Facial masks don’t necessarily need to be a lavish investment. You’ll find that many low and mid end options offer a range of different functions, such as skin brightening, skin whitening, anti-aging, and hydrating effects. The point of the mask is that it is supposed to deliver these active ingredients in a more concentrated form, to aid in skin absorption and efficacy.
Face masks come in many forms. Sheet masks come as thin moisture-retaining cotton, gel, and microfibre materials soaked in skincare solution. Sleeping masks, clay masks, charcoal masks, cream masks and peel-off masks generally come as a DIY apply-it-yourself formula. Of these, sleeping masks and cream masks tend to be relatively moisturizing, while clay, charcoal and peel-off masks tend to be exfoliating. For example, we find that the Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment is great at helping to reduce the size of pores, blackheads, and greasiness on the skin. However, make sure to only use this when you have oily skin, and limit use to once a week as it can be a little harsh for the skin if you don’t need it.
For a quick “pick me up” gel mask for dry skin, try the Skin Inc. Pure Deepsea Hydrating Mask, which contains algae extract. This mask is great at giving our skin a boost of hydration overnight.
Among the affordable sheet masks we particularly like are the Innisfree Second Skin Masks (Style Korean)(Jolse). You can choose different targeted ingredients depending on your skincare needs, such as for moisturizing, nourishing, firming, soothing and brightening effects. Keep in mind these masks generally contain alcohol, castor oil, and fragrance, which can be irritating.
In terms of more mid end mask options, one of our favorites is the Papa Recipe Bombee Honey Masks (Style Korean), which contain honey, propolis and royal jelly extract. This mask feels incredibly soothing for our skin, and our skin is always extra radiant, plump and hydrated after using it.
If you are ready for some pricier sheet masks to indulge in, try the Su:m37 Secret Programming Mask (Jolse), which has been our holy grail for many years. This contains over 80 natural fermented ingredients that act as antioxidant powerhouses together, such as pear juice, grape, barley seed, ginseng root, rye, soybean, black tea and hyacinth ferment. Our skin is extremely dewy and soft after using this. However, keep in mind that if your skin reacts badly to too many extracts, these may not be the masks for you.
Finally, the Sulwhasoo Snowise Brightening Mask is an indulgent mask that is great at moisturizing our skin while not being too rich or creamy. It does contain a few botanical extracts, so be careful if you tend to break out from these.
Follow the instructions on each mask for how long to keep it on for, and make sure to use any excess left on your neck and hands!
By the way…some of the skincare we recommend are available on iHerb, which we use to buy a lot of our organic skincare. You can use our code AEJ0519 at checkout to get 5% off.
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P.S…this is probably obvious, but the information presented doesn’t constitute medical advice - always check with your own doctor!
