Philips Lumea Precision Plus IPL Hair Removal System - unboxing and first impressions

I have to admit I am extremely lazy when it comes to hair removal. There are so many different options when it comes down to it - shaving, waxing, epilating, threading, laser treatments - but for some, the task of hair removal can be a chore. If it's not time-consuming, messy or fiddly then it's expensive or very painful.

As a teen, before I started shaving, I tried Veet hair removal cream on my legs. It was very messy, didn't work well, and I got told off for stinking out the bathroom with the horrible smell of fumes that comes with it. I didn't dare try it on any other part of my body for fear of going a second over the recommended time and burning my skin off. Since then, I have always stuck to the good old-fashioned razor (when I can be bothered).

Recently laser hair removal treatments are becoming increasingly popular and I am hearing more about them. I always see local salons offering courses of treatments but I've never looked into it because it seemed too time consuming. Then I discovered an at home treatment - the Philips Lumea Precision Plus.

The people at Philips claim this device will reduce unwanted hairs by up to 80% in as little as eight weeks (using four fortnightly treatments). IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light - which uses high intensity focused light to force hair to stop growing by naturally shedding and reducing regrowth.

This decive can be used on the face, legs, arms, bikini area and underarms. It has five intensity settings, so can be adapted to suit skin tones and hair colours, and it comes with two different sized application windows for large or targeted areas.

The device is very neatly packaged. It comes in a handy carry case, with a charger and head attachment, and also has a cleaning cloth, quick start guide and full instruction manual.

The device is very light and the instructions are clear and simple to understand. The quick start guide makes it very simple to work out how to use it.

There is a chart which recommends which light intensity you need to use, based on your hair colour and skin tone. Before using the Lumea Precision Plus it is recommended you shave the area you are going to treat, then you place the appliance on a 90 degree angle to the skin and press the flash button to release a flash of light. You can then either keep the button pressed down while you slide the appliance to the next area of skin (if you are using a large area like legs), or you can let go of the button, place the appliance on the next area of skin and press down again (suitable for more precise areas like the lip or knees).

The guide also comes with a chart you can fill in to monitor when you have used the Lumea Precision Plus and the date of the next treatment. Plus it has a handy table which sets out the average treatment times for each area:

- Upper lip/chin/sideburns: 1 minute

- Underarms: 1 minute per underarm

- Bikini line: 1 minute

- Entire bikini area: 4 minutes

- One lower leg: 8 minutes

- One full leg: 14 minutes

The Lumea Precision Plus IPL system is pretty expensive - it is recommended as £450 on Philips' website however you can get it for around £290 at Boots, Amazon or Argos - but it is cheaper than getting a course of laser hair removal treatments done professionally, and it is meant to save money in the long run as it prevents the regrowth of hair.

I will soon be putting this to the test and will be doing a full review to see if it is worth the money!

Have you ever tried laser hair removal before? Let me know what your experiences were!