Try not to laugh! (Boots Natural Collection Charcoal Face Mask)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Boots Natural Collection Charcoal Face Mask
Date:	19/11/01 (496 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great colour!, leaves my skin soft and clean

Disadvantages: may stain fabrics, takes a while to remove

In the quest to write a Dooyoo opinion that someone might actually want to read (as opposed to just being nice and reading it anyway – and thanks for those, folks!) instead of droning on (and on and on….) about my favourite band, I decided a few nights ago to turn to my collection of facemasks.

Now, when I say collection, I do mean it: I love buying myself little treats (doesn’t everyone? :) ), and facemasks are relatively cheap – not to mention calorie free! So which one did I go with this time? Well – look at the category heading! As the name might suggest, the Natural Collection Charcoal facemask is a lovely colour – black! There’s something really appealing about smothering your face in what looks like dirt!

For all I have all these tubes of goo, I don’t use any with any regularity. This meant that this particular facemask had separated a bit in the tube while it was sitting. Fair enough, I have had it since Christmas last (grief, are we almost at another one? Where’d the year go?!), but just a point to note if you’re not a regular facemask user. Vigorous shaking (of the tube, not myself!) helped quite a lot, but it remained a bit lumpy and this made it hard to put on – the lumps kept trying to escape and leave lovely big black marks on my carpet. There IS a warning on the tube: “Avoid contact with all fabrics as this product may cause staining” – in other words, just be a little careful with this one.


*USING THE MASK*
Nothing unusual here: remove makeup and apply a “smooth, even layer” avoiding the ‘delicate’ eye area – i.e., slap it on so that you look like a panda in a photo negative. This particular facemask you leave on for up to ten minutes, and then rinse with cold water. It’s intended for use once a week, and is suitable for all skin types according to the pack.

The claims on the tube are tha
t “the naturally absorbing and purifying action of charcoal can help regain a radiant glow”… in other words, it’s a deep cleansing mask. For those who are interested in such things, and just so I can’t be accused of leaving anything out of this op, here are the ingredients:

Aqua, Kaolin, Glycerin, Polysorbate 20, Disodium phospate, Carbon, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Phenoxyenthanol, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Sodium phosphate, Propylparaben, Cl 77499.

Make of that what you will! One good point is that this mask is lanolin free (lanolin being a product derived from sheep, I believe) and also dermatologically tested.


*MY EXPERIENCE*
After cleaning the slap – I mean makeup – from my face, I started smearing this lovely black gunk on. Hmm… seems odd, but definitely fun! There isn’t much of a smell to this product. To begin with, I did feel a bit of tingling, especially around my nose, where I have some open pores – these are shown up quite a bit as the facemask dries.

The mask begins to dry quite quickly, and turns from black to a paler grey. It also hardens, so you can’t move your face easily – this means NO LAUGHING, so avoid looking at yourself in a mirror! This and the colour means this is definitely something to do in private and without interruptions – answering either the door or the phone would be a bad idea, for different reasons!

REMOVING
After relaxing for ten minutes (apart from scribbling some notes for this op!), it was time to remove the mask. I find it easiest to use a damp tissue (or cloth, if you don’t mind it possibly getting stained) to loosen the mask, which by now has gone hard. I then spend ages splashing water on my face and rubbing with my fingers. It’s not the easiest mask to remove, but it’s VERY easy to see if you’ve missed any bits!


*AFTERWARDS*
My skin f
elt very smooth and soft, and a little pink especially on my forehead. Some of this was quite likely due to the cold water rather than the mask, I suppose. My skin also looked very clean, and initially there was no dry/tight feeling. After about ten minutes, however, I did feel the need to put on a little moisturiser.

I find with most facemasks that the ‘purifying’ element means I develop spots as the gunk is cleared out of my skin, and I was expecting the same thing to happen with this. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the following morning my skin was blemish-free and still feeling quite soft.


*CONCLUSION*
I find this to be a little more gentle than most other cleansing masks, so I would recommend it to just about anyone. My own skin type is normal/combination (i.e., greasy t-zone), and can be just a little sensitive at times, but I had a good experience with this mask. If you do have sensitive skin, obviously it’s a good idea to test the product on a small area before coating your entire face with it!

My favourite feature of this facemask has to be one of the most trivial: I love the colour! I have quite a few plain, creamy masks and it’s not nearly so much fun as covering your face in something bright green or dark grey! So, if you fancy a little treat for your skin, might I suggest you give this a try?!

Thanks for reading :)

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