The beauty tool line that's aiming to replace the big brands in your routine - for a lot less

There's no denying, we're in an age of beauty tools. With high tech toothbrushes in our bathrooms, futuristic-looking hairdryers adorning our dressers, and red light therapy masks on everybody's gift wishlists, expensive wellness tech has just become the norm. But what if we said you could get the tech, without the hefty price-tag?

Wellness tech brand Laifen offers a collection of reliable and intelligent, forward-thinking beauty tools, that come at a fraction of the price to the traditional brands we would usually find ourselves opting for.

"At the core of our mission lies the dedicated pursuit of technological advancement, pushing us towards groundbreaking innovations and ensuring their accessibility to all, with the ultimate goal of creating a better world through technology," says the brand.

So what does that mean in reality? Reliable, high-powered tools that are all about making technological innovations more accessible to consumers - with a sleek and very stylish design portfolio to boot.

What products does Laifen offer?

At the moment, the brand offers three different types of devices: hairdryers, toothbrushes and electric shavers.

Back in 2020, after independently designing and manufacturing a high-speed brushless motor capable of 110,000 rpm (the same as a Dyson hairdryer), the brand launched their very first fast-dry hairdryer, the Laifen LF01.

Now their collection holds two hairdryers - the Neo Hairdryer, that boasts a strong motor, low-frequency sound level and ultra-light design; and the Laifen Mini, a compact, travel-friendly hairdryer that boasts their lightest weight yet.

How do Laifen products measure up to the bigger brands?

With a similar design, weight and speed to the Dyson Supersonic, it's safe to say that the Laifen Neo hairdryer would be a reliable swap for the more high-end tool.

While the brand is most well-known for their sleek, smart and high-powered hairdryers, we wanted to put their electric toothbrushes to the test.

"The Laifen toothbrush is uniquely futuristic," says our Digital Health Editor, Grace Walsh, who tested out the Laifen Wave Pro, "and not just in appearance, though the bright metallic design livens up my bathroom side.

"There are two cleaning modes to choose from, Deep Clean and Daily Clean, but I found both offer a thorough clean feeling after the prescribed two minutes and it's easy to reach all areas of the mouth with the moving head. There's also smart pressure sensor to prevent overbrushing, which all the best electric toothbrushes have. But perhaps the most impressive feature is the battery life - with over 70 days between charges, this is almost unheard of."

Despite being a two-decade long Oral-B faithful, I was similarly a fan of the Laifen Wave, which I tested out. The chic design and range pretty colours was drew me in on first impressions. I also really appreciated the silicone-like finish, as it make the toothbrush comfortable to hold and difficult to drop (ie. it doesn't slide out of my wet hand like my Oral-B always does).

What I found fascinating about it, was the particular movement of the toothbrush. Unlike traditional electric toothbrushes where just the brush moves or oscillates, with Laifen's, the whole head moves, oscillating fast side-to-side to mimic the movements of a manual toothbrush and vibrating at the same time for deeper cleaning. This movement I found similar to the technique I'm actually told by my dentist to use, where you almost flick the brush from bottom to top - a slightly annoying technique that I find quite awkward, so I was very appreciative that the brush was doing the hard work for me.

I also found that the small and rectangular brush allowed me to comfortably to get into those corners at the back that I might otherwise sometimes miss - I honestly felt like I was cleaning areas I've never cleaned before.

The movement of the brush is slightly aggressive, so feels strange on the lips and hands - but you can change the settings on the app if you prefer a different strength.

While you can edit the vibration level you want for the three pre-programmed modes on the app, the brush doesn't have different modes that you switch through for things like tongue cleaning or gum care - so if that's something you're used to, it's a consideration to be aware of. However, the toothbrush does come with different heads that you can switch to for whitening, plaque removal and cushioned for gum care.

I also do usually brush my teeth slightly longer than two minutes so was taken aback when the device cut out at that point, but it easily turns back on, with comfortable placement of the button.

All in all, it's a reliable toothbrush, with smooth operation and design, and not too complicated to use like those with an overload of settings can be.