When you want to save time (and money) on elaborate skin care routines, face masks offer the perfect quick-fix to rejuvenate your skin and leave you looking fresh. There can also be something quite tranquil about applying a mask, sitting back and letting it work its magic before peeling it off and feeling reborn. But some masks are better than others, and after testing these seven for myself, I can reveal which ones really do knock off several years, and which ones fail to give back the contours of youth…
Best face mask overall: 111 Skin, Y Theorem Biocellur mask (£105, lookfantastic.com)
Once a facemask sceptic, this is the product that first turned me into a fan. I initally tried 111Skin products in the summer and was genuinely shocked by the results. So much so in fact that I swiftly joined the ranks of those shameless skincare obsessives who apply facemasks in-flight – sticking one on before a British Airways breakfast this summer. (In my defence, I was flying alone, had been in the air for eight hours and looked like a prune). What makes them worth looking super-vain – not to mention silly – in public? Well, after 15 minutes you look like a make-up pro has waved their magic concealer wand while someone else lights you beautifully. Of course, the results fade, but for a while your skin really will look like it did in that old photo you sometimes look at and think back longingly to (we all have one). Need to look amazing at a party? This is your secret weapon.
Best luxury face mask: Revive, Brightening Mask (£120, spacenk.com)
Not every sheet mask is created equally – more expensive doesn’t always equal better. While this pick from Revive is pricey, you definitely feel you get your money’s worth. The instructions say to smooth the excess product on to your neck, but I managed to get full decollete and hands out of this too. It also looks pretty good on – it’s gold which make it less Hannibal Lecter than others. My pick is the Brightening Mask, because it really does tighten and provides a lovely lustrous sheen (especially good on that dip in your collarbones if you’re wearing something that shows them off). Be aware – it feels a little tight, but, given the results I’m fine with that. Enjoy the kind of youthful radiance you weren’t sure you had in you anymore – then follow up with a rich moisturiser overnight.
Best hydrating face mask: Beauty Pie Triple Hyaluronic (£35, beautypie.com)
I’m a huge fan of Beauty Pie’s model of quality ingredients and solid tech for less – and this really doesn’t disappoint. It feels ungenerous to point out that it’s a bit fiddly to extract one of the five in the pack given the excellent value for money – my top tip, store the open packet in a ziplock sandwich bag for double the anti-drying potential. Packed full of peptides and hyaluronic acid these are the perfect pick-you-up before a big night out – you’ll be plumped up and ready for your close-up in no time at all.
And the best of the rest…
Can you have too much of a good thing? For the first hour after applying this I did wonder – I put it on and, gosh, it really was something. Double-take levels of something. There’s moisturised and glowy and then there’s this Japanese wonder. I applied it before a busy day at work followed by dinner with friends. In the lift up to the office a 20-something colleague remarked on how well I looked, and then, as the day wore on, and my skin drank in the product, well, then it really came into its own. Over the starters my friend – who has the best dermatologists in London on speed dial – lent over and whispered ‘what have you done to your skin?’, and then, as we left the restaurant at midnight, 16 hours after the mask went on, she declared: ‘Looking hot! Keep it up.’ That’s good enough for me.
Patchology, Serve Chilled On Ice Hydrogel (£10, spacenk.com)
Every midlife woman knows the feeling of waking up with a puffy face after too little sleep. We want plump skin, of course, but not the dread marshmallow. And this mask, which is best served straight from the fridge, is designed to help. I put it through its paces by trying it the morning after a disturbed night in which I reckon I got about six hours if you added up the broken bits of sleep. The mask comes in two pieces – top of face and bottom half – which is clever as you can position it exactly where you need to deflate. I wore mine pulled up right over the eyebags and down across my jawline – midsection be damned! I also like the fact that it works in five minutes, which is exactly what you need from a de-puffer (plus it’s really cold). The results, however, were a little disappointing – I can’t say it gave me back the contours of my youth – at best, I looked marginally more awake than I felt.
Dr Dennis Gross, Biocellulose Brightening Treatment Mask (£17, selfridges.com)
This one is designed to brighten dry or damaged skin. Luckily mine is not damaged, but it does run to dry so I was keen to try it out. The first thing I liked was that it moulds to your face really easily – which not all masks do – so there were no weird gaps when I smoothed it on. The second thing? The visible tightening effect – subtle, but there.
Trilogy, Fresh-Blend Revitalising Hydra Mask, (£6, Ocado.com)
I’m not a fan of faff, so, initially, I thought this product wasn’t for me. Not only do you have to connect to a QR code for instructions on how to use it (I had to watch it twice to get the gist), then, you roll the top of the packet down until the oil ‘pops’ into the chamber below before squishing everything together for three minutes. Which teaches you just how long three minutes can be.
The reason for all this? A hit of fresh ingredients for your face, which is fantastic – if you can be bothered. As I tore open the packet impatiently to apply it, I realised I was doing it all wrong.
Because I was at home, I was keen to crack on, but if I’d been in a spa, I’d have relished the slow pace and the pleasure of doing nothing more than squidging a face mask like a stress ball.
As the comforting scent of this mask hit and a deep slug of rosehip oil started to seep into my skin, I relaxed. The instructions told me to keep it on for 15-20 minutes and I had thought, 20 minutes? Plus the three it take to mix and the QR code? Who has the time? Turns out, I do. After half an hour I had to force myself get up from the sofa and remove it. A spa facial in a packet – for £6! (Oh, and my skin was soft and nourished for hours afterwards).
