Home › About
About
I've been writing about cosmetics, K-beauty and beauty tech since 2012. The short version: I read the studies, I test the devices on my own skin, and I tell you what I actually think.
I'm the founder of ChokoMag, France's leading independent beauty media, which I launched in 2012 and have run independently ever since. I'm also the founder of Skin Cafeine, one of France's largest importers of Korean skincare, and the author of Skincare, published by Éditions Albin Michel — one of France's most respected publishing houses, where it became the best-seller in its category.
I also hold a PhD from the EPHE (PSL Research University, Paris), where my work centred on the modelling of complex socio-technical systems — in plain terms, how to reason rigorously about messy, real-world data. That training is the lens I bring to beauty tech: a healthy resistance to a number printed on a box. The Cosmetic Review is where fourteen years of that work meets an English-speaking audience, with a focus on one thing I care about a lot: at-home light therapy.
LED masks are one of the few at-home categories with a genuine mechanism behind them — and also one of the most over-sold. The gap between what photobiomodulation can plausibly do and what a glossy ad promises is wide, and that gap is exactly where an evidence-led review is useful. I'd rather talk you out of a device you don't need than sell you one you'll abandon in a drawer.
Every device discussed on this site has been used first-hand, not unboxed for a photo. Over the past fifteen years I've tested more than 30 LED devices — using them daily and on-and-off across many brands, including more than three years with CurrentBody and the full Nooance range, plus FOREO, Talika, Silk'n, MyBlend and Lucibel. I look at the things the marketing skips: the actual wavelengths and irradiance, how the device fits and feels over months of real use, whether the claims survive contact with the published literature, and whether the price makes sense against what else is on the shelf.
The Cosmetic Review is reader-supported. Some links are affiliate links and some include affiliate discount codes; both are labelled clearly wherever they appear, and we may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Money never decides a ranking. An affiliate brand can still finish behind a cheaper rival, and a device I dislike is described as such regardless of any commercial relationship. When I cite a study, I link to it so you can read it yourself.
One honest limitation worth stating: at-home LED is a wellness/cosmetic category, not a medical one. Nothing here is medical advice. If you have a skin condition, are pregnant, take photosensitising medication, or have a history of light-triggered conditions, talk to a clinician before starting.