Masks #14... Masks I find sticky.

I hoard masks, that's not a secret. But I am making progress in reducing my stash of close to expiration/expired masks. As I am making progress through my stash, I will be adding more mask reviews ^_^

Purederm Pearl Essence Mask

The sticker says $3, but I purchased this from Daiso at 2 for $3 CAD. So it's only $1.50 each. I think I gave the other mask to my friend when we did a masking night that night. That being said, this is a brand that is slowly emerging in western stores, because I think I have seen a large variety of it at Walmart.

 Ingredients: As per the package. 

Water (Aqua), Glycerin, PEG/PPG-17/6 Copolymer, Pearl Extract, natto Gum, PEG-14M, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Xanthan Gum, Panthenol, Illcium Verum (Anise) Fruit Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water, Disodium ETA, Allantoin, Erythritol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Fragrance (Parfum)

Back to the mask, it's got a tangy smell, kind of reminds me of artificial lychee smells with a hint of tang added. I quite like it! *thumbs up!*

This has the eye flaps that allows your eyes to get some love too. However, my nose piece broke off when I took it out of the package and I just didn't want to bother with the mess that is now my mask.

I used it for about 25 minutes, when the upper lip area started to dry out. However, there was still a lot of essence leftover on my skin. It didn't feel tacky to the touch and was absorbed by my skin fast. However, it also made my skin feel a bit tight/itchy. 😔😒

The mask is supposed to help tone and rejuvenate complexion. While I did find my complexion has cleared up a little bit after the mask, the fact that it made my skin feel tight and itchy is a big no. So this mask will be a no repurchase for me.

A'Pieu Tangle Jelly Mask in Mango 

 I got this in mango flavour which is whitening. But honestly, I got this because it's mango not for its supposedly whitening effect. I was very intrigued by what this mask was. What do you mean tangle jelly mask?? What is it?! I had to get it to see it for myself. I got it from RoseRoseShop's eBay storefront for the cheaper shipping rate and utilizing the flash coupon from eBay.

Turns out, this is a this cellulose mask that is soaked in this thick jelly like essence.

 Ingredients: In Korean, not gonna translate, sorry. 

 The mask comes in two pieces, the mask itself, and a mesh like backing an aqua seal sheet. The mask itself is a thin cellulose mask that adheres to my face very well, even over my little nose. However, it doesn't reach near the ears but that's like all of the masks.

 The aqua seal sheet, which is stated on the package itself and I mistook as a backing, is supposed to be on top of the mask to prevent the essence from evaporating as fast. I will have to try it together next time. 

It comes with a thick gel/jelly like essence, which is where the jelly comes in. At first, it didn't appear to be gel but once I squeezed the extra essence out of the package, it is indeed gel. The essence itself smells like artificial peach but without the tang, so I guess that's what the artificial mango supposed to smell like.

I had the mask on for only 20 minutes despite having a thicker essence on the mask. This was due to the fact that the upper lip are was dry and the edges were starting to dry out as well. This probably would have been prevented by using my Daiso silicone mask cover the aqua seal sheet like it's intended 😅😅.

Anyways, there was still a lot of essence left on my face and on the mask itself. I rubbed the extra essence on the mask onto the rest of my body and tried to rub in the essence on my face, but it still took a while to sink in.

I feel like it did okay for a mask that I had on for 20 minutes. I didn't notice any visible brightening effect and I didn't quite like how it took so long to sink in. I will give it another try with the aqua seal sheet on top and revise my opinion should it change. However, I don't find this worth the $2 price tag. Don't get me wrong, it is an interesting mask and I liked it. But the stickiness and time it took to fully sink into my skin made it a no repurchase for me.

Nature Republic Real Nature Mask Sheet in Shea Butter

I got this from Skin18 a few years back as part of their free masks program where I get to pick and choose the masks and only pay for shipping. I think I was supposed to do a review on it, and I obviously took my sweet time. 😅😅 I thought these has been repackaged but don't quote me on it as sites such as Jolse still has the same packaging listed. So maybe I am imagining things. 😕

 Ingredients: As per the package. 

Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate. Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Citrus Paradis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Dimethicone, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Hydroxide, Sophora Angustifolia Root Extrat, Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Prunus Persica (Peach) Leaf Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance. 

