My Must-Have Masks

Face masks have always been a really popular product type in the world of skincare and with good reason. They tend to be my go-to product for a quick fix when my skin's misbehaving and I've tried an awful lot of them but here's a run down of my favourites from the ones I've tried:

For the dry or dehydrated out there, there's a lot of moisturising masks on the market and, while some budget options are quite good, my absolute favourite one is the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask (£23 for 100ml). It's essentially a super heavy duty night cream and you apply a thin layer before bed for a boost of hydration. The scent is nice and fruity and it leaves the skin feeling soft and supple. If the Origins is out of your price range my affordable alternative would be the Super Facialist by Una Brennan Rose Hydrate Intense Moisture Mask at £9.99 for 125ml. This is more of a quick fix type mask than an overnight treatment but it works well and the rose scent is lovely.

Clay masks are something you really don't need to spend a lot of money on if you don't want to. My absolute favourite clay mask is the Aroma Actives Deep Cleansing & Purifying Clay Mask. It's around the £10 mark for 100ml and I pick this up from Sainsbury's (although this product isn't available on the Sainsbury's website), I like this one because it's an effective clay mask but it doesn't strip all of the moisture out of the skin like some clay masks do. If Aroma Actives isn't available near you or if you just fancy splurging on a more luxe clay mask, the Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask is a nice one. My only problem with it is that, at £45 for 75ml, I think it's quite steeply priced for something that works very similarly to the Aroma Actives one.

The final mask type I'll be talking about today is the exfoliating mask. I have two that work very similarly and they are the Oskia Renaissance Mask and the Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask. They're both an orange-y pink gel texture with a soft rose-y scent. They both go onto the skin with a jelly-ish texture and neither of them will dry or "set' on the face. I personally wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them in a blind trial and they're quite similarly priced with the Oskia being £48.50 for 50ml and the Tata Harper being £45 for 30ml. I'll leave either of these on for 3-10 minutes, rinse off and my skin feels so smooth after use.

A good exfoliating mask for me has some slightly pricier ingredients in the formula and, because of that, I haven't been able to find a more budget friendly option. However if you're strapped for cash and need some exfoliation in your life I'd recommend a more affordable exfoliating toner which you can use 2-3 times a week like the Pixi Glow Tonic (£18 for 250ml) or the First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads (£22 for 60 pads).

Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Collection

In my "What I Got For Christmas" post, I mentioned the Charlotte Tilbury Gift Of Goddess Skin Travel Set. While I'm not the this is a permanent product in the CT range, I did notice that there's a full sized version of the set available on her website and all of the products are available to purchase individually so I figured I might as well let you know my thoughts on the products.

So for pricing, the travel set that I have is still showing as available for £39 on CharlotteTilbury.com and the full sized set is £150. Both sets include the Goddess Skin Clay Mask (£45), the Wonderglow Instant Soft-Focus Beauty Flash Primer (£38.50) and the Charlotte's Magic Cream (£70). The products in the travel set are all 15ml each. All three of the products have the classic sweet-rose-esque Charlotte Tilbury Skincare scent, although to varying degrees. The scent is most obvious in the Magic Cream and least obvious in the Goddess Clay Mask.

The Wonderglow is an interesting product, while I can see the appeal I'm not sure it's something I'm going to use a lot myself. It's supposed to give luminosity to the skin but I can see obvious fine glitter in the product. While it does seem to offer a perfected look to the skin without giving much in the way of coverage, it's not completely natural looking. It's not at all heavy on the skin and I think the formula would work on most skin types if this is the look your going for. This strikes me as the sort of base product you might reach for if you're wanting a minimal but perfected look for a beach-y holiday.

The Goddess Skin Clay Mask is nothing special. It's a very creamy texture for a clay mask and the scent is pleasant but it's not standing out for me against some other clay masks I've tried. Bearing in mind that the full size is £45 for 75ml. I love the Aroma Actives Deep Cleansing and Purifying Clay Mask and I've found that for as little as £9 for 100ml, similarly to the Charlotte Tilbury one it's a creamy clay mask and it has a little more moisture than most and while this is a little more difficult to find (I get it from Sainsbury's), it's significantly cheaper.

So this review isn't looking too positive so far, but the Charlotte's Magic Cream is the game changer. For me this is the pick of the set and it's something I really like and will repurchase once I use up the small size. For a face cream, while £70 is up there, it's not outrageous. It has SPF 15 so it's a day cream rather than an all purpose moisturiser but Charlotte Tilbury has recently released the Magic Night Cream which I'd be interest to try. It makes a great base for makeup whilst still having a really nice moisture content. Just a really great day cream.