Inspired by a recent post by favorite fashion site Refinery29.com (check it!), this week is dedicated to something mostly everyone I know—male and female—loves: Masks! Hair masks, facemasks, foot masks, hand masks. . . . Most of the time, we use them not because we think they make us look any better, but just because they’re fun to use.
Boscia's Luminizing Black Mask
Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Time Renewal Replenishing Mask
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Among my social circle, we’ve probably used them all—and wasted tons of cash—so it’s notalways true that masks have to be useless, too. Below are my top picks at both the high and low end of the price spectrum.
FACE
High: Luminizing Black Mask by Boscia, available at Sephora locations and sephora.com ($34). Peel-off masks are always fun to use. Peel-off masks that are opaque and tar-black? Even better. This fragrance-free, preservative-free mask helps with clarity, texture and radiance, while also exfoliating and removing all sorts of stuff trapped in your skin. A friend also swears this one helps with spots and redness. As with any peel-off mask, it takes a little extra time to strip off the whole thing when time’s up. Just use a warm washcloth to get any remnants.
Low: Good Stuff Organics Revitalizing Facial Mask by Freeman, available at most major drugstores and ULTA ($6.99). True story—Freeman’s Revitalizing Facial Mask is the only one I’ve ever used that garnered tons of compliments on my skin after usage. I felt like my skin was glowing, clear and luminous afterward. Really. Also? It’s organic, has eco-friendly packaging, smells like papayas, won’t dry you out, is easy to find . . . and it’s $6.99.
HAIR
High: Hair Mask with Shea Butter by Frederic Fekkai, available at sephora.com ($22.50). Hair masks require a little more patience than face masks—you have to leave them in for at least 30 minutes, and then you’ve got to deal with water and residual maskage running down your face and neck. But believe me and my chemically treated hair: It’s worth it. This shea-butter mask is a hair high-end staple. It’s thick like a tub of Blue Bonnet and does what it’s supposed to do: condition, de-poof, moisturize. But for the price and amount you get (5 ounces!)? I’d stick with the option below.
Low: Pantene Pro-V Restoratives Time Renewal Replenishing Mask, available at major drugstores (around $6.29). The “low” here is so high that I can’t even stress enough how you need to bypass all other deep-conditioning hair masks for a tub of this miracle goop. Slap Pantene’s Renewal hair mask on clean hair once a week, wrap it up in a shower cap and marinate in front of the television for a half-hour or longer. The results are almost instant, giving you glossy, buttery-smooth hair that’s actually pretty healthy, too. This is especially amazing on overly processed hair and won’t weigh it down.
vchang@ocweekly.com
