The way I see it, when it comes to beauty, there are three key approaches if you want to level up your routine as age advances. First, there’s leaning on products for day-to-day maintenance — such as skincare, whitening toothpaste and perhaps a weekly hair mask.
Then there’s the other end of the scale. Botox, fillers, facelifts, polynucleotides, veneers and other preventions and corrections courtesy of scalpels, injectables and acids. Depending on the skill of the professional administering them — and the good news here is that, next year, the Government will finally introduce much-needed regulation to cosmetic procedures — these can really make an impact.
Read more: 'You don't know what it's been cut with': The dangerous rise of backyard Botox
But there’s a third way, one that toes the line between the two: using at-home gadgets regularly. Commitment is essential, however. This type of beauty tech will only work if it becomes part of your routine — versus in-clinic machines which are more potent than home devices, for safety reasons. I’ve incorporated all of the following into my own routine, some daily, some weekly, and have seen the results first hand. They are all, in my experience, worth the spend.
ZIIP Halo
Fellow beauty journalist Jay Best insisted I try this, telling me it’s so effective at enhancing contours and toning that she’d cut her use of Botox down to twice a year. “It’s like I have a filter on,” she said. Using the ZIIP feels like a gym session for your face. Its microcurrents tighten muscles, stimulate collagen production and encourage lymphatic drainage. To use, apply the conductive gel it comes with, power up the ZIIP, and either work it up the face or follow one of the routines in the free app.
£379.99, ziipbeauty.co.uk
Peep Club Heated Eye Wand PRO
When eyes are tired from screentime, the natural impulse is to reach for something cool to soothe them. But warmth is better, especially when administered with red LED =— the sort that reduces inflammation. Smoothing the wand around closed eyes doesn’t just feel great, it also takes down the redness along my lash line that makes me look like a bird of prey. Switch on the massage function to drain trapped fluid and bring down puffiness
£75, peepclub.co.uk
Nira Pro+ Laser
I’ve been using this at-home laser — which helps to increase collagen levels — for more than a year now for three reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t hurt as some lasers can — it just
creates a little warm flick of a sensation. Secondly, the crow’s feet that had started to crowd the corners of my eyes have significantly diminished. Finally, it is so easy to use; just turn on, work over your clean face (or hands or neck or any skin you’d like to treat), then follow with your usual skincare.
£615, niraskin.com
Teresa Tarmey Microneedling Kit
I am extremely conservative about microneedling at home because it can cause more damage than good, but I can recommend this particular one by celebrity facialist Teresa Tarmey if you want brighter, tighter and generally bouncier-looking skin. The kit contains a 12-week treatment plan, complete with peptides to apply to skin before you treat it, and a derma roller, which looks like a small rolling pin coated in short needles. They’re designed to be rolled over the planes of your face a few times to prompt a healing cascade that encourages collagen production — and I can attest that this one really works.
£220, teresatarmey.com
Oral B iO 10
There are several reasons I class this as a beauty gadget rather than just a toothbrush. It uses a dentist-inspired round head to keep the gum line free of build-up and employs an app to tell you if you’ve missed a spot, mapping your teeth and telling you the optimal brushing time. Results-wise, you can expect gleaming shiny teeth with healthier gums, meaning this doesn’t only make you feel confident and clean in the short-term but helps you to foster a healthy mouth long-term.
£800, shop.oralb.co.uk
Currentbody LED Eye Mask
Why an LED mask specifically for your eyes, you may wonder? Many face masks cover this area already, with the aim of boosting collagen and reducing inflammation, in turn helping to tackle wrinkles and redness. This eye-specific model is, however, far more concentrated — it has 80 bulbs compared with 132 on Currentbody’s whole face model. I love how speedy it is to use: three minutes and you’re done.
£189.99, currentbody.com
Foreo FAQ Swiss 202 Silicone LED Face Mask
If you’re serious about reaping the benefits of light therapy, from fewer spots to more glow, this mask is highly rated on two counts: the eight types of light — meaning you can customise your treatment, ranging from blue light, which tackles acne, to purple, which enhances lymphatic drainage, and red, which fights premature ageing — and its efficacy. This is thanks to the 600 light replicators, meaning whichever wavelength you’ve picked will be shot evenly across your skin.
£719, foreo.com
