I’ll be honest, one of my first, and most enduring loves involves skin care items. While I love trying out new products, I have been de-stressing a lot with face masks. I tend to gravitate more towards jarred masks than sheet masks, but I have been using a lot more sheet masks lately as well. First off, I started using them more because I kept getting them in subscription boxes and they started to pile up.
It was self-defense.
Once my stress level started to rise, I realized I could actually wear sheet masks more easily while I was working at the computer. While I make my Friday Face Mask as Zen like as possible, that just isn’t practical during the rest of the week. I also realized that as I tend to catch up on the news at lunch time my post lunch stress level was getting pretty high.
So cutting lunch a little short and doing a fifteen minute de-stressing mask has become my reward for staying updated on current events. Don’t worry, it isn’t an everyday event. I alternate masking with a quick happy palate cleansing video (thank you comedians of the world).
Even so I am using sheet masks (and regular masks) often enough that I found my supply dwindling. So I thought, what a perfect time to try out a masking subscription. Enter Face-tory.
Facetory is a site that specializes in Korean skincare. They sell various items (including masks if you are interested in purchasing individual ones instead of getting one of their subscriptions) pretty much all skin care related. I would highly recommend getting on their newsletter mailing list if nothing else as they have weekly deals like the $1 facemask specials every Monday (minimum order of five, but still a good deal) they also have weekly specials.
They also have subscriptions.
They have three tiers for their subscription boxes. The first is the Four- ever fresh Korean Sheet masks which costs $8.90 per month and has four sheet masks. The second tier is the Seven Lux offered for $19.90 and has seven sheet masks plus one surprise gift (April’s was a full sized moisturizer retailing for $23). The third subscription is the Lux Plus Subscription $49.95, which is a quarterly box with 5-6 skin care products plus 5-6 sheet masks. You can sign up for their subscriptions on either the Facetory site or through Cratejoy (if you are looking to manage your subscriptions through one place, I’ll post a Cratejoy link at the end of the post)
Because I am new to this subscription service and I wanted to test it out, I decided to go with the Four-ever Fresh level for $8.90. One interesting thing about this subscription is that the day you order it becomes your charge day. So I placed my order for the subscription on April 18th. It happened to be a Saturday and the subscription came in April 29th. It is of course the April subscription package. And it took about eight business days to get to me. I don’t know if that is standard or not, but given the sort of Wheel of Fortune style spin that shipping dates seem to have at the moment, I think that is pretty good. It also shipped out of Los Angeles if that helps with anyone’s figuring.
While shipping may adjust later, my shipping date will not. When I looked at my account I found that because I signed up on the 18th, I will always be charged on the 18th. It will always ship put right after I pay for it. I like that because it sort of lets me decide not only when it is most convenient to pay for things, but when I will get my subscription. I have several subscriptions that come in towards the beginning of the month, but not really any slated to arrive towards the end. I’m kind of pleased to have a little something to look forward to later in the month. It’s kind of an added bonus.
I’m also pleased that when I go to my account it lists the next six months of subscriptions in a row, each with a button I can press to skip that month. Right now I am using a lot of face masks so going through four a month is not an effort. As things settle down, I might use less. I like the fact that I can easily plan to skip a few months if I find I am stockpiling and need to work through my collection or if I am going out of town or if I simply decide I want to spend the $8.90 somewhere else for the month. The planner in me really likes that aspect of the account.
But enough of the set up. Lets see what came in my Facetory Four-ever Face mask subscription.
First off, It comes in a cute little bubble mailer. Don’t worry, all decontamination protocols were met, I just had to take a picture of the mailer before throwing it away. It also fit into my regular sized mail box with no trouble so it didn’t have to get left by the door the way other packages tend to be. Packages are pretty safe in my neighborhood though.
(The only problem we’ve had was once Agnes thought she was holding our mail while we were in Jamaica so she took it. I’m not sure why she thought we were in Jamaica, but its her world. I told her we returned early because of hurricane season and all was fine. She gave me my packages and all of the grocery store circulars she apparently had stockpiled in her garage. It was an impressive three inches thick. I took the circulars as well then double checked with her kids about them before disposing of them in the recycling in case they wanted them for some reason. I might have also told Agnes we found pirate gold while scuba diving, but turned it into the museum for the sake of history and tourism, mostly because I couldn’t help myself and I was currently re-reading Treasure Island. Slightly evil I know, but occasionally I like playing along with Agnes.)
So the first thing I spotted was the card that comes with the masks. It details what each mask is, what the active ingredients are and how much it retails for. They also list the full ingredients for each mask on the website and put the link to that on the card as well, which I appreciate.
Now I know there are a few of you looking at the subscription picture above and thinking, ‘Wow, Mimsy, I can count and I see five masks there instead of four’.
Well done, first grade has not failed you. This month the subscription came with an extra bonus mystery mask. My mystery mask is the Beauty Chuck Bouquet Garni I’m a real GIRA mask Aqua. The small English section states…
The hypo-allergenic moisture mask will deliver the cool water essence ingredient into skin deeply without water evaporation by using highly breathable fabric.
