In fact, we've become pros at administering the perfect beauty treatment at home. From LED masks to gel nail kits, our shopping experts have tried out plenty of products that are just as effective as a trip to your local nail salon or booking in for a wax or pricey facial.
Although it feels like a different life during the multiple lockdowns, DIY beauty treatments are still a big part of our daily lives. DIY beauty treatments are much more economical and take less time. Now that everything is becoming more and more expensive, DIY beauty treatments are even more beneficial. So, anything that helps us save money without compromising on feeling our best is all we're all for.
From skin care treatments to hair removal, whether you want to master your manicure from the comfort of your couch or banish dull, blemished skin with the help of an LED mask, we've got a selection of IndyBest-certified tools and devices that are easy to use and effective.
Without further ado, here are our top picks for the best at-home beauty treatments money can buy and why they're worth the money.
Gel Nail Kit
Enjoying a fresh manicure is an essential pleasure for us all, and thanks to the various gel nail kits that you can use at home, you no longer have to do so.
In our guide to the best gel nail kits, we liked the Manicurist Green Flash Kit 24 (£75, Lookfantastic.com), which comes with an LED lamp, base coat, nail polish of your choice, top coat, remover and five nail clips for a smooth, long-lasting manicure.
Perfect for sensitive skin, all products are plant-based and free of methacrylate monomers, an ingredient that can cause irritation.
“It takes about twice as long to cure as most other options on this list, a solid two minutes per coat, and the lamp isn't motion-activated, so you have to press a button, but the finish is incredibly smooth and lasted for about 10 days. Plus, it's easy to remove, as it wipes off easily with the solution provided,” says the beauty writer.
LED Face Mask
These futuristic gadgets aren't just gimmicks; we've used and tested many of them over months. Though they're not essential, they offer a ton of fantastic skin benefits, from whitening and improving elasticity to clearing acne and reducing wrinkles. Red light boosts collagen production, blue light targets excess sebum to reduce acne, and yellow and purple lights minimize redness and fight inflammation.
While the masks aren't cheap, they're still a lot more affordable than a single LED treatment at a clinic. From our guide to the best LED masks, the one we think is worth the money is the Sense Professional LED Face Mask (£139.99, Lookfantastic.com), which our testers found to be a versatile LED face mask.
The 90 bulbs provide four different LED lights (red, blue, yellow and purple) and regular 10-minute treatments can do everything from boosting lymphatic flow to reducing blemishes and evening skin tone.
The results were immediate, too: Testers noticed an immediate reduction in facial puffiness. “After about four weeks of using it every other day, my acne scars started to fade and my skin tone became more even,” one tester said.
Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)
Hair removal is one of the easiest treatments to incorporate into an at-home beauty regime, and one of the most effective, long-term solutions is intense pulsed light technology, known as IPL.
Simply put, IPL uses energy generated by light waves to destroy hair roots and has been proven to reduce hair growth and prevent hair from regrowing when used consistently, usually for 12 weeks or more.
Our top IPL tool is the Silk'n Infinity 400k Hair Removal (£295, Lookfantastic.com), which we ranked in our guide to the best IPL machines and laser hair removers , and the corded model scored highly for its ease of use and its clever colour sensor which scans your skin before use to determine the best energy settings.
“The device is really easy to use, uses a pulse and glide method to guide you through your treatment, and it even comes with an app that you can connect to for treatment planning,” said a tester. “I noticed a difference in the thickness of my hair between weeks 4 and 5, and it stopped my hair from growing back. The process was also relatively painless.”
Wax kit
One of the most traditional and widely used methods of hair removal is, of course, waxing. It may not be the least painful, but it's quick, inexpensive, precise and gives long-lasting results. There are plenty of waxing options available: strips, pens, dissolving pearls, sugar paste, and more.
If you don't know where to start, don't worry, we're here to help you with our thoroughly tested reviews of the best at-home waxing kits.
Giving our testers salon-quality results was the Mylee Coconut & Arnica Stripless Waxing Kit (£57.99, Lookfantastic.com), a hot wax that can be used on all skin types. Described as “the full package” by testers, the kit comes with a wax heater, beads, a spatula, pre-wax, post-wax and wash gel.
“One of the hardest things about hot wax is making sure the temperature isn't too high (or you'll burn yourself) or too low (or it won't melt properly on the skin). Conveniently, Mylee's temperature control gauge takes the guesswork out of this,” she said.
“Because the melted pearl beads harden quickly when applied to the skin, I found this kit to be one of the least messy options, leaving very little sticky residue on the body,” the tester added.
“Yes, it takes some getting used to, but after just one treatment I felt like a waxing pro and the results were smooth and bump-free.”
Hair removal cream
It is no exaggeration to say that the most affordable and painless way to get smooth and hair-free skin is removal creams, also known as depilatory creams.
In their guide to the best hair removal creams, hair removal brand Veet explains that these creams “contain specific alkaline chemicals that safely react with body hair, breaking down the keratin (the protein structure of hair), weakening and dissolving the hair. This turns the hair into a jelly-like substance that can be easily wiped away with the cream.”
Depending on the product, these creams can often be used on the face and body, so you can remove hair anywhere from your bikini line to your upper lip.
Taking the top spot in our guide to the best hair removal creams is Woo Woo tame it!'s vegan in-shower hair removal cream (£6.99, Lookfantastic.com), with testers impressed with how quickly it worked: left on for three to six minutes, the jojoba- and aloe vera-enriched formula leaves skin silky smooth.
“It comes with a little spatula for easy application. And the best part about this product is that you can use it in the shower, cutting down on the time you spend standing barefoot in awkward poses in the bathroom. Just make sure the water isn't too hot, as you don't want it to irritate your skin,” they said.
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