The Poor Man's Clarisonic
I love filling in the phrase, "The poor man's (blank)" - BHS is the poor man's M&S, Iyaz is the poor man's Akon, and the MUJI Face Brush is the poor girl's Clarisonic. (I can't help but feel it's a bit offensive this phrase - sorry Iyaz!)
There's nothing to really explain about it besides it's a wooden handle with bristles. I usually dampen it, then place some face wash on it and rub it all over my face. I admit that the first 2 or 3 times I used it, I hardly used it on my cheeks, but as time went on the bristles soften to accommodate for your skin. Also, the bristles are relatively long, so it's somewhere in between a buffing and brushing motion when you use it. Personally, I got it because I have really tough skin between my brows and on my chin that likes to produce cysts, and I wanted to get rid of them, and I wanted to unclog my pores around my nose. At the moment I use it twice a day and thought I'd update you as to my thoughts!
Basically, I really like it. Here are the things I find that it really helps with:
1) It lathers face washes that usually don't like to lather, and if your face wash does like to lather, you use a lot less. I also quite like that after it lathers, I just rub the foam all around my face with my hands, especially around sensitive areas like my chin and eyes and it feels nice and soft - like rubbing marshmallows in your face! (Not quite sure if that's actually nice or not..)
2) It brightens your skin. I've been trialling 3 products that claim to brighten your skin recently, and this is by far the one that has made the most difference. My skin always looks radiant and it feels smooth, and I can tell it does a really good job of exfoliating because my face is now much paler than my body!
3) It brings under-the-skin spots up to the surface. Under the skin spots are the bane of my life, and this brush helps to bring them up so they can start to heal. It's by no means a quick process, but I find that after 3 or 4 days, your spot slowly appear on the surface. This is especially good for me because if I didn't have this, all my spots would stay under the skin!
4) If you like your face wash, and haven't found a good exfoliator - just pair it with this! :)
Did it get rid of the cysts and clogged pores? The cysts have been subsiding but not to an extremely impressive way (i.e. I'm not really sure if it's this that's helping it), and my pores are really the same as before.
Some other points to consider is that I do feel that as the bristles soften quite quickly, you may have to replace it regularly. It might also not be suitable for sensitive skintypes, but I've also found out that the Body Shop do a synthetic face brush for about £4 (it has more of a stub handle than a long one like this) that I feel may have a bit more give. And the obvious question with brushes is that when you rinse it out - how well are you really rinsing it? Bacteria's bound to live there, so it's important to keep it really clean and sanitize once in a while!
It's no replacement for a Clarisonic, but a Clarisonic is a huge investment especially if you're not sure brushes even work for your skin, or if your skin isn't so bad that you don't feel like investing £120. I'd definitely recommend this brush, as it's affordable and I'm really happy with the results it brings, even if they're not the ones I initially wanted it to solve! And yes, I'll continue to use it and I'd definitely repurchase if it came to it :)
There's nothing to really explain about it besides it's a wooden handle with bristles. I usually dampen it, then place some face wash on it and rub it all over my face. I admit that the first 2 or 3 times I used it, I hardly used it on my cheeks, but as time went on the bristles soften to accommodate for your skin. Also, the bristles are relatively long, so it's somewhere in between a buffing and brushing motion when you use it. Personally, I got it because I have really tough skin between my brows and on my chin that likes to produce cysts, and I wanted to get rid of them, and I wanted to unclog my pores around my nose. At the moment I use it twice a day and thought I'd update you as to my thoughts!
Basically, I really like it. Here are the things I find that it really helps with:
1) It lathers face washes that usually don't like to lather, and if your face wash does like to lather, you use a lot less. I also quite like that after it lathers, I just rub the foam all around my face with my hands, especially around sensitive areas like my chin and eyes and it feels nice and soft - like rubbing marshmallows in your face! (Not quite sure if that's actually nice or not..)