The mask is a thick cotton mask that is soaked in a thick lotion type of essence such that it was not dripping when I took it out of the package. The essence itself has a very powdery smell to it, which is what I like to refer to as the "old lady smell". Yah, I am not a big fan of that smell.=__= It kept on wafting in and out of my nose as I had it on, but it wasn't intolerable. On the plus side, the mask itself is quite big! It actually almost touches my ears and reaches far down my chin. 👍

I had the mask on for only 20 minutes. The mask was still moist but I just didn't have the patience to have it on any longer. There was still lots of essence on my skin, which took its sweet time sinking in and left my skin feeling tacky.

Due to the fact that it has a powdery smell that I dislike and it made my skin feel tacky, it's a no for me for future repurchases. I am glad I did get to try it out though!

Mirum Fresh Fruit Honey Real Nature Mask Pack

I also got this from Skin18 and yup, I waited forever to try it. Oops...

 Ingredients: In Korean, not gonna translate, sorry. Skin18 has it on their website though! 

This is a moist mask that is soaked in a thick clear gel like essence. The essence itself has a very sweet smell to it, almost like honey but a little off. As for the mask itself, it fits my face well. A perfect fit for my nose, and almost reaches my ears. Yay for big masks!

However, despite being soaked in a thick gel, it felt quite dry upon putting it on my face. It actually felt like it was going to suck all of the moisture off of my face and fall off immediately. Due to this fact, I only had it on for 10 minutes before taking it off. It is meant to be 15 to 20 minutes, but honestly, it really felt like it was going to fall off. Oddly enough, there was lots of essence on my face and the mask was still moist. I guess it must been my imagination. I tried to pat in the extra essence into my skin but my skin still felt tacky to the touch. However, it does look and feel more hydrated.

Once again, this is a mask I probably wouldn't repurchase because it made my skin feel sticky and it's not an easy to find brand.

BONUS:

Mamonde 7 Days Project- Moisturizing 

This is a pack of masks that you are supposed to be using for 7 days straight. I obviously had it for a long time as it is now discontinued. This expired in mid December and I tried to use it right after it expired. However... This was definitely a lesson for me.

The mask is rolled up and soaked in a lotion type essence. The essence has a slight tangy smell which is what I assume to be the strawberry. I thought it was going to be a serum type of essence as rose and strawberry kind of screams serum to me. But considering it is supposed to be moisturizing masks, I guess a lotion type makes more sense.

The mask is so big that I can put it on without using the mirror. It is also big enough that it almost reached my ears. (I just found another common theme for these masks! Masks that are so big they almost reach my ears!)

Downside to the mask is that due to the way the mask was packed, I feel that the essence was not distributed equally on the mask. Some parts felt drier than other parts. The mask dried out rather quickly, with the upper area feeling dry and uncomfortable within 5 minutes. The cheeks and jawline started to dry out and ready to fall off after 5 minutes as well. The forehead remained moist but it wasn't too far off. I ended up taking it off after 10 minutes because the whole mask felt dry and ready to come off by itself. Despite the feeling of a dry mask, I still had plenty of essence on my face, which was absorbed quickly.

Now the lesson. I kept using this mask for 3 days straight, but I started to get these small painful breakouts all over my face. I don't usually get those kind of breakouts so I immediately thought it may have caused by these masks. I stopped using them and surely enough the breakouts went away after a few days. After it was gone, I thought I would give it another try. But nope, the breakouts came back after one use. I had to throw the remaining 3 masks.

So the lesson I learned is that, USE YOUR MASKS IN TIME! Because these masks were expired, I can't pinpoint whether it was certain ingredients that my skin did not like or the fact that these ingredients were expired. Experience with these masks has made me re-evaluate if it was worth it to continue using expired masks or throw them out. I ultimately decided to throw out my expired masks as my skin is worth more than a few dollars worth of masks.

Masks #10 - A little of everything

Skinfood Glacier Water Gel Mask

I bought this mask at the end of 2014 when Sasa had a shipping sale where it is free shipping with no minimum purchase limit. I been hoarding it and treasuring it for no good reason. These are so hard to find now. They are not listed on most sites and outrageously priced on eBay unless you buy it in 10 pieces. Memebox does sell it at a reasonable price but considering it's US only, that's not helpful for the rest of us. So no links to any sites. Sorry!

 Ingredients: It's all in Korean and I am not translating it. But it looks like someone already put in the effort of translating and putting it for analysis on CosDNA. Please look below for the full ingredients list.

CosDNA Analysis

It looks like the most offensive ingredients are Algin and Chondrus Crispus. They are pretty high up there as acne and irritant triggers. So if you got sensitive skin, I would avoid it.

