Hey guys,
So, as far as superhero names go, I feel I did quite okay with the multitasking masking millennial? We’ll see. But yes, back again with skincare sundays, and addressing a question that I asked a lot when I was first getting into the masking game (very late, compared to my peers): How do you find the damned time?!
The rise of platforms like Snapchat and Instagram Stories have led me to realise just how late i was, getting into masking. Flipping through my nightly updates from friends made me realise that my girlfriends were always lying around with sheet masks or cream masks in the evenings, while I still struggled to remember to drink eight glasses of water a day. I solved the water consumption bit by downloading an app on my phone that rewarded me emotionally everytime I drank a glass of water by making this animated plant grow up (it’s called Plant Nanny, this app), but there is no app to my knowledge that will tell me to mask regularly.
Somehow, I found it hard to dedicate twenty minutes of my day to masking, especially when I’m always on the go.. But I knew it was important, especially given my lifestyle habits of travelling, working late, etcetera, so after months of experimenting, here’s what I came up with:
Multitasking and Masking for the Modern Millenial
(As you can tell, I’m pretty pleased with all my alliteration going on..)
So firstly, I don’t know how you guys feel about sheet masks, but I’m pretty on the fence about them. I dont mind them that much, but I do mind how they restrict my movement, and how I basically have to lie there while it’s on my face or risk it falling off if I run around doing things. As you can tell, I’m not really the kind of person who can sit still, and I really feel a bit panicky if I’m not doing something I can objectively classify as productive. This is why the discovery of gel, cream, and other types of application based masks has definitively changed my life. It’s just so much more.. mobile.
Secondly, over the past year, I came up with some ways in which I can integrate masking into my weekly routine, so that I can have nice skin without disrupting my normal routines that much. Heh. Here we go:
1. Do a clarifying morning mask over the weekends when you’re getting ready for your day.
Realistically you cannot do this on a weekday because you will be rushing to work, ok? I used to work advertising in an office job, I remember how it goes. So do this on a weekend, when your mornings are significantly more elastic, time wise. You cannot do exfoliating /clarifying masks too often anyway, it will irritate your skin, so once or twice a week is good and I usually do it over the weekends anyway.
Using a mask that’s more on the clarifying/polishing/exfoliating side in the mornings is great because you accumulate a lot of dead skin on your face overnight. This is why they always say you should wash your face properly in the mornings (besides you know, needing the cold water splash to wake up). Here I’m using a chinese ginseng and rice clarifying polishing face mask from The Body Shop’s Expert Facial Mask range. All those words basically mean one thing: it’s an exfoliating mask. I do it while setting my hair (people with fine hair, do you feel me? Flat fringe woes are a real thing), brushing my teeth, etcetera. Then I wash it off and put on a day moisturiser, something light and hydration-focused, before sunscreen.
I find that this makes the skin tone less dull, instantly, and over prolonged use, contributes to that coveted skin glow that all those television people go on and on about. It’s also a really great way of making you feel like a winner early in the morning already, so no matter what happens during the day, you’re pretty much set! 😀
2. If you’re in the habit of following a TV series, schedule in a masking session the day each new weekly episode drops.
Unless you’re bingeing on netflix, in which case theres no weekly schedule.. but you can still mask anyway. The way I see it is, youre going to be sitting in one spot for half hour to full hour blocks anyway, watching your show. WHY NOT BE BEAUTIFUL AT THE SAME TIME? Hahahaha.
Because I love the chinese ginseng mask so much, I use that quite frequently when I’m watching shows. The texture of this particular mask means that it wont be likely to drip, unlike sheet masks which usually leak serum, and so it’s quite a convenient wash-off mask to use.
Please remember to follow up any exfoliating or clay mask with a hydrating moisturiser. Or if you’re binge watching something, follow up with a hydrating mask, because why not? The general consensus, really, is that you can do a hydrating mask every day if you’d like. But more intense or targeted masks, only once or twice a week, to reduce the risk of skin irritation.
3. Do a moisturising mask before bed – while you do your nightly reading.
As you might remember from a few posts back, I am a huge proponent of committing to a nightly no-electronics, hour long reading session before bed (Five ways to read more daily / jemmawei.com). Because nourishing the mind is important, okay?
But while you nourish the mind, might as well nourish your face at the same time. I like using a honey mask in the evenings, because you’re likely to do this after you shower, and I find that the damp skin + honey combo always makes the honey mask more effective. I’m using the honey mask from the same The Body Shop Expert Facial Mask range, it’s called the Ethopian Honey Deep Nourishing mask. It’s also the same one I mentioned in the previous Skincare Sundays blogpost, and I did promise to talk about it more, so here I am!
I find that honey based masks are particularly good if you’ve had a gruelling few days. I like using it after swimming or diving trips because honey is the stuff of the gods and actually reduces inflammation (in addition to fixing your sore throats, ulcers, so on and so forth..). And plus, it’s mega hydrating and naturally anti bacterial, so you can still use it even if you’ve had a breakout. It is mega, mega decadent.
Protip: in addition to using it on damp skin, also warm it up in your palms first before applying it to your face. That way, the honey melts a bit and the mask is more effective. This is true of all honey masks, not just the one from The Body Shop, so please take note!
