High-tech beauty: Tools and gadgets worth investing in

From cars to cooking, to shopping, tech is in everything! So it’s no surprise that, in this day and age, we’ve got a handful of impressive high-tech beauty gadgets, too.

Apart from developing solutions and serums, the beauty industry has also been hard at work developing tools to ease the usual tasks of styling, cleansing, and more. And each year brings devices more sophisticated than the last.  Here are some of our favorites.

 

lazada airwrap  

 

Dyson Airwrap

The ever-popular Dyson Airwrap tops the list for many reasons and honestly needs no introduction. For one, it’s a want for most of the ladies out there as his high-end styling tool uses controlled airflow to style hair without extreme heat, minimizing damage. It’s versatile too as it offers various attachments for curling, smoothing, and volumizing hair.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s so well-designed and comes in cute colors, too.

AMAZON US | LAZ PH

L’Oreal Steampod

An alternative to hot heat styling is using steam and you can use this with L’Oreal’s Steampod. Unlike Dyson’s Airwrap, this straightener opts for steam technology to achieve sleek, straight hair while aiming to minimize breakage and frizz. It features adjustable temperature settings and a built-in comb for detangling while straightening.

AMAZON US | LAZ PH

Danisse Cordless Curling Iron

A favorite of many and often sold out, the Danisse cordless curling iron is a compact, battery-powered curler that charges via USB!

It supposedly heats up in just 30 seconds and comes with a 2500mAh battery that can be charged with a power bank if needed. The battey is supposed to last up to 45 minutes which should be just enough time to get your hair from drab to fab!

AMAZON US

Foreo UFO 2

Foreo has long been breaking ground on advanced skincare tools and one of its latest releases is the UFO 3. This smart facial treatment device combines heat, LED light therapy, and cryotherapy to address various skin concerns. And being the modern device that it is, it connects to a mobile app for personalized treatment routines and progress tracking.

In the Philippines, however, only the UFO 2 is available at the moment.

AMAZON US | LAZ PH

Of course, if you want something simpler, cheaper, but still effective, you can always go for the basic Foreo Luna. I’ve personally been using it and apart from the calming effect of the facial massage, my skin always comes out so bouncy and clean.

This is because the Luna brush uses gentle pulsations to remove dirt, oil, and impurities, promoting deeper cleansing and a smoother complexion. It comes in various models suitable for different skin types.

Foreo Bear 2

Yes, this is the third Foreo device on this list but it can’t be denied that the company makes good skincare products. The first two focused on facial cleansing but the Bear 2 is meant for body sculpting.

This innovative device is designed to improve the look of cellulite and achieve a smoother skin surface while diminishing fine lines and wrinkles. Harnessing the power of microcurrent technology, the Bear 2 Body and its T-Sonic massage function boost microcirculation and lymphatic drainage, delivering essential nutrients to skin cells and eliminating toxins.

AMAZON US | LAZ PH

SpectraLite DPL FaceWare Pro

It looks high-tech, so it must be, right? A favorite among the upper echelon of beauty gurus and celebrities, the SpectraLite DPL FaceWare Pro device uses a combination of LED light therapy and broad-spectrum light to target various skin concerns, including wrinkles, acne, and sun damage. It aims to rejuvenate the skin and achieve a brighter, more even complexion.

AMAZON US | SEPHORA PH

In the same lineup, there’s also the SpectraLite LipWare Pro which acts similarly. It’s a lip care device that also uses LED light therapy to target fine lines, wrinkles, and loss of volume around the lips.

Alternatively and unsurprisingly, Foreo also has its own, more interesting-looking version that’s currently available in certain regions at the moment.

Medicube Age-R Booster H

This handheld device takes on a non-invasive approach to skincare by utilizing radiofrequency technology to target wrinkles and stimulate collagen production, aiming to achieve a more youthful and lifted appearance.

It utilizes electroporation technology, which creates temporary pathways in the skin, aiming to enhance the absorption of skincare products. This technology distinguishes it from traditional massagers or facial rollers.

AMAZON US | LAZ PH

RevAir Reverse-Air Hair Dryer

A reverse air hair dryer? What’s that you may be asking?

Unlike traditional hair dryers that use hot air to blast hair dry, RevAir utilizes a unique technology called reverse airflow. This technology sucks hair upwards into the wand using suction, gently drying it from within.

It claims to be the only one-handed, tear-free, mom-approved, wet-to-smooth dryer in the world and is the only hair tool that can also dry extensions, twist-outs, braids, locs, and wigs in half the time.

