The guinea pig diaries: Philips' Lumea IPL Hair Removal System - fighting hair regrowth one pulse at a time

A few months ago I started using Philips' Lumea IPL* to help combat hair regrowth on my legs. I've tried shaving and waxing, but let's face it any method of hair removal requires patience and time. And more often than not I leave myself with very little time in the morning to get ready, let alone shave. And my patience, well you'll have to ask Scott about that ;)

Aside from committing myself to trying a new device, I also have to believe in the potential positive results. Every two weeks (well, four in my case) I sit down on the couch and reach for my fully-charged Lumea. Before firing the device, be sure to hand your loved one sunglasses; we wouldn't want to blind them, do we now?

I bet you're wondering about the benefits, timeliness and ease of use. After shaving, but before moisturising is the best time to use the Lumea; it's important to note your moisturiser can act as a barrier and reduce the effectiveness of the device. And the manual, read it -- it's useful and addresses who can and can't use it; women or men with auto-immune diseases and skin sensitivities should give the Lumea a miss. Also take a look at the back of the box, there's a table which helps you asses your skin and hair type -- if you're a match, then live long and prosper! Erm, go for it!

Once you've gone through the important stuff and read the fine print, it's time to point and shoot. So where do we go from here?

• Test an inconspicuous spot to see which level of light intensity you can handle; ranges from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
• Shave desired areas you wish to treat.
• Turn on your Lumea IPL and switch it to the appropriate level of intensity.
• Press the head of the gun firmly onto skin until the "Ready" indicator turns green, shoot, slide device to a new area and repeat.
• If you want to use the Lumea on your face or underarms, simply switch to the smaller interchangeable head.

Philips Lumea IPL

Flashes green when ready

The perks of using Philips' Lumea IPL:

• I'm down to shaving my legs twice a week.
• My hair has stopped growing in some spots on my legs and in other areas is coming in blonde/fine.
• Fast and easy to use! I can finish one leg in about eight minutes.
• It's cordless.

The cons:

• It's expensive. The suggested retail price is $1,299.95 AUS!!
• The manual can scare a user off from even attempting to try it.
• It takes a while to notice the promised final results.

This particular hair removal process is a work in progress. I'll check back soon to give you my final thoughts and let you know where my leg hair stands (or falls).

Until then...

*PR sample provided –  Thoughts and ramblings written here are completely my own.

Smoke signals: I'm still out there, I swear!

So, I went from Melbourne to Vegas to Boston and inched my way back. In a span of two weeks I travelled approximately 10,531 miles / 16,948 kilometres, gained a day and then lost another coming back, harassed my parents, shopped 'til I dropped, ate a lot, spent precious little time with loved ones and missed my husband like crazy. And, believe it or not, I missed you too.

I set out to blog way more than I actually accomplished -- but, I took loads of pictures with my trusty iPhone. Let's see what trouble I got into whilst tumbling through the U.S. of A.

American-sized pancakes -- gosh, they're big!

"If the mountain won't come to Muhammad then Muhammad must go to the mountain."

Sipping frozen hot chocolate with P-Cakes

A little Sephora action

Took a walk down memory lane. Visited my alma mater, Suffolk University

Dined with a few good friends

Satiated my bagel cravings

Christmas in Vegas

Visited Serendipity, again

Visited the "Strip"

Hauled a lot

And jetted off into the sunset

After this Friday I'll have another two weeks to kill. In that time I'll introduce you to my new notions and potions.

Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend and I promise to write again soon.

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As most of you know, Nicole, the Chief Bag Lady of Bagful of Notions, is currently on the road.  I felt a bit bad that regular readers weren't going to have as much new content, so I've decided to contribute an article of my own.  Nicole isn't aware of this, and she'll likely want to delete this MAC and Mecca and Essie-less post, but until she notices, let's have another contribution for the gentlemen out there. You may not have recognised it, but the title of the article is the clue to the review.

Wait for it...

Code!  Armani Code, the fragrance for men.

It's the binary representation of the ASCII text "CODE"...

Code Label

Okay, anyway, moving on.

As with my review on Allure, it's difficult to put into words scents for men without the proper vocabulary.  If this were a red wine I could go on about the tannins, the hint of leather on the palate, perhaps the forrest fruits on the nose, but I don't have the right words for scents yet.

What I can say is that Nicole likes this as much as, if not more than, Allure.

First, what does the bottle look like?  (Cause, yeah, somehow to someone this matters, I guess)

Code bottle

Yep.  A black bottle.  With words.  Sold yet?

I'm going to do my best on a description of the scent - first of all, what it isn't:  It isn't sleazy.  It isn't Leisure Suit Larry with or without Lounge Lizards.  It isn't insulting, overpowering, or eye-watering.

As for what it is, well, if I were to close my eyes and try to describe it, I would probably say the following:

A melon (probably ripened honeydew) based fruit salad in a bookstore.

Yes, you read right.  Melon.  Bookstore.

There's a crispness, a clarity to the scent which reminds me of honeydew melon (the light green kind).  It's slightly watery as well, meaning, to me, that it doesn't leave a taste in your mouth, nor your nose.  You get it, it registers, it moves on.

The bookstore bit, okay, I admit that's a bit peculiar, but its the slightly dusty, but not musty, scent of paper, some new, some old, that I'm trying to capture here.

Perhaps the best advice I can give you here is that you've learned a lot about Nicole and the aesthetic she has, you know she's not one for cheesy, overwhelming or pungent.  She appreciates the subtle, and she loves this scent (on me) -- so, go out, grab a sampler from your polite Armani representative (in other words, not the one at David Jones in Melbourne who annoyed Nicole) and try it on for size.  See what you think, what he thinks, and who knows, maybe you'll have a new scent on the shelf, as we do!

Bagful is hittin' the road

In less than 24 hours I'll be jetting back to my parents place for a belated Thanksgiving / early Christmas. I will also attempt to blog from my iPad. Crazy, right?!  Scott's convinced I can do it, so I'm really stepping up to the challenge here. Please bear with me and forgive me if I don't get an opportunity to post as much as I would like. If you would like to keep up with my adventures back in the States, be sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter.

For the International ladies: is there anything you've really been wanting to try, but it's not available near you -- let me know. Perhaps I can sneak some photos inside of Sephora or Ulta and even provide a few swatches and of course my thoughts ;)

Talk to you soon!!

p.s. Can't wait to share my night out with The Body Shop with you -- lots of Festive Treats to try and review!