4. Do a mask while doing desk-bound work at home.
This picture is from submissions period last semester, when I was teaching a couple of classes at NTU. Marking season is intense, any tutor will tell you that, and since I was gonna be stuck in one spot all weekend (MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND BY THE WAY) marking and marking and marking, I figured I better get something out of it. I tell you, doing a mask while working is so gratifying, because you really feel like youre being doubly productive. When I posted this photo to Facebook, it was like an epiphany for a lot of people. I got so many messages from friends saying that they are SO going to do this now whenever they do work late at night or at home. This is half sad because it just shows how we all really live in a society where we cannot stop working, but it is also half optimistic, cos now they all will have good skin.
Anyway! I usually work out of my office at The Hive, where masking is impossible unless i want a reputation as a madwoman, but I still do work at home on occasion. Of late, I’ll do work at home while accompanying my sister who’s staying up late studying for her A levels, and we will both do masks together. Very satisfying!
This Himalayan Charcoal Purifying Glow mask is hands down my favourite mask from The Body Shop Expert Facial Mask range. My baby sister summed it up best: we did the mask together for the first time last year, and when she washed it off, she gasped and said: oh my gosh, I’m beautiful!
Gotta give it to that girl, she’s all about the self confidence. Love it. But yes, my sisters and I do this mask together often, it’s our favourite because of how visibly and tangibly smooth your skin is after. With that said..
5. Do a mask together with your friends/family
Masking is just so much more fun when you do it with other people. Maybe it’s because I grew up with two sisters, but we love doing girly stuff together like painting our nails, doing face masks, and talking about how dumb boys are. The motivation to get off your ass and do a mask is just so much more compelling when you have someone to do it with!
Don’t know if you guys remember, but I used to snapchat my masking routines with my sisters every freaking sunday. This was all using the different masks from The Body Shop Expert Facial Mask range, which, full disclosure, I got as a media gift. But I love it so much, and I checked the prices online and they seem really reasonable for such great masks! This charcoal one, for example, is $32.90, and my sisters and I have been using it on and off for like, six months. Because it’s an applicator mask, you can decide how much you wanna use on your face (and even if you just wanna use it on a particular problem area and not your whole face!) and so it’s easy to ration out the mask, as opposed to if you use a sheet mask cos once you use it it’s basically done.
6. Do a mask while you do your chores.
Same concept as number 4. masking while working. But while you iron your laundry or fold your clothes, why not do a mask? I did a #jemmainajiffy video on this while back, and I just realised that the masks used in that video were also masks from this range (which I guess goes to show how much I like them), so I’m going to just include that here.
7. Lastly, do a multi-mask when you wanna treat yoself
Some days you just wanna have a bit of self-pampering, okay? Another advantage of applicator style masks is that you can put more than one mask on your face, depending on what you need. This is great for people with combi skin, because sometimes the different parts of your face just need different kinds of targeted treatments. Here I’m doing something recommended by The Body Shop team, called the replenish and recharge facial for sleepy and stressed skin, which sounds exactly like my entire existence.
Basically, it’s the:
– Amazonian Acai Energising Radiance Mask on my forehead and nose
– Ethiopian Honey Mask on my cheeks
– British Rose Plumping mask on my chin and neck
And I while I wait the fifteen to twenty minutes for my skin to soak that all in, I listen to music and/or take a power nap on my couch. Protip: keep your hair out of your face while doing this with a cute headband, because #photoOp. It really is the most luxurious thing, taking a nap. Such a rarity as adulthood sets in.
And tada! That’s it. Not bad right? Because of all these multi-tasking habits I’ve accumulated, I find that I’ve really started masking significantly more over the past year. And a lot of this is because of the mask set from The Body Shop lah, honestly, before I discovered it I was soooo lazy to mask! But I guess there’s just a lot of fun involved in picking a mask and doing it with my sisters over the weekends or in the evenings, and I really do like the masks, the Charcoal and Ginseng ones in particular.
I think getting into the habit of masking also falls in line with the larger theme of learning to take care of yourself as you get older. Mentally, it makes me feel more.. adult, if that makes sense. I feel more responsible for my own skin and therefore life, and I feel as though I’ve really taken ownership over my complexion. Does it work? You tell me. Here is a photo of me post-masking, with completely no make up and unedited except for color hor.
I mean, I feel pretty happy with where my skin is at right now. I should probably clarify also that I dont really go for facials, I think I go like max once a year and sometimes not even then. Mostly when I go not cos I really wanna do something to my skin, but cos I’m stressed and feel like I just need to be TREATED RIGHT. Haha. I feel like if you have a good and regular home skincare routine, you don’t need to go for a facial unless you want something a little more intensive done, like a laser facial to get rid of pigmentation or the kind of facial to target acne scars. But for normal cleansing and moisturising, I feel like it’s more economical to make it a habit to just upkeep your skin regularly, and it’s worked for me so far.
As mentioned earlier, all the masks I highlighted in this post are from The Body Shop, this is their Expert Facial Mask Range that you can purchase individually instores or online. Having used it for a pretty long time now, like almost a year, I think I’m being pretty objective when I say that it’s really worth the money and is a fantastic product! It’s also super affordable compared to other products in this genre, and I’m personally a fan 🙂
Alright, what a long post! Ciao, then, till next time. Happy masking!
x
Jem