A Short Affair with the Shopping Channel

I confess I am a reformed consumerista. In my early twenties, earning adult wages but still living like a teenager at home, I would spend whole pay cheques frivolously on marked down cocktail dresses (I would never wear because God knows I never went to cocktail parties), turquoise leather jackets, full-length wool coats, and I think I have a pair of thigh high white suede boots kicking around somewhere. And now fully independent, I like to think I have become more practical with age. But I suppose even the best of us relapse, or at least that is how I would explain my recent purchase of an electric facial brush for $225 US? I blame the Shopping Channel because their seductive wiles made me unable to resist the Clarisonic - a little gadget which uses a rotating brush to buff away dead skin thoroughly but gently. Apparently its so gentle you can even use it over pimples (!). You can even have it personalized - that's right, an engraved hand-held exfoliator is exactly what any self-preserving person needs. Did I mention it was water-proof?

Now there was logic to this mini-splurge; I have been in the market for a face massager for a while, as I really want to increase the circulation in my skin and also want to rid myself of my morning puffiness with some lymph stimulation - so the Clarisonic seemed perfect for my needs as you get the benefits of its vibrations paired with an exfoliation.

Needless to say, I couldn't wait to receive my "sonic skin cleansing system" (referring to it as a "system" sounds so much more effective) in the mail and tore open the package right away. I will say this: the instructions need work as it came with three heads but with no labelling or guide to which head was for what - and it said that the back lights showed you its battery power level, but mine was blinking different lights with each blinks so I had no idea what that meant. I also canned the skincare as it was laden with chemicals.

Nonetheless upon my first spin (around my face), the bristles felt good against my skin like it was buffing away a cuticle of dry, dead cells. I continued by using the larger brush head (which I assumed was the body brush) on my left leg leaving the right as a control to test.

The next day I was impressed that my skin still felt extremely soft as I presumed that newly shed skin cells would have appeared by now. My face also felt more hydrated as my skincare penetrated more deeply. And upon inspection of my legs - my ugly right leg was scaly and dry while my left was smoother and also brighter in tone. This excited me! And I wanted to start round two but as an esthetician I am wary of over-exfoliating, so I promised myself I would only use it two to three times per week and only on wet skin (exfoliation is always best on moist skin which is why we at Pure + Simple have started to do all Sea Salt Microdermabrasion treatments afte we have steamed).

But while my skin feels great, the real test will be to see if I am still using the Clarisonic in a month. Will it be a regular part of my beauty regime or will it join my discarded Lite book (electric book of lights which combat seasonal affected disorder) and Mastermoves (basically a Lazy Susan you swivel on to work your abs)?

And looking at these pieces of abandoned equipment, I have to ask myself if I really am older, wiser and more practical or have simply shifted in tastes.