In case you like to stick cotton balls in your ears when I talk or wear really dark shades whenever you read my skincare posts, I’ll remind you of my thoughts on the Clarisonic Skin Cleansing System: it rocks. Of course if you wanted a more articulate overview, you’d check out my previously written overview on Clarisonic here.

A few months ago the brand released the Clarisonic Aria, a souped-up model if you will, that features 3-speeds allowing you to customize your cleansing experience, a USB charging cord allowing you to easily take the Aria on the go (also has an AC wall adapter), a battery life indicator (I cannot tell you the feeling of defeat when you go to use your regular Clarisonic and it doesn’t work because you forgot to charge it because you didn’t realize it needed charging), like every Clarisonic model it gets the skin six times cleaner than manual cleansing so your skincare products work better, and just like the Plus, you can use any of the Clarisonic brush heads with the Aria even the Body Brush. Clarisonic sent over an Aria model for review consideration and I’ve been giving it a whirl since early October.

Like my Plus, I like to use my Aria with the Deep Pore Brush (great for oily skin). The two slower speeds are great for my usual cleansing (I use the Clarionic 2-3 times a week on average) but I like to use it on its highest speed every once in a while because it deep cleans and gives my skin an instant radiant and taut appearance. I really LOVE the battery life indicator and the medium size means I don’t need to have my Plus at home and my Mia/Mia 2 for travel. I can just use the one tool. For these reasons I have begun dishing out my previous models to family members (all they need to do now is buy a new brush head) and will be fully committed to the Aria namely for that higher 3rd speed setting.

But do you NEED it?

That depends. If you don’t own a Clarisonic, I’d recommend you go directly for the Aria (although some people I know have mentioned that they’re waiting for the Aria to come out in more colors and prints like the other models do). You get the best of both worlds of the Plus’ brush head compatibility and it travels well like the Mia and Mia 2 (the Aria is bigger than the Mia but slightly smaller than the Plus). But if you do own a previous Clarisonic model, there’s no need right now to toss yours for the Aria. It’s still a great piece of machinery—think of it as your iPhone 4S still being great even though the 5 is now available.

But if you’re the type that wants the newest model of everything, you won’t feel gypped if you do spring for the Aria, too.

Price: $199
Where to buy: (see the widget below)

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