The Body Shop are one of my favourite skincare brands on the current market. Their huge variety of beautifully scented skincare products ranging from indulgent body butters, to pigmented makeup means that you can buy your entire skincare routine all in one place! Also, The Body Shop is vegan AND a cruelty free brand and isn’t afraid to voice their opinion about wanting to stop all animal testing within the beauty industry. But if there is one thing I love more than The Body Shop’s strong, established brand and their never-ending lines of amazing products, it’s when you can get these products for free! Let me tell you, The Body Shop adore giving their lovely customers as many freebies as possible, with no catch!
Recently The Body Shop were giving away free samples of 3 of their face masks, to promote their latest addition to their face mask family – the ‘Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask’ – with no need to purchase any products in order to be eligible for the promotion! All you had to do was walk into one of their participating stores, show them your email and then they handed you a compact little box filled with the 3 face mask samples – easy peesy!
So I have combination-to-oily skin, as well as wearing makeup most days of the week, so my skin is consistently breaking out, as well as having an oily T-Zone and annoying blackheads and pores. I’ve already tailored a decent morning and evening skincare routine, but two to three times a week, I like to apply a face mask to give my skin more of an intense treatment and keep those oils at bay. So I couldn’t wait to tear open these samples and give them a try!
I tried these face masks over the course of the weekend, I’d had a busy week at work as well as not having a make-up free day this week, so my skin was extra oily and breakouts were appearing along my forehead and chin. Basically, my skin was screaming for me to put these facemasks on my skin.
Just remember that different face masks will benefit different skin types the best, so it’s best to understand your skin type first to find the face mask that will benefit you the best.
Mask 1: Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask (4/5)
This face mask is the newest addition to their face mask family, infused with matcha tea
You can purchase this face mask for £16 – for a 75ml pot – from www.thebodyshop.com
from Kakegwa, Japan, dandelion extract and also vera, it claims to ‘deeply purify, gently exfoliate and liberates your skin from the weekly build-up of city pollutants and everyday impurities.’ This mask has a gritty texture, similar to a facial scrub, meaning that as you’re washing the mask off, you can exfoliate your skin as an extra mini treatment! As I left the mask on my face, I found that the ingredients started to absorb into my skin and was also quite tingly, which I liked because it showed that the mask was doing something to my skin and wasn’t sitting on my face and looking pretty. I also liked that the mask doesn’t dry completely and tighten the skin, like a pure clay mask, which I found more relaxing and luxurious, due to its unusual formula.
However, the only issue I have with this mask was its strong scent, it was an earthy smell (probably from the matcha tea infusion) however it was a smell that didn’t appeal to me. I couldn’t wait to get the mask off and be rid of the scent!
Once I took the mask off, I saw instant results! I had reduced pores, my acne had calmed down a load and my skin, overall, felt very cleansed and relaxed. Overall, I enjoyed this face mask and I would purchase this mask in a full-sized tub (once I get past the smell of it).
Mask 2: British Rose Fresh Plumping Mask (3/5)
This mask was a stark contrast to the other masks and was my least favourite mask out
You can purchase this face mask for £16 – for a 75ml pot – from ww.thebodyshop.com
of the sample pack. ‘Infused with real rose petals’ and ‘inspired by European bathing rituals’ this mask wasn’t gritty like the ‘Japanese Matcha Tea’ mask, instead it was very smooth and lightweight and lay like a thin film over my face. I enjoyed the refreshing scent and feel of the mask on my skin, it definitely gave it a nice boost of moisture and cleanliness, however, it did very little for the rest of my skin. Once I rinsed the face mask off, there was no instant results like I found with the previous face mask, my skin didn’t feel plumped, nor did it manage to control the oiliness around my T-Zone area, or decrease the appearance of my pores.
Even though this was a very light and refreshing mask that left my skin moisturised and refreshed, it didn’t produce the results I was expecting. However, it’s important to not that this mask isn’t designed to clean and control the oils on your skin, so this mask will probably suit dryer skin, rather than combination-to-oily skin. Although the scent of this mask was by far my favourite!
Mask 3: Himilayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask (5/5)
This was by far my favourite mask out of the sample pack, in fact, I love it so much, I
You can purchase this face mask for £16 – for a 75ml pot – from www.thebodyshop.com
went out and bought an entire tub of the stuff! ‘Inspired by Ayurvedic traditions’ this clay mask is ‘infused with bamboo charcoal, green tea leaves and organic tea tree oil’ meaning your skin receives a deep cleanse, with a variety of organic cocktail of luxurious ingredients. This mask had a similar, gritty texture to the ‘Japanese Matcha Tea’ mask, however this mask dried down like a true clay mask, without tightening the skin too much, so I could live with it for 10 minutes.
Also, like the ‘Japanese Matcha Tea’ mask, whilst I was washing off the face mask, the gritty formula allowed for me to exfoliate my skin, which was a luxurious bonus and left a lovely glow! This mask produced the most effective and instant results: reduced pores, less oiliness (especially around my T-Zone) and extremely soft skin. Overall my skin was left feeling extremely cleansed and nourished and I was happy to find at least one mask that suited my skin type very well.
Overall, I enjoyed all three of these face masks from the free sample pack from The Body Shop and I would highly recommend them for you to try. However, my little trial shows that different face masks are going to benefit your skin more than others. It all depends on your skin type and once you have nailed down your skin type, you will be able to find products that will give you the best results, even if it does take a little trail and error along the way.
You can browse all 6 face masks at www.thebodyshop.com
Louiseeanna 