SmoothSkin Pure Adapt review

What is it?

The SmoothSkin Pure Adapt is the latest IPL device from SmoothSkin and manufactured by Cyden Ltd, UK, released in April 2024. It’s the successor to the SmoothSkin Pure Fit.

The Pure Adapt flashes powerful light energy, called Intense Pulsed Light (IPL), into your skin. This heats and damages your hair follicles, which slows and reduces your hair growth. During several regular sessions, your hairs stop growing. You then keep your skin smooth with less regular top-up sessions.

Learn more about how home IPL works here.

Cyden Ltd, based in Swansea Wales UK, manufactures the SmoothSkin IPL range. Boots launched the first at-home SmoothSkin device in 2009. The updated Gold model followed in 2014, then the Pure in 2020. These later models feature Cyden’s patented advanced skin tone sensor technology, which auto-matches the IPL intensity to your skin tone.

The Pure Adapt features an updated look, tactile materials, and the same advanced skin tone sensor tech as the earlier models. Choose from three colours: sage green, champagne and slate grey. It’s updated with a clever adaptive flash window that adjusts to the curves and contours all around your body. So, you don’t need several extra treatment heads to get the job done. Learn more about this in the full Smoothskin Pure Adapt review, below.   

Can I use it?

Here’s a quick reference checklist of important information to know if it’s safe for you to use the Pure Adapt. Before you buy, you should also check the user guide for a comprehensive list of warnings and contraindications.

Next, onto unboxing the Adapt…

First impressions

The Pure Adapt packaging stands out not because it’s fancy, but because it couldn’t get much simpler. 

The device comes in a basic compact and robust, thick brown cardboard box with a simple logo on the top and a stuck on skin tone label on the back. It’s not pretty like rival devices, but it doesn’t need to be. It does a grand job to secure the kit and keep it safe.

Unfold the lid and the underside is dusky grey with an attractive wave pattern on it. Inside on a moulded cardboard bed is the Adapt IPL device and next to that the power cord and power pack are tucked inside a cardboard sleeve proudly labelled with “British Beauty Tech” 🇬🇧.

I like the simple materials and branding, muted unisex colours, and the neat, secure organisation. It’s functional and unfussy, and 100% recyclable ♻️, too. I think it’s rather splendid.

What’s in the box?

• Adapt IPL device 
• Power pack & cable
• Mains cable
• User manual  
• Soft pouch

Quality & design

The handsome Adapt stands out from the crowd with its muted sage green body, contrasting glossy slate grey sides, and subtle gold trim. It makes a welcome change from the typical white, rose-gold, and pink colourways of rival IPLs. 

It feels solid and balanced in hand, and I particularly like the grippy and tactile, velvety-feel material on the top and bottom. With unlimited flashes from the IPL bulb so you’ll never run out, it’s superb long-lasting quality. There’s a good 2-year warranty, too.

The Adapt is the same compact, lightweight, ergonomic curved handle-shape as the previous Pure Fit. It’s shaped around the large oval flash button on top, and fits perfectly in between my fingers and thumb. The rounded handle tapers gently to the end where there’s a fixed matching sage green power cord. The slight angle of the long handle keeps the cord out of your way.

The large flash button is right where you grip the device, with a smaller mode select button at the bottom. The default is power mode. To change modes, press the mode button and the corresponding small embossed icons glow white. Press it once for softer flashes in gentle mode (shown by the feather icon). Press it again for the fastest flashes with speed mode (you’ll see the stopwatch icon). Then press it once more to return to power mode (there’s no icon). 

Like the Pure Fit, the Adapt has a yellow colour Xenon flash bulb with an in-built UV filter to protect your skin. And it has skin contact sensors around the flash opening. This safety feature means the device won’t flash unless your skin covers them, so you can’t accidentally flash it into open-air anywhere near your eyes.

You get one medium-size flash window with the Adapt. But it’s no ordinary flash window. This one adapts to your body contours with two spring mounted wings on either side. They move up and down independently for close contact against your curves. So, with the Adapt, you don’t need extra sized windows for different body areas. Find out just how good it is later in the review.

