Makeon Light therapy Review

I know you guys have been waiting for this for a long long time, just like how I was waiting for my device to come through the mail for almost three months haha.  But we are nowhere and ready to write the review.  If you guys don’t know what this device is, I shared it on Instagram as a video and it gained almost a million views.  A lot of people were super interested in it but the thing is, this device is hard to get and there aren’t any English reviews on it.  I love being the first to review things and tap into untouched territories hehe.  I have gotten into contact with Amorepacific US to see if they would have any plans with carrying the Makeon division to North America but unfortunately, they said no, which is kind of a shame since light therapy is gaining a lot of traction here in North America as well as Korea.  With all that being said, let’s get started with the review!

*Update: So I have been talking to someone from Makeon Korea and they have been correcting the way I need to use the device.  So I will be including the updates in this post :).*

Full name of product:
Makeon Light therapy
스킨 라이트 테라피

Limited edition/ Permanent?:
Permanent

Description of product:
There is not a lick of English on the manual or the website so I will just summarize what this device is supposed to do.

This handheld device emits 3 types of microcurrents and depending on the light setting, each of the settings is supposed to do different tasks.  The blue one increases moisture content, yellow for smoothness/ evenness/ brightening effects and red is for firming/promoting collagen production/ elasticity.  Please note that these light therapy devices use LED (Light-emitting diode) and it is not the same tanning beds that use UVA lights to tan the skin.

Price:
150,000 won

I personally paid 112,000 won I think but that was because there was some sort of deal I found on a website during sale season.  I’d say if you don’t want to pay the full price, wait until there is some special holiday.

Country of Manufacture:
Made in Korea
Manufactured by Amorepacific Korea

Where to buy:
Stylevana
Amazon

Okay, so here is the really tricky part.  This device has a lithium battery in it, which means it can not be shipped by air.  Due to the air restrictions and the possibility of the battery exploding in airplanes, airmail is a no-go.  The only other option is to get it through surface mail, but your parcel has to be at least 2-3 kg and the device with the box is only around 300-400 g.  So the dilemma is, how do I get this shipped to my country?  Well since I always order stuff from Korea through my friend who lives there, I had no problem hitchhiking this thing with my heavy shampoos I bought that I was going to ship through surface mail anyways.  For you guys, I’d suggest using a buying service (please click here to see how/ what a buying service is) and request for them to ship it through surface mail.  I know a lot of people have been trying to get it through G-market but I think the orders bounced back when the seller realized you can’t ship it through airmail.  eBay is also another option but they go for $180 USD each + free shipping and I don’t know how they are going to ship it out. Another option is to find a friend who is going to Korea and either stop by a department store and pick one up or pick one up at the duty-free airport.  Those are pretty much your only options :S.

 I have gotten into contact with Amorepacific US to see if they’d have plans on bringing this device over since there are so many people who are interested in it and it is gaining a lot of attention in the mainstream media in North America, especially after Neutrogena also has their spaceman looking mask sold in your local drugstores.  It only makes sense to bring it over since, well it’s better in my opinion.

How to use:
There are a couple of ways you can use this device.

1) The standard way.
After you have finished your whole skincare routine, take this device and massage your face with it.  Do not pull this device downwards on your face, always go upwards.  So if you are working on your jawline and cheeks, start from your chin and bring the device upwards towards your ears.

2) Over a sheet mask
Feel like multi-tasking?  You can also use this device over your sheet mask to push in the hydration.  Plus you wouldn’t have to do two treatments separately and waste 40 minutes of your life.

3) Add ampoule amounts of moisturizer
Sometimes if my skin feels super duper dry, I’d add two to three times the regular amount of moisturizer on my face and work on that.  This not only moisturizes my skin during the winter time when I’m super duper dry, I also get my irritations zapped away :D.

Every time I am done with the device, I take some rubbing alcohol, spritz some onto a tissue and wipe away all the residue.  Please make sure to keep this device sanitary since you are using this device on your bare skin and you don’t want anymore break outs!

