Want brighter skin and smoother hair? Alyssa Dhaliwal reports from Amsterdam on the latest Philips beauty gadgets that deliver results.
Want brighter skin and smoother hair? Alyssa Dhaliwal reports from Amsterdam on the latest Philips beauty gadgets that deliver results.
According to the Philips Global Beauty Index 2016, a survey of 11,000 women from 11 countries, those in Asia view their skin as the most important aspect of beauty as they believe that a clear, healthy complexion makes them feel confident. No wonder the Dutch electronics giant considers Visapure Advanced ($455) one of its 2016 star products. As Rianne Meijerman, business leader and vice-president at Philips Beauty, puts it, this home device makes a five-minute DIY facial so easy.
SALON-WORTHY HOME FACIALS
In our time-poor, belttightening times, the Visapure Advanced, which cleanses, massages and even provides help for the eye area – is a godsend. Using rotating and pulsating movements, the cleansing brush head (to be used with a foaming cleanser of your choice) does a gentle, deep cleanse that is said to be 10 times more effective than manual cleansing. Brush heads for sensitive skin and exfoliation are sold separately. Designed for section-bysection cleansing, the brush pauses every 20 seconds to indicate that you should move on to the next area of your face. A minute is all you need for pristine skin. To give your face a relaxing massage after a long day, switch to the Revitalizing Massage head. Inspired by Petrissage, a technique involving rolling and kneading motions, it has five plastic nubs that mimic 750 gentle fingertapping movements per minute. Created by Japanese beauty expert Chico Shigeta, who has over 30 years of expertise in facial massage, it works on improving blood circulation, as well as toning and relaxing facial muscles for that younger-looking V-shaped face we covet. Chico recommends using this after you’re done with the cleansing brush. Applying a blend of moisturiser and face oil to your face first provides enough glide for the threeminute cycle. The Fresh Eyes attachment, on the other hand, has a ceramic coating and vibrates at 120 nanovibrations per second to give a gentle, cooling 30-second eye massage that encourages lymphatic drainage and de-puffing. Pressing it gently along the underside of the brow bones and the under-eye area is especially soothing after staring at a computer screen for hours on end.
STYLE YOUR HAIR WITH MINIMAL DAMAGE
The Philips Global Beauty Index 2016 also found that after hair loss, split ends are another major headache. The culprits? Constant heat and chemical styling. Both can damage hair and cause split ends. To the rescue: Philips’ Sublime Ends styling range, which hits the stores this month. The Stylecare Sublime Ends Curler (with a 38mm barrel) and Straightcare Vivid Ends Straightener promise to reduce split ends usually caused by styling tools by up to 95 per cent. Elodie Delassus, product designer at Philips Amsterdam, tells me that styling tools such as straighteners typically lose heat as we run them down the length of hair. This means that we often have to go over hair ends several times to get the intended effect. Consequently, the ends of the hair become more damaged. As we also tend to tug at the hair ends, it’s no wonder we’re left with split ends. The brand counters this with a Splitstop Technology, which incorporates a heat sensor to ensure temperatures remain constant as keratinenriched ceramic-coated plates glide across hair easily to reduce tugging and cuticle damage. The curler has eight temperature settings, with the highest being 200 deg C, while the straightener has 11, with a maximum of 230 deg C. The curler’s barrel is 30 per cent longer than previous models, while the straightener’s larger-thanusual 105mm plates let you tackle a larger section of hair at every go, thereby reducing styling time. Trichologist Leonica Kei advises women with very fine or porous, damaged hair to keep their styling tools at 160 deg C. For coarse, thicker hair, a higher heat setting of 200 to 210 deg C can be used. The ideal heat setting for healthy, medium-textured hair is 185 deg C. She also says we should avoid going as high as 220 or 230 deg C as this could destroy the natural keratin in the hair and lead to even more damage. Heat settings aside, it’s important to make sure you don’t leave the barrel or straightener on the same spot for too long. You should move the tool to avoid overheating your hair. Heat styling is like ironing your clothes, I suppose: delicate silk requires a lower heat setting compared to a hardier fabric such as cotton. And, if you leave the iron on any fabric for too long, it’s bound to get scorched or burned!
From top: Philips Stylecare Sublime Ends Curler, $79, and Philips Straightcare Vivid Ends Straightener, $109.
The Philips Visapure Advanced, $455 (price inclusive of three attachment heads), is available exclusively at Sephora
WOMEN IN ASIA VIEW THEIR SKIN AS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF BEAUTY.
