little white truths

As you may know, I'm currently panning this product and I'm looking forward to finishing it because it doesn't work for me and I'm keen to get started on other face masks.

While many people have raved about this L'Oreal range of masks (and this black one in particular), I personally have found that none of them has worked for me - and the least-bad one was in fact the red one (reviewed here), which people don't talk about as much. More on that below.

L'Oreal claims/product details:

• A super-charged, pure clay face mask with the power and benefits of charcoal to detoxify and illuminate your skin in just 10 minutes
• Our indulgent formula provides a luxurious experience while potent pure clays and charcoal act like a magnet to clean out pores and draw-out deep impurities (dirt, oil and pollution)
• This creamy, non-drying charcoal mask leaves skin feeling clean, velvety and rebalanced, addressing your dull, tired skin to reveal a purified, even and radiant complexion
• Immediately, skin looks brighter with a healthy glow
• Complexion looks fresher and more even
• Skin is clean as if detoxified, and feels as though it can breathe better
• RRP $19.95 AUD for 50ml, but do shop around

Verdict

This product doesn't work for me, although note that a lot of people rave about it (see eg beautyheaven's website) so it does work for some - it's just not great for my dry skin.

It's a dark grey mask that smells of clay and perfume, and it does contain artificial fragrance so keep that in mind. It's beautifully creamy and smooth in texture, and I like the feel of applying it to my skin.

On me, this mask is rather uncomfortable as it dries down - and my face starts to feel pretty tight after five minutes. I make sure not to leave it on any longer than ten minutes; reason being, I left it on for almost twenty minutes when I first used it, and by the time it came to washing it off, my skin was super dry.

Despite now leaving it on for no more than ten minutes, my face still feels dry and tight after use. While it's nowhere near as bad as the green version (reviewed here), I don't like how my face feels afterwards so I'm not going to use it anymore, now that I've given it a good test run. Life's too short. I'll finish it by using it on the body.

After use I always need to apply my face oil - and lots of it - to help keep my skin feeling comfortable and nourished. While perhaps we can say that this mask has a brightening and resurfacing effect, I don't like how it achieves that effect; ie, by stripping my face of its natural oils and removing the top layer of skin too aggressively.

Overall I don't like this product and I don't recommend it. Yes it's not designed for my dry skin, but given how bad my face feels after using it, I would tread carefully with this one. My skin just doesn't like it.

Not for me.