In just four weeks, we’ve noticed a significant improvement in our skin – it looks clearer, brighter and firmer. On days when we haven’t used it, our skin feels grubby and we soon realise when we’ve forgotten to cleanse using the LUNA 3.
Part of this is down to the fact that by using the LUNA 3, the other various skincare products – and makeup – we’re using appear to be working more effectively. A consequence of this is that we’re using less of them.
We don’t need as much moisturiser for it to be fully absorbed and for it to leave our skin feeling hydrated. We’re using less toner because the cleansing step of our skincare routine is removing more dirt. That’s not to mention the fact we’re using less foundation because we don’t need as much coverage, because our skin is so clear.
We’ve also found that cheaper skincare and makeup products (which often have lower concentrations of ingredients) are working in ways they didn’t before. This means that, whether by coincidence or by design, the LUNA 3 is saving us money.
Yes, the FOREO Luna 3 is pricey but it ticks a lot of boxes in terms of design and performance and by recouping some of this initial investment by spending less on other products, the ends well and truly justify the means in our opinion.
| FOREO | £169 |
| Lookfantastic | £169 |
| Amazon | £169 |
When it comes to the best cleansers, there are countless options to choose from – foams, balms, milks, lotions, creams. All of them can be applied, perfectly well, with your hands but if you want a really deep clean, there’s a rising trend of electric cleansers that promise to clear your pores, massage your face and even get rid of spots.
And at the forefront of this trend is FOREO.
The Swedish beauty brand launched its first LUNA facial cleansing massager in 2013 and has since released multiple successors, each one designed to appeal to a different skin concern or budget. There are mini versions, which are perfect for travelling with, and which have sensors that analyse your skin’s health.
There are LUNA cleansers for men, to help them clean their beards and prepare their faces for shaving. There is even a gold version of the LUNA – called LUNA luxe – which costs a staggering £5,100!
To help you decide which LUNA device is best for you and your skin, FOREO has an online quiz that asks you about how your face responds to hot water, how long your makeup lasts and if you suffer from acne.
From this, the LUNA that seemingly ticks most boxes in terms of features, design and price is the LUNA 3. This is the model we’ve been testing for the past two months for this FOREO LUNA 3 review.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
Before we dive into the FOREO LUNA 3 review, it’s worth showing how the LUNA 3 fits in on the market, and in the rest of the FOREO range.
Electric cleansers tend to come in two formats – either they have standard brush heads, or they’re made using silicone bristles. The FOREO range sits in the latter.
Nylon bristle brushes can offer a deeper clean and greater exfoliation than silicone ones, but they’re less hygienic. A staggering 35 times less hygienic according to FOREO’s figures.
This is because silicone is non-porous so bacteria is far, far less likely to build up in between the bristles.
Silicone is softer and less abrasive, meaning it’s better suited to sensitive skin, and it lasts longer than nylon brush heads.
Granted, nylon brush cleansers are cheaper.
You will spend less, initially, buying a standard brush cleanser – the No7 Radiant Results Revitalising Sonic Action Cleansing Brush costs £30, for example, and you’ll have to regularly replace (every two months or so) the heads at £10 a time.
Over the course of a year, this will cost you around £90, which is significantly cheaper than the LUNA 3, but it doesn’t offer the massage or app features. Nor can you, normally, buy brush heads designed for different skin types.
As you can see in the chart above, when it comes to seeing where the LUNA 3 fits in the FOREO range, you’ll see it sits towards the top end of the range in terms of features and price.
Its closest competitor is the LUNA 2 and, in our opinion, if you have the budget for the LUNA 2 we highly recommend spending the extra £20 to get the app-connected features, and the longer bristles of the LUNA 3.
We still think the LUNA 2 is worthy of your money, of course. It’s just that the LUNA 3 offers slightly more value.
For an extra £50 on top of the already pricey LUNA 3, you can get the LUNA 3 plus. This offers the same cleansing and massage features of the LUNA 3, but adds anti-ageing thermo technology and microcurrents, which help firm the skin and leave it looking more plump.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
As we mentioned above, the LUNA 3 (and all FOREO cleansers) is made from waterproof silicone and comes in three models – one for normal skin (pink), one for combination skin (blue), and one for sensitive skin (purple).
We’ve been testing the blue LUNA 3 because we have combination skin but the differences are as follows:
♥︎ LUNA 3 Normal skin (pink)
The brush area on the LUNA 3 for Normal skin combines a mix of longer, thinner bristles on the bulk of the brush, and thicker nodules on the top. These thicker touch points make it easier to get into hard-to-reach places, like around your nose.
♥︎ LUNA 3 Combination skin (blue)
The combination skin version of the LUNA 3 looks identical to the normal, pink version but there are some subtle differences. The silicone bristles in the main part of the brush, for example, are different heights to provide more cleansing and exfoliation power. The thicker nodules at the top have been designed to work on oily areas of the skin to clear our congestion.
♥︎ LUNA 3 Sensitive skin (purple)
The sensitive skin version of the LUNA 3 only has the longer, more gentle silicone bristles and doesn’t have the harder, thicker nodules. This is because sensitive skin needs to be treated more gently.
Each of these models fits in the palm of your hand and on the front is the curved brush at the top that tapers. The back is curved in line with the shape of a palm and this design means it’s easy to hold the LUNA 3 comfortably, without covering the brush bristles with your fingers.
It also means you can move it in circular motions, easily and without it slipping, allowing you to cover large parts of your cheeks and forehead with the larger part of the brush before using the top, thinner part for the area around your nose, near your eyes, and your chin and mouth. Compared to the awkward, triangle shape of the Magnitone Xoxo or the fatter, wider shape of the FOREO Luna Play, the LUNA 3 is the most comfortable electric cleanser we’ve used.
