💕😌 2023 Mask of the Week Challenge 😌💖

[eshoe]

Welcome to the 2023 Mask of the Week Challenge! We love hearing about every masking experience, on or off-theme, and suggestions are always welcome.

Letter of the Week: L

Theme: Fragranced Masks - "Yes, Please" or "No, thank you?" - Share your favorites of both, or why you prefer one over the other for National Fragrance Day March 21st. 

This Year's Schedule:

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Mask of the Week Misc. Info & Previous Year's Links:

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To Post:

Each week features a different theme, as well as a letter of the alphabet for coming up with new masking ideas. 

Please include the brand and name of the mask you are trying out, as well as a photo if possible. Any other details are greatly appreciated, including scent, fit, adherence, mask type (hydrating, brightening, exfoliating, detox, sleeping, etc.) as well as your overall experience.

Most importantly: Would you repurchase it? 

Second most important: Have fun and merry masking!

2022 Mask of the Week Challenge

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2021 Mask of the Week Challenge

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2020 Mask of the Week Challenge:

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/2020-Mask-of-the-Week-Challenge-PART-1/m-p/4995162/h...

2019 Mask of the Week Challenge:

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/2019-Mask-of-the-Week-Challenge/m-p/4497678/highligh...

2018 Mask of the Week Challenge:

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Skincare-Aware/Mask-of-the-Week-Challenge/td-p/3615125   

Thank you @Aaliaa for starting this thread, and giving us a place to share our love for masks💗

[emaisgr8]

I was impressed by the Sykn dots either @sonnydee 

[sonnydee]

im just glad I got only a few left @emaisgr8

[Shosh85]

Better than Biore?! I don't know @sonnydee, I'm pretty skeptical 🤔😉 Thats awesome to hear! I love that the products from this brand always smell so great! Glad these worked out so well!

[sonnydee]

She has blackheads front & center- no way biore missed them, yet,they did.🤷 but I don't think formula makes these anymore. All I saw on ulta was a combo pack with charcoal & witch hazel @Shosh85

[ShortErica]

More stuff than Biore - you've got me sold @sonnydee!

[sonnydee]

This was my first time I used the Formula strips but I'm REALLY surprised that they did better than Biore. I applied the strip on her so i know she did it right @ShortErica 🤷

[ShortErica]

Now I want to experiment on my husband with them @sonnydee 🙂

[sonnydee]

Good for you! @ShortErica my hubs is a big baby there's no way he'll use them. Even though he probably could use them😉

[WinglessOne]

B = Beauty of Joseon Centella Asiatica Calming Mask, used last night. 

Unlike other transparent sleeves, I can easily read the back of this one.

Notes: 

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Claims: Soothes, hydrates, and brightens skin; improves wrinkles. 

Ingredients: BOJ calls out “3 kinds of hyaluronic acid” in their marketing but gosh, I wish they weren’t last on this list. What attracted me more to this mask were the 15% cica content, brightening niacinamide, wrinkle-fighting adenosine, and antioxidant-loaded goji berry, plus other highly beneficial ingredients (well, jury’s still out on mugwort… I’m still not sure what it can actually do for skin vs. what folks claim it does), hanging out in a fragrance free serum. 

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Water, Centella Asiatica Extract (15.03945%), Glycereth-26, Butylene Glycol, Niacinamide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Arginine, Acrylates / C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Carrageenan, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Polyglyceryl-6 Caprylate, Adenosine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Panthenol, Artemisia Princeps Leaf Extract, Lycium Chinense Fruit Extract, Propanediol, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Anthemis Nobilis Flower  Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Hyaluronic Acid 

Performance: This super thin bio cellulose sheet was the perfect length and stretchable width for my face (eh, a bit too wide at the temples), but required tailoring at the eye and mouth holes. The philtrum was annoyingly thin and kept sagging down onto my lip. I almost cut the philtrum off but decided to deal with it. 

The slightly slimy watery serum had a very faint leafy scent I couldn’t detect after application. I liked the scent enough to stick my nose into the sleeve to search for it again. 😄 There was a handful of serum left in the sleeve; I applied it atop the mask and on my neck. I’m surprised the sheet stayed put for 30 minutes; I expected it to keep slipping down my face, but nope. After sheet removal, it took 4-5 minutes to fully massage/press serum into my skin. The sheet was still juicy, so I rubbed it on my chest, shoulders, and the back of my neck. Once all serum had soaked in, I had mild tackiness and no pilling. 

