Review: Boscia Charcoal Pore-Minimizing Hydrogel Mask

Sheet masks are all the rage.  Go into any beauty store and you'll be presented with a literal wall of them.  A sheet mask is essentially a piece of cotton shaped to the face, with eyes, nose, and mouth holes cut in, soaked in a beneficial cocktail of ingredients.  A long time Asian beauty staple these masks have made there way to the west.  

While I was at Sephora last week I picked up a few to try.  The first one I tried out was the boscia Charcoal Pore-Minimizing Hydrogel Mask.  This is a single use mask and retails for $8.  It's also a Sephora exclusive.  

Unlike a traditional sheet mask this is a hydrogel mask.  What does that mean?  Hydrogel is a thin, gelatinous material that traps moister even better then cotton.  The claims to this mask? "This hydrogel mask cleanses the skin—reducing the appearance of pores as it removes blackheads and whiteheads—giving the complexion a renewed look."  I don't really have any blackheads but I have been noticing some pores on my cheeks around my nose.  

You can't really see them in photo but you can tell there's a little texture there.  This is my face freshly washed with my Fresh Soy Face Cleanser. 

How this mask works is it comes in two chunks.  One that goes on the top half of your face and one for the bottom half.

You unfold the pieces, they are wrapped with a clear plastic on one side and a white backing on the other.  You remove the clear plastic and line the mask up on your face so the holes match up, push it down on the contours of your face, then remove the white backing.  

In theory this works.  Mine had slipped around in the package so it was kind of a tangled, wet, mess.  I got it straightened out and smoothed to my face.  To cover where my pores were visible I had to  position this closer to my eyes then I would have liked.  It definitely made them water.  This is very cool and very damp.  I wasn't sure this was going to stay on all 20 minutes without sliding off but it did.  This does dry a bit but certainly not dry dry.  After the 20 minutes are up you remove the mask and pat the left over product into your skin.  No rinsing.  

The product never really did absorb into my skin.  It dried but it left my skin feeling slightly tacky.  Like I had used a very thick cream.  I didn't finish up with my night time routine.  I just let it sit and went to bed.  The results? 

I can still see pores but they do seem to be minimized.  I also feel like there is less texture in that area. I could still feel the product on my face when I got up so I wasn't a fan of that.  This is my face, washed again with the Fresh cleanser and the facial products I use (Clinique Pep-Start Eye Cream, Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Vitamin C Anti-Aging Collagen Booster, and Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion).  

Would I repurchase?  It was fun but I'm  not sure I saw enough difference with one useage.  I do think this does what it claims to do.  My face was definitely clean and uncongested.  I just feel like for that purpose you could reach for the boscia Detoxifying Black Cleanser.  They do also have a sake brightening hydrogel mask that I'm interested in that may be a better fit for my skin needs.  

Have you hopped on the sheet mask train?  What's your favorite?  I  picked up a few more so let me know if you'd like to see more mask reviews.