I decided to use Better Aging for my eight-week review, though I did opted for a few sessions of Blemish Repair on occasion (thank you, hormones!). Shark recommends only using one mode per day, as multiple sessions can increase the chances of dry skin or hyperpigmentation.
The CryoGlow comes with a useful connected handset, which enables you to choose, pause, and keep track of your sessions, turn on and adjust the under-eye pad cooling level, and see how much time you have left on your session. It also gives an indication of battery life. Having previously used CurrentBody’s LED mask that doesn’t have this feature, I found it really useful—particularly for keeping track of where my session was at.
Where the CryoGlow falls down against the CurrentBody mask, and other flexible masks like it, is its weight and the fact it is a solid construction. While I have used LED masks lying down, I found the CryoGlow to sit a bit too heavy for that. Instead, I used it while doing other tasks and walking around the house (much to my children’s amusement). At least it was productive.
Then, when I had to go away for work for almost a whole week during testing, I had to pack it in my hand luggage. (As LED masks have a battery, make sure you never pack it in your checked luggage.) It was quite awkwardly shaped for my backpack and took up a lot of space. It was amusing watching it go through the baggage scanner, though.
As someone with perpetually puffy eyes, the under-eye cooling was of particular interest to me—though it has to be said that those pads really are cold. I found the least-cold, level 1 more than cold enough, though there are two higher settings if you’re feeling tougher. The fans are quite loud when using the cooling pads though, and having cooling switched on does have a pretty big impact on battery life (it charges via USB-C into the handset). Having the cooling pads there also means the under-eye area isn’t able to benefit from the LED light therapy either, which is something to consider for anyone with aging concerns around their eyes.
It’s worth noting that if you were hoping to use the under-eye cooling mode on its own as a bit of an eye reviver before work or a night out, just make sure you give your skin some time to bounce back from the outline of the pads, and also the forehead support pad, before you’re out the door. They leave a bit of an imprint on your skin, but it fades after five or so minutes.
Using the mask was a pleasant experience, and establishing a routine with the mask was pretty easy—probably because I didn’t have to carve out any time from my day to accommodate it. I found evening time after I removed my makeup (you need to use the mask with cleansed skin) the best for me, but did throw in a few morning sessions instead when my eyes felt particularly puffy.
