💕😌 Mask of the Week Challenge 😌💖

[eshoe]

Time to reset and begin again. The 2021 Challenge is finally here! 

Thank you @Aaliaa for starting this thread, and giving us a place to share our love for masks💗 Post as frequently or infrequently as you would like, with or without following the challenge. We love hearing about every masking experience, and suggestions are always welcome. 

This Week’s Theme: Rinse-off masks & peels (physical or chemical) that soften your face & body. Much gratitude to @keana1 for this new challenge!

Letter of the Week:  E

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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, if it's an exfoliating mask (include acid info if known), your overall experience, and whether or not you would repurchase. Don't forget to include a grade (thanks to @ShortErica for the idea) to help others along the way.

Most importantly, have fun and merry masking!

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   

[lmaster]

E is for Eve Lom

•  a generous gift from the sweet as pie @eshoe 
• Out of all the "luxury" masks I've tried, this one is my favorite
• I'd say it's a medium, flexible sheet drenched in a milky white, thickish serum
• Extra in the sleeve
• Scent was not noticeable to me, I would go with light powder fresh scent
• Wear time was 25 minutes
• Results, my skin loved this milky serum, it soaked in nicely. Fabulously moisturized, nicely hydrated and my skin had a nice glow.
• I did notice once all the serum absorbed, the tackiness did last about 10 minutes. 
• This would make an excellent morning prep mask
  Spoiler

  

   

[Kim888]

@lmaster @Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Those kinds of masks always feel so luxurious!

[lmaster]

This mask had it all for me @Kim888 I didn't purchase this one, but I did find a set of 4 for $55 through nordstrom, so about $14 a mask with taxes, not too bad for a luxury brand

[itsfi]

I meant to use these green tea masks over the last couple of weeks but other masks kept sneaking in ahead. 😉 So I decided to finally give these some love and start off this week with them, with E as the letter of the week and rinse off masks and peels - great theme @keana1! Gotta give some love to the wash off masks! ❤️ The Face Shop sheet mask is one that can be used for daily masking making it an “E”mask - "365" = every day. The Body Shop mask fits both this week's themes, as it's a wash off scrub, or put another way, an E is for exfoliating. 

Sheet Mask:

Spoiler

The thin cotton mask of The Face Shop Herb Day 365 Master Blending Face Mask - Aloe & Green Tea is soaked and dripping in a clear, watery, aloe-lotion scented essence. This mask is similar in fit and adherence to most sheet masks in that, for me, the holes for the mouth and eyes are too narrow and require some adjustments for a more tailored fit and the mask is overly large length-wise at the chin and width-wise at the temples. These are not deal breakers for me and can be easily overlooked given the results I get with this mask - after half an hour of wear, my skin looks and feels moisturized and nourished, with a healthy, fresh-faced glow to my complexion. This is one I'd consider repurchasing; well, I will consider it after I've gone through just a little more of my mask stash. 😉

Wash Off Mask:

Spoiler

The Body Shop Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask is a grassy, herbaceous scented, creamy, whipped, mousse-like, pale green clay mask that turns more clear as the mask dries down. I applied the mask with a brush but the creaminess of the mask is such that it should be easy to spread and apply with fingertips as well. There's a cool, tingling sensation immediately upon application, which I suspect is due to the menthol in the mask. 

There are some bits in the mask that become more noticeable when as I massage the mask into my skin in circular motions while rinsing off the mask. In that sense, the mask is a like a 2-in-1 - a clay mask and scrub. The bits are not harsh but I do use a gentle touch because it seems like it could be easy to over-scrub with this mask. I made sure to use an even gentler touch on the areas of my face that are more sensitive and to avoid any areas where I might have an open wound or be suffering from an active breakout (i.e., my right jawline). 
 
Once the mask is all rinsed off, my skin feels softer and smoother and my complexion looked brighter too. This is a nice mask-and-scrub in one, but it's probably not one I would repurchase, though I would consider trying it out again in the warmer months. It seems more suited for someone with oily skin as well as those with who do not have sensitive skin. 

[Kim888]

@itsfi the wash off mask sounds interesting - I’m always attracted to skincare that claims to deal with pollution. Disappointed to hear it was more like a clay mask 

[itsfi]

Same here @Kim888! A lot of the anti-polluaging masks I've seen on the market are clay based. There are a small few that I've come across that are non-clay based masks. I need to look into the ingredients for those in more detail to see if there's anything in there my skin might not take kindly to. The Body Shop matcha mask was a good one; it did decongest but I'm not in need of more clay or mud masks at the moment. 

As for skincare aimed at pollution, have there been any brands/lines or specific products that have caught your attention? I was focused on working through my stash and finding a routine that worked for my maskne last year but now I can get back to a few items / brands I wanted to look into pre-covid. There seems to be a fair amount of serums that target pollution and my skin does love serums, so that should be fun to look into again.

[Kim888]

@itsfi I've totally lusted after the Dr. strum and Dr. roebucks because they both have anti-pollution serums I find interesting but they are so price-y. 

