Hey there! Check it out, another blog. this is going to be a review on a face mask by a brand called Montagne Jeunesse. These masks are widely available: we sell them at Ulta and I've seen them at Meijer, Walmart, Walgreens, and Targets. I have a love/hate relationship w/ face masks. I'm so bloody impatient, that waiting for masks to dry is absolute torture. Plus, I wear glasses, so when I'm waiting for a mask to set, I can't do anything else b/c I am blind as a bat w/o them and I don't have contacts. Sometimes I just wear them anyway, but then my nose piece gets all funky and dirty. (FIRST WORLD PROBLEM ALERT!)I received this mask from Influenster in my Holiday 2012 VoxBox. (For my initial thoughts and unboxing video, click here!) This was a product that not every person was eligible for (it said on the info card that it was based on demographics) but I guess I lucked out! I don't want to go into my whole Influenster spiel again, but I did an introduction post right hurrr. But, basically, Influenster is a site based on the idea of social media; you sign up and can actually get involved w/ different brands and receive products to test and review, etc. It's pretty cool, so check it out!
FTC Disclaimer: I received this product free through Influenster. I am not being paid or compensated in any way by the company being reviewed. My opinions are entirely my own! :)
We sell these single serve masks by Montagne Jeunesse at Ulta and these bad boys sell like hotcakes but I've never actually purchased one before. Crazy, I know! I gotta say, the pictures creep me out a bit. The models, at least, haha. They just look crazy! I received the Chocolate Mask, which is for Normal/Dry skin and also deep pore cleansing. Now, the deep pore cleansing I can definitely use, but I don't have normal/dry skin, so this was vaguely disappointing. This mask contains shea butter and, well, I wasn't super crazy about putting that ON MY FACE, but I'm a brave adventurer, and went for it.
I was fairly drunk when I used this mask and according to one of the beauty/fashion magazines I was reading, the best way to avoid dehydrated looking skin is by using a hydrating mask the night before when going to bed. Luckily, I had this lying around!
My cat found this mask incredibly relevant to her interests! Haha.
Here's the product description from Influenster (just a warning, the grammar is kind of wonky in this, haha):
Montagne Jeunesse face masques have been a part of many girl's lives since way back when. With a huge array to choose from these face masques are jam packed with the most delicious natural ingredients and are bursting with luscious juicy fragrances."
According to Montagne Jeunesse:
Nourish your skin with a feast of rich and creamy delights. Treat yourself to a mud masque with a difference! Rich in natural ingredients this deep cleansing chocolate mud masque will help to unblock pores, allowing impurities to be drawn out. Coupled with the skin healing properties of Dead Sea Salt, and the moisturizing benefits of Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter, you will be left with renewed, re-hydrated, and younger looking skin."
INGREDIENT LIST: Aqua (purified water), Kaolin, Illite (Mediterranean clay), Glycerin, Glyceryl stearate SE, Bentonite, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, Ceteareth-20, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea butter), Theobroma cacao (cocoa) shell powder, Sea salt (Dead Sea salt), Aroma (flavor), Glucose, Lactoperoxidase, Citric acid, Glucose oxidase, CI77491, CI77492, CI77499 (Iron oxides).
Now, according to the directions, it suggests rinsing your face with warm water beforehand. I ignored that and washed my face per usual. I didn't use my exfoliator though. I was a bit nervous because one of my friends who also received a mask had a really bad reaction to it, but I have very hardy skin, and was hoping for the best although the cocoa and shea butter parts worried me.
Me, post-face wash and pre-mask. Warning - I make a lot of douchy faces in this!
There is a TON of mask in these packets! Probably enough for three full masks. I was too intoxicated to worry about trying to reseal this thing, so I used the entire mask, but it is ENTIRELY unnecessary to use the whole thing in one go. It had a very chocolate-y smell w/ a weird underlying perfume scent and it looks like chocolate pudding, which definitely weirded me out, haha.
It goes on fairly smooth and evenly and feels cooling.
The horrible part was waiting for this to dry. When clay masks dry, they shrink and crack, which can feel slightly uncomfortable for people. This mask took FOREVER to dry, but I did have a huge thick layer on my face. After about 30 minutes, it was mostly dry and I was sleepy, so it was time to wash this shit off my face!
My cat was totally judging me!
Once I washed this off, I can't say I noticed a huge difference. It worked like any other clay mask, to be honest. What I'll probably do is either try a different mask more suited to my skin type or wait and see how all of the butters react with my skin and possibly continue to use this mask weekly as suggested. I didn't notice my pores looking any clearer or any texture/redness differences, but my skin did feel more hydrated, so bonus?
I might pick up some more types of these masks, so let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in reading more of these types of reviews! :)
