You know that feeling when you look around in a store and you say to yourself: “No I’m not going to buy anything, I’m just checking to see what they have”. And half an hour later you step out of the store holding a bag full of things that you didn’t know that you needed!
Case in point, the Masks that I am going to review here. They are from a brand I haven’t seen before, in stores or on the blogging/YouTube world. I really wanted to try something new so here we are…
IDC Institute is the Skin care range of Aquarius Cosmetics, a brand based in Spain that has expanded their reach internationally. I recently discovered their products on BeautyBar, a cosmetics store in my local mall.
One of IDC Institute’s latest launches is the One Week Treatment Facial Masks, a set of 6 different Sheet Masks for each day of the week. In Cyprus, each mask is priced at 2 euros, which is more that I would like, however I know that cosmetics in Cyprus are priced ridiculously higher compared to the rest of the world. I managed to find them from spanish online sellers from as low as 0.79 euros per mask which, in my opinion, is a pretty decent price for what you get.
I love the concept of having a set of masks treating different skin concerns for each day of the week. I really enjoy masks, I try to use one almost every day, so this set would have been perfect for me. Unfortunately I didn’t realise at the time that they were meant to be a set, so I only bought 3 of them.
Tuesday: Seaweed + Hyaluronic Acid Facial Mask
Tuesday’s mask focuses on ingredients that boost the hydration of the skin. Hyalluronic acid also helps in reducing the look of expression lines improving firmness.
Wednesday: Witch Hazel + Lavender Facial Mask
This was the mask that caught my eye in the store and drew me to the display. It claims to “clean the pores and remove fatigue from your face” which are both the things that I look for the most in my skin care.
Friday: Pomegranate + Shea Butter Facial Mask
This mask acts as an antioxidant and nutrient supplement. It aims to regenerate and nourish your skin.
I must say, in general, I prefer the traditional paste-type masks rather than sheet masks. The main reason being, sheet masks rarely fit my face properly, so I am forced to lay down for 20 minutes to avoid having them slip off my face or drip down all over the floor. I find this frustrating, and quite frankly a waste of time, not at all the relaxing experience I am looking for when I am doing a mask.
The first thing I noticed when first opening the IDC Institute’s sheet masks is that they are very round and smaller in size compared to others that I used in the past. For the shape of my face this is perfect as they fit very well on me. They are not overly saturated, which is great in terms of comfort since they don’t drip all over the place, but you can feel them getting drier towards the end of the 15 minutes.
The one thing that annoyed me with these masks is that the formula of the serum included left my skin feeling very sticky. As per the directions, after removing the sheet mask, you are supposed to massage the excess into your skin and then leave it overnight. I tried this, expecting for the serum to sink into my skin eventually and the sticky feeling to subside with time. That didn’t happen. I could feel my face sticking to my pillow all night which was very uncomfortable. The stickiness was common for all 3 masks that I tried, although the Pomegranate + Shea Butter one was slightly better.
The morning after using any one of these masks, my face definitely felt more hydrated, smooth and plump. However, I didn’t notice any difference between the masks in terms of the effect they had on my skin. For example, I didn’t see any visible difference in my pores when using the Hazel + Lavender mask, or an extra level of hydration when I used the Seaweed + Hyalluronic one. My skin looked better for sure, but nothing that surprised me.
Overall:
I like the concept of having a set of a week’s worth of sheet masks, each one targeting a different skin concern. I believe if I used the full set for a week, I would have seen a difference in my skin by the end of the week.
On the other hand, the feeling of stickiness was a big turn-off for me. It’s the reason I don’t believe they are not worth the 2 euros/mask price point.
Have you ever tried anything else from this brand?
