La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense Masque Review

A couple of months ago escentual.com were running an offer of 20% (ish... I can't remember) discount on French pharmacie brands, as I had just come back from Paris I was a bit obsessed with pharmacies so took full advantage of this offer, you can see what else I bought here.

La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Intense Masque caught my eye as I have dehydrated skin so I was looking for a product to help keep my skin nice and soft especially in the winter. 

La Roche-Posay: When skin lacks water it can seem dull and sallow. This velvety fresh gel-cream delivers high performance hydration for dehydrated, sensitive skin. An intensive formula that will plump up the complexion with moisture, ensuring that it glows with health and appears more uniform.

The Hydraphase Intense Masque is enriched with two unique ingredients: La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring water, a natural anti-oxidant to sooth and calm the skin, and hyaluronic acid fragments to infuse and retain water in the skin for optimal hydration.

La Roche-Posay actually have a dehydrated skin section on the escentual.com website, which I think is really helpful if your new to investing in skin care, as I was.

The mask has a cream consistency and can be used weekly, now the weather has gotten a LOT colder I will be using this mask twice a week and will definitely be using this after any other cleansing or radiance mask to ensure my skin stays hydrated. 

The mask is unscented and is suitable for sensitive skin.

The directions say to apply a generous layer and leave for 10 minutes, but I often leave it on for longer and have no problems. I really love this mask, it makes my skin feel extremely soft and hydrated even when I only leave it on for 10 minutes, I have tried Origins Drink up Mask which is an overnight mask and I much prefer this one.

I bought the mask for £10.56 and it normally costs £16 for 50ml, which may seem a bit pricey but I definitely think that it is worth it, when I double checked the price on escentual.com I noticed that there is another offer on and you can buy this at the moment for £13.60!

I will definitely be buying this again I have had no problems with it at all, and I would happily recommend this mask to anyone not only if your skin is dehydrated.

Elaine

Lush Catastrophe Cosmetic Face Mask Review

Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask 75g  - £5.95

What Lush say - Irish moss gel will soften the skin, whilst almond oil will moisturise and leave it supple. Fresh blueberries are full of vitamins and minerals and are anitoxidant. Rose absolute and chamomile essential oil will reduce redness and irritation. Calamine and talc will deep clean and soothe the skin at the same time.

Combined together they provide your skin with a good deep cleanse without causing puffiness – leaving the face cool, clear and calm. This is a deep cleansing mask that it designed for regular maintenance to keep the skin clean and clear. Regular deep cleaning can avoid spots occurring and keep skin in top condition.

I was luckily enough to get this for my Birthday – I’d had my eye on Lush face masks for awhile and as I’d heard great things about them and as my skin went a bit awol I decided Catastrophe Cosmetic was on the one for me.

Pros  

• I love keeping this in the fridge as its cooling and refreshing on the skin – perfect to calm nasty red spots. Because I keep it in the fridge and as it only lasts a month this means I was more likely to use it than other masks I have lying around the house. A perfect incentive for pampering.
• I really like drying hard clay like masks – this was lovely and easy to put on. It dried hard to give that deep cleansed oil free feeling – be warmed it will flake off all over your jeans!
•  I think it really did help to calm and soothe my break outs, it was nice to treat my skin with a cooling mask and spot redness did seem to reduce after using it.
•  I LOVE that its natural and handmade – it might be more of a placebo effect but it does make you feel lovely.
• It may look like a tiny pot, but you only need a small amount to cover your face so you get plenty of uses out of it within the month.

Cons

• It was a bit messy and difficult to remove – but that’s all the fun of a face mask eh!
•  It didn’t really smell very nice and the colour was more green sludge like with bits of blueberry than the beautiful blue it looks in the picture.
•  This isn’t a con for me as I liked using it up quickly but it’s worth noting it does only last a month.
• Although I found it was cooling for my spots I do think it’s more of a relaxing treat than something that’s going to work wonders on my skin.

Will I repurchase?

Hmmmm I enjoyed it but I’m not in a rush to buy another lush face mask, however I would buy it if my skin flares up again. I would probably try the Lush Brazened Honey mask next but at the minute I’ve got my eye on a few other face masks.  I’m dying to try out the Ren Invisible Pores Detox Mask and the Origins Drink Up Intensive Mask, have you tried either of these?

Rachel

Homemade Pineapple Face Mask... Peel

We saw a post ages ago about using pineapple as a home made exfoliator due to the natural astringent properties of the fruit, and thought we would give it a go.

So you blend pineapple chunks with olive oil and natural honey, we were really surprised at how cheap the ingredients were as it only came to...  £3.49 (and we only used a tiny bit of each)

When everything is blended you apply to clean skin, we found that the mask was very watery so have a towel ready to catch the drips!

We felt this working instantly, you can definitely feel the natural acids in the pineapple, other posts say to wash off after 15 mins but we only lasted 5 mins as the tingling/stinging became too much!! Even after using face wash and moisturiser we could still feel it on our skin! Rachel did think that her skin felt softer and the dry skin around her spots had gone (sorry a bit gross) but I didn't notice any difference, personally I wont be trying this again!

Have you tried making your own face masks before?

Elaine & Rachel

Update from Rachel -  The day after I found my skin looked lot brighter and less dull, exactly like I had used a good exfoliator.  I will try making pineapple face masks again as I hate using exfoliators with grainy bits in on my face, although I've seen other recipes for pineapple masks which include coconut milk and oats, which may be less irritating and cooling on the skin. As Elaine didn't like this maybe this mask is better suited to dry skin, I definitely wouldn't recommend it for sensitive skin.

Montagne Jeunesse Passion Peel Off Face Masque Review

 

I bought this in Boots a couple of weeks ago when I needed something to make me spend over a £5 to get the No7 voucher, I didn’t have very high hopes as it was only a £1 per sachet and I never find face masks make that much difference, however I was very wrong I found this was amazing.

This is what Montagne Jeunesse say -  Gently peel away dead skin with our amazing Passion Peel Off deep cleansing masque. Our Pomegranate and Passion Flower formula cleans, purifies and protects leaving your skin feeling fresh and radiant.

For once I completely agree with the manufactures description, it really was a deep pore cleaner which got rid of my dead skin and left my face feeling soft clean and glowing. Going on its extremely sticky and a little bit messy, although that didn’t bother me all, they suggest leaving it on for 10-20 minutes but I needed 25 as it still wasn’t dry all over, but as its smells amazing and fruity it was enjoyable having it on. When I removed it the mask came off in one full piece, which is always satisfying.

I will definitely be buying these face masque again, on their website I noticed the passion peel off was best for oily to normal skin, so as my skin is dry I might try another variety and I hope it works even better.

Rachel

I went out and bought this after Rachel told me how good it was, and I have to agree it was a really nice face mask (and fun, I love peel off masks), the only thing is that it's a bit painful when you take it off, it sticks onto your skin well! But it's satisfying because you know it's taking all the dirt and dead skin with it. They were on 3 for 2 when I got it from Boots so I'm looking forward to trying it out again.

Elaine