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The first thing you’ll notice about MDLondon’s Blow hair dryer is that it has a refreshingly different design to most currently popular hair dryers. It doesn’t look like the mallet-shaped Supersonic, nor does it look like a classic hair dryer. And it’s much lighter in the hand at just 360g (minus the cord, which doubles its weight, so note that for packing) and much more compact. It’s impressively powerful as well, especially given its size. In our test, we found that it dried hair quickly.

It has three speed settings, three temperature settings (60°C, 80°C and 100°C, like the Supersonic) and a cool shot button. It has an ion generator as well, to help smooth your hair as it dries.

The button placement may be better for right handed people than lefties, the two included smoothing nozzles don’t click on and off easily, plus you’ll need to buy the diffusing nozzle separately.

But these are small complaints. Overall, it’s a very effective hair tool that’s stylish and good value for its price. It comes in blue and olive green, to match MDLondon’s Strait hair straightener.

The Dyson Supersonic is a technological wonder (dare we call it “cutting edge”?), which promises to be kinder to your hair, more comfortable on previously weighed down arms, quieter, and faster at drying and styling.

Our testers were impressed with the Supersonic but initially aghast at the high price tag, although we think it’s not that much when compared to the price of a quality haircut.

It’s very fast at drying (some may find it a little too fast when drying at low speed), super quiet, simple and comfortable to use, and with some neat design features such as the magnetic attachments. There are certainly cheaper, quality hair dryers available but we think the hair-friendly Dyson Supersonic is smart enough to justify the comparatively high price tag.

The latest entry into the luxury hair dryer market, the Zuvi Halo, harnesses its one-of-a-kind technology very visibly. Switch it on and its business end glows with a green, UV-filtered light.

The idea behind it is to use the heat from light, rather than heated coils, to dry hair. Zuvi claims this will stop the inside of the hair shaft from drying out and thus reduce damage.

What we can say is that it dries hair extremely quickly, at a much lower temperature than a standard hair dryer. It’s quieter as well, which makes the whole hair drying experience much more relaxing, and hair is left soft and shiny.

Best of all, it’s extremely energy efficient, using much less power than rivals. 

Yes, it’s pricey. But if you can afford it, it’s a pleasure to use.

Usually, where hair dryers are concerned, you have to choose between power and portability. The Enigma Revelation (there’s no need to mention the name again) is not only one of the most powerful hair dryers we’ve tested, it’s also one of the lightest. It even folds up so it’ll take up less space in your travel bag.

It’s very nicely designed as well, with a high quality build. It features an LCD screen to show the heat and speed setting – and there’s a choice of four heat settings (including the cold shot) and three speed options. It has an ionic jet and Revamp says that it’s infused with oils to smooth the hair, although we found that difficult to evaluate.

It comes with two concentrating nozzles and one diffuser, which attach magnetically. Altogether, it’s very well-priced for its features and quality. Our only criticism would be that with such powerful airflow coming through a small aperture, it’s easy to tangle longer hair if you use it on too high a setting. Use it wisely.

We were blown away by the Laifen Swift when we tested it. It’s another mallet-shaped hair dryer in the same league as the Dyson Supersonic and the Zuvi Halo when it comes to creating salon-quality looks, fast. But it’s under half the price of those luxury models. It’s lighter as well: 407g, compared to the Halo’s 475g and the Supersonic’s 560g.

However, you’ll only get one magnetic attachment with it, unless you go for the Special package, which costs another $20/ £20, in which case you’ll get a diffuser, a smoothing and a styling nozzle.

It has two speed settings and three heat settings: in a nice touch, there’s a ring light at the end of the dryer head that illuminates blue, orange or red, according to the heat setting. Be warned though, the hot setting is very hot indeed if you use one of the nozzles.

It comes in four colour options: matt black, silver blue, pearl white and ruby red.

The Revlon One-Step is a drying and volumising brush that lets you do two jobs at once. Many people who use it will be able to avoid using a separate hair dryer and straightener – and will get the kind of swingy, (close to) salon hair that only pros can otherwise manage at home. It’s fast to use as well.

Still, its effectiveness might vary depending on your hair type, and if you have long, thick hair, you may have to dry it first – which makes it slightly less appealing.

Like other styling tools, it could damage your hair if you use it too often, and ethical beauty shoppers will be disappointed to learn that it features genuine boar bristles.

Fentgo’s high-speed hair dryer is fast, powerful and the best-priced of the luxury dupes that we’ve tested. Best of all, it costs under a third of the Dyson Supersonic. Yes, there’s a lot more plastic in its build than the Supersonic, but on the plus side, it’s significantly lighter.

It has three styling temperatures – but as there’s no separate cool shot button, one of the three functions as a cool mode to set your hair. It also has two speed settings and it dries hair very quickly. It has ionic technology to smooth and de-frizz, which may be the reason that it leaves hair soft and shiny.

One other nice feature is the light ring that tells you at a glance whether its temperature is cool, medium or hot.

It comes with two magnetic styling accessories: a diffuser and concentrator nozzle. Altogether, it’s a great hair dryer at a good (for luxury, at least) price.

Revamp’s Progloss 4000 has three heat settings (plus a cool shot button), two speed settings and an oscillation function that’ll allow you to cover more hair as you use it.

As it’s a 2100W appliance, it has the power to get the job done quickly. It also uses ionic technology to speed dry and de-frizz your locks, which means you can use a lower heat. 

We were impressed during testing and would recommend it to people who want a hair dryer that’ll help protect their hair.

The GHD Air isn’t a cheap hair dryer by any means (although it is a third of the price of Dyson’s Supersonic). It feels like a luxury and we’ve definitely enjoyed using it. It’s speedy, efficient and overall a joy to use.

We’ll struggle to go back to a less expensive hair dryer now that we’ve had it for a few weeks. But we’ve been perfectly happy with hair dryers in the past that have come in at half the price of this, so it’s not a necessity by any means. Still, it would make the perfect gift for a hair-conscious loved one.