Clairasonic Mia

After being bombarded by numerous advertisements for the Olay Fresh Effects Va-Va-Vivid, I wondered if it was as good of a product as they market it to be. After only a few short minutes of searching/skimming reviews  realized this product was complete crap. So this sparked my interest...is there a tool on the market designed to deep clean your pores daily that is actually proven to work? I started searching and there are products on the market such as the Neautrogena Wave, the Olay Pro X system and the Pro Active cleansing brush. But after reading all the reviews there was one brush that stood out significantly, the Clarisonic. It didn't matter what model I was looking at, I couldn't find an average of reviews under a 4.5 stars! Pleasantly surprised I decided to go ahead and read some of the reviews on the Clarisonic cleansers. Now as much as I like to read the positives reviews I like even more to read the negatives. This is because I don't want to glorify the product then buy it and end up having a bunch of things go wrong. Upon reading the bad reviews I couldn't find anything actually wrong with the unit itself (broken, ease of use, ect). It was really only that people claimed it didn't do anything for them. One review warned potential buyers to beware that when you first get the cleanser you might trick yourself into thinking it works when it really doesn't because you;re so excited to have a new product to use. After the reviews I moved onto the website to gain a better understanding of how the machine actually cleans your pores. I must say I was very impressed with the website itself. It tells you what sonic cleansing is, the benefits of sonic cleansing and shows a comparison of before and after of a clinical study. The best part about it is that it is dermatologist RECOMMENDED. Companies try to take advantage of us consumers by putting "dermatologist tested" on the bottle...that doesn't mean they approved it, just means it was tested. After reading all the reviews stating it changed peoples lives, I went onto Sephora's website to see what their return policy was. After all -- the cheapest unit is pretty expensive. Not only did Sephora say if I didn't love it I can return it at any time, but the Clarisonic website states that if you're unsatisfied for ANY REASON with the unit, you can send it back within 90 days for a full refund.

Once I'd decided that this was the best unit on the market and that I had nothing to lose if I got it home and hated it, I went to Sephora and bought myself the Clarisonic Mia in blue. At first I was scared that I'd have "Shiney New Toy" syndrome which means that I'd convince myself that it was working when it really wasn't doing much. I decided that I'd use the machine only once a day to be sure not to dry out my face. I also made a decision to use it only in the morning in order to rid that "gross" feeling I woke up with. I also wash my face at night but not with a cleanser, just a splash of water to rinse off any impurities to ensure proper skin regeneration over night. Now I also read that you shouldn't use the Clarisonic to remove make-up directly, instead use make up remover and water first then to deep cleanse use the Clarisonic  This wasn't a huge issue with me as I am not a daily make-up wearer. With hesitation for the first few tries I definitely felt alot cleaner when I got out of the shower. It wasn't until one morning when I noticed I had two pre-zits forming on my chin. I continued on with my routine of 1 minute with the Clarisonic in the shower and much to my surprise after getting dressed that morning they seemed to be getting smaller! The next morning I repeated my routine and they got smaller again. I was shocked! They never became red or surfaced, and they went away in record time. A few days later around a peak time in my hormone cycle I was expecting a break out. Well I woke up in the morning to find a couple of red bumps forming around my face. I used my Clarisonic in the shower that morning, moisturized my face afterwards, then washed before bed. Their appearance diminished and by the next day at lunch they were barely there. Now I'm a big tea tree oil person. When I get break-outs I put tea tree oil on them but lately I've been on a strict Clarisonic & Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizer in the morning and clean with water at night ONLY. I've been using the machine with this routine for 2 and a half weeks now and I'm proud to say I'm really impressed with the product so far. I won't go as far to recommend it just yet as its only been a short period of time, but it is definitely worth taking a look at if you're big into skin care.