Get the peanut butter out of your pores (Avon Anew Alpha Peel-Off Mask)

Member Name: Gwenick

Product:	Avon Anew Alpha Peel-Off Mask
Date:	19/09/01 (604 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see text

Disadvantages: see text

Oh the luxury, the bliss of being able to find the time to luxury cosmetic items description! I bet you wonder what on earth I’m talking about. I’m talking about mothers, particularly those with young children – like me! A few weeks ago I finally found the time to sit down and look through the Avon catalogue for something to pamper myself with. Suddenly I saw it Avon Anew Alpha peel-off mask. I’m not sure if it was on special offer but it was priced at £3.75 (for 100ml) and the thought of refreshing my face after having peanut butter, nectarine, dribble and yoghurt spread over my face during the course of the day, courtesy of my son’s fingers, seemed liked a fantastic idea.

I duly filled in the order form and waited, and waited, and waited, for the Avon lady to come and pick the order up. She certainly didn’t come on the day she’d indicated on the top of the order form, and I had to wait almost a whole month before she finally delivered it –but that’s a whole new opinion. Right back to what I’m supposed to be writing about the facemask.

The box which the tube is in s a two tone blue colour with the type of product (peel-off mask) in three different languages on the front – English, German and French (I think). On the back of the box is a warning “Avoid contact with eyes. Caution: Flammable” – which I guess means that if you’re a smoker it might not be a good idea to have a cigarette while you’re letting it dry. Anyhow, this warning is written in 6 languages – English, German, French, Portuguese and Italian (all the languages of the countries where Avon is available). Also listed on the back of the box are the ingredients, which for those of you who may be interested I shall now list:

Aqua,
Alcohol Denat,
Polyvinyl Alcohol,
Glycolic Acid,
Lactic Acid,
Poloxamer 185,
Ammonium Hydroxide,
Citric Acid,
Octoxynol-
9,
Propylene Glycol,
Oleth-20,
Parfum,
Mangifera Indica,
Vitis Vinifera,
Pyrus Malus,
Benzophenone-2,
Phenoxyethanol,
Methylparaben,
Propylparaben,
Butylparaben,
Ethylparaben,
Disodium Edta,
CI 42090,
CI 17200.



Inside the box is a small instruction leaflet and the tube of facemask, which is also two tone blue and contains the same information as on the box. On first glance its looks like the liquid is blue, but when you open the lid you discover that it is actually clear. The tube of facemask is actually quite elegant looking. The instructions, in my own words say that it contains a great concentration of “Multi-Acid Complex” which is supposed to give your life back some of its vitality. It claims that it will make your fine lines, large pores and surface imperfections (?) become less visible and will leave your skin “feeling soft, smooth, tightened and toned”.

To use it you have to apply a thin layer to clean skin, making sure that you don’t get any near the eyes. When the mask is drying you might feel a short “tingling sensation”, this is a sign that the mask is working. Leave the mask on for 10-10mins then peel off from the top of your face to the bottom. After removing the mask rinse your face with cool water and then continue with your other beauty treatment (ha-ha – that WAS my beauty treatment). It can be used 2-3 times a week if you need to.

There is also a caution in the instruction, which repeats that this product is flammable and should be kept away from fire. It also reminds you to keep it away from your eyes, and if contact does occur it states that you should rinse thoroughly with water. If irritation continues it is advised to seek medical advice. You should also keep this out of the reach of children (as if I’m going to let him anywhere near my pampering product!).


So what its like I hea
r you say. Well, as I write this bit you must bear in mind the last time I used a face mask I was about 15 (7 years ago) and so am writing this basically as a first time user of any facemask. On opening the tube I was greeted with a subtle but very pleasant smell. On tipping the liquid (can’t think of a better word!) onto my fingers I discovered that it was quite runny and also very sticky. As I started to apply it to my face I felt a slight “tingling sensation” which lasted only a few seconds – it says that this could happen as its drying and this is where I found the problem lay. It seemed to start drying almost as soon as I put it onto my face, not a bad thing one might think. However, as with most facemasks (I should imagine) as it dries it starts to become tacky and this made applying it all over my face very hard. I suppose this could be put down to my ‘inexperience’ although I don’t think so. After struggling to apply to the whole of my face, except the eye area, I sat down at the computer and started to write this opinion.

About 15 minutes later (I’d just reached to end of the ingredients) I was ready to peel it off. That’s when the fun really began. “Peel-off, working down from the forehead” the instructions state. I tried to do this but found that it came off in little bits, and eventually just peeled it off any way it would come. Once the mask was off my face felt rather strange, it felt almost like it was really dirty, so I set off to the bathroom to rinse it off. I rinsed it off using cold water and almost immediately felt much better. I looked in the mirror and I could swear that I could see the difference. I don’t have any visible fine lines (yet) but my face looked really clean, felt soft and very fresh.

A little while later it was the real testing time for this product, husband came upstairs to go to bed……..would he notice? YES!!! He took one look
at me and asked if I’d tried my new facemask. That settled it, not only did I feel very refreshed (without the peanut butter in my pores) but my husband had actually noticed the difference.

So crunch time. Will I be buying this again once my current tube runs out. Well, despite the problems applying it I found the results to be fantastic and I’ll definitely be getting some more…………but using my mums Avon lady, mine is hopeless.

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