Results: Calm, very hydrated, and very moisturized skin. The only redness left was around one large pimple. The center of my face looked brighter than usual. All my skin was happily plump: even my deep undereye lines were softened via plumping. I probably didn’t need moisturizer after this mask but, well, habits: I spritzed on a little YTTP Adaptogen Mist and quickly followed with a very thin layer of Paula’s Choice CLEAR Oil-Free Moisturizer. 

I’m glad I have a box of these masks to use up. Considering how many other cica masks I have, I might save these for fall and winter when my skin will better appreciate the hydration/moisturization boost. And I hope Beauty of Joseon adds more sheet mask varieties! This one's a very impressive start. 

B = bling. Yesterday morning was my first ever use of the SNP Diamond Brightening Ampoule Mask. I'm not sure what made me want to use any sheet mask, let alone this one, that morning, but here we are—er, were. 

Kinda unfair to use this during my already brightening AM routine instead of PM.

Notes: 

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Claims: Brightens, clarifies, and hydrates skin. 

Ingredients: Considering diamond’s hardness, at first I wasn’t sure it’d be a good idea to apply thousands of tiny super slicey shards to my face and then massage them into my skin. I mean, I know firsthand what diamond grit can do to carbon steel kitchen knives, so… 😬 But I assume this mask uses nanodiamonds which aren’t dangerous. Nanodiamonds bond very well with water, making them good hydrators; they act as a humectant. They also help other ingredients penetrate into deep skin levels. On the back of the mask sleeve, SNP highlights diamond as a hydrator instead of a skin brightener. They give the “brightener" spotlight to niacinamide. 

This mask contains a lot of sodium hyaluronate, so it should be hydrating, despite the presence of alcohol in the first half of the list. Cranberry is a good skin soother and antioxidant source. So is pomegranate. And black cherry is full of vitamin C. 

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Water, Glycerin, Sodium Hyaluronate (1000 mg), Niacinamide, Butylene Glycol, Alcohol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Polysorbate 80, Diamond Powder (0.3 mg), Prunus Serotina (Wild Cherry) Fruit Extract, Punica Granatum Fruit Extract, Vaccinium Macrocarpon (Cranberry) Fruit Extract, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanal, Flavor, Caprylyl Glycol 

Performance: Soft, medium thick cotton sheet that contained nearly all the gel serum available, leaving maybe a tablespoon in the sleeve. Fit was decent: slightly too long at the chin; eyehole inner corners needed snipping to prevent eye overlap; and my jaw was covered. 

The mask had a light citrus scent that kinda reminds me of a mimosa. I suspect “flavor” (um, fragrance) includes grapefruit and/or bergamot. As with most citrus elements, my nose loves the smell but my face’s skin generally doesn’t. So I capped weartime at 20 minutes, then spent 1-2 minutes massage-pressing serum into my skin. I had slight tack and no pilling. 

Results: Soft and well hydrated skin that was, eh, slightly brighter. My typical morning routine includes a big dose of niacinamide (via my toner), vitamin C, and tons of hydrators, so this mask was AM overkill in those categories. I need to use it again at night to see if it has any immediate brightening power on its own. 

Meanwhile, I can say this mask lives up to SNP’s hydration claim. Though this mask isn’t loaded with moisturizing ingredients, my skin felt like it didn’t need much moisturizer—so I topped it with just a tiny bit of Herbivore Emerald CBD Oil for the day. This kept my skin hydrated and moisturized all day and probably helped soothe any delayed reaction to the citrus fragrance components. (I never saw any signs of bad reaction, hooray!) 

Hope I remember to try this mask again one night this week! 

[itsfi]

Beauty of Joseon was one of the brands I was super keen to try when I first started learning about KBeauty skincare. I use the cream; this is the first I’ve heard about a sheet mask @WinglessOne. 

[WinglessOne]

@itsfi  I don't know when they released this sheet mask, but it's the first (and only, so far) one they've ever made. I hope they plan to release more. 

[eshoe]

Wow, both sound great, @WinglessOne! Curious about your thought process when choosing masks to purchase. Cica seems to be in many of them. I’ve been trying to seek out more (you liked the Benton one, I think... cannot recall for certain) as a result of your reviews and also my skin that’s been acting up more frequently. 

Oooooh and yes. The masks that you go back to the package for another, “What is that scent, exactly?”🥰 Those are keepers.