*Update: So here is what Makeon is telling us to use it, properly.  “After cleansing, apply a thick layer of skincare in which you would like the most results of: moisturizing, toning or tightening. Press button until it beeps, then select total-care mode of blue, yellow or red.  Lightly massage machine onto skin. Use on wide areas such as cheeks, then nose, chin and neck. (For the eye region lay machine horizontally and use).  Once machine turns off automatically after 3 minutes, thoroughly clean machine and store.“

They also said to allow your skin to get used to the machine by using just the blue light for a few days first, and then continue on with the other two lights afterwards.  Haha that is totally not what I did :P.  Whoops!
Product packaging:
This is the first time I have bought something from the brand Makeon.  Since I already knew it was a brand division of Amorepacific and the prices for these babies are not cheap, I was expecting a royalty treatment in terms of packaging.  The box did not disappoint, although I was expecting a bigger box for some reason.  When you first get it, it comes in a medium sized, Apple type of packaging, white box with rose gold touches.

Opening it up, the lid honestly is gorgeous.  I’d keep this box just for the rose gold happiness.  To your right would be the device, manual and the charging cable.

These are all the things that comes in the box.  Manual, device and charging cable.  I was expecting the device to be a lot bigger then this, but I’m kind of liking that it is hand held and not heavy at all.  It doesn’t feel cheap in the hands and it’s definitely well built, something I appreciate.

The manual would be helpful… if I read Korean LOL.  But then again, I never read the manual so it doesn’t really matter to me.  I’m a test it and try it yourself type of gal.

Okay, so another thing you guys would be asking me… “How do I charge it if the charging plug doesn’t fit with my plug in my country?”

Clearly, this wall plug would not work with Canada and US’s plugs.  I was ready to use one of those charging converters. Luckily, I found something very interesting you guys would be happy to hear!

Voltage: 110-220 V, 50-60 Hz, 0.3 A

Hmm… not only does this look familiar, the voltage is the exact same thing as the USB converting wall plugs we use here in Canada for our smartphones.  Another thing, the head for the USB is a micro USB so any Samsung or Android chargers you guys already have will work in terms of charging up this device.

Apple USB plug in: 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.15 A

It’s not exact and I’m not an electrical expert.  All I know is, it works and nothing has blown up LOL.
Battery life:
Charging up the device takes about 1-2 hours for me and the device lasts about 5-7 days use for me.  They claim you can use the device over 30 times, but I don’t find that to be the case.  Then again in one sitting, I turn on and off the device about 4 times or so, so I guess it is around that number.  Every time the device is finished with one 3 minute cycle, it turns itself off which is kind of annoying since I like to do 3 minutes each side of my face, each light setting.

When the device is low on battery, the light setting home button on the side will blink indicating it needs a charge soon.

*Update: You should be able to use the machine more then 20 times after 2 hours of charging. So because I use it more then 9 minutes at a time, I have to charge it more. But I’m addicted so can you really blame me hehe. Don’t worry, I will change my ways.*

How does it work?
To turn the device on, you simply hold the home button down until you hear a beep and see the light come on.  So this device has four settings.  The white setting would be all three light settings, 1 minute interval of each light setting (1 minute blue light, 1 minute yellow light, 1 minute red light).

Blue light would be the first setting and you can see it is the blue light because, well it’s shining blue on the home button.  When you use the device, it also vibrates on your skin.  It’s very odd and weird but blue light would be the slowest one out of the three, vibrating once per second.

Blue: hydration boost
Before use 0%–> 58.2% (what the manual says, a study with the Laneige water sleeping pack)
This setting runs for 3 minutes and will beep halfway to tell you to do the other side of your face.

It also says on the manual you this device over a sheet mask if you want more hydration.

Yellow light is the second light setting and you can get to this setting by simply pressing once on the home button and it will take you to the yellow setting.  Yellow is the third setting and vibrates twice per second.

Yellow: Brightening, complexion toning
Before use 0%—> 23.2%
This setting runs for 3 minutes and will beep halfway to tell you to do the other side of your face.

If you want to brighten up your skin a bit more, it says to apply slight pressure points which would be the center of your chin, the area from your laugh line to the tops of your cheeks, and also the temple area.

Red being the last setting, it vibrates the fastest, going at 3 vibrations per second.

Red: Elasticity, collagen production
Before use 0%—> 12% after 2 weeks —> 11% after 4 weeks
This setting runs for 3 minutes and will beep halfway to tell you to do the other side of your face.

The red light, it tells you to focus on areas with wrinkles.  So the laugh lines, your forehead, jawline, and also your neck.  Please make sure when you are doing your neck, start from the collarbone and go up!  Do not go down unless you want to look like a Sharpei dog.

Okay, let’s show you a demo of how to use this thing.

Please excuse my hair.  This is the real me, heading to bed and doing this photoshoot right before.

