Behind The Mask

I'm a slacker. No, I WAS a slacker. Not so much anymore.

I originally chose Sunday afternoons to be my mask time...AND my nail polish change time...AND my makeup brush clean time...AND my rest and relax time. That's a lot of stuff to do on a Saturday afternoon. Makes you tired just thinking about it!

So, I changed things up. After missing a few weeks of masking it up, I changed my mask night to Friday or Saturday night while in the tub or putting things away. It's more relaxing then. I'm beginning my weekend with it instead of ending my weekend with it. I know, it doesn't seem like such a hardship but I have to spend my Sunday evening getting my mind ready for work Monday. I need at least 5 hours to do that properly!

Anyway, I tried 3 masks this time. 2 of them were very pleasing. 1 of them possibly caused me grief.

Let's begin with the one that possibly caused me grief, shall we? I was really excited about the Ellen Tracy Fresh Revitalizing Eye Masks. There were 4 pairs of eye treatment masks formulated to reduce wrinkles, smooth fine lines, improve dark circles and instantly soothe & hydrate tired eyes. Well, it did instantly soothe and hydrate my eyes, however I may not have heeded the "do not get product into eyes" warning. Two days later I noticed my eyes were runny and seemed to have a film over them. I don't know if it was this mask or the under eye cream I had been using for a week but I discontinued both and will not try them again. I went to my doctor because I was sure if it was pink eye or not (and I DO NOT play with my eyes) but she said nope, not pink eye. I had some type of eye infection (I believe cooties is the medical term). This eye mask was slippery and slimy and while I can't be sure it was the culprit, I won't try it again.

1 week before this unfortunate incident, I had used another face mask; Foodaholic Super Food Skin Care Green Tea Natural Essence Mask. It promises to use Green Tea extracts to make skin more elastic and soothing. Not sure if my skin was more elastic but I liked the mask! It was a thick face mask (not that paper thin stuff that I have used before). There were slots for every part of your face and slots to contour the mask to your face. It smelled nice and felt very good. I wore it for 25 minutes and then rubbed the mask serum into my face. This $1.99 mask is definitely going to be repurchased.

After my eyeball incident, I gave myself a week off. I was gun shy (and lazy). I got back on the horse though and tried Absolute! Brightening Essence Mask Tissue. It was an extremely wet mask that was thick and comfortable and also fully covered my face. It had just a hint of a smell. I really liked this mask. It has cucumber extract and has vitamin E + arbutin to soothe, brighten and moisturize the face. What is arbutin? Well, a week after using the mask, I discover (much to my chagrin) that it is a product extracted from the bearberry plant that prevents the formation of melanin and therefore is used as a skin-lightening agent. I'm a big girl and I understand that a small amount of certain things in cosmetic products can be so minute that they don't affect anything at all. BUT a skin-lightening agent really isn't something that I want on my face. I'm very comfortable with my complexion and don't want to do anything that might cause permanent damage. That being said, I might have pooh poohed the amount of arbutin in this product because I really did like the product BUT the additive is 5th of a list of 32 ingredients. Sighhhh, that does give me pause.

So, I had 2 really good experiences but only walked away with 1 take home product. I am really going to have to read the back of products! Face masks seem to have been my down fall the last 2 months (you do remember last month's face mask issue?) But, I won't get discouraged. I will keep masking it.

Have you been masking? Is there one that you prefer?