The coola 360 sundrops say they help with blue light and pollution. I actually really liked the product, but found it went bad too quickly and I don't love the dropper as a dispensing tool. 

[Kim888]

E is for Essential and the Purity Peel 

Spoiler

This was my first time trying out the Philosophy micro delivery peel. I got it in a set with their vitamin c peel which is one of my favorite masks. 
This claims to to detoxify for clean fresh skin. You apply the the 2nd layer on top of the first and it bubbles up and you then leave on for 3 minutes. 
The results were a bit Meh. I think this is an example of trying to do too many things. It didn’t do as good of a job detoxifying as a clay mask and while my skin looked a bit brighter, not as bright as when I use the vitamin c option 

I also used the lala essential sheet mask. This was a very thin mask that definitely could have done with some kind of divider. It was well saturated and basically scentless. The fit was pretty nice 
overall I was happy with the results of this mask. My skin felt slightly cooler, hydrated, and totally non tacky. I would use it again 

 

[itsfi]

@Kim888, I've always wondered about that Philosophy peel. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on it; I can pass on it now. Those are some great results from the sheet mask; white truffle sounds like such a luxe ingredient too!

[itsfi]

Another number mask from last week:

Spoiler

All the sheet masks in the Laneige Water Pocket Sheet Mask collection have a diamond pattern to them. These are the "water pockets" for which the mask is named and are geared towards helping the sheet to adhere to the skin, which it does very nicely and comfortably and are supposed to release the clear, runny, watery, light and fresh scented essence slowly. There's a lot of extra essence in this Laneige Water Pocket Sheet Mask - 1 Skin Relief; the essence is thin and drippy, so much so that much of it escaped when I removed the mask from its packet. Fit is similar to most masks, so for me, it was fine with some adjustments to the corners of the eyes, mouth and length at the chin. It's a smidge on the wide side as well but I didn't fuss over it - the strands of hair around my face received some extra hydration the other night. 😉 The mask wore comfortably for the half hour I had it on and my skin looked and felt slightly more hydrated and plump. I used this mask a couple of days after the JiiNJU 5-setp mask that made me breakout and while I didn't notice any change in the little bumps I had on my forehead and nose bridge, I did see that some of the redness on my cheeks had been visibly reduced. 

Overall, this mask is alright; it does what I expect a sheet mask to do (i.e., hydrate) and this one does what it claims to, soothe/calm, though not in a major way. I wouldn't mind using this one again, but it's not one I'd necessarily seek out. Of the masks in this line, my preference is for Nos. 4 Water Bank or No. 5 Water Sleeping Mask, but it appears that preferences won't matter since it seems that these masks have been discontinued. Neither the Sephora site or the Laneige US or International sites have any listing for any of these masks. I did, however, find some on Selfridges and eBay. 

[lmaster]

@itsfi I remember these!! I think I tried a different version

[itsfi]

@lmaster, do you remember the color of the mask packet? I know that there were a lot of us that liked either No. 4 or No. 5 - hydrating, moisturizing ... a dream for those of us with dry skin.

[lmaster]

@itsfi I'm thinking it was purple or pink 🤔

[Shosh85]

@itsfi  I really liked this line and had no idea it was discontinued! I guess I'm not too surprised. Glad this one could help reduce some redness! 😃

[lmaster]

@Shosh85 didn't you email them about one of these masks ingredients?? 

[Shosh85]

@lmaster @itsfi  When these were at Sephora 3 years ago I messaged customer service about the suspicious stickers covering up certain parts of the packaging and I also asked why the ingredients on the packaging didn't match up with the ingredients Sephora had listed for them. I never got an answer about the ingredients, but this was their response about the stickers:

"Sometimes brands will modify the packaging slightly depending on where their items are sold. For additional details,I would recommend contacting Laneige directly! Thank you."

I don't remember if I ever emailed Laneige, but someone else told me (can't remember who) that the packaging needed updating and instead of redesigning/repackaging, they just put stickers over them....but who knows 🤷🏻

Spoiler

[itsfi]

Has it been 3 years since these were in Sephora @Shosh85?!! Wow, where does the time go?

[lmaster]

@Shosh85 @itsfi I knew it!!! It was the water pocket mask that I liked, I had a feeling it was this line you contacted 😆

[Shosh85]

@lmaster  Hahaha! Great memory! 👍

I had also contacted When Beauty about their masks more recently, so I wasn't sure if that's what you were remembering 😉

[itsfi]

Maybe we just start saying how much we don’t like a certain mask @Shosh85?? Then it’ll be around forever!! 😂 At first I wondered whether it was going to be repackaged ... because there were questions about the packaging with certain parts being covered by removable stickers. 😳 Then I saw on the brand’s site what appears to be 2 new sheet masks. Hmmm... 🧐 

ETA: odd if it is being discontinued because this is a fairly new line. This one expires later this year and I have another varietal that expires in early 2022.