Mask Monday – The Body Shop and Lots of Sheet Masks

After the craziness of the past few months, I feel like I’m finally back to my regular masking schedule and my skin is grateful for it!

This sheet mask was okay! It was a little small, so if you have a big head or chubby face like I do, you may not like it. The sheet was medium in thickness. It smelled of fermented honey and there was a lot of essence left over that I saved and used throughout the week. There was no sensation with this mask.

One of my goals for the upcoming year is to use up all my non-sheet masks. I was feeling particularly dry mid-week, so I pulled this one out. It’s a cream mask, and definitely one-use only. I had to work to get enough out for my whole face. There was a lot of tingling – not something I associate with a moisture mask. Once I rinsed it off, it didn’t feel like I had used anything at all. Not recommended – at least not for hydration! However, I love The Body Shop’s Tea Tree mask for breakouts.

I scared the cat with this one, folks!

I didn’t expect this one to be black, even though it says it right on the packet. Although it fit really well, I felt a little sinister with this on my face. It got worse once I put a silicone mask cover and my glasses on, which is what I typically do. I loved this one, though. Good size, adhered well, enough essence, but not too drippy, the essence absorbed right away, and my skin felt awesome. Definitely recommended.

We need something cute after that one, and this egg essence mask fits the bill with its packaging! This was was very cold as it sat on my face, even under the mask cover. The sheet itself was smallish and medium in thickness. Afterward, my skin felt dry, but not dry. Which makes so sense. I think it may come in handy during the summer, when I sometimes get an oily T-zone.

And finally, I used a My Beauty Diary Natto mask. I’m very familiar with these. The sheets from this brand are thin and very drippy, but always leave me feeling mosturized.

Mask Monday – Dr. Jart Withdrawl

This sheet mask from FaceQ was soothing and moisturizing despite the oil control properties. It gave plenty of leftover essence that I saved and used as a serum.

This one was another hit – and the design on the front of the package? That’s what the sheet mask actually looks like, so there’s some entertainment value here as well!

Kitten has no sympathy.

And I’m absolutely in mourning because I used the last of my Dr. Jart water-max sleeping mask and it’s out of stock at Sephora. This stuff saved my dry skin last winter. I might have to go hunting!

Skin Care Sunday – Some serums and creams

I don’t know how, but I often use things up simultaneously. I finished a bunch of treatments this week. And one I just broke up with.

Tony Moly’s Appletox Honey Cream is actually a gel. For me, the jury’s still out on those kinds of moisturizers. It wasn’t hydrating enough to use by itself on my dry skin, so I used it as a serum in conjunction with a cream. I loved the apple scent. And I washed out the container to reuse. But the cream itself I could take or leave.

I used this cream as a day moisturizer under a separate SPF. It wasn’t too heavy, smelled nice, and sat well under makeup and over serums. It would make a good light night moisturizer as well.

This is my second bottle of the Mad Hippie Vitamin C serum, and I liked it just as much as the first bottle. My skin has gotten used to its strength. That doesn’t mean it’s not working though!

I tried it first as a night serum, but didn’t care for the texture and put it away. I pulled it out again and used it during the day. It’s not thick, but it is sticky. And silicony, which my skin doesn’t always appreciate. So I’m letting this one go.

Mask Monday

I have a feeling my usual amount of masking is going to decrease over the holidays. We have a good friend staying with us and there’s just something weird about sitting around socializing with a sheet mask on.

Hautelook has sheet masks! I’ve seen these pop up a couple of times in the past few months. I had a hard time reconciling myself to the idea of snail essence. But getting over the mild gross-out feeling was worth it because this was amazingly moisturizing. Like almost-didn’t-need-moisturizer moisturizing. I cut out my hydrating serum that night because it would have just been too much.

I’m not sure if the ampoule made the difference or not. It felt just like the essence that was on the sheet. The sheet wasn’t thin or thick, and it was almost too small for my face. Anyone with a bigger bone structure might have fit issues.

This one smelled exactly like blueberries, which made me happy. This was a thin-style sheet and the serum was a thin gel consistency. It did hydrate and was nice and cooling. But for me, the scent trumped all of that.

Skin Care Sunday – Secret Key & Nature Republic

I got this toner in a Beauteque bag – which is the only non-nail polish related beauty bag I’m getting right now, which is why I keep mentioning it. It didn’t dry out my skin and was, indeed, soothing. But I don’t think I’ll seek it out on purpose. I missed my favorite from Garden Girl the whole time.

Keeping with the K-beauty theme, I finished an essence. I actually used this in the morning, right before moisturizer and SPF. Why not at night? I try not to use a lot of silicones overnight, and this has a moderate amount of dimethicone in it.

This was nice. It actually seemed to absorb well. And while it smelled very strongly of rose – a fragrance I do not appreciate – the scent didn’t linger all day.

Radiant Red – Sur Noblesse

Another red. (Seriously, beauty bags and boxes, enough with the red.) I got this one in a Korean beauty box. It has an effortless formula, opaque in 2 coats.

Rainbow Honey and Beauteque Mask Maven March 2015

It’s subscription service time! I’m currently signed up for three total, but the Beauteque BB bag won’t start ’till next month.

Rainbow Honey was its usual awesome self polish-wise. Fragrances were meh. It came with three scented products to celebrate the release of their La Patisserie line. These were hit or miss for me – one was a scented top coat, which I never ever think to use. The solid perfume was rose-scented, which is a fragrance that immediately turns on me and smells skunky. (All the other women in my family have this problem. I will have to re-home it with a friend.) The fragrance oil was a lovely sweet/spicy scent that I will get some use out of.

The polishes, however, were lovely!

From left to right, crystal sword is a pink jelly with bar, round, and butterfly glitters inside. Lemon honey is a bright, warm yellow with teeny bronze glitters reminiscent of dirty mintini. And Kozmic Blues is a royal blue with lots of shimmer and a purple shift to it. It reminds me a lot of asteroid b, but a bit more subdued. (And without the stars. Which is regrettable.) I’ll be wearing the heck out of these this summer!

This month brought my first Beauteque Mask Maven bag. For $15 and shipping, I got 9 sheet masks and one rinse-off mask. I approve of that ratio! Some of the masks were from familiar brands My Beauty Diary, Dermal) while the rest were new to me, but with familiar ingredients and essences (cucumber, snail, coenzyme.)

I feel this is a much better value for me than Ipsy was. I’ll use everything. And at the price, each mask comes in at just under $2.00 apiece.

And now for a bonus kitten photobomb montage! 

She arrives, investigates...

...yawns in boredom and leaves. Thanks for your support, Janers!