Both the Prestige and Advanced are very comfortable to hold because of their distinctive gun-shapes. Their intuitive, no-strain grip is easy to manoeuvre and precise to position. The trigger flash button is perfectly placed for a comfortable, secure grip. And the simple controls are easy to see on top. The Prestige is slightly larger and heavier than the Advanced. Prestige (left) weighs 560g, the Advanced (right) weighs 370g. All models will give over 200+ or 15 years of monthly whole-body top-up sessions. And for most people, you won’t need top-ups that frequently. That’s because once you’ve done a year of maintenance top-ups, your skin stays smooth for several months at a time, and even up to one year. So, it’s likely you’ll need top-ups just a couple of times per year. Therefore, although 450,000 flashes sounds far better than 250,000 flashes, in reality you’ll never run out with any of these models. Shape & design

The higher-end models also come equipped with a “SmartSkin” sensor, which recommends the most comfortable light intensity based on your skin tone, using Philips’ “SenseIQ” technology. With the Lumea Advanced, you have to set the light intensity manually by using a simple patch test and the skin tone and hair colour chart in the user manual. I score all at-home devices 5-stars for lamp lifetime when they give enough flashes for 15+years of monthly whole-body sessions. They get top marks because it’s many more flashes than you’ll ever need. So, although the 450,000 flashes Prestige sounds far better than the 250,000 flashes model, in reality you’ll never run out with either model. Alongside this, the Lumea Advanced is corded, which means you lose out on the cordless convenience offered by the Lumea 9000. Still, the cord is 192cm long, which is plenty enough to manoeuvre around your body during treatments. It’s also much lighter than the cordless version, weighing nearly 200g less than its cordless counterpart. However, the speed of flashes between the two devices is very different. And sessions are considerably faster with the Prestige. If you’re looking to get effective, comfortable IPL hair removal on a budget, the Lumea Advanced is a great option, especially if you’re only treating smaller areas of your body. I say this because larger areas of the body take a long time to treat; two full legs take almost an hour, which is a huge amount of time to spend.Both devices work in the same way. Place the window flush against your skin and press the flash button. After it flashes, move it the height of the flash window to the next spot and flash again. You can keep the flash button pressed for continuous flashes as you glide the window along your skin. The star of the show for me is the large body flash window. Coupled with the comfy gun-shape, it really makes all the difference vs rivals on legs and tummy. That’s because it hugs your curves, is large yet precise and makes it super-easy to get a flash. It also does a good job on underarms and bikini line. I love the curved in body flash window for easy and precise leg zapping!

The Prestige is slightly more powerful than the Advanced. You must still complete the start-up stage and do top-ups with both devices. But the extra power with the Prestige means it’s sightly less effort. That’s because, if you have fair skin and can use the highest intensity levels, after you’ve finished your start-up treatments you’ll need fewer and less regular top-ups to maintain your smooth. To put this into perspective, the Lumea 9000 flashes once every 2 seconds – that’s nearly double the length of time between each flash with the Advanced model. When treating small areas of the body like the armpits, this won’t make a huge difference, however, it took me a whopping 27 minutes to treat one leg using the Lumea Advanced, compared with 18 minutes using the Lumea 9000. It’s designed to be used every two weeks for the first four weeks and, if we’re being honest, the big gaps make it easier to forget when you last treated limbs, so we found it helpful to set a reminder in our calendar.All Prestige and Advanced models have the large body and a small face flash window. Some Advanced models also have the precision window for bikini and underarms. And some Prestige models have either a seperate bikini and underarms window, or the dual bikini and underarms precision window. The setup is easy: simply plug the corded machine in, press the on button on the head of the device and choose from five intensity settings. But they feel quite different as the Advanced is slightly smaller and much lighter than the Prestige. That’s because it works on mains-power only, whereas the Prestige has a rechargeable lithium battery inside to use it cordless as well. It weighs 560g, but it’s perfectly balancedand comfortable to work around your body. Say goodbye to ingrown hairs and stubbles****, thanks to slower re-growth and less frequent shaving. When you first open the app, it asks for the model number of your Lumea to give you specific advice for the device you’re using, which includes setup, preparation, treatment, scheduling and after care. It doesn’t connect to the device directly via Bluetooth, but having this information at your fingertips during treatment is incredibly useful. Also, if there’s something else you’re unsure of, there’s a handy archive of blogs from other Lumea users with extra information and guidance.

Both the Advanced and Prestige have flash windows to match different body areas. The Advanced models come with flat attachments in different sizes and they do a good job. Advanced:The large 4cm2 flat body and small 2cm2 face flash window with integrated red filter do a good job. For extra safety the integrated skin tone sensor measures the treated skin complexion at the beginning of each session and occasionally during the session. If it detects a skin tone that is too dark for this product it will automatically stop emitting pulses.Philips Lumea 7000 Series BRI923/00 is designed for corded use - just plug the device into the mains and start your treatment.

As IPL uses intense flashes of light and no bulb lasts forever, the flashes you can get out of each Lumea are limited. The Advanced reviewed here is rated at 250,000 flashes (as is the Prestige) and the Lumea 9000 lasts 450,000. While that is a big difference, we did the maths and you’d have to do 544 full leg treatments to get through 250,000 flashes, or 22 years’ worth, so don’t let this put you off.

Will you be claiming the VAT back?

To see longer-term hair removal in these areas, I’ll likely have to continue with fortnightly treatments for a while longer. That’s good enough for me, though, as the armpit treatments only take around two minutes, so it’s much easier to fit into a busy schedule. READ NEXT: The best hair removal creams you can buy Philips Lumea IPL Advanced review: How does it work? This is a neat feature if you have varied tones across body areas. It removes any guesswork. And on more sensitive areas you can still manually lower it a notch or two. Specialist flash windows