Mask Madness; Vol. I: Missha, O'Liye, My Beauty Diary, Innisfree, & My Scheming

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The title says it all. I've been indulging in sheet masks like crazy lately, taking any opportunity to pop one on.

Weathered skin after a weekend of camping? Mask.
Dry skin from the heat? Mask.
Dull skin before a big night out? Mask.
Ran out of lasagna on a Monday? Mask.

There's a mask for that.

I like to purchase masks in triplicate (or more!), so that I can use them a few times and really get a good idea if it is well suited to my skin or not. While it is tempting to try a new, different mask every day, I've shown restraint so this is a roundup of some of the masks I've tried over the last few months.

Missha Near Skin Total Reparing Hydro Gel

Missha US had a 40% sale off recently so I picked up some of the Near Skin Total Repairing Hydro Gel Masks priced at $3.

The hydro gel is slick and held together by embedded fine mesh. The gel feels hydrating though not quite as deeply as the bio cellulose ones I've tried (For Beloved One and Tatcha LUMINOUS). Not as much essence saturated as your typical fiber mask. In addition to moisturizing, Near Skin firms up the face a bit. Pores look much less visible with the surface of the skin filled with moisture, face looks and feels smooth.

I would buy some more at $3 and under. Maybe. There's so many masks, so little time.

O'Liye 奥丽颜 Evening Primrose Elastic Moisturizing Facial Mask

Er, the O'Liye Evening Primrose Elastic Moisturizing Facial Mask's ingredients are only listed in hanzi. The first ingredient is water... and that's just about the end of my translating abilities. With 11 ingredients, it's one of the more simpler masks I've tried. It softened and moisturized, with a decent amount of essence. I don't recall the exact price, but I want to say these were ¥2-5 ($.30 -.75) because I specifically grabbed so many at the store because they were so cheap. (I found them on Taobao for ¥1 each, mind boggling), Excellent value, I would definitely buy these again.

The logo looks a lot like My Scheming though. Just saying.

My Beauty Diary Imperial Bird's Nest

Well, shoot. I grabbed this box of MBD masks unintentionally when I ducked into the storemere minutes before it closed. I saw that they had 10 sheet boxes for $10 and reach for something other than Black Pearl (closed comedones galore for me)... somehow grabbing Imperial Bird's Nest. Now that I'm examining the picture, it's pretty evident that it's a nest (what else could it be? An artful arrangement of french fries? Derp) though the packaging front is in hanzi.

It's pretty good. Moisturizing and softening. Bird's nest holds no appeal for me as an ingredient so I won't be rebuying, but I am interested in trying the MBD hyaluronic acid masks. Oh! Target Online stocks MBD masks now, how cool is that?

Innisfree It's Real Squeeze Mask - Green Tea

Nothing to write home about. The effect was too short lived - a couple of hours after using the mask, it was like I had never used anything at all. Mildly irritating to my face, I had redness the next mornings following using this mask. Not eager to finish the ones that I have.

YesStyle has variety sets of It's Real Squeeze masks.

My Scheming Cactus Essence Hydrating Black Mask

It is a black mask made of a thicker material and I love how well this mask fits to my face. Very nice coverage so that there are no gaps at all. Quite a bit of overlap, actually. There's also a generous amount of essence in each pack (30ml) so I had more than enough for my neck and my hands after applying the sheet mask to my face.

This mask left me wondering what the difference between cactus flower and cactus stem extract was - after all it's the stem with the water retention properties, no? The third ingredient is licorice extract. I love this mask! It firms, calms, and hydrates my skin. My favorite use for this mask is before a night out - it leaves my face the perfect blank canvas for makeup to apply flawlessly. Skin feels lovely for at least a day. I like how smooth my t zone looks, particularly the pores that can look quite large and ragged when dehydrated.

YesStyle carries these for $12ish for a box of 8 online. My local Ranch 99 has these on sale for $6.99 per box, which is a hell of a steal. I'd definitely buy more.

Do you have a favorite sheet mask? Have your eye on any that you'd like to try?

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.