2) It brightens your skin. I've been trialling 3 products that claim to brighten your skin recently, and this is by far the one that has made the most difference. My skin always looks radiant and it feels smooth, and I can tell it does a really good job of exfoliating because my face is now much paler than my body!
3) It brings under-the-skin spots up to the surface. Under the skin spots are the bane of my life, and this brush helps to bring them up so they can start to heal. It's by no means a quick process, but I find that after 3 or 4 days, your spot slowly appear on the surface. This is especially good for me because if I didn't have this, all my spots would stay under the skin!
4) If you like your face wash, and haven't found a good exfoliator - just pair it with this! :)
Did it get rid of the cysts and clogged pores? The cysts have been subsiding but not to an extremely impressive way (i.e. I'm not really sure if it's this that's helping it), and my pores are really the same as before.
Some other points to consider is that I do feel that as the bristles soften quite quickly, you may have to replace it regularly. It might also not be suitable for sensitive skintypes, but I've also found out that the Body Shop do a synthetic face brush for about £4 (it has more of a stub handle than a long one like this) that I feel may have a bit more give. And the obvious question with brushes is that when you rinse it out - how well are you really rinsing it? Bacteria's bound to live there, so it's important to keep it really clean and sanitize once in a while!
It's no replacement for a Clarisonic, but a Clarisonic is a huge investment especially if you're not sure brushes even work for your skin, or if your skin isn't so bad that you don't feel like investing £120. I'd definitely recommend this brush, as it's affordable and I'm really happy with the results it brings, even if they're not the ones I initially wanted it to solve! And yes, I'll continue to use it and I'd definitely repurchase if it came to it :)
Have you tried this brush before?
Anyone have any other funny "the poor man's.." phrases? :P
<3yu
Ooo should be interesting! I'll def give it a go :D xx
ReplyDeleteBrill, hope you like it :D
DeleteI've been looking for face brushes for a while but they're all too solid and I feel like I'm scraping my face off! Will definately try this one now. x
ReplyDeleteYes, have a feel in store and imagine it getting softer over time! :)
DeleteGreat review! I've been wanting something relatively cheaper than a Clarisonic. I think if you really see a difference in your skin, it works the same! :D
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! :) I'd still love to try the Clarisonic but I just don't have the money :P
DeleteI might just try this out, being a student I can't really afford the Clarisonic and imagine if it didn't work for my skin? Under the skin spots are the BANE of my existence so the brush seems really good.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I also find the LUSH Ocean Salt exfoliator to really sort under-the-skin spots out too for me :)
Deletesuch a funny post title, loved it! x
ReplyDeleteHahaha thanks!
DeleteSo odd that you've put this up! I have a post in my drafts for my manual face brush. I bought it years ago but never thought to use it until the whole clarisonic thing started. I've been using it once a day for the last 3-4 weeks, it's definitely brightening my skin but also bringing me up in spots. I'm hoping this is my 'purge phase' but we'll see!
ReplyDeleteHeather xo
Audreyfleur.blogspot.com
Oh that's brilliant, which one do you use? :)
DeleteWow. I feel like such a dork...I'd never considered using a manual face brush before but I didn't want to pay for a clarisonic.
ReplyDeleteLOL don't feel like that, never too late :)
DeleteMy mum have been using thsi for years and she likes it, I think her skin looks really good! I haven't try yet, maybe I should try, I also have the underskin spot issue!!!
ReplyDeleteClarisonic is like a dream object for me now I want it so bad too hahaha
Butter & cocoa is the poor man's Nutella ;o)
Lol I know what you mean, it's so expensive! Does your mom repurchase this a lot?
DeleteHAHAHA love that one!
I need to try this, I like the idea of the Clarisonic but this price puts me off so this is ideal!
ReplyDeleteMaria xxx
I hope you like it Maria! :D
DeleteGlad you're loving this. Maybe £120 on my Clarisonic wasn't really needed but I do like having it as part of my routine
ReplyDeleteHonestly Emma, if I had the money I would still get the Clarisonic! :P
Delete