Face Mask Review or Battle of the Face Masks!

I've mentioned loving two face masks in the past and today I'm going to pit them against each other to let you know which one gets the victors spoils.

The two masks that will be going up against each other are:

The Murad Clarifying Mask:

I lazily cropped this out of another picture,
 instead of taking a new picture of the empty bottle.
 You're Welcome.

and the Caudalìe Purifying Mask:

reusing images like a pro!

 If I were better at photography and photo shop, I would have taken a image of the two of these together and drawn little boxing gloves on each of them. Sadly I'm not so if you could just imagine the awesomeness that would have been that image, I'd appreciate it. 


Lets just get right into it, shall we? They're both Clay Masks, but the Murad Mask has Sulfur in it to help dry up your acne. Which is great if you have severe acne or oily skin, but can be a little drying and harsh if you don't. It also smells kinda awful to me. I'm almost certain that it's the Sulfur that makes it stink. You put this mask on dry skin and leave for 15 minutes according to the package. I've left this on as long as 30 minutes and that was a terrible idea, my skin felt crazy dry and sore when I took it off, but I didn't notice any ill effects while I had it on, no burning or anything like that unless I had an open spot. 15 minutes really is the maximum amount of time this should be on your skin. However I have used it as a spot treatment and applied it to a particularly terrible spot and left it over night and it dried the spot right up. It also dried out the area around it, so if you plan on using it for something like that I really recommend Kate Somerville's EradiKate or Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion. I hated having to remove this mask, because even with water it took a bit of scrubbing to get it off, which would leave my skin feeling extra sensitive. I finally settled on soaking one of my Liz Earle Muslin Cloths in warm water, letting it sit on my face for a minute or so and then using the cloth to remove it. While it did make it easier to take off, there was still scrubbing required around my eyebrows and hairline.  It doesn't make large or deep spots completely disappear, but no mask or drying lotion is going to do that completely. No matter how you use it, as long as you're putting it on your spots it is going to reduce them quite a bit. I do not recommend this mask for dry skin though.

However, the Caudalìe Mask has Zinc and Sage which while I don't know what those do for your skin exactly, this mask definitely isn't drying, while it still does it's job. Another difference is that you put this mask on wet skin. It feels very soft and soothing going on, and even when it dries it never seems to harden. My skin feels moisturized and soft when I take this mask off. It smells amazing, very herbal and spa like, which I'm certain is the sage. It comes off easy with minimal to no scrubbing, it does seem to get stuck in the fine hairs around my hair line, and in my eyebrows if I'm not careful when I apply it. There's no burning or stinging even if a spot is open when I apply it. Once again the recommended time is 15 minutes, but I've gotten distracted watching television before and left it on for over an hour with no ill effects. It didn't burn or dry my skin, and it wasn't any harder to remove. I did notice that it seemed to kinda disappear into my skin, but it still came off easy and there were no clogged pores. It does shrink your spots and blemishes and it has a bonus that the Murad mask doesn't, which is that it also takes out the Redness in my skin and around my spots. I'm kinda completely in love with this mask. It feels very luxurious and it actually works. Dare I say it? I think it might be my Holy Grail Mask.

I haven't tried the Ren Glycol Lactic Mask that is taking the Beauty Blogger World by storm right now. The Origins Charcoal Mask and the Kate Somerville Clearing Mask are also on my to try list. Lemme know in the comments below if you've tried any of these masks.