The Adapt is one of the most powerful at-home IPL devices with a maximum fluence of 6 J/cm². Therefore, if you have light skin and use power mode, you’ll get longer-lasting results than less powerful devices. The lower intensities are safe for darker skin.

The auto skin tone sensor controls the intensity of the flashes. The small sensor window glows blue when the device is powered and ready. And it’s rather clever because it removes the uncertainty and faff of choosing your own intensity level. It does all that for you.

It works like this…

The sensor scans your skin and reads your tone. It then chooses the best match intensity level for your skin. This means the safest, highest power for your skin tone. It does this before every flash (actually eighty times per second!) And, whereas most rival IPLs have 5 intensity levels, the Adapt has 10 to choose from. This means you get a much more precise match for your best results in the shortest possible time.

The Adapt shows the matched intensity level on the power bars, where up to 10 small LEDs glow white. There’s one LED for each power increment.

When you select gentle mode, you’ll see fewer white LEDs because it knocks the intensity down a couple of notches. When you select speed mode, you’ll see just one white LED because it flashes at the lowest IPL intensity.

The power bars show a red LED if your skin tone is too dark, or if you have poor skin contact. It won’t flash when the red lights show.

You get just under 2 metres of slack from the long, flexible power cord. There’s a small attached rubber band to keep the cord tidy when not in use. At the end of the cord is a fixed power pack. The power pack weighs 230 grams and connects to the mains power via another 90cm cord with a plug. 

How & when to use it

Before you start your sessions, read the user manual and do a skin sensitivity test.

The user guide is an easy read, with a logical order and lots of helpful diagrams. It covers: How it works, what to expect, important safety information, potential risks and side effects, your suitability, how to use it (including your skin patch test), the skin tone sensor, adaptive flash window, modes, cleaning maintenance and storage, travel, troubleshooting, warranty, symbols, and technical specification.

As mentioned earlier, pay close attention to the list of contraindications for reasons you’re unsuitable to use this device.

To check your skin sensitivity, do a patch test on each area you intend to treat. First, shave and dry your skin. Then, do 2 test flashes side by side. After 24 hours, if there is no adverse skin reaction, you can proceed with your full treatment. Avoid the area of the test patch flashes until your following session!

When to use it

At-home laser and IPL devices require effort and commitment to achieve results. There’s a start-up routine to get you to smooth, and then less regular top-ups for long-lasting results.

The SmoothSkin start-up schedule is typical for at-home IPL devices. You do weekly sessions until you are smooth. SmoothSkin suggests up to 12 sessions. Then, you can switch to maintenance sessions every one or two months, or as you feel you need them.

How to use SmoothSkin Adapt

There are just a few steps because the Adapt does a lot of the hard work for you.

1. Power on
2. Flash your skin
3. Gentle flashes
4. Speedy flashes

Plug in to the mains supply and you’ll see the white power bars for a few seconds, then the cooling fan whirs, and the skin tone sensor shines blue. The Adapt defaults to power mode and is ready to start.

Place the window flush against your skin (don’t press too hard!). The white power bar lights show you have good contact and also the matched intensity level. Press the flash button. You’ll see a bright light and hear a gentle ‘pop’. Move to the adjacent spot and flash again.

Repeat in a stamping motion, or keep the button pressed for continuous flashes. Glide the device smoothly over your skin with a small movement between each flash.

If you find the flashes too hot, you can turn them down a notch or two with gentle mode. Just press the mode button once and you’ll see the white feather icon. Flash your skin and you’ll see fewer white lights on the power bars.

Gentle mode is good to use on any sensitive bits where the power mode flashes can sting. These sensitive areas can differ by person.

You can also use speed mode. This is good to cover larger areas, like legs and torso, faster. You’ll see one white LED on the power bars because speed mode lowers the intensity down to one and so the flash rate increases. 

The Adapt sensor and cooling fan switch off and the device goes into standby if inactive for 10 mins. Press the mode button to switch it back on when you’re ready to flash!

When you’re finished, wait about 5 minutes for the window to cool down. Then wipe down the flashbulb and sensors with a clean dry lint-free cloth. Use a slightly damp cotton bud/Q-tip to clean harder to reach spots inside the recess. Carefully pack up the Adapt and store it inside the pouch and box until next time!

