Veracious Product Review: My Beauty Diary Broccoli Sheet Masks

Happy hump day, everyone! If you saw my last post, you'll know that my friends (and my wonderfully obliging boyfriend) dabbled in sheet masks last weekend to fun and hilarious results! If you've ever seen a beauty blogger donning a papery white mask that renders them quite creepy and mannequin-like, they're probably wearing a sheet mask. A staple in Asian skin care, sheet masks may look scary, but they're touted for their excellent ability to deliver ingredients to the skin and provide an ultimately pampering experience. Who wouldn't sacrifice a few minutes of looking like a ghost to earn some seriously glowing skin? :)

I'm no stranger to sheet masks, as I've tried options from Missha and Purederm in the past. But this was the first time I gave My Beauty Diary, a popular Taiwanese brand, a go. There were many sheet masks to choose from this line, but we eventually opted for the Broccoli Mask (approximately $14 per 10 masks). First off, who ever thought of putting broccoli in skin care? Had never seen it before! Second, how cute are the little cartoon broccoli on the packaging? And third, the ingredients looked pretty fab. More on that in a moment...

We picked up a 10-pack of masks, which came in this fairly large, rectangular green box:

The majority of text on the box is not in English, but luckily there was a sticker that featured the directions. As you can see, it instructs you to leave the mask on for 20-30 minutes and, after removing it, massage in the excess serum. It says that each mask contains 23mL of product, which is quite a lot!

The majority of text on the back of the package is in Mandarin, but luckily it features an English list of ingredients!

There are several impressive elements to this mask! To hydrate, it includes glycerin, aloe, sodium lactate, and hyaluronic acid. To brighten and exfoliate, it features pineapple, lime and apple fruit extracts, and to soothe, it offers cucumber. And of course, broccoli extract, which promises to rejuvenate the skin. It's also free of mineral oil, alcohol, parabens, and artificial colour. All very nice! 

When you pull the mask out of the package, it is quite dripping with serum. Also, unlike other sheet masks I've tried, it features a plastic backing that you have to peel apart from the mask itself. It also looks quite creepy on the counter!

Ok, here it is... Don't get scared now...

Me wearing the mask! As you can see, the fit of the mask isn't perfect. I fiddled with it tons, but nothing would make it fit quite right around my eyes and nose. It didn't help that I was cracking up every 30 seconds, but that's another story! The mask becomes translucent when applied tightly to the skin, rather than maintaining an opaque white look. It was more than large enough for my round face and had adjustable flaps around the chin and cheeks. 

Oh gosh, I am horrifying....

I kept the mask on for about 25 minutes, whilst snapping photos with my boyfriend, laughing at my friends, similarly clad in sheet masks, and sipping some beer. Fun fun!

Here's what my skin looked like post-mask. I found my complexion to look incredibly even-toned (this is even for me, I promise!) and glowy. There were no hints of redness or irritation. Although my skin felt quite hydrated, it was not left greasy or shiny. I was impressed!

Here's a full breakdown of my impressions of the My Beauty Diary Broccoli Mask:

Pros:

• Packed full of potent ingredients for hydration, brightening, and exfoliation
• Free of alcohol, parabens, mineral oil, and artificial colour
• Felt cooling and soothing on the skin
• Light, pleasant fruity-herbal scent
• Left my skin glowing and hydrated, without any greasiness
• Did not irritate my skin; in fact, it calmed down redness in my complexion!
• After a few uses, this hasn't broken me out
• At less than $1.50 per mask, this is a pretty good value!

Cons:

• The mask fit really awkwardly on my face. It took a lot of shifting, but still didn't fit well around my eyes and the bridge of my nose.
• The mask was almost too saturated with serum. It was very drippy upon removal from the package, which made for a messy application, and tons of serum was left on the mask after use. Felt like lots was going to waste! 
• Might not be quite hydrating enough for those with drier skin. A post-mask moisturizer will be needed!

So there you have it! I think it's fair to say that, despite the awkward fit, this is the most effective sheet mask I've ever used! It left my skin glowy and hydrated without irritation or greasiness. I've used it a few times now and the same lovely results were replicated. My friends have drier skin and found that they needed to apply a separate moisturizer afterwards to seal in the hydration from the mask. On my oily skin, massaging in the excess serum was all I needed!

I'm really excited to try out more sheet masks from My Beauty Diary! They make you look scary as hell, but leave your skin looking freakishly lovely :)

Have you tried My Beauty Diary? What are some of your favourite sheet masks?

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