Customise Your Own High-Tech Facials At Home

Perfect for the time challenged, these clever beauty devices let you cleanse, lift and firm at your own convenience.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

Perfect for the time challenged, these clever beauty devices let you cleanse, lift and firm at your own convenience.

Imagine having your own beauty devices to cleanse, lift and tone your skin – so you can do your own facials at home at any time you want. LG Electronics, known for its state-of-the-art TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, has tapped into its wealth of technological knowledge and capabilities to create gadgets that allow you to be your very own beauty consultant and aesthetician.

With the philosophy that true beauty comes from within, LG launched the Pra.L range of four home beauty devices, the Dual Cleanser, Galvanic Ion Booster, Total Lift Up Care and Derma LED Mask to complement and enhance the efficacy of your skincare products.

Calvin Cho, vice president for LG Home Electronics (HE) Asia's Sales and Marketing Division, says, “Our mission has always been to help people meet their needs. If there’s a technology to meet beauty needs, we will do it. We first started with vibration and motor technology, which was implemented in devices like the Dual Cleanser. We also looked into our LED technology, and, perhaps in future, it will be the use of AI for even more individualised care.”

Although relatively new to the Singapore market, the devices have been recognised in the 2018 Korea Brand Hall of Fame that was presented by the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies and Brand Design Association of Korea.

Built for ease and comfort of use, the devices come with a silicone handle for better grip, voice assistance to provide verbal guidance, USB type-C plugs for easy charging and long battery life for maximum travel portability. So now, having firmer, radiant skin is as easy as 1-2-3.

My Reading Room

STEP 1: CLEANSE FOR GLOWING SKIN 

The LG Dual Cleanser gives your skin a thorough cleanse, without aggression. While most face-cleansing devices either have a silicone or fibre brush, this offers both options – a silicone brush for gentle cleaning, and a fine fibre brush for a deeper cleanse. Keeping it easy to use, the device automatically detects which brush is attached and changes modes accordingly.

The cleansing tool comes with two intensity levels – the first for removing light makeup and for those with more sensitive skin; and the second for cleaning off heavier makeup. There’s even a choice between 70 and 120 seconds of cleansing duration. Manager Elysia Chang, of LG Home Electronics (HE) Marketing Communication Team 1, adds, “The Dual Cleanser has been designed to help you achieve brighter, clearer skin safely. Using the company’s Dual Motion technology, it combines a rotating cleansing motion with deeper micro vibrations to help remove dead skin cells and blackheads.”

Another standout feature that you don’t usually see with cleansing devices is the cradle’s in-built UV light. Elysia says, “This helps to sanitise the brush, and keeps it clean and hygienic for your next use.”

With an IPX7 rating, the device is waterproof up to 1 m for 30 minutes, making it shower- and running water-friendly. It’s nice and compact, and frequent travellers will be grateful for the long battery life – a single charge can last for up to a month. At $449.

My Reading Room

STEP 2: ENHANCE ABSORPTION OF SKINCARE FOR A RADIANT BOOST

While the Dual Cleanser takes care of your daily cleansing needs, the Galvanic Ion Booster, which also has a Cleansing Mode, offers deep-pore cleansing. Apply a water-based moisturiser to the skin, then glide the triangular head over your facial contours.

When on this mode, thermal therapy is used to temporarily loosen pores and draw out impurities such as residual makeup and sebaceous waste that’s beneath the skin’s surface. This takes three minutes.

After deep cleansing, switch to the Boost Mode, which uses ultrasonic waves to open pores further and deliver active ingredients of your favourite skincare products via iontophoresis. This technology uses electrical currents to allow the nutrients from your serum or moisturiser to penetrate deeper, boosting its efficacy. The three-minute treatment ends with a gentle heat massage to relieve facial tension. To ensure that the Galvanic Ion Booster is safe for home use, the device’s head is made from medical implant-grade material with high corrosion resistance. The convenient wireless design also makes it easily portable, and the extra-long battery life lasts up to two weeks on a single charge. At $529.

My Reading Room

STEP 3: TIGHTEN & TONE SAGGING SKIN 

Collagen production starts to decline in your mid 20s, and decreases further after 40. If you’re averse to injectables, the Total Lift Up Care makes a good alternative. It can help to achieve plump, youthful-looking skin and more defined facial contours with its tightening and lifting functions. 

In Tightening Mode, high-frequency thermal therapy and red LED light penetrate the deeper layers of skin to help trigger collagen production, and in turn, skin elasticity. In Lifting Mode, microcurrents stimulate skin tissue and muscles. “Like doing squats for your skin, the Total Lift Up Care helps to [strengthen] facial muscles to tighten and lift,” explains Elycia.

This device is also able to improve skin elasticity and tighten any sagging skin around the jawline. In a research of 24 Korean adults, 92 percent of participants saw improvements in lifting of double chin, and 88 percent noticed improved skin density around the eyes, after using the Total Care Mode twice a week for eight weeks.

The head of the device is also made from the same medical implant-grade material as the Galvanic Ion Booster for greater durability. At $699.

The LG Pra.L range is available at TANGS at Tang Plaza, Robinsons The Heeren, Robinsons Jem and krisshop.com.

My Reading Room

The LG Pra.L Derma LED Mask has 160 LEDS positioned to target different facial zones and concerns. 

Marrying Technology With Beauty

It’s a match made in heaven. The piece de resistance of the LG Pra.L collection has to be the Derma LED Mask, where LG engineers drew on the company’s know-how on LED technology to create a beauty device to even the skin tone, brighten and firm. Hugo Shin, director of LG HE Home Beauty Business Division reiterates, “We are always studying and developing technology for customers’ needs. The Derma LED Mask, for example, taps on our expertise from LED light and TV knowledge.”

Lots of attention has been paid to the comfort and safety of the device, which is the only Korean-made product of its kind to be given an FDA-cleared rating by the US Food and Drug Administration. The high-tech mask protects the eyes with an eye-shield design made from safe silicone for comfort and to minimise the glare from the LED lights. The full-face mask also has a sensing detector, which only operates when it is correctly positioned on the face.

Based on extensive research and testing, the mask produces the optimum amount of light throughout the effective usage time of nine minutes. LG engineers divided the face into zones by major skin concerns, and the 160 LEDs (80 red and 80 infrared) were placed in the mask to target these areas for optimal effects. 

They also cultivated skin cells to test for optimal LED light, volume, strength and length for the device to give the best and safest results. Using LEDs of long- and short-wave light to penetrate the skin at different depths, the mask helps rejuvenate skin layers to encourage cell regeneration for firmer, more radiant skin. At $1,349.

PHOTO: 123RF.COM