Ease of use

Everything about the Adapt is easy, from the intuitive agile shape, helpful power modes, and foolproof auto skin tone sensor, to the speedy and effortless flashes all over your body. It outshines ALL the competition.

The clever flash window reduces the glare from the bright IPL flashes. The sensation feels warm to hot, and can zing a bit on sensitive areas in power mode.

Let’s dig a bit deeper now…

Ease, comfort & precision

It’s super simple to use the Adapt. Actually, it’s THE most simple and easy device I’ve tested. 

The first reason it’s so simple is the patented, foolproof auto skin tone sensor. You’ll find this only in the SmoothSkin Pure range and in Braun’s Pro IPL devices.

The sensor adapts the IPL power to darker tones around your body. You can see it go up and down on the power bars. So, you don’t need to stop and double check anything. Just keep zapping with confidence that it will not hurt or damage your skin. It’s especially reassuring and safe if you have varied medium to darker tones around your body. You can’t make a mistake.

The second reason it’s so simple is the precise ergonomic shape and gentle curves that create a relaxed but secure grip. Your wrist is always at a comfy angle, so there’s no strain. And there’s nothing to obstruct your view of the business end, where the power bars are clear on either side. Plus, the power cord isn’t an issue because the angled handle keeps it out of your way. It’s lightweight and balanced and easy to move around your body.

The foolproof sensor and agile shape mean it’s quick to master. But there’s another third, and vital reason it’s so simple, too. 

It is exceptionally easy to flash, much more so than other devices. Here’s why…

With rivals there are body areas where it’s tricky to get a flash, such as bony ankles and shins, and uneven knobbly knees, or the small curved upper lip and jaw area. That’s because the flat and rigid sensors can’t get full contact with your skin and so you must try angling the window to get a flash. It’s frustrating, slows you down, and may even mean some missed hairy spots.

But the Adapt elegantly solves this problem. The clever adaptive window fits over these areas with ease, with the quick sensors touching in complete skin contact for first-time flashes! No other brand can compare to this. It’s so good you don’t need any extra flash windows. This one gets extra easy flashes all over your body. 

All you need to do is concentrate on getting good flash coverage of your skin. Remember, each flash is much smaller than the end of the whole treatment head. Move just 1 centimetre between flashes to get close coverage with no gaps, but not too much overlap either! It’s a slight movement but easy to judge by eye.

And when starting a new strip, move 3cm to the side. I also do this by eye and it feels pretty accurate.

I also like that this flash movement is consistent across all body areas because there’s just one treatment head. With rival devices, and their different sized treatment heads, you must change your movement for each treatment head/body area. That’s a faff and much harder to master with accuracy.

Next, let’s see how quick sessions are…

Session speed

The simplicity of the foolproof sensor, agile shape and extra-easy flashes, combined with a fast flash rate, gives you the quickest IPL session times. You can easily zap your full body in one quick session.

To give you the option of quicker sessions, SmoothSkin added a speed mode which flashes at the lowest IPL level. The flashes are fastest (because it uses less energy) and this means quicker sessions, especially on large body areas, like legs.

Speed mode flashes come every 0.5 seconds so you can do a quick, smooth glide continuously over your skin. After around 60 flashes, it slows to just over 1 second apart. This slower rate is still steady and smooth, plus it feels a little more controlled.

The flash rate on power mode starts at about 1 second, then it also slows down a little to around 1.2 seconds. This small increase means a slight pause in between gliding flashes. But the flashes stay steady and predictable, and it’s easy to find your rhythm. And because the flashes are extra easy compared to rival devices, nothing slows you down. So, the Adapt gives quicker sessions than rival devices, even with similar fast flash rates.

Here are the results from my speed tests. My full body test covers full legs, bikini line, underarms, and face (upper lip and chin).

*Time per session taken from the average of 4 test sessions.

What does it feel like?

You’ll hear the cooling fan whir inside the device throughout your session. And each flash gives a gentle ‘pop’ sound. 

And the flashes are bright. It’s best to look just to the side of the window as you work. But the adaptive window does a good job of funnelling the energy downwards into your skin. So, there’s not as much glare as with rival devices.

These flashes won’t hurt your eyes when against your skin, but they can be a bit irritating. Do your sessions in a well-lit room so they don’t seem so intense. Sunglasses or inexpensive IPL glasses can also help, too.

