Sophie turns her excellent guide skills to a bit of face mask skincare. Much needed at this time of year with the changing colder seasons, annual onslaught of the office colds and sneezes, and central heating starting to dry out our skin. Read on…
The Ultimate Face Mask Guide
I tend to think face masks only go with having a bath, but I don’t have one, sob! I then came to the realisation you can do them without being in a bath. I can even wander round my flat whilst I’m doing stuff or watching telly. I’m sure face masks are also useful for scaring your flatmates/boyfriend/husband/kids/cat/Sainsbury’s delivery man too.
Dr Organic Dead Sea Mineral Bio-Plasma Mask, £8.29
So the idea of Dr Organic is that they use the finest natural raw ingredients. Here we go, waffing on about how raw their materials are. The description on the box and ingredients list is so long it’s bordering on a dissertation.
Saying that it looks like clay mud and has a few ingredients that sound pretty good – sea salt, various fruity oils and leaf juices. Tick for sensitive skin.
Time to slap it on. You don’t need much for a thin layer, and you leave on for 10 minutes and wash off with cold water. It’s a bit tingly, apparently from the spearmint oil, ooo err. It did sink in quite a bit, but it was easy to wash off.
Then, I take my cynic hat off, as man! My face is so smooth and soft. I had a cold, so I felt so gross and my skin was groggy, but it feels so fresh and clean after! Note to self: when I’m in a park rub leaves on my face for extra glow.
Glow: *** Less grey more heyyyy ?
Skin: **** Baby’s bumcheek soft
Ingredients: **** Cuddling a tree level
Value: **** Hair swishing worth it
Balance Me radiance face mask, 75ml, £18
This is a two-in-one spesh as it’s a scrub and a face mask. It has 98% natural ingredients and polishes, hydrates and smooths (apparently).
It’s a lot thinner than your usual face masks and goes on nicely. You leave it on only for 5 minutes. It doesn’t make your skin go tingly or tight, and the mask doesn’t dry out at all. It’s still very cream-like, it’s lurking around in face mask territory but it doesn’t know what the chuff it is. It’s like Jaffa cakes thinking they’re a cake then invading biscuit tins.
You wash it off with a “muslin damp cloth”. Well the only cloth I have is a dish cloth and whilst I toyed with this idea I thought I’d just wash it off with my bare hands. (I know, I’m basically Bear Grylls). All the sandy bits (or “Ground Walnut Spheres”, ahem) were a mish to get off, but gave my face a good scrub so I reckon no cloth is better anyway.
My skin feels moisturised and hydrated, but not hugely transformed. Not sure about the polished part as I don’t know what that means in skin context, but I don’t want a shiny Mr Sheen face anyway, ta.
Glow: *** A bit dewy
Skin: *** Moisturising
Ingredients: *** Hipster level cool
Value: ** Pricey but would spread far
Mud masky facial detox purifying recovery mask 60g, £60
Well well well. This is the big daddy of face masks – here to crush everything in its path. It’s in classy packaging, so I was surprised to see this stuff was actually like mud. Like, I might as well have gone to Glasto and just shoved my face in it. It was dark brown/green, thick, gloopy and had weird gross bits in it (which I’ve since discovered were green tea leaves). As soon as I began to put it on it started to dry out! My face turned crusty like a baguette and I felt like I was in Game of Thrones with greyscale (a lovely disease that makes your skin turn to stone). I was a bit freaked out.
They advise to leave it on for 9-11 minutes, depending on your skin type. I left it on for 10 (normal skin), and it took me another 10 to get it off. It was SO messy. It got everywhere and it was a total bitch to get off, my sink was covered in brown sludge. Ok, yeah, my skin was soft, but it wasn’t 60-quid-and-then-clean-your-bathroom-after soft. It felt dry after too, so I put some moisturiser on. Only to then read the instructions online that say “as with all face masks, don’t moisturise after”. Arse. I must’ve missed out on the face mask rulebook for Xmas. Ultimately, I didn’t care how soft and clean my skin was as this was far too much faff for me. If you have a cleaner, then crack on.
Glow: ** Vague glow
Skin: *** Squishy soft but dry
Ingredients: *** Fancy but fugly
Value: * Better off using the £ on a facial
Faff factor: ************ Every level of faff
Earth Kiss White Thai clay mask, 17g, £1.99
This was one of those sachet ones, basically when you’re poor and you fancy a treat that isn’t a giant bar of Dairy Milk. (Obviously don’t eat this.) So this one claims to be 100% natural and contain 85 plant micro-nutrients. Given the sachet is 17g, that’s impressive.
So I slap it on. It’s deffo the nicest texture and look of the bunch as it’s a thick white cream. It is also the perfect amount, so no wastage. It dries out a bit as you leave it on for 15-20 minutes. But I was pretty disappointed with the outcome which was basically sweet F.A. They’d nailed everything here except, y’know, the end soft glowy face part.
Glow: ** Meh ?
Skin: ** Same old shizzle
Ingredients: *** Hippy level cool
Value: **** Bargain bin happy
The Verdict
The Dr Organic one deffo won it for me but these reviews just confirmed I am so lazy and can’t be arsed with any faff never mind additional cleaning. I also like to feel nice still so it still feels treaty rather than looking like I’ve face-planted a puddle. So next reviews are on sheet masks… Watch this space.
What face mask floats your boat for winter skin? Share with us – @tweetjanes.