Can your smartphone give you a 'lifting' microcurrent facial? Alice Hart-Davis tests the Play Skin mask
I suppose it was only a matter of time, given how popular face masks are, before someone had the bright idea of making a home use mask that could give you the sort of microcurrent facial that you normally find in a salon... and realised that it needs such a small electrical current that your phone could provide the power and all the instructions could be loaded onto an app .
And if the Play Skin mask sounds a bit sci-fi, well, it is certainly a few steps into the future. It’s made of floppy-solid silicone hydrogel (good for conducting electricity) and comes in two parts, which need to be attached to electrodes, which clip on to a lead that then plugs into your phone. It’s all a bit of a faff, though the app walks you through it slowly and clearly (you can see me trying it all out on the video, below). It takes ten minutes and claims to lift your face immediately.
What does it feel like?
The mask is dry, but there’s a tacky coating on the inside. I fancied I felt a low-level sort of zinging, but that may have been my imagination. The company has done clinical testing to show that each ten-minute session (the app counts it down for you and tells you when you’re done) will increase hydration levels in the skin by 190 per cent - that sticky coating contains hyaluronic acid, which the microcurrents will drive into your skin.
Any results?
I didn’t see any difference after one session but I’m intrigued by the whole concept. Silicone gel sheets smooth and soften the skin just by being placed on it - it’s what scar reduction patches are made of - and tend to amplify the effects of any product placed underneath them.
Five masks and full-size serum cost £89.99; two masks with trial size serum £13.30 available from 14th April 2017 in the UK from www.playskin.co.uk . (until that date it can be purchased from Italy here ). Meanwhile, for info check out http://www.playskin.it/en/
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