I remember being quite excited when prototypes of face mask makers were shown at various trade shows a couple of years ago. If you’re a regular masker, it does make perfect sense to be able to whip something up at home although if beauty pages are to be believed you can just smoosh an avocado and smear that all over instead.
The machine itself is quite tidy in terms of size and comes with 24 collagen pills, a measuring cup and the sheet mask mold. It’s really simple to use (and importantly, to clean afterwards) – you just pour in water (distilled, apparently, but who has that to hand?), wait for the beep and then add in your chosen ingredients.
There are suggestions in the pamphlet, but we chose milk which is naturally enzymatic and was also easy to hand from the fridge. Really though, you probably want to be a bit more adventurous – the makers suggest wine, fruit juice or olive oil as good ingredients.
Position the tray and wait for the liquid collagen, water, milk or whatever you’ve chosen to pour out. Then you have a five minute wait til it sets. If you look at the tray, and imagine that the collagen liquid floods round it, all the space you get for the mouth is that bar – so it’s more of a breathing hole than anything! It’s not quite spacious enough so you do end up with mask on your lips.
When time is up, it comes out of the tray very easily. Texture wise, you might have a problem with this – it’s like having a flat creme caramel lying across your face (not that I ever have… ) – it’s gelatinous, clammy and precariously slippery.
I had Max’s friend Reuben testing this out for me and it was a heck of a job, unless lying flat, to keep it on his face. There’s a tiny bit of residue left once the mask time (10 minutes or so) is done and you can see that it tore in places. I think if you really refine your ingredients for maximum efficiency, you’ll get a really decent result and I can see this being all the fun on girl’s nights or pre-going out when you’re all getting ready together. I also think it’s a hen weekend dream and I like the idea that while your coffee is percolating and your toast is toasting you could also be brewing up a morning mask.
At £34.99 it’s not an impulse buy but I like it so much more than I thought I would! I had a quick image of my niece who I think would adore this and I can picture her with her friends having a lot of fun with it.
Pictures: Reuben Chapman
Leave a Reply