The Body Shop, Clarifying Polishing & Purifying Glow Mask

Hii beauty’s!

A while ago I attended The Body Shop event where they introduced me to these products: The Body Shop Chinese Ginseng & Rice Clarifying Polishing Mask and the Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask. They offered a whole range of new facial mask alongside their new Christmas collection, so it was really hard to make a decision which one I wanted to try out. First of all, thank you House of Rebels for receiving these products! I loved the event and the amazing introduction to their new line. But the decision was easy: I love facial masks so I had to try at least one. Luckily they were so kind to send me two masks (I can’t be grateful enough) ! Well, let’s get started with these facial masks!

The Body Shop

“Our story started in Brighton, England in 1976. There our founder Dame Anita Roddick began mixing her own products and infusing them with a new idea: that business could be a force for good. Following her vision, for 40 years we’ve been rule breaking, never faking and change making. We now have over 3,000 stores in 66 countries and employ over 22,000 people who help us bring our unique blend of ethical beauty with a sense of humour and serious purpose to the world.

Never afraid to stand out from the crowd and stand up for what’s right, we search the world for the finest ethically-sourced ingredients to create a range of naturally-inspired beauty products.

Today our dedication to business as a force for good is stronger than ever. As part of our Enrich Not Exploit™ Commitment, we’ve made it our mission to enrich our products, our people and our planet. That means working fairly with our farmers and suppliers and helping communities thrive through our Community Trade programme, being 100% vegetarian and always and forever being firmly against animal testing.”

Together we can do it, it’s in our hands.

Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask

Refine and revive your skin with our Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow Mask. Inspired by Ayurvedic traditions, this 100% vegan tingling clay mask is infused with bamboo charcoal, green tea leaves and organic tea tree oil. And it’s been formulated without parabens, paraffin, silicone or mineral oil. This invigorating charcoal face mask draws out impurities and refines the appearance of pores for healthy-looking skin with a glow that shows. Complete your facial at home expert by applying this purifying blend with our Facial Mask Brush.

The Himalayan Charcoal mask was definitely my number 1 on the wish list after I visited The Body Shop event! I already own the Supermud Glamglow mask which also contains charcoal and I love this mask BUT it is on the pricy side. So we have to see if we can call this the dupe of the Glamglow Supermud (this one costs you €50,- for only 30ml!). Beside that I have a weakness for  every skincare product that says “purifying” or “glow”.

The first time I used the Himalayan Charcoal mask I was immediately surprised by the amount of charcoal this masks contains, which is a good thing. Compared to the Supermud from Glagmlow you have to be a lucky person to have 4 flakes on your face. The moment you open the jar, a fresh fragrance escapes which can be described as minty smell (I think it is the tea tree oil). This can be a little bit intruding to people who have a sensitive nose, but this is great as a morning mask to get awake.

When I applied the mask for the first time you will experience a tingling (sometimes burning depending on your skintype)  sensation on your skin.  I was a bit afraid because sometimes my skin can react really bad on facial masks, but I had to try it out first. This feeling will disappear after the mask is completely dry, which can take around 3/4 minutes. For applying face masks I like to use a flat foundation brush, it is just way more hygiene and easy to apply the mask evenly on your skin.

After 20 minutes I remove the mask with luke warm water. Pay attention to the charcoal pieces because they can be really difficult to remove, they will stick on your skin! I could immediately see that my skin looked more even and less red. I always struggle with redness in the morning, so I will definitely use this more often when I wake up! My face has such a beautiful glow and it feels super soft and matte! Sometimes my skin can get a bit dry after I used a facial mask, but these symptoms are not visible after I used the Charcoal mask. In the morning I always have a shiny forehead, but with this mask my face looks matte almost the whole day (with or without makeup! of cours it is temporary, especially with my super oily skin).

left: Chinese Ginseng & Rice – right: Himalayan Charocoal

Because I received two masks, one brightening and the other purifying, I will do a multi facial mask! I apply the charcoal on the T-zone (forehead, nose and chin) and the Ginseng & Rice on my cheeks (I will talk about that one later in this review).

Chinese Ginseng & Rice Clarifying Polishing Mask

Give your skin a new lease of life with our Chinese Ginseng and Rice Clarifying Polishing Mask. Inspired by Chinese traditions, we have blended ginseng extract, rice extract and sesame seed oil into our 100% vegetarian creamy exfoliating mask, that has been formulated without parabens, paraffin, silicone or mineral oil. Use two to three times a week to reveal brighter-looking, even and supple feeling skin.

So I was really hesitating if I should pick the Chinese Ginseng & Rice or the Amazonian Acai, the last one is a big favorite among beauty people. The reason why I choose for the Chinese Ginseng & Rice because it has a brightening effect on your skin. Rice is the famous ingredient for lightening your skintone, a lot of whitening products in Asia contains rice. Also, it makes your skin super soft (I worked in several sushi restaurants, my hands would feel heavenly after I washed 5 kilo’s of rice!!!). The Amazonian Acai is an energizing mask, but I already own a mask with energizing/radiance effect (my lovely Kiehl’s Turmeric & Cranberry Seed mask).

The Ginseng & Rice mask has a typical Asian fragrance: fresh with a touch of oriental. The ginseng is clearly overwhelming this jar but in a subtile way. The texture of this mask reminds me of rice porridge (congee), it makes me hungry while I write this (I miss my mommys congee … )!

This mask feels so much different from the Himalayan Charcoal, its has a creamy texture and you really have to scoop the product out of the jar while the Charcoal is thick and a brush is really needed with this one to apply it. The creamy Ginseng & Rice mask is easy to apply on your face. Because it has a brightening effect I like to apply this on my cheeks and sometimes forehead. It doesn’t irritate the skin at all which surprised me. It calms the skin and it gives you a cooling effect.

While removing the mask together with the Charcoal (multi masking for the winning!) the Ginseng & Rice starts to foam a little bit. Great way to remove the excess from your face. In circular motions I remove the mask with the results that my cheeks look even without any red spot or dullness, they feel super soft and they have this glow from within!

Overall I’m obsessed with both masks! I made the right decision to take these two beauty’s because they are the perfect combi for my super oily skin that can look red and dull sometimes. The Himalayan Charcoal makes my skin feel matte again and it give my skin a beautiful glow. The Chinese Ginseng & Rice makes my skin clear up, redness dissapears and it looks less dull. Both masks makes my skin feel super soft and the results after one use are tremendous!

After using the Himalayan Charcoal several times, I can definitely say that this will be a great dupe for the oh so famous Supermud by Glamglow. It gives your skin an instant glow, your skin feels super soft and it looks more even. The same results as the Supermud, the only big difference between these masks are the price! For The Body Shop Himalayan Charcoal you pay only €20,- while the Glamglow Supermud will cost you €49,95.

I can recommend everyone the Himalayan Charcoal mask who has an oily skin or impurities. This is something I will repurchase when I finish it. Maybe I will stop repurchasing the Supermud from Glamglow, even tho it is one of my favorite clay masks but it is oh so expensive! The Body Shop is a great alternative and the price is so much better compared to the Glamglow. The Chinese Ginseng & Rice would be perfect for beauty’s with sensitive skin and which are afraid of getting an irritated skin after using a facial mask. This one is so soft and creamy for your skin, I can promise you that this experience will be great!

 You can get your own Himalayan Charcoal and Chinese Ginseng & Rice mask at your nearby The Body Shop store or online for €20,- (For my UK followers £15,- and US $28,-)

Which one would you prefer?

Thanks a lot for reading x

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