I have a lot of moisturising masks and I really like using them, mainly to give my skin a treat, but also because I have skin that is spot-prone yet also suffers from fairly severe dehydration on a regular basis. I’ve got my skincare routine sorted so that most of these issues are under control, but I will always be a big believer in the pampering and boosting experience of a facial, so I try to do them at least once a week.
My experience of moisture masks is that they’re usually some variant of a gel formula. Whilst this is effective and I like using gel masks (especially after a ReAura treatment as they’re sooo cooling), if I’m really on a mission to pack as much moisture into the treatment as possible, I prefer to use cream masks. This is mainly because applying a cream mask feels like applying a really thick moisturiser and leaving it to sink in (yet my skin won’t tolerate that without reacting with spots), so in my mind it’s a truly powerful boost of moisture.
Ahava’s Hydration Cream Mask is exactly the type of cream mask that I like to use when my skin is crying out for some help. It’s a thick, white cream with a slightly floral aroma that isn’t too dominant. Thankfully it retains the thick cream feel without feeling too greasy and my skin drinks it up in about ten minutes. It’s a weird one in the sense that it dries to a slightly firm finish without the tackiness, which I haven’t come across in moisture masks before, but it wipes off easily and leaves skin feeling fresh and bouncy.
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| Left is how it looks on first application and right is how it looks after drying for a short time. |
I’m currently doing a course of at home peels at the moment and I really like to follow these up with a moisture mask, but I find that gel types just don’t quite cut it. However, this is absolutely perfect for post peel (or post treatment if you’re using something drying to treat spots) as I really dislike the dry feeling I get after having a peel, but this eradicates that quickly and easily.
I do think this is quite a versatile mask that would be suitable for most skin types (although it might be a bit of a waste on the very oily) as for skins like mine this replaces moisture as a treatment in less than 15 minutes, but for dryer skins this would work really well as an overnight treatment, as after it’s soaked into the skin you can still feel it getting to work, so I believe it would be an effective overnight treatment.
Lastly, I really like using this as a hand treatment as I have some horrid dry patches on my hands from getting carried away with my guitar playing, so I use this in the same way I would a hand cream on the dry areas and it sorts the patches out pronto.
In conclusion, this is a no-fuss, deeply moisturising mask that I think would work for pretty much anyone who has skin in need of a bit of pampering. Ahava Hydration Cream Mask (S) retails for £24.50 and is available here.