My thirst for discovering skin tools is such that I am constantly Googling for new launches. I get particularly animated when I spot something space age looking and recently came across these two. I don’t own either - yet! Do you? Perhaps you have spotted something snazzy yourself?
June Bracelet
Fancy donning this on your wrist? It may look like just a leather strap with a sparkly jewel on the top but it’s so much more – it’s a gadget to help you stay safe in the sun. Developed by Netatmo, the June bracelet measures your UV exposure and hooks up to your phone to tell you when you’ve had too much.
June uses your own personal profile including skin, eye and hair colour, together with UV readings from your location, to deliver real-time tailored advice on sun protection. This could include telling you what level of SPF to use, when to pop on sunglasses and a hat, and when to move in to the shade. You have to be wearing the bracelet, of course, as it is equipped with special sensors to take the UV readings, and you’ll also need to have your phone with you.
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| June app iPhone screenshots |
I’m really desperate for one of these. Sadly they don’t support Android (yet), only iPhone 4s and later models – we’re a ‘no Apple’ zone at home! However, Netatmo informs me that an Android version “is on the roadmap for next year”. Hurrah!
The bracelet is reportedly going on sale in Apple stores but when I visited the brand’s flagship shop in Covent Garden this week staff there knew nothing about it, only the June app on iTunes and only then when I pointed it out to them! However, with Apple stores selling the Jawbone UP bracelets for monitoring how we eat, move and sleep they thought it likely the June bracelet would follow soon.
Meantime, you can buy the June directly from Netatmo. It comes in three colours - gold, gunmetal and platinum and costs €95.00 here. What do you think? Bit gimmicky or a useful device?
Lancer – Microcurrent Boost
Here’s another ‘bling’ skin tool I’m lusting after. The Lancer face and neck toner uses tiny electrical currents to massage the facial muscles and stimulate the deep dermis layers of the skin, where collagen and new skin cells are formed. The current is said to work in harmony with our skin’s own electrical rhythm.
At £250 it isn’t cheap but the head is made from pure germanium, a rare semiconductor metal, and the wand itself is gold plated which is said to help prevent errant ambient electrical currents from interfering with the treatment.
I chime with microcurrent: I can see how gently massaging facial muscles can help tone them, in the same way that exercising at the gym helps keep body muscles trim and firm. Caci is probably the best known microcurrent treatment here in the UK. I’ve had Caci salon treatments but at around £50 a time it can get expensive maintaining results.
Last year Caci launched a home device called the Microlift but at £350 it’s a lot more expensive than the Lancer and seems flimsy by comparison. I’ve been after a home microcurrent tool for a while and have now got my eye on the Lancer! It’s just arrived at Space NK here.