The mask was drenched in a watery essence, which promptly dripped everywhere as soon as I took it out. I think for hydrogels I prefer if the essence were thicker. It's not like you can squeeze hydrogels like you could with cotton sheet masks. So the only option is let it drip everywhere while you are trying to put it on. Not cool.

As for smell wise, there wasn't any strong prominent scents. Just a little herbal like and a bit chemical smelling.

Like the other hydrogels, it comes wedged between two clear backings so the user can separate them with ease. It also comes in two pieces, a top piece and bottom piece. The top piece fit my face okay, a little long on the nose but I just flipped the nose piece up. The bottom piece fit horribly! I couldn't get the left side to fit my face properly without causing lots of tenting. I eventually gave up and just left a "tent city" on my chin.

The mask is quite thin, I would say thinner than the Innisfree one I tried. I accidentally scrapped it with my nails and I could feel the plastic mesh despite my short nails.

I had it on for an hour withe Daiso mask cover and another 25 minutes without the cover. I still had some extra essence after I took it off, but those sunk in quickly and was not sticky at all.

It made my face softer and look even toned. It also calmed down a few of my little bumps. But I wouldn't repurchase. It doesn't fit my face well and it is so hard to find. I can buy other ones with much more ease.

**I took pictures with the dried mask but it looked scary as heck so let's not scary people even though it's almost Halloween**

Foodaholic Pearl Shining Hydrogel Mask 

This is the mask that I ordered from Skin18 during their free masks promotion. That whole ordeal was just painful. Not Skin18's fault, they were great. They sent replacement package and offered me more samples in the future for returning the extra package. But just Canada Post is very frustrating as they have become more and more unreliable and holding my package hostage for more than a month. But that's whole other issue that cannot be solved because they are Crown Corporations and no matter how much we complain they aren't going to change their ways.

 Ingredients: As per the package. 

DJ Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Disodium EDTA, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Locust Bean GUm, Arrageenan, Guargum, Agar, Potassium Chloride, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Caster oil, Ubiquinone, Ceramide-3, Lecithin, Arbutin, Panthenol, Accharomyces, Ferment Filtrate, rh-Oligopeptide-1, Pearl Extract (28mg), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide, Fragrance

Ummmm. WHAT THE HELL IS DJ WATER??  What is that? Water molecules that also DJ in their spare time? Or water that's been spit out or sweat out by DJs?

Secondly, there is so much spelling and spacing errors. I get English is not their first language.. But still...

Ok, honestly, as soon as I tore it open I regretted it. THAT SMELL!!! The smell just comes bursting out as soon as it's open, and assault your nose and would not leave at all!! It's this extremely strong sweet floral perfume smell. I think it should be okay at a much MUCH lower dosage. But this is STRONG! I feel like fragrance should be the 3rd or 4th ingredients in the ingredients list because it is STRONG.

The mask is sitting in a little puddle of gold coloured essence, and the mask itself is also gold coloured. (I am trying to be polite, but let's face it, it's more of a urine colour.) The mask is in two pieces and sits between a white pearl paper and a clear plastic backing.

As for the mask its self, it's very delicate. It is essentially gelatinous essence cut into the shape of a mask. It does not have the mesh material in the center to retain its shape. The ingredients list includes Agar, which I am sure is what's holding its shape.

That being said, the mask is so delicate, it can rip very easily. I accidentally ripped it a little bit when I took it off and that just started the mask's disintegration into little pieces. Definitely use caution with this mask.

This mask is also different in that the eye cut outs and the mouth cut out is included with the mask. So I think the production must have been cut out the holes and slap two pieces of backing on it and package.

The mask didn't fit me well. The mouth hole was outrageously big, fit for a clown. I had to do a lot of rearranging to make it sit properly. There was just so much issues and I had to keep adjusting until it sat properly. Though once I am happy with its position, the mask didn't move at all

I took it off after 30 minutes because I couldn't stand the smell any longer. The mask was still very moist but I know some has been absorbed since it felt thinner to the touch. I was surprised my face didn't feel sticky after I removed the mask.

Result wise, I didn't see much difference. I would not purchase again, or use even if it's free. It's interesting how it's just like a mask made from jello, but it's so delicate and didn't sit right. The results and that horribly strong smell just deter me from ever using it again. And to think I still got a few of these hydrogels sitting in my basket... I gotta go through this a few more time.. T____T

A'Pieu Sweet Melon Sheet Mask

Now we are moving from hydrogels back to the normal sheet masks. These I bought off of TK as they were 3 for $1! That is so cheap!! I had to try it. Unfortunately TK has sold out of it, but you can request it and see if they will restock it.