That is all the information I could glean. Everything else on the mask is written in Korean, so I will have to investigate further before I use it. I do not read Korean, in case you were curious, although if I stay self sequestered through the summer I may use a language program just to teach me. I don’t need to be proficient, I just want to be able to at least read the backs of my sheet masks and other skin care products. I like a lot of Korean products, but I think some of the details pass me by because of the language barrier. And it would be nice to get something positive out of the sequestering. You know besides the obvious health benefits and not adding to the strain of the healthcare system.
We will see how the summer progresses.
The pictures are of water and a pill that looks like it is made of water, which isn’t terribly helpful as far as identification goes, unless it is just a mask soaked in water. I’m guessing it helps with moisture and that there are other ingredients. I also suspect that after time spent in the sun, my skin will really enjoy the cool water essence. So I’ll hold on to that one and look into it for later. The other (non-mystery) masks were much more clear on their ingredients and use.
Mostly via pictures of plants and fruit.
Also the site listed the face masks in the monthly subscription before I signed up so I knew what I was getting and then I got it. The only guessing was that the Coscodi mask was an either or situation.
So the first regular mask in my batch was the FaceTory Let’s Talk Vitality Firming Mask(Retail Price: $2.50)
Give your skin some extra love and turn a tired complexion into a brighter complexion! This sheet mask is infused with antioxidant-rich ingredients that help protect your skin while providing necessary hydration. The key ingredients are Punica Granatum Fruit (Pomegranate) Extract – An antioxidant-rich ingredient that helps brighten the skin, fade dark spots and prevent fine lines and Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract – A moisturizing ingredient that seals in hydration and provides relief to dry, itchy and irritated skin.
It had a picture of a pomegranate on it and a set of lips. I don’t think the lips represent an ingredient. Just FYI, they were just a graphic.
The second face mask was the Beauugreen Green Tea Essence Mask(Retail Price: $2.50)
This sheet mask is enriched with a nourishing essence that will calm and heal troubled skin. It’s hydrating, revitalizing and also gives skin a healthy, plump appearance! It’s key ingredients is Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Extract – Packed with antioxidants, this ingredient helps protect the skin from damage while it heals blemishes and skin irritations.
Next was the Lebelage Cucumber Solution Mask(Retail Price: $2.00).
A soothing sheet mask that provides skin with hydration for a dewy and plump complexion. This sheet mask is infused with Cucumber Extract to help cool and soothe your skin! Yay for instant rejuvenation! It features Cucumber Extract – A soothing and hydrating ingredient that helps reduce redness. (and pictures of cucumber slices on it which is sort of a giveaway.
Last but not least was the either or item I could either get the Coscodi Propolis Blanc Cell Mask(Retail Price: $3.00) or the Coscodi Hydra Soother Cellulose Mask(Retail Price: $3.00). The choice is apparently random. I received the Hydra Soother variety which wants to …
Give your skin a healing treatment with sheet masks that hydrate and moisturize the skin! These Coscodi masks help build and strengthen your skin barrier for smoother, healthier skin. They help hydrate our skin to strengthen its barrier while also being extremely healing! It contains Hydrolyzed Collagen – This humectant ingredient helps keep the skin firm and plump while also providing hydration and moisture to the skin.
Although I didn’t really see a theme stated, I’m guessing from the masks I received that this month’s theme was hydration. As such the Aqua mask really fits in. I have to say I am pleased that there is a theme. It lets me actually compare different types of masks all designed to do more or less the same thing only using different ingredients. While I like trying new things, I also like building a list of favorites.
Perhaps I will like the freshness of cucumber over the antioxidant benefits of green tea. Perhaps the cooling water essence will trump them all. I do know if any of them do become my favorite, I will be able to reorder them easily from the Facetory site should I wish to stock up. Also in case you are wondering about value, for my $8.90 subscription I received $13 worth of masks (they mystery one was listed as $3 for those counting along)
I really like that these sheet masks are reasonably priced as sheet masks. There was no attempt to include a $20 sheet mask, which is fine -ish (if a little eye rolling inducing) from a luxury skin care brand. I’ll admit, because of their one use nature, I don’t think of sheet masks as an expensive item. I think it’s because I frequent the Beautynet Korea site where frequent sales often sell sheet mask for $0.39 apiece and stores sell them for only a few dollars. It makes it difficult for me to think of them as a super expensive item and I like that Facetory is reasonable in their prices for single sheet masks.
(Incidentally at the moment Beautynet Korea is having a pretty big sale if you wanted to check it out. I’m actually thinking of ordering some of their snail based skin care to try out. I don’t know why that intrigues me so much, but it does. My cart has been flirting with the products for a while now. But that is a post for another time. I’ll post the link below with the Cratejoy one)
With so many types of sheet masks out there, it is nice to be able to try different varieties and figure out which ones were nice, but not worth ordering and which ones, I want to keep on hand. Over all I am pretty pleased with my first subscription package from Facetory. At some point I may look into their other subscription levels, but for now, this Four-ever Face Mask Four pack suits my needs just fine.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 