TIL a growing trend in Korea is 1일 1팩, which is 1 mask/1 day. But I'm poor, and reviewing beauty tools, so let's see how close we can get to being cool and trendy.
Last night, I tried out one of my schmancy new Banila Co hydrogels.
And I had a ton of leftover essence, so this is a semi review/tutorial for extending the usage of your sheet masks.
I will be using a compressed sheet mask tablet, which comes individually packaged like a piece of candy, the leftover essence from my Miss Flower & Mr Honey hydrogel mask, and my DIY Nia-NAG toner, which will be featured soon after I get a couple of weeks to test it out.
Look at all that extra essence. It's kind of necessary, otherwise the hydrogel would dry out (kind of like a contact lens), but that's precious essence that's not going into the mask/on your face! A lot of people will fold up the packet, or decant it into some sample jars and just pat it on as a regular essence for a couple of days after a mask. I sheet mask instead.
Immediately after dropping the tablet in, it swells up a bit as it starts soaking up the essence. Then I added two dropperfulls of the Nia-Nag essence on top of it. I usually do this right before cleaning my face so it has a enough time to absorb everything.
After about 15 minutes, it looks kind of like a marshmallow.
Slowly unwrapping. Be gentle when you do, as it can tear. This stuff is barely tougher than a paper towel, and has little cuts and folds. It's thinner than the average sheet mask, and kind of small too.
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| Mask. Mask. Mask Cover. |
It has little eye flaps, which I have no use for. By itself, it might not sit on your face really well for the full 20-40 minutes, as it's not as wet as a regular sheet mask, but combined with a sheet mask cover, it stays on just fine.
I think these are generics, and I've seen several different names attached to them. The ones that I bought a couple of months back on Amazon aren't listed anymore, but there are lots of duplicates. I paid $4.99 for 100 tablets (with Prime shipping, of course), which makes it $0.05 per sheet mask. Of course, that's a bit of bullshit, since you can't just use them dry, but compared to the average "cheap" sheet mask of $1, that's 95% cheaper!
I don't recommend this as your only source of sheet mask, but it's a great extra. You can use it to extend the life of your fancy sheet masks, or use up some toner/essence. My Beauty Diary masks, which are a favorite for many ABers, are known for having tons of extra essence. You can even mix up your own "essence" like I did with the Nia-Nag and go full DIY.
A word of caution. These say 100% natural cellulose fiber/cotton fiber, and I don't smell any weird chemical smell from them, but I've ordered another set on Amazon before (I swear, it was the same packaging. I might be misremembering, but it was at least very similar) that was odorless dry, but when soaked with just water, had a vague chemical smell, and I got too freaked out to put it on my face. These are made in China, and some of the ones on Amazon and eBay are actually shipped straight from China. There are some companies that make similar ones, like Muji and Etude House, but they are significantly more in price. Just remember to always patch test!
