Unboxing March Beauteque Mask Maven Bag – Some Pleasant Surprises!

Unboxing March Beauteque Mask Maven Bag – Some Pleasant Surprises!

This is a late unboxing post for Beauteque’s Mask Maven bag but for reference sakes I will post it! This is the FIRST Mask Maven bag from Beauteque since they launched the new subscription in February 2015. I thought it was still important to include so that you can get some eye-candy while figuring out if this mask subscription will be right for you’re needs. Full reveal after the jump.

There isn’t a product info card but there’s an inspirational quote with general instructions on how to use a sheet mask and a wash-off pack. The quote is from Henry David Thoreau “Be yourself not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.”

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I got 11 masks in total – 1 was a free mask for subscribing to the 6-Month sub before March 20th.

#1. Missha Pure Source sheet mask in Honey. I was a BIG fan of Missha when I was 24-28 years old because they were one of the first Korean beauty brands to have a presence in the United States over 6 years ago before the kbeauty buzz. So after so many years of being a Missha fan girl, this will be my first Missha sheet mask I’m using. I still think they have to update the packaging design because I’ll admit it looks like a cheapie non-effective mask.

Well, thanks to CosDNA, you can search almost any product that users might have submitted and it runs an analysis of what each ingredient is, if it will trigger acne and if it’s a concern for irritation. The Missha list of ingredients looks no bueno. Denatured alcohol is 4th on the list and ranks a 5 as an irritant. 2 more ingredients may trigger acne. This may or may not be worth using for some people as it would harm more than heal. The star ingredient, honey, is listed as 5th, after denatured alcohol.

From the stock images below, it seems like the product differentiation is the size of the 100% cotton mask. It looks like they advertise a longer mask than industry standard, measuring 210 mm in length rather than 195 mm. I hope Missha turns its attention on re-formulating and re-designing their Pure Source sheet masks. They seem to have great Super Aqua, Near Skin, Time Revolution and Real Essentials masks which are pricier and therefore pumped with better ingredients. Their Pure Source masks can just get discontinued and people might not even notice.

Value: $1.99 on Beauteque

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Missha Honey

#2. Ecopure Essential Watermelon Juice!  I’ve never seen this type of mask before and I already love the packaging. It claims to have 2 mg of watermelon extracts/real pulp and 2 mg of sodium hyaluronate (the sodium salt of hyaluronic acid which helps your skin look more youthful and plump). Watermelon extract is good for soothing, hydration, cooling and refreshing effects. Click on image for more info on the full line.

Checking out the ingredients list, watermelon extract is FIRST ON THE LIST! That means out of all the ingredients in the essence, the majority is watermelon extract! I found the ingredients for a kiwi masks and it follows the basic structure as the watermelon one. I already like how transparent the company is with their star ingredients! These might be on the list to repurchase!

Value: $1.99 on Beauteque

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ecopure stock#3. MEDICOS-V G&S COSMETIC Collagen Intensive Nourishing Essential Mask. If you’re familiar with Leaders Insolution – Korea’s #1 bestselling mask brand- this MEDICOS-V company seems like it’s borrowing a lot of the Leaders’ packaging elements. Rounded corners, displaying a scientific look using a chemistry beaker and having shape cut-outs on top. There wasn’t a lot of info I can find on this company so I’ll try to review this particular mask separately.

Ingredients are written in Korean on the back but English translation is found on the company site. Reading the website, this mask is actually made out of “TENCEL” cellulose sheet material which means its thinner and will adhere to your skin better and prevents sliding off your face. They tout that they use naturally derived ingredients and that their essence is highly enriched.This one looks promising!

Value: $3.00 on Beauteque

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GandS masks collagen2

#4. A’PIEU Firming Neck Patch. A neck patch! I see so many young women who don’t pay attention to their neck and decolletage because there is a massive difference in wrinkling, sun spots and leathery, damaged skin on a women’s face vs her neck/decolletage. This is another reason why I don’t like V-neck shirts! Don’t forget to put toner, serum and emulsion on your neck as well as your face as part of your routine! Masks now have “point” pads or masks that will focus on a specific part of your body/face. This neck patch is part of a point series from A’PIEU which I’ve found for eyes, the “V-line” (your chin), your nose and point treatment for pimples. Ingredients look pretty good to me with lots of moisturizers listed but seems like there are possibilities of acne getting triggered but since this is for your neck, that’s less likely?

Value: $4.25 on Beauteque

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Apieu_Patch_Series Top#5. Baroness Pomegranate Mask Sheet. I’m not familiar with the Baroness brand at all so I had to do some research on this mask and I see that it was once available at Forever 21: “This has pomegranate extracts which refresh, heal, and firm the skin. It reduces skin discoloration and regenerates the cells for an allover clean complexion.” I noticed from other blog reviews overseas that they have updated packaging and this one is probably no longer being distributed anymore as its the older design. There must’ve been a massive discount to get these older ones unloaded from the distributor and makes me think this is a cheapie mask with minimal effects.

Looking closer at the ingredients, there are a lot more moisturizers higher on the ingredients list, an antioxidant listed, and the pomegranate extract listed closer to the middle of the list rather than on the tail-end of the list. This mask is a little better quality than the Humanpia Costech or the 3W Clinic masks (both below). However there are 2 trigger ingredients that may irritate your skin (in red on CosDNA).