Otherwise I can only find it on W2Beauty for $8.48, which works out to be $2.82 per mask instead of $0.33/mask + shipping. I don't particularly support this e-tailer as I don't particularly agree with their mark up. But that's my opinion.  I know some people like W2Beauty and orders from them frequently. Please make your own judgement after doing some research.

 Ingredients: It's all in Korean and I am not up to translating it.

The mask was drenched in a clear essence that has this sweet melon smell, just like those sweet melon flavoured drinks. It does have a slight chemical scent afterwards but the sweet melon smell is so good! The mask was drenched in the essence by the way. Which I was happy to see.

The mask is made of a heavy cotton, which I was surprised to see for something that is only $0.33. I couldn't tear it apart despite pulling hard at it. I have no complaints about the mask at all! It fit my round face perfectly, it reaches all the way up to my hairline and my ears. No skin left exposed. It does take a little bit to smooth out but it fits perfectly!!

I had the mask on for an hour with the Daiso silicone mask cover for an hour before I removed it. Then I left the mask on for another 15 minutes. There was lots of essence on my skin, all sunk in within 5 minutes.

My skin felt a little tighter afterwards, so maybe the mask is supposed to have anti-aging properties? My skin looked pretty plump and more moisturized.

I definitely would repurchase this in the future, as long as someone else start carrying it at a resonable price, or if TK restock it again. I am hoping they would carry the banana one too! I just love how thick the mask is and how it fit my face perfectly.

Sidmool Waterfull Pure Essence Mask Sheet

I got this to try as it was on sale on TK for $0.50. It looks like TK stopped selling it and I can't find it anywhere else.

 Ingredients: It's all in Korean and I am not translating it. But it looks like someone already put in the effort of translating and putting it for analysis on CosDNA. Please look below for the full ingredients list.

CosDNA Analysis

The mask was in a clear essence that has a very chemical smell, kind of reminds me of bandages. But it's fairly faint so it doesn't bother me much when I had it on. It looked like there would be quite a bit of essence left but nope. Optical illusion~~~

The mask has the eye flaps still attached. So you would have the option to flip it up to close your eyes and relax.

I am not sure if I put it on crookedly, or my face is uneven or something is wrong with the mask. But I have much less coverage around my right jaw than the left jaw. Other than that, it covered the rest of my face well.

I took it off after 30 minutes as the upper lip area became dried out. I still had lots of essence on my face which absorbed in quickly. My face felt more moisturized afterwards so it does its job.

I like the fit of the mask and it's pretty cheap, even at full price of $1. But I wouldn't actively seek out this mask. If I stumble upon it, I'll buy some, if not, I can find others at similar price and have the same effect.

Purederm Rice Bran Collagen Mask

I was surprised to see this at Daiso in Vancouver! It was $3.00 but if I remembered correctly, it was also 2 for $3. I heard good reviews about Purederm so I got it to try. 

 Ingredients: As per the package. 

Water (Aqua), Glycerin, PEG/PPG-17/6 Copolymer, Oryza Saliva (Rice) Bran Extract, Natto Gum, PEG-14M, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Panthenol, Xanthan Gum, Disodium EDTA, Allantoin, Erythritol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Chlorphenesin, Methylparaben, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum)

The rice was in a clear essence but it wasn't drenched. Once I took the mask out, there was no more essence left in the package. The essence has no scent at all so that was really nice, especially since rice shouldn't have much scents anyways. 

The mask looks so cute! The line of the eye flap looks like it's smiling at you! The mask fits fine, I need more on my jaw line but the other parts are okay. I had it on for 20 minute as it was starting to get dry around the mouth area. But the mask is actually still pretty moist. There was quite a bit of essence left on my face which took another 20 minutes to fully sink in and not feel sticky to the touch. 

My skin looks even and it feels like there's a layer of moisture on my skin when I touch it. I don't know how to describe it. I don't dislike it, but it's kind of a weird feeling. My face was still super moisturized the next day. 

I would totally buy this mask again! I can see why people like this brand! But of course, I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it, but if I see it on sale, I'll buy it. 

Memebox Superbox #77 Foot Therapy

 Memebox Superbox #77 Foot Therapy is a box that I purchased with in a bundle with While You Were Sleeping. I primarily bought the bundle for While You Were Sleeping and for the express shipping. I am glad I grabbed this box as it is a decent box.

The boxes shipped out on a Thursday, so unfortunately I had to wait until Monday for the package to arrive.