I’ve been working pretty hard lately, what with preparing Open Stage and planning ahead for Tribal Fest and promoting Monday’s workshops with Jodi Waseca (hint hint) plus all kinds of behind the scenes stuff. However, since I’ve been so on top of actually getting things done, I had some spare time before Open Stage yesterday and I decided it was time to pamper myself with this Pearl Mask from Sephora. They have a whole line of these masks. Most of them are for specific skin concerns, but since I am usually pretty happy with my skin, I figured “Perfecting & Brightening” would be a good way to elevate my face to the next level — my original plan was to use it before my photo shoot with Kyle Cassidy, but then I didn’t have time to use it so I figured why not look extra special for Open Stage?

I noticed a bit of uncharacteristic red blotchiness on my face before applying the mask, but it might just because I had taken a hot shower. The directions called for a clean, dry face, so I waited a bit after my shower to make sure my face was completely dry, then unwrapped and applied the mask. Inside the cardboard circle it comes in a little half-moon shaped pouch that you tear open, then you unfold the mask and apply it, lining the approrpriate holes up with the appropriate orifices.

The mask is pretty generously sized, you can see there’s plenty of space leftover around the edges, so it would work well on someone with a larger head/face. My one complaint is that on me, the space between the nose and mouth is not right, so I ended up with the mask on my upper lip. This may be because of my particular mouth anatomy though, my upper lip is annoyingly upturned.

Applying it was easy, the fiber mask is thick enough that I didn’t feel like it was going to tear while I unfolded it, and by gently pressing it into place, I was able to secure it to my face so I could go play on FB while it did its thing. I left it on for the instructed 15 minutes. After removing the mask, you just rub in the extra product left behind and let it soak in, no need to rinse or wash your face. My face looked like this:

The red blotchiness was gone, although I don’t know if that was the mask or if it was just temporary post-shower redness that faded on its own. However, there is no denying that my skin has an extra glow to it! My cheekbones look like I applied a really nice highlighter to them and my face in general just looks healthier and well-moisturized. There was some initial stickiness after I rubbed the product in, but after it completely soaked in or dried, my skin felt really soft and smooth, too.

This effect lasted all day, and the glow actually shone through my makeup. I did purposefully use a light touch with the foundation to make sure I didn’t completely mask my skin, but I also didn’t apply any highlighter because my skin already looked so shimmery.

Now, a friend of mine who is into Korean cosmetics assures me that you can get much less expensive products that do the same thing. I haven’t tested them yet myself, but she suggested looking into the brands Étude House, Skin Food, Innisfree, Face Shop, Tony Moly, or the black pearl face masks from My Beauty Diary (a Taiwanese product). Apparently you can get a lot of them on Amazon and many are eligible for Prime shipping, so I’m definitely going to look into it because I really like how this mask felt and made me look, but $6 for a single mask is a bit extravagant.

And now for a shameless plug! Do you enjoy Beauty Blogging for Belly Dancers? Are you trying to come up with a cool weekly feature for your own blog? Or even wondering how to start blogging in the first place? You should sign up for my workshop at Waking Persephone! Registration for “How to Build an Engaging Blog Presence” is live now! On Monday I’ll share with you what other workshops I’m signed up for and why.