In power mode, the IPL flashes feel warm to hot on your skin. It’s like a mild sunburn sensation, which is fine in most areas. But in others, it’s quite intense and unpleasant. For me, my sensitive bits are my ankles, inner and tops of thighs, and sometimes the bikini line.

Use gentle mode if the flashes are too much in power mode. They’re a touch softer, just enough to remove the zing!

It’s easy to flash all body areas, but it still takes concentration to cover your skin in accurate flashes. I like to give it my full attention so I can remember where I’ve zapped and not miss any hairy bits. Especially on my legs and bikini line. Listening to music or a podcast is fine. But watching TV as I work is too distracting for thorough results!

Skin redness is a common skin reaction to IPL. It may also feel hot and tingly. This should wear off within 24 hours. To soothe it, cover it with a cool face cloth or ice pack, or use a cooling water spray, Aloe Vera gel or a non-scented moisturiser.

When & what results

Shave before every treatment. You may see and feel softer hairs after your first or second session. But for most people it’s after 3 sessions when your hairs grow noticeably slower.

You can shave in between sessions if you need to. And it is much easier and quicker to shave these fine and soft hairs. No rough stubble means fewer razor bumps and rash, too. After your next sessions, you’ll find bald patches which expand until your skin is more silky-smooth than hairy. For most, it’s after 6+ sessions they see significant hair reduction.

Continue with your weekly sessions. Ingrown hairs also shrink, heal, and fade. You can switch to less frequent top-ups once your skin is smooth, or finish all 12 weekly sessions (even if there’s no hair left) for your very best results. Do your top-ups a month or two apart depending on any hair growth that appears. After several top-ups, you can eventually space them further apart.

If you finish all 12 weekly sessions, you’ll need top-ups less frequently than if you don’t complete the full start-up plan. This is good to know if you plan to be hair free throughout the summer or for a long holiday.

Either way, your top-up sessions are vital to stay smooth and build longer lasting results. Your hairs will grow back if you stop after a few weekly sessions. Studies show you need several continued top-ups to stay hair free for many months at a time.

Results vary by individual. Learn more about what affects your results.

The negatives

There are just a few tiny niggles with the SmoothSkin Pure Adapt.

First, as mentioned earlier, the flash rate is a little slower than advertised when in power mode. But the sessions are still the fastest of all the at-home IPLs, so it’s not such a biggy.

Next, as with the previous Pure Fit model, it’s easy to block the cooling air vents by accident. That’s because if you rest the Adapt on a soft surface like a carpet or bed, it obstructs the vents on the underside. This causes the fan to work extra hard, the device to heat and the flashes to slow down. It’s simple to avoid this issue, though. Rest it on its back, side, or place it on a hard surface.

The other few gripes I had with the Pure Fit are now resolved in the Adapt. You get a simple but coordinated storage pouch to protect the device from dust whilst stored in the box. And the lush tactile grippy body replaces the glossy surface of the Fit so it leaves zero clammy fingerprints. Hurrah.

You may like the idea of a companion app but there isn’t one with the Adapt, so you’re out of luck. Check out the Braun Pro 7 IPL if that’s on your must list (and you have a much bigger budget). But if you don’t care for an app then you simply can’t go wrong with the Adapt.

Finally, for some, the Adapt will be too expensive. But if it’s in your price range, and you’re on the fence, I think it’s a top choice and we’ll look at why next…

Is it good value? 

SmoothSkin has stripped back the bits that add to your cost, such as fancy packaging, storage cases, and extra treatment heads and apps. Instead, they’ve focused on improving the Adapt’s basic and most important performance features, which are quality, safety, ease and speed.

It retails for £299/$399, and that’s still an investment for most. This buys you a handsome zapper, that’s superb quality, with a foolproof auto-match skin tone sensor, and a clever adaptive flash window to get easy flashes everywhere. But compared to the closest rivals (from Braun, Philips and CurrentBody), it’s 100s more affordable. I think it’s exceptional value, the best value premium at-home IPL, and with a long 100-day money-back guarantee in the US, too. 

Buy SmoothSkin Pure Adapt 🛒

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