I really like treating my skin with a face mask every week or so and have tried several masks in the past including those from Lush and other brands. The Lush ones are my favourites but they are expensive to buy so I was on the lookout for some cheaper alternatives.

I've seen the Montagne Jeunesse range of face masks, with their brightly coloured sachets, in several stores before and have read many positive reviews. I saw a deal on Living Social for a basket of Montagne Jeunesse goodies at a reduced price. It sounded like a bargain, so I purchased one and got an exciting mix of stuff. Several face masks were among the products, and one that took my fancy straight away was the Fudge Sauna Masque.

This masque comes in a standard Montagne Jeunesse sachet, coloured red and with a picture of a woman wearing the masque. As usual she has bits of stuff over her eyes - in this case leaves and pieces of fudge. The masque is meant to help you to de-stress, and it is described as a hot vanilla self-heating masque. With rich Mediterranean clay to cleanse and soak up oil, it gently opens pores to deeply cleanse and draw out dirt and grime. Animal lovers will be pleased to know that the mask has been approved by the Vegetarian Society and bears the BUAV bunny logo to show that it has not been tested on animals.

Opening the sachet via the perforated twist on the side is fairly simple. The instructions state that before using the masque you should cleanse your face with warm water only, and apply the masque to wet skin, leaving for 10-15 minutes. The masque was smooth in texture and felt a bit like chocolate spread, only thinner. It was a dark brown colour and smelled deliciously but not overwhelmingly of fudge.

As I massaged the masque into my skin, I could feel the warming effect starting to work. I have no idea how it works but it felt lovely! Imagine applying a warm cloth or flannel to your skin - it was a bit like that but a smoother, softer sensation. The masque didn't look too obvious on my skin - the brown was much less obvious in a thin layer, which could be handy if you're using the masque around other people and don't want to resemble a monster! Applying the masque was easy as it was smooth and thin, but not so thin that it dripped off the skin. I only used a thin layer: as a Lush staff member once pointed out to me, there's no point using a thick layer of face mask as only the product that is actually touching your skin will do any good, so a thin layer will do just as well.

I enjoyed using the masque. The warming effect wasn't as prominent after initial application, but it still felt soothing on my skin. I enjoyed the delicious scent and the product didn't irritate my skin at all.

I washed off the masque after the requisite time and the warming effect seemed to reactivate as I was massaging my skin to remove the product. Once the masque was all washed off, I toned and moisturised my skin as normal.

I found that after using this masque and for a day or two afterwards, my skin did look a bit brighter and more radiant. I did feel less stressed after using it - though I don't know if I can put that down to using this particular product. The whole process of using a face mask is relaxing by nature, especially if you do what I did and use it as part of a general pampering session, so any face mask might have had the same effect.

I managed to get three uses out of this Fudge Sauna masque, so it works out as excellent value for money. I think I would buy it again. It wasn't as effective as face masks from Lush, but it smelled lovely and I really liked the warming effect.

Montagne Jeunesse products are made in the UK and these face masks can be bought from places like Boots, Superdrug, Savers and Amazon (where you can currently buy 6 sachets for a fiver). Normally they are priced at £1 or less which makes them good value for money, particularly when each sachet can normally be used at least twice. You can find out more at www.montagnejeunesse.com.