From far away, my skin doesn’t look that bad.  But for me, this is pretty bad since I’m getting irritation bumps on my cheeks, and touch-wise, I can feel my skin being uneven underneath.  I think during the time I took these photos, my period was on its way so my skin is extra sensitive and finicky.

I usually get redness around my cheeks and honestly, there isn’t much I can do.  I have had this problem for a long time and no skincare products can reduce it since it’s more of a complexion thing and annoying uneven bumpiness underneath my skin.  I have tried this device under my eyes for like two seconds and I would HIGHLY not recommend you guys do that.  It hurts like a mother and makes my eyes water.

Using this device on the skin, I thought it would just be like running lights over my face but there is a vibration to the device and also a slight electric shock type of sensation.  The device does not turn on unless it touches your skin.  Also if your skin is too dry and the device doesn’t think it is touching skin since your dry, apply some moisturizer.  If your pain tolerance isn’t that great, I’d suggest you add a bit more moisturizer than your usual routine which I found to help reduce the pain levels.  I promise the pain level isn’t super crazy unless you have pimples or irritation bumps.  Then I’m sorry, I can’t hold your hand.  Put a towel in your mouth and clench because when you do run it over irritations/ pimples, it burns like a MOTHER!!  I imagine little men surrounding my bumps with tiny needles and tiny torches of fire, going at it.  It hurts pretty bad when that happens, I’m not even going to sit here and lie.  BUT there is a brighter side to the store because the following day, you can visibly see that the bump has been reduced to half its size and is already out the door on the third or fourth day.

I’m not hyping you guys to expect miracles and do keep in mind, everyone’s skin is different, the environment is different, personal habits are all different so always take my opinions with a grain of salt.  I’m also not going to promise that it can clear up your acne-prone skin one four days because lets be realistic, I personally don’t know if that would happen.  The only thing that I can say is, never know unless you try.  So please don’t come back at me with your angry pitchforks and torches of fire if it doesn’t work and you spent a good amount of your hard-earned coins to get it.  I mean, you can always pawn it off LOL.

So personally, I like to do each light setting for 3 minutes each on each side of my face.  So 3 minutes on my left side, 3 minutes on my right side for the blue, and the same thing for all the other light settings as well.

After I do my light therapy routine, this is what my skin would look like if my skin is in bad condition.  I suggest you guys use the device at night before you go to bed since you’ll most likely look like a red splotchy mess, not something you’d wanna leave the house looking like.

Do I think it is effective?  Does it work in my opinion?
I honestly didn’t know what to expect since the reviews I had my friend translate for me from the Korean bloggers, all were sponsored and obviously had positive things to say about the device.  At first, I thought it was gimmicky and maybe I’d be buying just expensive Christmas lights.  I was scared to fall in love because it was so hard to get as is.  The more I looked into it, the more I thought about it, the more desperate I wanted it.  I even contacted my flight attendant friends to help a sister out when my friend told me nothing could be done and the Korean post office workers were no help.  Sorry to my friend, who I bothered for almost a month straight to find a way to get this to me, we finally prevailed and got it out of Korea and into the hands of me and my curious catness.

Unfortunately, I have to say this.  I don’t think I’ll be able to live without this product anymore.  This device truly works, and the results speak for themselves.  I mean, for irritations, redness, pimples, all to reduce in a day or two for a long-term type of deal is pretty amazing to me.  Not only do you not have to buy special serums (*ahem* Nu Skin and your stupid $500 device where you have to buy $50 serums every time and that shit doesn’t work at all…), you can use everything you already have in your cabinet.  $150 honestly is not a huge price to pay if you consider a trip to the spa costs around $50-$100+ per visit.  You can use this handheld device in the comforts of your own home, look red in the comfort of your home, and know that the next day, you will have yet another good skin day. Every day would be a good skin day!  Do I recommend this?  Yes, yes I do.  I know it is a pain in the but to get but if you can get it, get it.  I think everyone could benefit from this device and I don’t know who Amorepacific won’t bring it over.  Maybe if we sign a petition, they would listen and bring it over.  For now, we can enjoy this now highly sought-after skincare device for all my skincare-loving people :).  I’m sorry that I am now going to embark you guys on the hair ripping journey to get one for yourself.  Cheers.

*Please note this device was bought with my own money.  Not sponsored, totally bought with my own hard-earned coins so I can bring you guys an interesting review ;).*