Value: $1.80 on Beauteque

IMG_3490#6. 3W Clinic Fresh Snail Mask. I first noticed that Samsung’s logo is on the top left of the packet because they probably own 3W Clinic. This brand however, just like with the Baroness, doesn’t impress me at all. However, I’m a huge fan of the restorative powers of snail mucus so I’m glad I got this variety (not all Mask Maven bags have the exact “flavors”). The ingredients list disappoint me because  alcohol is listed as 4th on the ingredients list which is pretty high. If your skin reacts badly to alcohol, avoid this mask.  I have normal to dry skin so I think I can use this one. Snail Secretion Filtrate is listed third to LAST – sigh. That’s not a significant amount of snail mucus to make any difference I bet.

Value: $1.80 on Beauteque

IMG_3491#7 and #8. Humanpia Costech DayLight & Hue Aloe and Collagen Essence Masks. Also another brand I have not heard of. Also looks like something that would be found in a discount store bin. Forgive me, but the packaging is not memorable in my opinion. Of course I’ll test these out and see if there are good effects. From a google search, this is a Japanese brand and seeing other blog unboxings, the extra Humanpia mask is my monthly free mask from the incentive period.

Looking at the ingredients, polyglutamic acid is 4th on the list (a known moisturizer) and aloe extract is listed 2nd to LAST right before Fragrance. In case you didn’t know, ingredients are listed from first to last, in order of largest percentage to least. Since the “star” ingredient of aloe is listed 2nd to last, there’s not very much present in this mask. I can’t say the same for the Collagen mask since that mask is in all Japanese (but probably follows the same formulation).

Aloe: The aloe extract forms a protective layer on sensitive skin against environmental changes and helps keeps the skin healthy looking and elastic.

Collagen: Enriching moisturizing collagen ingredients replenishes directly your skin and it helps to increase elasticity and soften skin cells.

Value: $1.80 on Beauteque

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#9 and #10. My Beauty Diary (MBD) masks in Arbutin and Cooling. I posted these last since MBD masks are probably what every girl first started out using when experimenting with sheet masks. MBD was the first brand I started using and still use. They are widely available in the USA and sold all over Asia too. They have a strong brand presence and continue to evolve as the market changes (creating V-line masks, black masks, spot/point masks, etc). These are always a favorite and I’m glad to add these to my hoarding stash.

Ingredients for Arbutin and Cooling show that these MBD masks are slightly better than average. There are a lot of good moisterizers and fruit extracts listed as the 5th ingredient through the middle of the list. There are some acne triggers but if you’ve used these masks before with no problem, it might be very minor as those ingredients are rated at 1 or 2.

Value: $1.99 on Beauteque

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#11. Etude House “I Need You, Honey” Ginseng Wash-off Pack. Lastly, a wash-off pack was included instead of a sheet mask. I love variety. I actually already used this on my trip to Taiwan and it was so cool to use. Very sticky and moisturizing because of the honey. It was best to use a silicone spatula to spread on your face because it was so thick! It has these gentle exfoliating beads and lasts up to 3 uses for me. I just placed the foil cover back on the container and used it as soon as I could since it’s already exposed to air. It smelled very strongly of ginseng which was pleasant to me because I grew up drinking ginseng soup made by my mom. It may be too strong for someone else not familiar with it. Because it stays sticky and thick, you use the same spatula to scrap off as much excess as you can and then wash off. Honey was very hard to rinse off but I felt it plumped up my skin well.

Ingredients here, there are 5 potential triggers for acne. Honey and a lot of other moisturizers are higher on the list.

Value: $3.00 on Beauteque

Etude House ginseng wash off

Conclusion

Boy that was a LONG post. I originally didn’t talk about ingredients but the more I tired to determine if the masks were good quality, they more I HAD to get into it because not every mask is the same! Just because there’s pretty packaging or a familiar brand name doesn’t mean that a product is good quality. I was fairly disappointed that my favorite brand, Missha, have a poor line of Pure Source sheet masks. I would not purchase the Pure Source line but their other (more expensive masks) look stellar. MBD is always a solid choice; good value with pretty decent list of ingredients.

I’m excited to try the Ecopure Watermelon, G&S Cosmetic Collagen and the A’PIEU neck patch. Maybe the G&S brand would be a good alternative to Leaders since they are also using a similar “cellulose” material for their masks. Now that I have both, I can do a comparison. I would never have considered getting Ecopure or G&S so this subscription helped me discover these brands and its stellar ingredients.

Half of the masks would go into my 😀 pile and the other half I would use but not expect anything special. Given a choice if I had $17.95 to spend on sheet masks, I would not have gone for the Humanpia Costech, 3W Clinic or Baroness masks. I figure I would try Mask Maven for 6 months to see if I like the selections and so far I’m not too impressed as I do have 4-5 lower quality masks to get rid of use now. Considering how I can also buy most of these masks for about $1 each (even with free shipping) through ebay or an e-tailer that ships from Korea, I don’t really feel like this was amazing value or an amazing selection. There are still a couple more months to go so let’s see what else pops up!

Total Beauteque Value: $25.41

Total Actually Paid: $14 subscription + $3.95 shipping = $17.95

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