If you follow me on either Instagram or Twitter, you might have seen me freak out when I discovered that my favorite Japanese Market, Uwajimaya, had a beauty section. Prior to that, I never seemed to make it past their hot deli, Beard Papa’s, or the candy aisle… Further freaking out happened when I discovered that they sold individual mask sheets. I would like to note that I demonstrated extreme restraint and self control, and managed to spend less than $30. I did however, buy multiples of the same mask. You know, for science. #GottaGetThatNPopulation
I’m pretty sure that I picked up every hydrating mask that they had available. There were so many brightening/whitening ones available though, I might have spent a while digging through all of them. I ended up with a nice mix of ones to try out, mostly from the brands My Scheming (I promise to engage in crafting some expert schemes while wearing the rest of these), and Tsaio.
After reading so much about snail creams/essences/serums/ampoules/etc. on r/asianbeauty, I was really excited to try out the My Scheming Snail Essence Hydrating Mask. Collectively/lovingly referred to as snail slime, supposedly being really wonderful for your skin. It’s supposed to speed healing, even out skin tone, alleviate redness, repair sun damage, hydrate your skin, stimulate the formation of collagen, among a bunch of other benefits.
I applied this after cleansing my face, and exfoliating with my Clarisonic, so that my skin would be able to absorb the ingredients in the mask better. My only complaint is that the eye cutouts were way too small. So I tore them a bit to make them bigger, and promptly sat down to catch up on some TV series. After taking off the mask, I definitely noticed that my skin was much more hydrated, way less red around my cheek/chin area, and was pretty dewy.
Depending on how dried out the mask got while I was wearing it, I’ll usually pop them in a little ziplock baggie so I can use what’s left as a serum for the next couple of days. Even after leaving this one on my face for an entire episode of Downton Abbey, I was able to get three nights of using what was left as a serum step.
Alex also ended up getting one of the snail masks, and promptly sent me a picture of her wearing it. Our text exchange went something a little like this:
Alex: This is the scariest I’ve ever looked and I’ve had a mullet
Me: Oh my god. I think I peed a little. If you get a chainsaw, I think you could be cast in the Oregon Chainsaw Massacre.
Alex: …maskacre |:
If there had been references to cocktails or the Blazers thrown in there, I’m pretty positive that it’d sum up our friendship perfectly. We both ended up really loving the masks, and once I’m done testing out the others I’ll probably go back and buy a box of the snail masks.
If you’re in the Pacific Northwest area, you can pop into a Uwajimaya and pick up the individual packets for about $1-2, or an entire box for about $15. Checking out your local Asian market will probably yield similar options too. If you aren’t opposed to ordering online, some vetted Asian Beauty online storefronts are MemeBox (kind of similar to Birchbox in that it has a box, as well as an online store for individual products). W2Beauty, SokoGlam, Jolse, YesStyle, and Sasa.
♡Em
