‘This unusual £45 LED skin device got rid of my breakouts in weeks’

Beauty and wellness editor Laura Mulley has found a unique type of LED face mask that’s worked wonders on her spot-prone skin – and it’s currently reduced by 30%

LED masks are one of the most popular beauty tools at the moment, with Google searches and queries about them constantly going up. They’re also one of the products we on the Mirror beauty team get asked about most – so much so that we’ve put together a round-up our our favourite ones.

While red LED light is known for its ability to calm irritation and boost collagen products, blue LED light can instead be more beneficial for spot-prone skin, as it helps to kill acne-causing bacteria. And I’ve been trialling a unique type of blue LED mask that has, I think, noticeably reduced my blemishes.

At-home beauty tool brand LUSTRE’s ClearSkin SOLO blue light device is a clever stick-on gadget that targets specific areas of the face – ideal if you only get breakouts in certain patches. Usually priced at £63, it is at the time of writing reduced down to £44.10, saving you 30%.

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Pros

• Helped to clear my breakouts in weeks
• Ideal if you only get spots in certain small areas, and want to use a red LED mask on the rest of your face
• Comfortable to wear
• Turns off automatically after 20 minutes
• Doesn’t affect your vision like some full-face LED masks can do
• Much cheaper than most LED masks

Cons

• You have to keep re-buying the sticky strips
• It might not stick very thoroughly if you have very oily skin (use on clean skin before applying any skincare)
• The charge doesn’t last very long

As someone with persistent blemishes on my chin but with skin on the rest of my face that’s actually alright, I like using a red LED mask over my whole face (this is my favourite one, and it’s one of the cheaper), but I felt the need to use blue light just on specific areas of my face – my chin and my jawline – so this little palm-sized tool really appealed to me.

To start, you stick a strip of double-sided medical adhesive tape (the box contains 30 strips) to the ClearSkin SOLO, and then stick to the device onto your skin, over the problem area. When applied to clean skincare-free skin they’re actually very sticky and don’t fall off during the device’s 20 minute programme, but they also remove easily too, without irritating the skin.

It’s super easy to use while you’re going about your evening; it leaves you hands-free, it doesn’t interfere with watching TV like I find some full-face LED masks do, and gives a handy beep when it switches off. If you’re skin’s not too oily I found that the strip remains sticky, and you can reuse the mask a couple more times on your face.

I’m notoriously bad at sticking with skin tools for long enough to see results so I’m not going to pretend that I used this every night – I’d say about three times a week, for 2-3 weeks – and afterwards I noticed a real change in my skin. I definitely had fewer spots than normal, and the ones I did still have were less angry and inflamed.

I’m not saying that it was all down to using this mask – I’d also been taking a brilliant new probiotic and was back on my favourite AG1 drink, which I think also helped – but the results were enough to convince me to stick at using this nifty little patch going forward.

A couple of downsides to consider: you will have to keep repurchasing the sticky strips (or find some other strong-but-skin-safe ones), and the change only lasts a few uses. But for me, it’s worth it for the results I’ve seen.

If you want to tackle multiple areas of acne at once, LUSTRE also sells a pack of three ClearSkins – usually £149.90, they’re now down to £104.93.

And for an all-in-one approach, there are a number of masks that deliver both red and blue LED light, such as the popular Shark CryoGlow Mask, £299.99, and the CurrentBody LED Anti-Blemish Mask: Series 2, £399.