This week I’m reviewing one of the masks from The Body Shops recently revamped skincare range which saw the launch of five new Superfood Face Masks. Marketing them as Expert Face Masks, The Body Shop claims that:

The masks are sourced from across the globe to repair, clarify, and hydrate your skin and leave you with a healthy, youthful glow. They are created with Community Trade natural ingredients including rose petals, charcoal, green tea, honey, ginseng, acai, marula oil & more.

From a hydrating, firming mask that improves elasticity, to an anti-oxidant rich mask that energizes skin & fights signs of fatigue, to a clarifying, exfoliating and smoothing mask, there is a perfect mask for everyone.

(paraphrased from The Body Shop website)

The first one I picked up is the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask, this mask is a mud mask that aims to detoxify and deeply cleanse the skin and retails for R300.00 (in South Africa) and P300 (in Botswana). (International Retail Price is around $28.00). The Body Shop took inspiration from Ayurvedic traditions when formulating this mask creating a tingling mud-texture that aims to to detoxify and unclog skin that needs to release impurities and toxins to help reveal a healthy looking, youthful glow.

Now that we’ve talked about the range and the price of the mask, I’m going to jump straight into the review.

Packaging:

It comes in a tinted brown glass jar with an eye catching turquoise blue label and a good quality embossed black plastic screw on lid and an inner white disk that fits firmly onto the jar to keep the product fresh. Overall, I found the packaging (along with the  grey cardboard box with a similar design to the jar that I’ve somehow lost) has a sophisticated and relatively high-end feel to it. The product stays fresh and relatively cool in the packaging and honestly the jar looks adorable on your vanity or in the bathroom. The only downside to the packaging is that all the product information is on the box not on the jar so once you’ve thrown the box away all instructions etc are gone. Thus I give the packaging 4/5.

Product Ingredients:

All the masks in the range are said to be 100% vegan and the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask is a beautifying mud-textured exfoliating mask which contains:

•   Bamboo Charcoal from Himalayan foothills
•   Community Trade Tea Tree Oil from Kenya
•   Green Tea Leaves from Japan

While the main ingredients are: water, kaolin and Moroccan Lava Clay.  It is also clearly stated that the masks do not contain Parabens, Silicone, Mineral Oils and Paraffins.

I love that the key ingredients are all acquired through community trade and natural as well as vegan not to mention how healthy all the ingredients are for ones skin. Thus I give the ingredients 5/5.

Product Claims:

On the body shop website the product is marketed to give instant results after use. These results include deeply cleansed and detoxified skin, pores that appear unclogged and glowing, smooth looking skin.

Instructions To Use:

From the Body Shop Website:

• After removing makeup and cleansing the skin, use the Facial Mask Brush to smooth an even layer of the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask onto the face avoiding eye and lip area. (I used my regular cleanser for this step)
• Apply to neck and décolletage if desired.
• Leave for 5-10 minutes then rinse off with warm water and a muslin cloth in circular motions to gently exfoliate.
• Use 2 to 3 times a week.

The website also advises that one should apply different masks to different areas of the face (a clever way to link the new masks to the growing trends of multi-masking and in my opinion very strategic marketing) depending on what different areas of the face needs.

Wet

As It Dries

First Impressions:

IT SMELLS AMAZING.

As soon as I opened up the jar I was blown away by how absolutely divine it smelt. I’m usually not one for strong scents but this smells like a spa in a jar. On first application this mask is cold not in an overpowering sense but it has a definite cooling sensation which later becomes an intriguing tingle as it dries.

Results and Final Conclusion:

During the process, you can almost feel your skin being detoxified and cleansed. Once the product had dried I used cold water to remove the mask (as I always do when rinsing my face to ensure my pores close properly) and patted my face dry then followed with my regular moisturizer.

All in all, my skin felt clean and smooth. It is a visible result and the skin also feels tighter and I could not see any clogged pores etc. After moisturizing my skin had a distinct youthful plumped and glowing look to it and my makeup looked absolutely beautiful over it.

This mask is definitely one of my favorites (so obviously I recommend checking it out especially if you have acne prone, oily or combination skin like me) and I use it at least once a week. I sometimes pair it up with one of the other masks in The Body Shop Range as I have combination skin.

Feeling Beautiful,

Brokebella