After looking for a really good facial mask, I decided to take the advice of many reviewers on Epinions and check out The Body Shop. I liked the idea of The Body Shop because I knew they had a strong position against animal testing and are concerned with the environment. Their products aren't 100% natural, but they do make an effort to use some more natural ingredients. So I decided it would be worth it to give The Body Shop Blue Corn Scrub Mask a try.

About the Product
The light blue mask comes in a small blue tub with a screw on lid. Opening the tub will reveal the gritty scrub mask inside. This mask is a scrub and mask in one. As you apply the mask, the grains gently exfoliate your face and then it dries and becomes a mask for your skin. I like the idea of combining a 2 step process into 1 step!

From The Body Shop website:
This soothing scrub mask cleanses, exfoliates and absorbs excess oil to improve the look and feel of skin.

The Body Shop also offers this insight into their use of blue corn in their mask.
Blue corn is a natural exfoliator supplied by a Native American community, Santa Ana Pueblo, in North America. Blue corn has been a crop of this community for centuries and this trade helps them preserve their traditional agricultural production. The refreshing and revitalising bergamot oil contained in this product is supplied through our Community Trade programme by local organic farmers from the beautiful Calabrian countryside in South West Italy. Calabria has the best climate in the world to grow bergamots for the perfume industry.

Price and Packaging
The Body Shop Blue Corn Scrub Mask comes in a light blue plastic tub. It contains 4.2 oz. of mask. The tub has a black screw on top. Unlike a mask that comes in a tube, you use your fingers to scoop out the mask and apply. You will be able to use every last bit of mask because the mouth of the tub is nice and wide.

I purchased this mask for $12 at The Body Shop store. As far as I can tell, they do not sell this product at their website. Only their body butters and some gift baskets are available for sale online. I had to go up to Sacramento because I do not have a local store. At their website, www.thebodyshop.com, they have a store locator.

Ingredients
Water, Kaolin, Blue Corn powder, Corn oil, glyceryl stearate SE, glycerin, alcohol denat.,propolene glycol, blue corn extract, phenoxyethanol, benzyl alcohol, panthenol, methylparaben, bisabolol, propylparaben, bergamot oil, grapefruit seed extract, geranium oil, ylang ylang oil, yarrow extract, neem leaf extract, ascorbic acid, titanium dioxide, FD & C Blue No 1, D & C Red No 33

My Experience
I was very excited to get a good mask. I wanted something I could use once a week, maybe twice a week as needed. I wanted something to help keep the oil in control and revive my skin a little. This mask is marketed for normal and oily skin so since I'm generally a combination skin type, I decided I was safe to purchase this.

The first thing I noticed was the scent and I was disappointed. I don't know what I expected a blue corn mask to smell like, but I wasn't expecting the strong medicinal scent coming from the tub. It was a fairly strong scent, definitely one I would notice as I was using it.

I did not follow the directions exactly. I don't think their directions make much sense. They say:
Apply to skin and leave on 10-15 minutes. Message to exfoliate, then rinse.

I personally, apply to my skin and massage to exfoliate first, before it has sat on my skin for 15 minutes. I have tried it their way and it's very rough and painful to scrub off a dried mask with your hands. Plus it's very messy. I had dried blue corn mask flakes everywhere and eventually ended up wetting my face and wiping the rest off. So, in my opinion, massage and exfoliate first, let it dry, and then rinse it off.

I was doing ok for the first 5 minutes or so it was on my face. Then my nose and chin started burning and itching. I ignored it even though it was driving me crazy. Finally after my time was up, I rinsed the mask off quickly. My whole face was red and blotchy.It was smooth and soft, but looked really bad. I looked like I had a rash all over my cheeks. Just thinking about it makes me want to scratch my face. It was awful. Lucky for me, it didn't last long. I put on a rich, soothing moisturizer and my skin calmed down within an hour.

I have used this mask several more times to see if my skin could handle it. I have used it on days my skin is extremely oily as well as more normal days. The days my skin is more oily, the mask doesn't burn as much. However, I still usually find blotchy patches on my cheeks no matter what. I guess this mask is too strong for my skin or I am allergic to something in it. I have pretty tough skin and very very very rarely do I react to anything in skin care products or cosmetics. I never read labels because I don't need to. So I'm a little shocked that my skin reacts this way to this mask. I can't imagine what someone with very sensitive skin would do. It would probably not be pretty.

Final Thoughts
All in all, I do not recommend this mask. It was way too harsh for my skin. Even if it didn't cause a reaction, I wouldn't buy it again. The scent was unpleasant and it's just not worth the $12. So I'm still in search of a nice facial mask...




Recommended: No