A review of every Superdrug facemask

This post is something that I've been planning, and piecing together for months now. I don't know about you, but a Superdrug facemask was always a staple of a teenage sleepover. They're fun, cheap and cater for a whole range of skin types. Now that I'm in my twenties, it seems to be all about buying expensive face mask pots, filled with golden flakes and exotic ingredients. But sometimes all you want is to pop into Superdrug, pick up a little face mask and have a pamper evening. So I've spent the last couple of months trying out every single one they sell in their range to let you know what's hot and what's not.

1.) Orange and Black Lava Face Mask

For: all skin types.

Smell: fresh, zesty orange.

Texture: slightly lumpy clay mask. Contains bits of orange peel that you can feel.

Dries: hard and lighter in colour. Makes my sensitive skin sting a little.

Effect: Could feel it exfoliating my skin as I took it off. Skin feels tight and looks a little red.

2.) De-stressing mud mask

Smell: fresh, can smell the aloe vera.

Texture: smooth and cooling.

Dries: Stayed wet to the touch despite keeping it on for 20 minutes. It started to dry in places and had tiny cracks. Easy to remove; gently.

Effects: Skin feels soft and plump and looks clear.

3.) Tropical Cocktail Peel-Off Mask

For: all skin types

Smells: like fruit salad Chewits

Texture: sticky! It stays very wet, and even dripped off of my face. 

Dries: tight. Took 30 minutes to dry so that I could peel it off, rather than the 10-20 that the packet advised.

Effect: skin was shiny.

4.) Cucumber Cooling Face Mask

For: sensitive skin

Smell: fresh

Texture: smooth, clay

Dries: stung slightly as it dried, even though it's recommended for sensitive skin. 

Effects: skin left feeling a little dry.

5.) Chocolate Orange Self-Heating Mask

For: normal to dry skin

Smells: exactly like a dark chocolate Terry's chocolate orange

Texture: like melted chocolate. You use a different application to a normal face mask as you need your face to be wet before applying it. A very wet, smooth face mask.

Dries: self heats as soon as it touches your face. Stays wet and glossy. Dripped off me and onto my clothes.

Effects: easy to remove. it calmed down my spots and made my T-zone less greasy.

6.) Black Seaweed Peel-Off Mask

For: oily skin

Smells: like unpleasant, harsh minerals

Texture: very wet and smooth

Dries: tight and smooth to the touch. You can however see where it's sunk into my pores.

Effects: skin a bit dry, but was great for my T-zone. Sucked the oil/pus (grim, I know) out of some newbie spots I had forming. My pores looked a lot cleaner.

7.) Detoxifying Dead Sea Mineral Mask

Smells: fresh, like a spa. Very mineral-y

Texture: thick and mud like. Feels a little lumpy on your hands but smooths out over your face.

Dries: hard and lighter in colour. Tightens.

Effects: soothed my sensitive skin and made my spots less oily

8.) White Chocolate Mousse Mask

Smells: not very nice. A little like alcohol and not at all chocolatey.

Texture: smooth

Dries: unsure. Had allergic reaction to the mask as soon as I put it on and had to remove it instantly. The mask is no longer on Superdrug's website so perhaps other people reacted badly and they've discontinued it.

9.) Fruit Sorbet Antioxidant Peel-Off Mask

For: all skin types

Smells: like fresh apples and berries

Texture: smooth and sticky

Dries: smooth - peels off all in one. Takes about half an hour to dry enough to peel off.

Effect: my face was blemish-free the next morning. It dried all of my whiteheads out.

10.) Anti-Ageing Moisture Mask

Smells: fresh

Texture: creamy, almost like a moisturiser

Dries: doesn't really dry, it sinks into the skin a little instead.

Effect: skin is soft, plumped and hydrated

11.) Dead Sea Purifying Clay Mask

For: oily and blemish prone skin Smells: like tea tree. Fresh and clean scent. Texture: smooth and thick. Dries: tight and hard. You can see that it sinks into your pores. Effects: skin looks clean and clear, but feels very dry. 

