Mega Sheet Mask Review

November 25, 2017

I’ve been storing this post up for a while now.

I wanted to make sure I at least tried all the sheet masks I had stocked up on first. With 11 different kinds of mask, covering 6 brands I even made a little bullet journal collection to track my thoughts on each of them.

When I first got into Korean Skincare sheet masks were obviously one of the first things mentioned. I’d seen sheet masks already as they’d started to seep into Western skincare but they didn’t really interest me.

Wanting to jump fully on the bandwagon though I picked up a couple. I went in with both feet and even picked up some snail ones first! Given how neglected my skin had felt in recent years I felt an intense serum hit from a sheet mask might be just what it needs.

Using sheet masks

The first thing to say about sheet masks is they are a faff. I wasn’t great at getting round to doing normal face masks weekly and with the sheet masks it’s worse. With some of them, pulling them apart and getting them completely unwrapped is a mission. All while trying not to let it drip on your carpet.

The fit of most of the ones I’ve tried has been pretty poor. The best I’ve found for fit so far has been Innisfree. It’s like they’re made for people with faces twice the size of mine. The part between my nose and upper lip never gets any kind of mask on it and frequently half my chin is left out in the cold because of it. Despite this, the eye area never seems quite big enough. Most sheet masks I’ve tried have irritated my eyes at some point. Some I’ve even removed early because of eye irritation. The mask doesn’t go in my eye, but either my lashes catch on it, or it’s the scent.

Once you do manage to get the mask on your face you then have to keep it on there. Some don’t stay on too well and you have to lean your head back. A bath is the perfect time as you can lean your head back nicely. However, I don’t tend to stay in the bath as long as 30 minutes and I’ve found that’s the sweet length of time for these masks. My other alternative is reading in bed as again I can lean my head back a little.

Favourites so far

In terms of favourite brand of mask, so far I’d have to say Skinfood. Their snail mask is my favourite of all the masks I’ve tried. The fit of these isn’t amazing, but my skin looks and feels super fresh and pumped the next day. I’ve recently been moving towards calmer ingredients and tried the aloe version recently. While was skin didn’t feel any more hydrated the next day, my acne had calmed down slightly.

Another winning brand for me has been Innisfree. The fit is much better than the Skinfood masks and I’ve had good results with the green tea and Shea butter masks. The green tea mask really calmed my acne down during a break out and the Shea butter mask gave my skin some well needed hydration. The only one I’d give a miss is the tea tree. If you wean a tea tree mask to help with acne, go with the Etude House version.

Etude House is a brand I want to try more of when it comes to mask. Their fit is the best of all I’ve encountered and coupled with the good results of the tea tree mask, I’ll be ordering the green tea and snail next.

The so-so’s

Tony Moly has provided mixed results. Their snail sheet mask is one of my go-to masks along with the Skinfood version. I will however be avoiding repurchasing the propolis one. That’s the one I had to take off early as it itched my eye too much. I also saw no difference in my skin the next day.

Wanting to try a brand that I hadn’t used before, I picked up a red ginseng mask from the Saem. This was the most expensive of all the sheet masks I’ve tried, at £3 each so I had high expectations. Unfortunately it was the worst fitting of all the masks I’ve tried, it tingled during use and there was no difference to my skin the next day. I shouldn’t write off a brand on the basis of one product, but I’ll be weary of trying anything else.

One final mask to mention is one I received in a little gift pack, from Oh K! This is a bit of a faux Korean brand, that’s all about the cute packaging.

I picked this set up on sale, partly because I love those little exfoliation pads. As expected though, this green tea and apple mask had very little effect on my skin.

Am I a sheet mask convert?

I’d love to say that sheet masks are now a firm part of my routine, and they should be. But now I’m spending longer on my face than ever on an evening, this just feels like too much sometimes. I’m not going to go back to traditional face masks as I don’t need another product that I smear on my face and then wash off. With some of these sheet masks I’ve had fantastic skin boosts the next day and particularly with the break outs I’ve had recently, I need to get using them regularly.

Do you use sheet masks? I’d love some recommendations in the comments below!