Foreo Luna 3 review: The best-looking skin of your life comes at a price

For years, electric cleansing brushes were the reserve of only the most serious of skincare fanatics. Largely because they’re an expensive way to seemingly do what your hands are perfectly capable of doing.

More recently, though, they’ve started to gain traction. Whether that’s because there are more options to choose from, they’re now more affordable, or because influencers across Instagram and TikTok have made them more visible, many more people seem to be switching to electric. Or at least that’s what my own social media feeds suggest.

With this in mind, I’ve spent the past two months putting one of these electric cleansing brushes to the test from a brand with a long history in this space: namely, the Foreo Luna 3.

Foreo Luna 3 review: What you need to know

Swedish beauty brand Foreo launched its first Luna facial cleansing massager in 2013 and has since released multiple successors, each one designed to appeal to a different skin concern or budget. There are mini versions, which are perfect for travelling with, and models fitted with sensors that analyse your skin’s health.

There are Luna devices for men, to help with beard cleaning and preparation for shaving.  There’s even a gold version of the Luna – called the Luna Luxe – which costs a staggering £5,100.

The skincare brand specialises in devices designed to cleanse, tone and massage your skin and this includes its Luna cleansing collection; its power-masking UFO range; its Iris range, designed to help get rid of Crow’s feet; the Espada “zit zapper” that uses blue light therapy to supposedly helps with acne; and its Bear and Bear Mini facial toners.

The brand sells its own face masks and serums, designed to work with these devices, and it recently branched out into the electric toothbrush market.

Electric cleansers tend to come in two formats – either they have standard nylon brush heads, or they’re made from silicone. The Foreo range sits in the latter.

Nylon bristle brushes can offer a deeper clean and greater exfoliation, but they’re said to be 35 times less hygienic than silicone, at least according to Foreo. Silicone is softer and less abrasive, too, meaning it’s better suited to sensitive skin, and it lasts longer than nylon brush heads. Granted, nylon brush cleansers are cheaper.

And, while you’ll spend less buying a standard brush cleanser – the No7 Radiant Results Revitalising Sonic Action Cleansing Brush costs £30 – you’ll have to replace the heads every two months or so at £10 a time. Over the course of a year, this will cost around £90, which is still cheaper than the Luna 3, but it doesn’t offer the massage, or app features.

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Foreo Luna 3 review: Price and competition

Foreo has attempted to make its skincare devices as accessible as possible by offering a wide range of products at various price points, for various budgets and needs.

The Luna Play is its cheapest cleanser, coming in at just £29, and the Luna Luxe is its most expensive. The majority of devices in the Luna range, however, come in at around £120-£170.

At £169, the Luna 3 sits at the top end of this range but isn’t the flagship model. That title goes to the Luna 3 Plus, which is £50 more expensive, pushing it above the £200 mark. For the extra money, you get all the app-connected and cleansing features of the Luna 3, plus anti-ageing thermo technology and “microcurrents” to help firm the skin and leave it looking plumper.

The Luna 3’s closest competitor in terms of its own siblings is the Luna 2. Despite being just £20 more expensive, the Luna 3’s brush head is 30% larger than the Luna 2’s, and its silicone bristles are 30% longer and 25% softer. This reach and extra softness means you’ll get a deeper, gentler cleanse than with its predecessor. The Luna 2 also doesn’t come with app-connected features.

To help you decide which Luna device is best for you and your skin, Foreo has an online quiz that asks you about how your face responds to hot water, how long your makeup lasts and if you suffer from acne. From this, the Luna that seemingly ticks most boxes in terms of features, design and price is the Luna 3.

Outside of Foreo, the most like-for-like cleanser is the Beauty Bay Facial Cleansing Brush which costs just £25. It has a very similar design, has four different intensity settings – versus Luna 3’s 16 – and vibrates 12,000 times a minute. The Luna 3 only sends out 8,000 sonic pulses a minute but claims these are more effective than simple vibrations for unclogging pores.

You don’t get the app-connected features, nor are there different versions designed for different skin types. You also don’t get the tailored massage features seen on the Luna 3.

The Magnitone Xoxo comes in at a similar price to the Beauty Bay model, at £30, and solves the problem of tackling different skin concerns by having three cleansing zones on each corner of its triangular design, for oily/normal skin, dry/sensitive skin and massage.

It has eight intensity settings and sends 8,000 “Micro-Sonic” pulses a minute. The downside is that it doesn’t connect to an app and the touchpoints are small, so cleansing can take a little longer. Its triangular design isn’t particularly comfortable to hold but it does offer very similar results to the Foreo.

