facial masks

Ready for Your Close-Up?

From precious metal to clay to snail slime, facial masks are adventures of the elemental kind.

Wendy Duren Health & Wellness

facial masks
Facial masks are as different as Halloween masks, and they serve quite different purposes.
PHOTO BY ANTONIO TERRON/TRUNK ARCHIVE

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BEAUTY

To my husband’s feigned horror, I turn up on our sofa two or three nights a week with black mud, green clay, or a skinlike hydra gel masking my face. I haven’t always been someone with an arsenal of face masks in varying textures and colors. There was a time when I, maybe like you, had just one overly drying clay mask, which I never used, as it may as well have been toothpaste-scented plaster.

These days beauty enthusiasts are spoiled for choice with face masks, and I could turn up every night with something different smeared on my skin: colloidal gold, snail mucin, sulfur, algae, bee venom … you name it. I’ve tried them all, save for bee venom, because I draw the line at poison. They all have different purposes, aimed at different results. These are my favorite masks, the ones I find make an actual difference and are worth my husband asking, “What’s on your face?” as though he doesn’t know.

May Lindstrom’s The Problem Solver ($90, Beautylish.com) is an aptly named fixer. Its base is Fuller’s Earth clay, which brightens and draws oil from the skin, paired with red Moroccan Rhassoul clay, to clear blemishes and improve elasticity. This is a powder-to-mousse formula — the ingredients activate only when water is introduced, preserving the components’ efficacy. The resulting black mud is best described as … intense. On the skin it tingles and heats for 45 minutes, which feels like a long and tough gym session for the face. I’ve heard of masochists spritzing the dried mud with water to restart the process for a double shot of intensity. I don’t see the need for that. One round of this powerhouse is plenty. Word of warning: The black mousse will stain.

For a straightforward decongesting mask, I like SkinCeuticals’ Clarifying Clay Masque ($51, DermStore.com). This is a mix of kaolin and bentonite clays that are great for degunking pores and removing excess oil, with zinc oxide and chamomile to calm and heal. This is the green clay mask I’ve always wanted. It does not leave my face cracked and parched, and it does not smell of mint.

One of aging’s many betrayals is the slowdown of skin’s natural exfoliation process. Dead and dry skin cells accumulate on the face, emphasizing lines and dulling the complexion. Peter Thomas Roth’s Pumpkin Enzyme Mask ($58, Macy’s) shares the color, consistency, and smell of canned pumpkin. But unlike pie, this mask is a fantastic nonabrasive exfoliator that leaves skin polished and bright.

I think of Dermarché Labs’ Roloxin Lift Instant Skin Smoothing Masque ($79, net-a-porter.com) as the skin care equivalent of stunt casting. It has a lot of initial impact but negligible long-term effects. This mask brightens, smooths, and tightens skin for as long as 24 hours. I pop this on ahead of special occasions when I want to look my best, although I find this product a bit drying on my combination skin. But don’t fear; like the smoothing and tightening, it’s temporary.

When my skin needs serious TLC, I choose Fresh Crème Anciennne’s Ultimate Nourishing Honey Mask ($140, Sephora). I admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this product. Honey is a natural humectant that preserves moisture and feeds nutrients back into the skin. But I’ve yet to find a honey-based mask that does not smell awful. I’m also not crazy about the feel of this mask. It’s thick. It’s tacky. And it’s yucky. After use, however, my skin looks and feels supple and velvety, which leads directly to the best makeup days ever. That’s what is so great about a mask: No one ever needs to know how you suffered to get that beautiful face.