Wedding Blog

I got the latest ads for Sephora in the mail the other day and noticed that they now carry the Zeno (or did they always and I didn’t know?). I had forgotten completely about my experience with this product, but now that I’ve been reminded I thought I’d share a review with you all. I know most of us are planning to use makeup on the big day to even out and cover up, but wouldn’t it be best to not have to?

I was first introduced to the Zeno way back when Miss Strawberry blogged about it here on Weddingbee. Basically, it’s a small, hand-held electronic device with a soft plastic tip which claims to help emerging pimples vanish in 24 hours. With the press of a button, it beeps and the tip heats up; the user applies it directly to the blemish and (theoretically) the “controlled dose of heat” kills the germs within and should banish the offensive bump in a single day or two. Sounds gimmicky, yes, but still an interesting concept… and obviously I was intrigued enough to try it out.

At $150 for the original version (Sephora now has the $185 Pro version), it was definitely a splurge. How did I justify it? Well, I figured if it really worked well on Mr. Plumeria and myself, and we could virtually guarantee blemish-free faces on the wedding day (and then forever, for that matter, ’cause if it worked I’d use it all the time), then it would be worth the hefty price tag. If not… well, there’s a 30-day trial period, and I bought it at Walgreen’s, where I knew I’d be able to bring it back with no problems if I decided not to keep it.

The verdict? I took it back to Walgreen’s after a couple of weeks. For me, the device semi-worked, but not much faster than it normally takes my skin to recover from a breakout, and I noticed no difference between the effects of the Zeno and that of my trusty Burt’s Bees Parsley blemish stick ($8 at your local drugstore). On Mr. Plumeria, it did not have much of an effect at all.

I really wanted it to work, but in the end its performance didn’t justify the price tag. Online reviews vary from ecstatic raves to disappointed rants, though — so if you can, give it a try, and let me know how it works for you! And if it doesn’t… you can always take it back!