A bit more about sheet masks

… and why you should buy one and stick it on your face immediately!

Sheet masks were my very first experience with Asian Beauty – which is perhaps a bit odd, as they tend to be something that people eventually add to their existing routine as they get to know more about Asian and Korean beauty, not their first stop. I’ll totally tell the full story in a future blog post.

In case you're still wondering, sheet masks are single use, individually packaged face mask treatments. Actually, you can now get masks for your hands and feet (we have a few of those in our shop) but I’ll focus on sheet masks for your face for now.

Each mask is drenched in an essence or serum full of great stuff for your skin, each with a different formula. You select your mask depending on what you like and/or most need at any particular time.

But there’s one thing that all good sheet masks do, and do really really well. They quickly and effectively hydrate your skin (add water/moisture). They main reason they're able to do this so especially well is that the mask itself forms a barrier to reduce the amount of hydrating essence or serum that evaporates into thin air, which is the case if you just slather your face in the stuff. It means the mask can work over a period of time, maximising the amount of good stuff that's absorbed into your skin. What this means is that a sheet mask can hydrate your skin really effectively – and that’s a great thing because when you hydrate your skin:

• you soften and smooth its texture, plumping up fine lines and making it look more youthful
• you make it feel more comfortable, reducing any rough, dry or scaly patches you may have and soothing the skin
•  you reduce the prevalence of clogs that form into pimples (provided you’re not adding any inappropriate ‘oiliness’ – see below
• it looks more dewy and glowy – improving your skin’s radiance and making it look and feel more healthy
• it gives you a smooth, moist base for makeup application – a sheet-masked face can do without primer and you'll find that your makeup doesn’t crack over dry bits of skin.

Most importantly for me (I have dehydrated but oily skin – yes it’s a real thing!) sheet masks can hydrate my skin without heavy or oily products. I can keep my skin moist and glowy without it becoming a clogged, oily mess. If you need something richer because your skin lacks oil then great – there are some rich moisturising masks too – but for those of us with oily skin sheet masks are a real alternative to the traditional (unhelpful) old ‘moisturisers’ we're used to.

That’s not all sheet masks deliver. Many treatment masks also include fantastic ingredients in their serums that can treat a range of other skin needs – nourishment with vitamins and minerals, brightening with niacinamide or vitamin C, anti-aging with collagen and gold, soothing with aloe vera, repair with ceramides or clarifying with tea tree oil to name but a few (I’ll provide much more information on all these ingredients over time).

Basically, they all give great hydration, and provide many many other awesome benefits too.

There is so much more to tell – but boy this became a long post quickly. Watch this space for more posts to come and I’ll try to dig a little deeper into all the many and varied benefits of K-Beauty and sheet masks.

Jess x

PS – Oh yeah, sheet masks can be fun too: why not become a dragon for a half hour or so?