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These clever tools will help enhance your cleansing routine, with big savings Brush Face Cleaner
We updated this article in January 2024 to reflect the latest prices and deals, ensuring you get the best price for your beauty investment.
Find your regular cleanser just isn’t cutting it? For a deeper clean, try reaching for a cleansing brush. These clever skincare tools help to remove everything from makeup to excess oil, leaving you with a healthier complexion and brighter skin.
With prices starting at under £20 and ranging up to £200, the experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute wanted to find out which ones are worth spending money on. We asked a panel of testers to try the top brands for one month — scroll on for their detailed reviews, but here are their winners at a glance:
These brushes aren’t a replacement for your trusted cleanser. Instead, they work alongside your skincare products to help optimise results.
To use, simply apply your cleanser as normal, wet the cleansing brush head and massage the product across your face.
They help remove makeup and dirt more efficiently, and with more oomph than your regular washcloth, providing a much deeper cleanse. Also adept at removing dead skin, cleansing brushes are excellent for anyone seeking a clearer complexion, as they can help to keep blemishes at bay.
What’s more, the circular motions used can also promote lymphatic drainage, stimulating the surface of your skin to help give it a little detox.
Cleansing brushes feature bristles that gently exfoliate skin, helping to remove dead skin, dirt and excess sebum. By providing a deeper clean, it prevents pores from clogging, so you should see fewer blackheads.
It's important to keep your gadget in tip-top shape by removing the head attachment at least once a week to give the bristles a clean. Even better, replace your brush head every three months or so.
We asked our panel of 195 beauty testers to trial a range of cleansing tools and brushes for four weeks. We first removed branding to avoid any bias.
Testers rated each tool's performance, ease of use and its overall effect on their skin. Meanwhile, in the GHI lab, we assessed each tool's makeup removal skills on an artificial skin replica.
Our winner aced our lab test for makeup removal, and won over testers with a deep cleanse that left skin feeling softer and more radiant.
Its straightforward design made it easy to use, with a vibration level that felt gentle yet was still effective on dirt. Our panel loved it so much, all of them said they would continue using it after the trial period.
Doubling up as a facial massager with a heated massage function, this is the tool to use during a well-deserved pamper session.
One tester even said the heat helped their serum absorb better. The long-lasting battery was also a hit, managing to stay powered for weeks. Most importantly, it left skin feather-soft, too.
Loosening stubborn dirt and grime to leave you with new and improved skin, this one certainly delivered on radiance for our panel.
It didn’t cause any irritation but still left almost all with a brighter complexion. One tester found spots on their cheek “vanished” after 10 days of use, while practically everyone agreed it left them with clearer skin.
Claiming to be a world-first, this multi-purpose tool cleanses, tones and epilates. Our panel liked how seamless it was to change heads and said it felt gentle on the skin, while still working effectively alongside their current cleanser.
It's lightweight, relatively quiet in use and a doddle to clean — something you'll need to do regularly, for obvious reasons. Almost everyone was left with softer, smoother and more toned skin, and said they planned to continue using the device after the trial.
When you think of cleansing brushes, you often think of Clarisonic. The brand was created in 2004 and counts Oprah as one of its first fans – so you know you’re in good hands.
A top scorer in our lab test for eliminating any traces of makeup, it also won testers over with its soft bristles, which left most happy with the thorough clean they provided. Half would have appreciated a speedier charge-up time, but overall, it got the job done.
Voted best for removing any sweat, oil and debris by our panel, all testers were pleased with its deep cleansing capabilities, with one seeing “fewer blocked pores after a month.”
This tool also features a toning head to firm skin – which most agreed made a difference – while almost all were left with a smoother, softer, clearer and brighter complexion.
This high-tech cleansing tool comes with 16 vibration options and connects to the Foreo app to give you a customised cleansing experience. Foreo says the silicone bristles are more hygienic and super easy to clean, while also being gentle on skin.
Though not the top pick for toning, it left almost everyone with deeply cleansed skin. Testers also loved its shape for gliding along the contours of the face.
With a range of head options to remove dead skin and deliver a soothing massage, this is a great starter kit. It effectively removed foundation for most, leaving all testers with freshly cleansed skin.
The protective brush head lid also helped keep bacteria at bay, while its petite egg-shape fitted into the palm perfectly. However, some testers noted it didn’t work well alongside their balm cleanser. Overall, though, almost everyone was left with clearer, more radiant skin.
Florence is our Senior Beauty Writer, specialising in expert-tested beauty and grooming reviews — from toothbrushes to the latest skincare launches. She’s committed to sharing recommendations for products that truly work and make people feel confident and healthy. Prior to this she was at Tropic Skincare, where she worked closely with biochemists in the lab, delving into the functions of each fresh, natural ingredient and conveying its efficacy to her audience in easy-to-digest terms.
With over five years’ experience in beauty and health journalism, Florence has written for ELLE, Women’s Fitness, Sister Magazine, National Geographic Traveller and many more, with a strong sustainability angle thread through much of her work.
When she isn’t packing for a trip away, working out, eating out or reading up on retinol serums, you’ll probably find her experimenting with her film camera and building her portfolio of portraits. Florence’s photography can be found at florencereeves-white.com, her Instagram is @florencereeveswhite and her twitter is @floreadsnwrites
Orla is our Senior Beauty and Grooming Tester and has extensive knowledge of skin and hair composition thanks to her first class bachelor's degree in cosmetic science from the Universy of the Arts London. She also spent time as a Formulation Chemist intern at Amelia Knight Cosmetics.
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