12.) Superfruits Exfoliating Mask

For: all skin types Smells: like a sweet, fresh smoothie Texture: rough because of the strawberry seeds it contains for exfoliation. Thick and creamy. Dries: stings my sensitive skin a little whilst drying. It goes hard, tight, and a light purple colour. Effects: pores are clearer and skin is soft, but a little red.
Now that I've tried all of them, I would definitely repurchase the: anti-ageing moisture mask, detoxifying dead sea mineral mask, de-stressing mud mask and black lava peel-off mask. These four all suited my combination, sensitive skin. 
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Review of The Body Shop's Seaweed Clay Face Mask

This is one of those frustrating posts where I've waited so long to write it because I've had some really exciting things for you that The Body Shop have completely changed the packaging on this. The plus side? The packaging is about 1000x times prettier and sleeker. 
I'm pretty face mask obsessed, and rarely a week or a LUSH haul goes by without me using one or picking one up. According to The Body Shop's web page, this seaweed face mask is designed to draw out impurities and refresh your skin: I had to give it a go and see if it was all it was cracked up to be.
I was really pleased with its efforts to reduce my pore visibility, small spots and blackheads. You leave the face mask on for 10 minutes, and during that time it (shamefully) really sunk into my blackheads and exposed them. BUT, it really made them less potent, and helped to even out my skin tone, so that my dry and oily patches weren't quite as foundation-ruining as usual. 
All in all, it's a pretty good all-rounder for combination skin, However, if you've got really sensitive skin I would advise washing it off slowly with warm water as I found getting it off irritated my skin a little. 
Have you tried it? What's your favourite face mask at the moment?

Cleanse Me | Algimud Active Seaweed Mask

Recently I haven't quite been keeping off of the dairy, despite my lactose intolerance (understatement of the year!), so my skin is in a pretty dire state. Urgent TLC was needed and came in the form of this purifying, cleansing dead sea spa mask. Now, I'm not going to lie, this was possibly the weirdest facemask I've ever tried, and I try a LOT. 
For starters, it originated as a powder, and I had to mix the actual mask myself. There was enough in the pack for two applications, so me and my sister both underwent this experiment. Then. there was the application itself: you smeared this slightly lumpy, very gooey mixture onto your face with a wooden stick the pack provided. Finally, there was the drying process. Have you ever played with putty? Or, alternatively, had your teeth tested for braces at an orthodontists with some weird mouth putty? Either way, its texture was exactly like that. I sort of felt as though I was trying out some special effects makeup and dressing up as some kind of obscene creature, especially when the drips of facemask dried and oozed off of my face.
All in all it was a hilarious experience, perfect for a girls night in, and left my skin feeling utterly cleansed and soft for days.

Goodbye Dry Skin | The Body Shop's Vitamin E Range

Note to self: never take blog pictures after the gym (your hair will be wild Steph!).  As you all know, I'm a massive fan of The Body Shop's products. As someone with combination skin I really need to try hard to find a middle balance between keeping my skin hydrated and not overloading it and ending up looking like a greaseball. 
The cream is perfect for us combi skin folk as the weather starts to get colder and the Autumn wind picks up, as it's a little more heavy duty than what I would normally use. It's brilliant at replenishing any dry patches. I put it on before bed, and can definitely feel the difference in the effect my morning face wash! 
Again, the face mask is designed to boost your skin's hydration levels. This is probably the creamiest face mask I've ever used, yet it didn't make me break out or upset my sensitive skin.
Ultimately this range from the body shop is my go-to when I really feel as though my skin is rough and dry and needs some urgent action!
Have you tried it? What did you think?

Relax and Unwind | LUSH BB Seaweed Facemask

We all know by now that I'm a big fan of LUSH. Their products are created with so much thought, and they're always so pretty and interesting that most of the time I can't resist popping in when I walk past a store. Plus, with sensitive skin I've never had a bad reaction to their products (which says a lot about some of the nasties other companies put in). If you're interested in animal welfare, I think LUSH is a really good place to shop for a lot of your beauty needs, as the majority of their products and vegan and cruelty free.

So, usually I'm a big fan of LUSH's Love Lettuce facemask, but I decided to branch out a bit and try their BB Seaweed one, which is their most popular. This mask isn't specifically aimed at any skin type, so if you're not really sure what yours is it's a great one to go for. It is designed to soften and relax skin, so is great for when you're feeling a bit stressed out. I always do facemasks with my little sister when I go home and, despite her best efforts, I am a fan of doing crazy faces when I've got one on (I look like a nutter already, so what's the harm?). So, kick back, relax, and recognise that you don't have to be serious and look your best 100% of the time. Take some fun me time and learn to laugh at yourself - it can do wonders.

At just £6.50 a pot, this does go a long way. I usually get about five uses out of one pot, and the quality of the facemask itself is above and beyond any drugstore one you can get for £1. 

What's your favourite LUSH facemask? Have you tried their products before?

Love and Light

Steph