Before Christmas I was asked if I’d like to join in with a beauty challenge. Not just for me but for my husband too and I thought why not? Everyone likes to be a little glam in time for the festive parties and even though maybe not a lot of people know this, my husband is a bit of a girl when it comes to pampering and LOVES it! He probably has more products than even me (and I have a lot)!

So, we were sent a box each of things to preen and pamper ourselves with and it was all VERY exciting as the boxes were HUGE and we even got a fluffy white dressing gown each!

His and Hers dressing gowns!

So… Down to the pampering! The main treats for us to use and report on were the Braun SkinSpa epilator for me and the Braun CoolTec razor for Jonny.

Now Jonny and I used to go to Lee Hurst’s comedy club lots and Lee often talks in his act about how he is in the brotherhood of the razor now that he’s had to ‘come out’ as a bald man! My Jonny also had to join the brotherhood of the razor some time ago and uses clippers on his hair (what he has of it anyway). He always uses the same clippers on his beard too and has only ever tried disposable razors for when he wants a close shave. He’s never used an electric razor before so it was a whole new experience!

Just like Jonny with his razor, the epilator was a whole new product for me too! I have always dismissed the idea of epilation as assuming it will hurt and probably won’t work anyway… I was interested but kind of didn’t hold out much hope for it! They’re quite expensive and I’ve never heard anyone say they use one…

So… How did we get on?

I tried the Braun Silk-Epil 7 Skin Spa Epilator!

The epilator can be used wet or dry which surprised me really. One of the reasons I’ve not wanted to try something similar in the past is that I just can’t get my head around using a hair removal product on dry skin? I’ve always shaved and this only works on wet skin which is obviously good for pain relieving as well as preventing shaving rash. However, I did try the epilator on dry and wet skin to see the difference.

The epilator has adaptors to use under arm and even on the face and it also has an exfoliation brush and light to show up the hairs! I did my legs and my under arms!

The first time I used it I thought it hurt an awful lot. There’s no getting away from it because it just did. I bit my lip and carried on however and even though my eyes were watering when I did my under arm I persisted. At the end of the session which took quite a while I was very impressed with how it had completely got rid of all hairs under my arms. On my legs however and they still felt quite stubbly. I worked out that it was probably due to the hairs growing at different times so a few days later I did them again which got them completely smooth. It was actually quite amazing how it managed to get all the hairs and with totally smooth legs I started to see the benefit of going through the pain.

I did expect the hairs to grow back at different rates because obviously they had come out at different times and I guess I just expected them to come back a few days later. As it happens, today we are at the three week mark and only just in the last few days would I say the hairs have come back. They have also grown back softer and fewer which I didn’t expect and to boot they seem to all be growing back at the same rate. I’ve had to wait a few days for the hairs to get long enough to epilate but they aren’t stubbly to feel and haven’t bothered me to look at either… Actually very impressed and starting to wonder why I’ve not epilated before?

Will be holding my breath and going in for another session this week but with nearly three weeks of complete hair free legs and under arms it’s worth it… Would I steel myself and do my bikini line? Oh I don’t know… Maybe yes! I’ll let you know if I do but it is blooming painful so maybe I’ll need a sniff of a drink first!

Next up, Jonny’s turn and how did he get on with an electric razor that again can be used wet or dry?

Jonny tried the Braun CoolTec electric wety/dry razor!

As I mentioned, Jonny’s not used an electric razor before and just like me has always wanted to shave wet because it feels more natural. Obviously with this one you can and because he has quite sensitive skin it was great because the razor has active cooling technology to help!

Jonny thought it was great at doing the job, didn’t have any rashes and used it all over the Christmas period. He found it easy to clean and store and thought it would be brilliant to take away on a trip or for a business man to use in his office between meetings as it’s quick and effective!

The razor is easy to store and clean!

We really enjoyed the challenge and although I barely used mine I think that was the point and the proof that it’s doing the job it needs to!

We also had some other rather lovely products in our boxes from hair serums and wash bags to make up which I loved using and in my box I also had a pink Oral B electric toothbrush which was rather fab! I love electric toothbrushes and until you’ve tried one then you just don’t know the difference! You know that feeling when you come out of the dentist after your teeth have been professionally cleaned? Well electric toothbrushes are so good these days that they actually do a similar job. Love that this one is pink too!

I was sent this rather fun pink electric toothbrush from Oral B as part of my pampering pack!

The one thing I would say about all three electrical products is that they ALL use a shaving plug point and we don’t have one of those in our house. You can buy adaptors of course which we have been using to charge them up but it is a bit annoying. Obviously for travel and on the continent they’re perfect as there are always razor plug points in hotels and abroad but I don’t think it’s so common in houses in this country.

We loved the challenge and loved the results!

I was sent some his and hers beauty products for the purpose of an honest review.