On the rear is a series of ridges that turn the LUNA 3 into a massaging tool. We use the LUNA 3 to cleanse our face at the start of our skincare routine before turning it over and using it to massage our face oil in at the end of the routine by moving the ridges on the vibrating tool from the centre of our face towards the hairline.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
This is where the LUNA 3 really comes into its own, and it goes some way towards justifying its high price tag. Firstly, the LUNA 3’s brush head is both 30% larger than LUNA 2, and its silicone bristles are 30% longer and 25% softer. This reach and extra softness mean you’ll get a deeper, gentler cleanse than with its predecessor.
To clear your pores and effectively ‘shake’ dirt off your skin, the LUNA 3 uses 8,000 T-Sonic pulsations a minute. The T stands for transdermal, which means ‘through the skin’.
These sonic sound waves vibrate really fast and get deep into your pores to remove oil, sweat, makeup or skincare residue and dead skin cells. The waves also help boost circulation and exfoliate the skin without pulling on it or being too abrasive.
The first time you use the LUNA 3, you connect it via Bluetooth to a smartphone and you can then use the app to control various features of the LUNA 3, as well as any other FOREO devices you buy.
If you find the T-Sonic pulsations aren’t strong enough, for example, or they’re a little too much, you can use the app to change the intensity, from 1-16. You can also adjust the timer. The cleansing brush runs, automatically, for 60 seconds but you can extend this for up to four minutes.
When using the LUNA 3’s massage function, particularly, there are settings for a two-minute massage that uses high and low-intensity pulsations to firm the eye area. A two-minute massage that and firms your neck and décolleté, a four-minute massage to help you contour and sculpts your cheek- and jawbones; or a two-minute massage to tighten your jawline and while reducing frown lines.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
Using the LUNA 3 is incredibly intuitive, even if you’ve never used an electric cleanser before.
Cleansing
Dampen your face and put your favourite cleanser on the LUNA 3 brush before pressing the sunken button on the front twice. The base will light up, to indicate the gadget is on and the LUNA 3 will start vibrating.
Move the LUNA 3 around one cheek for 20 seconds – at which point the LUNA 3 will pulse quickly three times to tell you it’s ready to move on to the next cheek. Repeat this for the other cheek, including your nose, then move to your forehead and chin.
The LUNA 3 will shut off when the 60 seconds are up. You can then rinse the cleanser – it’s completely waterproof – and rinse your face before carrying on with the rest of your routine.
Massaging
You can simply repeat the above steps and turn the cleanser over to massage your face. Or, use the FOREO app to choose which massaging mode you want and then follow the on-screen instructions.
In addition to tightening the skin, the massaging ridges help increase blood and oxygen flow in your skin. This helps improve pigmentation, reduces wrinkles and fine lines and lift sagging skin.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
Before using the LUNA 3, we used our hands to massage the cleanser into our face and reusable face cloth to remove it. This was a quicker way to cleanse, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was the best way!
Since using the LUNA 3, the extra time we put into cleansing our face, in particular spending equal amounts of time on each part of our face, has made a difference to both the look and texture of our skin.
We have far fewer breakouts than before. In fact, we only now get breakouts around the time of our period which is hormonal (and which no amount of cleansing is likely to help!). Our skin feels softer and our skin type is now more balanced.
We used to have dry patches on the sides of our face and an oily T-zone. Now, our skin doesn’t get oily at all. The LUNA 3 is seemingly clearing and tightening our pores, so we’re producing less sebum. It also means that without any dead skin cells and dirt covering the top layer of our skin, the rest of our skincare products are working as they should.
The massaging tool is a fantastic addition and, because our skin is clearer and our skincare is working more effectively, by massaging it in we’ve also noticed a difference in pigmentation and fine lines around our eyes.
Although the option of the app is great, realistically we rarely use it. We get by with the default settings and, as we’ve just explained, it doesn’t seem to be damaging the results or the performance. In fact, using the app just makes the whole thing a bit clunky and when we’re running short on time, it’s an extra faff.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
Of course, having Bluetooth features and an app is a major part of why FOREO charges so much for the LUNA 3. This means that if, like us, this isn’t a dealbreaker or you just don’t want them, the LUNA 3 is an expensive vibrating silicone brush.
That said, it really is the best expensive, vibrating silicone cleansing brush we’ve used.
In just four weeks, we’ve noticed a significant improvement in our skin – it looks clearer, brighter and firmer. On days when we haven’t used it, our skin feels a bit more grubby and we quite soon realise when we’ve forgotten to cleanse using the LUNA 3.
Part of this is down to the fact that by using the LUNA 3, the other various skincare products – and makeup – we’re using appear to be working more effectively.
A consequence of this is that we’re using less of them. We don’t need as much moisturiser for it to be fully absorbed and for it to leave our skin feeling hydrated. We’re using less toner because the cleansing step of our skincare routine is removing more dirt. That’s not to mention the fact we’re using less foundation because we don’t need as much coverage, because our skin is so clear.
We’ve also found that cheaper skincare and makeup products (which often have lower concentrations of ingredients) are working in ways they didn’t before. This means that, whether by coincidence or by design, the LUNA 3 is saving us money.
Yes, the FOREO Luna 3 is pricey but it ticks a lot of boxes in terms of design and performance and by recouping some of this initial investment by spending less on other products, the ends well and truly justify the means in our opinion.
Buy now from Lookfantastic
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