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Foreo Luna 3 review: Design

The Luna 3 (and all Foreo cleansers) is made from waterproof silicone and comes in three versions: pink for normal skin, blue for combination skin (this is the model we tested), and purple for sensitive skin.

The brush on the Luna 3 for Normal skin combines a mix of longer, thinner bristles with thicker nodules on the top. These nodules are designed to get into hard-to-reach places, like around your nose. The bristles on the blue, combination-skin model are different heights to offer more cleansing and exfoliation, and the thicker nodules are closer together to help tackle oily areas. Meanwhile, the sensitive-skin version of the Luna 3 doesn’t have the harder, thicker nodules and just uses the softer bristles to gently cleanse the skin.

Each Luna 3, with its curved back, fits in the palm of an average-sized hand – although it may feel chunky if you have smaller hands – and has an egg shape, which is larger at the bottom before narrowing at the top. The silicone brush covers the majority of the top half of this “egg” and the nodules are situated at the top, where the Luna 3 is at its most narrow.

The curved back means you can hold the Luna 3 without touching the bristles, and this allows you to move it in circular motions easily and without it slipping. On the rear, the bristles are replaced by ridges that turn the Luna 3 into a massaging tool.

Foreo Luna 3 review: Features

To clear your pores and get deep into the skin, the Luna 3 produces 8,000 “T-Sonic” pulses a minute. The “T” stands for transdermal, which means “through the skin”. These sound waves supposedly go deep into the pores to remove dirt and dead skin cells.

The first time you use the Luna 3, you connect it via Bluetooth to an app. You can then use this app to adjust the intensity of the pulses, with 16 settings to choose from. By default, the Foreo Luna runs for 60 seconds but you can extend this for up to four minutes.

When using the Luna 3’s massage function there are four modes:

• A two-minute massage for the skin around your eyes which uses high and low intensities
• A two-minute massage for your neck and décolleté (the skin on your chest and cleavage)
• A four-minute massage for your cheek and jawbones
• A two-minute massage to tighten your jawline and reduce frown lines

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Foreo Luna 3 review: Ease of use

Even if you’ve never used an electric cleanser before, the simple layout and design of the Luna 3 – with a single button on the rear – makes it easy to use straight out of the box. The app guides you through the setup and, although you don’t have to use it every time you cleanse, you do need to use it if you want to change the brush’s settings. It’s also helpful to use the app the first few times you use the brush, to guide you through how to use it best.

To cleanse your face, put a small amount of cleanser on the Luna 3, turn it on and move it around your in circulation motions until the minute is up. Every 20 seconds, the Luna 3 briefly pauses so you know to move to another part of your face. You can then rinse the Luna 3 under the tap, and wash the remaining cleanser off your face. The rest of your routine remains the same.

To enable the massage tool, turn over the Luna 3, switch it on and press more firmly as you massage different parts of your face.

Foreo Luna 3 review: Results

I’ve always been a little sceptical about paying for an electric cleanser when my hands, or a cleansing cloth, seem to do the job just fine. However, having used the Luna 3 for a couple of months, I’m happy to admit I was wrong.

Yes, facial cleansing does take longer now but that’s a good thing. It’s clearly more thorough than before and that’s having a dramatic effect. During my two-month trial, I’ve suffered fewer breakouts of adult acne, my skin feels softer and it’s now more balanced, too. In fact, my oily T-zone is no more.

Not only that but the Luna 3 seems to be clearing and tightening my pores and, without any dead skin cells and dirt covering the top layer of skin, the rest of my skincare products seem to be working more effectively, too. By using the massaging tool regularly as well, I’ve also noticed a difference in pigmentation and fine lines around my eyes.

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Foreo Luna 3 review: Verdict

For the first time in my life, I feel comfortable to leave the house without makeup on because my skin has never looked so good. That, for me, more than justifies the price.

My skin looks clearer, brighter, and firmer and my makeup doesn’t slide off by the end of the day anymore, because my complexion is less oily. I also seem to be using less moisturiser, toner, and serum because a little goes much further when there’s a cleaner base to apply it to.

The only thing I’m not that fussed about is the app. When I’ve used it I’ve been impressed, but in reality I get by with the default settings most of the time so I’m not sure if it’s a feature I’d pay extra for.

All that said, the Foreo Luna 3 is a fantastic device. It ticks a lot of boxes and, ultimately, it works very well.