Would you spend £230 on a face mask for your bottom?
ShEET masks — those serum- soaked slips of papery fabric — have revolutionised the beauty industry.
Originally a Korean facial skincare staple, they have become universally popular because they’re easy to use, great for travelling and less hassle than tubes of gunk.
But why stop at your face? You can now buy firming, hydrating, and skin-brightening sheet masks for every part of your body, but with the more luxurious masks costing upwards of £200, are they worth your money? We put the best to the test . . .
NECK/DECOLLETAGE Skin Laundry Rejuvenating Neck & Chest Mask, £14, libertylondon.com
IT’s Nice to see a product directly aimed at treating the neck and chest, which often gets left out of a skincare regime and rarely gets as much attention as the face.
This sachet contains a slippery package of fabric sheet mask. Unfolded, there’s a rectangular piece at the top to wrap around the front of my neck, with a curved bib shape below this. The bib isn’t very big — it doesn’t cover my decolletage, just the bit that would be revealed by a shirt with the top two buttons open. There are two ‘wings’ of fabric which I can’t see the purpose of, so I smoothe them along my collar bones.
The serum is full of skin conditioning ingredients and niacinamide, which is great for brightening tired-looking skin. After 15 minutes of sitting upright with this on, I peel it off and massage in the extra serum. The treated parts feel a little sticky, but they’re definitely hydrated and look smoother as a result. This would be a nice treat before going out for an evening. 4/5
ARMS AND LEGS Palmer’s Coconut Oil Firming Body Sheet Mask, £6, boots.com
A Firming body sheet mask? It takes me a while to get my head around this. I’m imagining a giant onesie made of serum-sogged tissue, but these masks — there are two in the pack — are rectangles of a size to cover, say, a bingo wing or a slab of upper thigh. (I couldn’t decide which part of my thighs I should lavish them on — I’d need several packs to get the whole way round.)
They’re meant to stimulate microcirculation thanks to guarana extract, which works in the same way as caffeine, and smoothe the skin with coconut oil.
Even though I love Palmer’s as a brand, and even though I’m told 96 per cent of women who tried these found their skin was firmer and more toned afterwards, I can’t believe they are doing much good and I can’t see any difference after using them. 1/5
HANDS Nails Inc Shine Bright Moisturising & Anti-Ageing Glove Masks, £8, nailsinc.com
Glove masks to brighten and hydrate the hands sound a lovely idea, particularly as they are from nails Inc, a brand that knows its onions when it comes to hand care.
ripping open the sachet, I find a pair of pink gloves made from crackly plastic with a thin sheet-mask lining, already awash with a watery serum inside and out.
You know the feeling of pulling on a pair of rubber gloves that are wet on the inside? It’s that sensation.
But all I have to do is keep them on for 15 minutes. The serum contains collagen, retinol and vitamins including B3, B5, C & E to smoothe and brighten my skin. After 15 minutes my hands look hydrated, but what a faff! I’d prefer to stick with a decent hand cream. 2/5
MOUTH Starskin Dreamkiss Plumping & Hyrdrating Bio-Cellulose Lip Mask, £8.50 for two, feelunique.com
ThIs mask is made from biocellulose, a fibre 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, which makes for a fabric mask that clings to every contour.
The promise is hydration and plumping, thanks to the sea fern the product contains and, more pertinently, the hyaluronic acid on the ingredients list. It feels cool and comfortable as I drape it over my clean, dry lips and hangs on firmly as I sit at my desk.
fifteen minutes later, when I peel it off, it has become almost plasticky and my lips feel much improved, smoother and well hydrated, but I can’t see any difference in the mirror. I seal the hydration in with lip balm as I fear it won’t last if I don’t. 3/5
FEET Seoulista Beauty Rosy Toes Instant Pedicure, £7.99, lookfantastic.com
This foot mask comes in the form of a pair of sheet-mask-and-serum-lined plastic bootees designed to hydrate dry, cracked skin. I put off trying them, hating the idea of having my feet tied up in a bunch of gunge, but when I eventually slide my feet into the bootees they are soft and comfortable and there is a dollop of serum containing hydrating aloe vera, softening beeswax and Bulgarian rose oil tucked away at the toe end.
I squish this round my toes, fasten the adhesive strip that holds the bootees in place around my ankle, and find that they aren’t slippery and I can pad about the house just fine.
half an hour later, my feet emerge looking significantly better. All the thicker drier patches of skin around my heels and toenails and under the ball of my foot are properly softened, and of course they look much smoother, too.
The beeswax seems to render this more than just a temporary fix as the effects last for a couple of days. next time, I’d wear these overnight for even more softening and smoothing. 4/5
CHEST AND DERRIERE Nannette de Gaspe Art of Infusologie Masque Coffret, £230, selfridges.com
A Mask for £ 230? You, too, may think that’s an outrageous price, even if this treatment does offer ‘plumping and lifting techstile’.
no, I’ve no idea what that is either, but it promises to give me smooth, hydrated, rejuvenated skin. opening the sachets inside the beautiful coffret that contains the masks, I find packets of ‘infusers’; pieces of dry, sticky-backed fabric imprinted with dried versions of skincare ingredients. lots of shea butter, nut and fruit oils and glycerine.
one type is shaped like a curl of orange peel to stick inside my bra and wear for an hour each morning, changing the infuser patch every two days. I burst out laughing when I see the ‘tush’ patches that I am to stick into my knickers. They’re gently curved, but the size of a very small banana. Where on the acreage of my bottom should I choose to apply them?
In theory, this is a clever kit, as body heat will encourage the ingredients to sink into the skin from the patches.
But how can those tiny patches improve my skin and achieve more ‘lift’ than my exercise regime of squats, lunges, cycling, basketball and dog walking? And how can those swirls of mask possibly achieve any uplift on my 55-yearold breasts?
After a few days of wear, there is absolutely no difference that I, or my husband, who I call in for a second opinion (‘You’ve always had lovely skin, darling,’ he says diplomatically), can discern between the treated skin and the untreated skin. Perhaps these should be called The Emperor’s new masks. 0/5