I have a bone to pick with you today. Why do so many of you think sheet masks don’t work? Just last week, a dear friend of mine told me she doesn’t “believe” in them, which is quite similar to what my brother feels about diamonds. I pointed out to him that diamonds do in fact, exist, and they are physical items that one can see, feel and touch, highly dissimilar to a rainbow-pooping unicorn, but he remains unmoved.
He also says that they are artificially overvalued, and that millions (or was it trillions?) of carats are sitting in vaults ready to flood the market at anytime. Basically everybody is just brainwashed by the marketing schemes (genius) of the diamond industry, and that at this point it’s just a Ponzi scheme. It’s conversations like this when I think to myself, “It’s a wonder somebody snatched him up,” but what I actually said to him was, “That’s cool. I still want a few more though.”
Which brings me back to sheet masks. How does one not “believe” in them? Am I the only person they (sometimes) work for? If not on just skin, they’re therapeutic. Sometimes you’ve just gotta slap on a sheet mask, turn on a meditation app and pretend like you’ve got your life in order.
Turns out I also have some other knowledge you might find interesting. A litmus test of sorts, and this is particularly useful for those with combination skin. While it doesn’t make me quite Einstein-like in terms of ingenuity — I won’t stop you if you want to go ahead and make the comparison.
If your skin is as confused/confusing as mine (Is it oily? Where is it dry?? What is going on???) this is super handy. More so if you want to multi-mask, and give your skin the right kind of love where it needs it most. All you need is a sheet mask (holy.grail)! I went ahead and got some Korean kitten and piglet sheet masks, because as you guys already know — I’m totally not extra for a grown woman who follows Barbie on Instagram.
Put it on, tune in to your favourite form of entertainment — I’m tearing through Velvet Colección (No, I don’t understand Spanish) and recommended it. Watch/read/listen for a while, and keep the mask on for a longer time than usual. Anything above 40 minutes is good, as this is sufficient for the serum to soak and seal into your skin.
When you’re ready to take it off, feel around the mask and make mental pointers — Where did it dry out first? What’s still soaked? Use this as a little guide to see where you need most moisture on your skin.
It’s surprising, but every time I do this, my forehead and chin gets bone dry, while the rest retains plenty of moisture from the mask. It’s also paradoxical that these are the zones where I break out the most. Ugh! This dry skin/acne is going to get the best of me, but what can we do? Skin! Can’t live with it, can’t live without it? So this is me, slapping on another sheet mask and calling it a night.
Saumya R Chawla
@pixie.secrets
The writer loves to over-share, drink wine & watch period dramas