[WinglessOne]

@eshoe  Oh no, how's your skin been acting up? Acne breakouts, or something different? A few years ago, more frequent "breakouts" (which were really just small bumps, not acne) were my skin's first visible SOS, sparked by accumulated damage from various essential oils in my skincare products. It progressed to redness, itchiness, and flaking before I finally consulted a dermatologist for answers. Hopefully that's not happening to you. Maybe it's just a specific ingredient or 2 your skin doesn't like, possibly combined with seasonal weather change + mask wearing. I remember you mentioning you thought your skin might not like spirulina...? 

Dropping my mask-shopping thought process in a spoiler because I'll probably ramble a lot 😄 : 

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My though process for all skincare is very ingredient driven. I learn which ingredients can help my skin issues or help me reach skincare goals. (Example: I buy a lot of cica masks because last year I realized my surface redness and other signs of irritation respond well to that ingredient, and I'd already done lots of research on cica.) Then I look for products that contain those ingredients without lots of bad-for-me stuff.

Formulation is important, of course, and you can't always determine that just by looking at an ingredients list (well, unless you're a chemist, which I am not 😂). But I can briefly skim a mask's marketing claims (or ignore them altogether), then skip straight to the full ingredients list where I take my time reading and thinking. The ingredients list tells me more about a mask's true capabilities than the marketing does. I look up any ingredient I don't recognize and usually plan to deep-dive on it later, because I like to research and learn about things, because I'm kind of a nerd. Anyway, if the ingredients list looks impressive, I'll probably buy 1 or 2 of the masks to try. (I like to buy 2 so I can retest if necessary.) 

When I'm at a store (eh, when I was at stores in the pre-pandemic days) or a site like YesStyle to restock a mask, I sometimes notice other masks I've never tried. I quickly skim their marketing info, then jump to ingredients. If the product page doesn't list all the ingredients (I HATE when retailers do that), I'll ask Google for them. If all I can find is the original Korean/Japanese/Chinese ingredients list, I'll run Google Translate on it—and thank goodness that app's improved, especially the photo features which used to be super glitchy. If I like what I see, I'll probably try that mask unless I convince myself I already have too many dupe masks. 

I get super excited when I happen upon a brand I've never tried before, and I find at least one mask of theirs I can safely test. Especially if the sleeve design draws me in. That's how I felt the first time I explored PACKage's masks a few years ago and found their Don't Worry mask. 

And sometimes I look up masks posted in this thread if I've never tried them before. The first info I look for is the full ingredients list. If a mask contains too much bad stuff, I won't try it. Usually that includes high amounts of alcohol denat., but sometimes I'll give that a pass based on the rest of the ingredients list. If a mask contains only one citrus extract and it's near the tail end of the list, with no linalool or other fragrance components individually listed, I might try it. Depends on how far I wanna push my face's luck. 😄 

[eshoe]

I can’t place it on anything besides the consistent Bakuchiol (using inconsistent products by switching it up every two weeks) @WinglessOne. I need to take a closer look at the ingredients, maybe something just isn’t clicking right. But sensitivity is something I’m not really used to- only a handful of masks have cause me issues in the past few years, whereas this year, seems like it’s once a month🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Thank you for the in-depth detail on your procurement process! You seem to find quite a few good masks, so I was very curious. I’m always drawn in by packaging, so it’s a hit or miss for me. Cica/centella is one I’ve been seeking out more lately, though, for masking mishaps and calming my skin. I always appreciate your recommendations and the time you take to share all of the details🙌🏼

[emaisgr8]

The  Beauty of Joseon  mask looks so pretty @WinglessOne 

[lmaster]

@WinglessOne nice!! Both of these sound great! 

[Shosh85]

@WinglessOne 

I've never heard of the Beauty of Joseon - this one sounds wonderful! I love the package - kind of gives you a calming vibe 😊

I pass up a lot of SNP masks because of the high alcohol, but I like how this one sounds! I'll be interested how it does with brightening! 😃

[Samtian]

Last night I used this peach/watermelon dual mask. I don't know anything about firming (what it's supposed to do) but I can say I really really liked how my skin looked in the morning. It has a lovely scent, but not strong enough for my liking.

[eshoe]

Wow the placing of the peach and watermelon extracts as fourth and fifth, followed by sodium hyaluronate is impressive, @Samtian! I would seek this one out to give it a try👍🏼

[lmaster]

@Samtian I love a good fruity scent too 😆

[itsfi]

@Samtian, I usually prefer more subtle scents in my sheet masks but I can see where you’d want a stronger scent with this one - peach and watermelon!!! What a great combo!