Facial masks that is - I'm sorry, I know you were all having Jim Carrey flashbacks and preparing to reincorporate 'Smokin'' into your vocabulary - but no, unfortunately for face painters specialising in green, today I will be gabbing on about none other than the humble face mask, its varieties, uses, and how it likes its eggs cooked after a long night of doing the bus stop in a disused underground car park (sunny side up, of course).
Now face masks can have a myriad of different uses, and depending on your skin concerns you can pretty much find one (scout's honour) that will enhance the effectiveness of the products you are already using to treat said concerns (eg. purifying) or that will help you out with naughty skin issues that might be seasonal (eg. hydration) or ageinal (not a word in the English-sense sure, but I'm rolling with it) (eg. firming). Or you could be like me and have such dry, clogged, and un-even skin that you need a thick combination of all three applied weekly with a trowel by a hairy tradesman named Bob (just kidding - his name's Ken).
A mask of the purifying variety that I have been using for quite some time now is the Formula 10.0.6 Deep Down Detox Ultra-Cleansing Mud Mask ($8.99), which looks suspiciously like this:
I have been enjoying the texture of this mask (as much as one can enjoy a texture - ie. a butt-load), the only mildly weird thing about it is it's smell which reminds me of cough medicine just a touch, which surprisingly enough isn't such a pleasant smell to smear all over your face. Looking on the bright side however, what's 10 minutes of being a citizen of weird smell-ville (which incidentally was voted Australia's tidiest town in 1994) compared to the way in which this mask leaves skin looking extremely clear whilst also decongesting pores something fierce (the mask contains kaolin clay which apparently is a bit of a whiz kid when it comes to pore cleaning). And for the meisly sum of $8.99 this product has thus far lasted me months and months - which makes it a major winner in my book (entitled Major Winners, A History).
A firming mask that I have nearly run out of due to its undeniable awesomeness-factor is the St. Ives Timeless Skin Mineral Clay Firming Mask ($9.99), which in its current emaciated state looks like this:
Now this little multi-tasking mad man does an excellent job of deep cleaning the skin and telling blackheads to take a hike (it too contains kaolin clay) but it also leaves skin feeling noticeably firmer and more perky (if I may be so bold). The texture of this product is really lovely, if your idea of lovely is smearing a light, greenish, clayey type paste on your skin (which mine naturally is). The mask does become quite dry on the skin but after it is washed off, leaves skin feeling very soft and (more importantly) looking much clearer and firmer. Winner winner chicken dinner I would say (if I used such expressions).
I have used hydrating masks in the past (one of my favourites is the Clarins HydraQuench Cream-Mask ($62.00) which although it is quite the pricey little number, it is very good to skin that is in dire need of moisturisation (STAT!)) but in recent times I have found that a DIY-mask recipe of egg white mixed with honey is very effective when it comes to giving skin a bit of hydration. And hey, if you get a bit peckish during your pampering you can always just give your face a bit of a lick (joking, joking - I much prefer to put it on toast anyway).
So anyway, do you like any of these masks? Hate them with a passion? Have others that you would like to share with the group? Share, share away!
