Laser Treatments MD

Automated beauty tools are beginning to make the days of applying makeup or washing your face by hand look outdated…

Professional-level devices are now available for use at home as manufacturers refine their products — and their sales pitches — to reach the large consumer market. The sometimes-pricey devices are more available than ever as spas, doctors’ offices, websites and infomercials sell them with celebrities and others touting their effectiveness. And with many devices now in their second or third incarnations, manufacturers may be approaching the right combination of price and performance, erasing the memories of gimmicks gone bad. Consumers now can laser away hair, treat acne, reduce uneven pigmentation, airbrush on cosmetics and cleanse skin, as well as a professional.

These new beauty power tools are part of a growing trend for at-home spa treatments that can replace or complement professional services, said Michael Moretti, editor of the Medical Insight Report, which covers the aesthetic medical industry. His recent report on home-use devices profiled 26 companies that make consumer versions of professional products, a market that he projected will grow about 25% annually for several years to come.

Cosmetic companies are hopping on the bandwagon. Neutrogena recently launched the new two-speed Wave Duo Power-Cleanser with Foaming Pads. The buzzing, $14.99 palm-sized plastic device comes with single-use foaming pads and the required AA battery. Vibrating mascaras by Maybelline and Lancome promise to mimic the delicate wiggle a makeup artist uses to build color on the lashes. Garnier’s $16.99 Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Roller puts ingredients such as Vitamin A in a roll-on dispenser that promises to firm and lift skin on the neck and face.

Skin care may have led the revolution in gadgetry, but color cosmetics are following up with technical innovations too. This fall, about 100 Sephora stores launched the $225 Temptu Airbrush Makeup System, designed to mist skin with an atomized foundation that looks slightly more dewy than most professional-level airbrushed makeup. Lancome followed up its much-hyped $34 to $39 vibrating mascaras with a $48 buzzing powder puff, the new Oscillation Powerfoundation mineral makeup. It features a motorized, cushioned applicator that the company says delivers 7,000 vibrations a minute to wiggle micronized powder foundation smoothly across skin.

The old adage you get what you pay for proves true with many of these buzzing beauty products. Before buying, shoppers should investigate the manufacturer’s history and even check out Internet buzz, said Dr. Tina Alster, a clinical professor of dermatology at the Georgetown University Medical Center.

Alster is a fan of the Clarisonic skin-care brush and recommends the $149 to $225 devices for patients who have clogged pores, oily skin or whiteheads, or who are acne prone. Spas and doctors’ offices, including hers, are using the brushes to quickly remove surface dead skin for better product absorption, makeup removal or skin smoothing. The company recently launched a version that is designed to scrub your body. Alster also recommends the brushes for anyone who uses glycolic acid, retinols or Vitamin C products.

Like a power toothbrush for your face, the Clarisonic bristles move a few millimeters, 300 times a second in an oscillatory fashion and the message seems to be getting through: Sales have increased 2,179% in three years.