** WARNING WARNING – YOU WILL BE SEEING SKIN WITH ABSOLUTELY NO MAKE-UP **

** And its also going to be a long, long post.

 

I truly toyed with the idea of just not putting this post up. I figured no-one would ever know if I did not publish this post and it wouldn’t magnificently alter someone’s life in a negative way if I did not post it, so why stress? But then I realized that I needed to post it because there is a rather interesting story behind it. Putting it simply; the product seemed awful but turned out to be incredible, and the product itself is the most awful looking beauty product I have ever used in my life. I stumbled around the house showing everyone and the banished me to my room and asked me to not come out “until that thing has been thrown away”. Then I realized that this blog is meant to be all about my beauty ups and downs and if I have a funny beauty story then I should share that too! And nevermind the fact that I do not want the following photos floating around cyber space but oh well. It probably doesn’t look at bad as I think it does, right?

Anyway, so here we go. Introducing to you the Skin Strategy Rejuvenating Face Mask which I purchased from Dischem for R14.95. I was originally intrigued as I loved the packaging of the box (sleek and plain) that contains 15 masks but I was even happier when I realized you could buy individual ones. I’d much rather pay a smaller price and try the product than splurge just to realize the product doesn’t suit my skin.

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?I thought that what I was buying was a normal facemask – one in the form of a mask, clay or paste that you apply with your hands. I don’t know how I did not realize that there was something else inside (considering that the sachet is divided into two parts). I opened it up and realized that it contained a cream and what seemed to be a giant wet wipe! I was very confused but at the same time I knew exactly what I was looking at as I have seen them very often online over the past few months. So I applied the mask and this took me a great deal of time because not everyone’s face is shaped the same so you may need to stretch and pull it out a bit. I also found the neck sections very irritating as you have to kind of loop them over and against your neck, but at the end of the day you get a neck mask too, so I won’t complain. I then proceeded to gallop around the house and show off my new face but no one was too impressed and my little sister actually seemed quite frightened.

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After the mask has been on for 10 – 15 minutes you remove it and follow with the ceramides cream. As you can see from this picture (naked pores and all) it left my face quite moist so I waited about five minutes before applying the cream, just to let it soak up properly. You then apply “an even layer” onto your face and leave until fully absorbed. Well, I don’t know if you can properly tell from this picture but there was a LOT of cream so I just used about three quarters of it.

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Now this is where things get weird. The next day my face was fine. It felt nice and soft and supple. Nothing amazing but the mask had not dried up my face or anything like that. Great stuff. Then the next day I woke up and it was a NIGHTMARE! I had about thirty teeny little bumps (not pimples, actual raised skin kind of bumps) all over my forehead. The only thing I can possibly compare it to was the time when I was attacked by mosquitos and they all decided to suck the blood out of my forehead. I kept pointing it out to people and they kept assuring me they could not see it but they were most definitely there. And they stayed for a lengthy period of five or six days. Now it was definitely caused by the mask as I had not altered my skincare, make-up or diet routine in the slightest. So I was quite annoyed by this and I thought I must have had an allergic reaction because I was so sure that these were not pimples. My forehead stayed like this and the bumps did not get smaller at all and then all of a sudden I woke up one morning and it was as if I had been for 10 Kim Kardashian style facials. My skin was AMAZING. Not a single bump on my head, my cheeks and T-Zone were smooth and clear and my nose looked better than ever before. I wish I had taken pictures of the awfulness Versus the after effect but at the time I was just so freaked out that I did not even think of taking a picture.

So all in all my experience ended quite abruptly but I know that the horrid bumps followed by amazing clear skin has to be down to the mask because it was the only change in my entire skincare routine. I am SO impressed with it, but I am a tad afraid to try the other masks in case I have a bad reaction again – but is a bad reaction with a brilliant ending worth it?

And finally, here is a bit of info on the mask straight from the sachet:

Stage 1: Rejuvenating Face and Neck Mask with Fruit Acids – Skin s left rejuvenated, more even-toned and radiant. Fruit acids help to fight signs of ageing and promotes smoother skin. Each ingredient contains powerful anti-oxidant properties that will help fight free-radicals that can cause ageing and dullness of skin and help to increase cellular turnover.

Stage 2: Ceramides with Biogold – The presence of ceramide in the epidermis is necessary to keep the skin young. They act as a barrier retaining moisture and nourishing substance supporting the skin from the inside. Ceramides with biogold secure the mask’s effect restoring the lipidic layer of the skin providing prolonged moisturization thus preventing ageing of skin.

It’s difficult to slow down the effects of time on our bodies but we can learn to perceive time in an alternate manner to ensure that it doesn’t fly by and let positive experiences seem to pass in a matter of seconds – here is a brilliant infographic to help explain how this can be done.

 

I feel like I gained a few extra IQ points just from typing that out. Anway, I am finally done. Can you tell that I have not blogged in a while?!

Have you tried one of these masks before? Do you have any good “sheet masks” to recommend?

Rayne XX