AMAZON US

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How to unleash your camera phone’s full potential

06/17/2020

About 10 years ago, no professional photographer would have probably thought that a camera phone could replace a professional DSLR in quality and usability.

Camera phones were far too basic in features and it lacked the imaging power compared to DSLRs. But with the most recent technologies in phone photography, I would say it is now very possible or even true that camera phones are slowly replacing those heavy and bulky cameras.

Shot with my mid-range smartphone and processed in Adobe Lightroom

I have been a photographer by profession and I also have been teaching photography in several universities in the country for the past 11 years. My DSLR was my main tool, but that changed last year when I bought a midrange phone and used its RAW feature for shooting.

For this article, we’ll check out some ways to maximize your phone’s camera settings and turn ordinary snaps to upload-worthy photographs.

Flexible settings

If you ask any photographer, a DSLR is the ideal tool for different reasons. First is for its full manual control, next is its capability to interchange lenses, and third is its RAW shooting format.

Pro mode is pretty common for smartphones these days

So how can phones replace DSLRs? A lot of smartphones today — even budget phones — have DSLR-like full manual control in Pro mode that lets you control ISO, White Balance, Focus, Metering, and Shutter Speed from up to 30 seconds – 1/4000 of a second.

You also have several focal length options that vary from ultra-wide, bokeh (prime lens), macro, and a telephoto (zoom) lens. You can pick and choose from these lenses depending on what the situation calls for.

If you find yourself traveling in a foreign land and you want to capture the landscape, an ultra-wide-angle lens would prove useful. If you want to focus on one subject up close, go for macro. When you need to zoom in on something, the telephoto would prevent loss of detail, and so on.

A sample of a phone’s multi-camera setup

Remember, knowing specifically which and when to use your camera phone’s features is one of the ingredients to achieving a great shot.

Although important, those are a bit given. But a feature most people are not aware of is that a lot of mid-range and most (if not all) flagship phones now have RAW format!

RAW format

So what is RAW format? A quick Google search tells us it’s basically an unprocessed and uncompressed data of a photo that can be compared to the unprocessed film negative. If your phone supports this, it can be found on the settings page when you open your camera app.

For the sake of comparison, a normal JPEG (common method of lossy compression for digital images) photo has 8-bit of data per pixel or 256 shades of color. Meanwhile, RAW contains 12-14 bit per pixel or 4,096 shades of color and makes up to 68.7 billion colors.

In other words, shooting in RAW offers a tremendous amount of exposure and color detail greatly beneficial for tweaking its settings on a photo-editing software. Color correcting and color grading a RAW file will not reduce the quality of a photo — something that JPEG formats are notorious for doing.

Here are a couple of samples I shot on RAW vs after editing them:

Dynamic Range

When shooting landscape, you probably experienced ending up frustrated when you see the skies just blown-out and simply plain white, while shadows are totally dark with no details.

This is where dynamic range (or contrast ratio) will come into play. Most camera phones now have an HDR (High Dynamic Range) feature that uses AI to pull out details from contrasting parts of the photo.

But did you know shooting in RAW format will naturally capture details in both the light and dark areas of up to roughly 12 stops of exposure? And with the use of RAW processing apps like Adobe Lightroom, Snapseed, and VSCO, you now have the ability to pull out those details directly from your phone.

This will give you the power to create stunning landscape photos full of detail and color. This is not the same story when you shoot in 8-bit HDR JPEGS as attempting to pull out details from a jpeg will end up messing up your color and texture.

Know when to use RAW format

RAW format is not recommended in every single photo you take with your phone. You have to keep in mind that the RAW format will eat up a lot of your precious memory as a single photo can use up to 50mb depending on the pixel count of your phone’s cameras.

RAW format also requires processing. You cannot simply just shoot and upload. It is only recommended to use this format if you plan to correct exposure, correct color, and color grade on photo-editing apps like mentioned earlier.

Protip: Landscape and travel photography is where you will find this most useful!

Conclusion

Now that these features are available on a phone using just one hand, I found myself using it for a number of my shoots.

Yes, a DSLR is still more powerful given its sensor size and a dedicated lens still produces better photos. But in some scenarios, it is simply a huge convenience to carry your photography tools in such a small package that fits in your pocket.

Plus it’s a convenient alternative to shoot in places where DSLRs require permits to use. The quality is already there and it continues to improve with every succeeding model. With these in mind, I truly am excited about the future of phone photography.

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