. I was having awful trouble with my skin and its texture. I don’t suffer from spots but I am brown to flaking and dullness. For me the main problem was not matter what I did my foundation just wasn’t sitting right. The Clarisonic has changed all that. I see a brightness to my skin again and while I know I have upped my game big time when it comes to skin care, I know the Clarisonic has been the main reason for this.  I would recommend the Clarisonic 100% and while it is very expensive, it is either worth saving for or getting it for a birthday gift etc.