Food For Your Face

Monday night... and it's pouring here in Hong Kong. The thunder is roaring outside real loud. I know grown ups aren't supposed to be scared of thunder but the little girl in me actually feels kind of freaked out. No I'm not a scardey cat, the thunder really is that loud. Uh-oh more lightning flashes... cover your ears!!!

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I got this random epiphany last week that apart from exfoliating with my Clarisonic, I need to cleanse deeper in order to calm my sensitive, temperamental skin. Since then I've been on the hunt for the perfect deep cleansing mask. Yes I get random skincare-related epiphanies.

After extensive research, first up for the test was Lush. I knew I wanted something natural and mild since my skin easily overreacts to strong products, and an all-natural mask sounded like a safe bet. Torn between the highly-reviewed Catastrophe Cosmetic and the sales-recommended Cupcake mask, I ended up getting both.

(Side Note: since these fresh masks need to be refrigerated, Lush does not sell these online. In stores only. Also ingredients are fresh, so these can only be used roughly within a month of purchase)

Cupcake

"Chocolate Heaven for Oily and Teenage Skin"

Okaaay so I'm not a teenager, but the sales associate recommend this as the best deep cleansing fresh face mask out of their whole range. This mask claims to balance, calm, soothe and deep clean. First impression - it smells so yummy! Like chocolate cake batter but with a slight scent of mint/floral. It also has the nitty gritty bits of a usual cake batter that lightly exfoliate.

After the 10 minutes with the mask on, I did notice my pores shrunk a little, and redness around my face calms a bit too. But the next morning everything was back to normal. I feel like it really didn't do anything.

In hindsight, my pores may have shrunk simply because the mask is cold from being refrigerated.

... Redness also fades out because of the coolness.

Final verdict? As much as I wanted to like this, I really don't see it doing anything to my skin. I've been using it every 3-4 days but so far am not impressed.

Catastrophe Cosmetic

"When disaster looms, Catastrophe Cosmetic calms and cleanses the skin"

Blueberries are the main ingredient in this mask, it looks like a tub of fresh blueberry yogurt. According to the Lush sales girl, this mask is milder than Cupcake and can be used every day. It mainly aims to calm and clean, reducing inflammation if any. Blueberries also have anti-oxidants and vitamins - all that good stuff we love to hear about in our skincare. However I'm not sure how well our skin can take in these nutrients externally... hmm.

Still, among the two I like this mask more. I've been using this almost every day for the past 2 weeks (unless  I used Cupcake), and noticed my skin looks slightly brighter. Usually during seasonal changes my skin tends to get dry, but this time around I noticed less dry patches and flakiness. 

Final verdict - I wouldn't mind repurchasing this mask as a healthy-smoothie-for-my-skin kind of treat. But this is far from what I'm looking for in a deep cleansing mask... so my hunt continues.

For about USD$22 per mask, I get almost 7-8 uses per tub. Compared to other natural/organic brands that's a reasonable price. And if you have other used up Lush products, remember for 6 empty Lush containers, Lush gives you a free fresh face mask, so don't miss out!

Also...  lesson learned here is that user reviews online (that raved about Catastrophe Cosmetic) are more reliable than sales associates in stores (who recommended Cupcake).

So always, always, always do your research.

Next up in my search for the best deep clean mask, I plan on trying out a clay mask after I finish with these 2. Stay tuned.

(Would love to hear about your favorite deep cleansing masks/products too!)