Courtesy of Andrea Lavinthal (2)
What it is: A gel and paper sheet mask that’s supposed to make your skin look incredible in 20 minutes
Who tried it: Andrea Lavinthal, PEOPLE.com Style Director
Why she did it: Because she was home sick from work and there was nothing good on TV
How crazy is it on a scale from one to Kim Kardashian’s blood facial? We give it a 3 since it takes minimal effort, but makes you look like the killer in a horror movie
After a nasty sinus infection left me horizontal on the couch for two days, I started to go a little stir crazy (I didn’t need to watch the last season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey when it aired the first time). So I dug through my beauty stash and unearthed this Lancôme mask, which I took home from work months ago and forgot to use.
I’ve tried other disposable cloth masks in the past, and while they’re fun for scaring your roommate, the results aren’t that exciting. This one, on the other hand, is serious business. Previously available only in Asia, it took the peeps at Lancôme ten years to develop the active-ingredient-soaked sheet, which is supposed to deliver four times the amount of the brand’s best-selling Génifique anti-aging serum in just 20 minutes.
It felt really slimy when I took it out of the package, but it was easy to mold the gel-and-paper material to the contours of my face (hence why they call it a “second skin” mask). I tried not to laugh since I didn’t want it to slide around or get in my mouth, but that was nearly impossible considering how insane I looked. At one point I started reciting Hannibal Lecter’s lines from Silence of the Lambs.
When the 20 minutes was up, I peeled the mask off my face and massaged the leftover serum into my skin, per the instructions. My skin looked brighter, plumper and more radiant and it stayed that way hours after my sinus medication wore off.
The verdict: I’d definitely use the mask again before a big event or during the winter when my skin feels dry and looks dull. At $80 for a box of six, it breaks down to about $13 per mask which is way less than a facial. Oh, and next time I’ll be sure to do it while my boyfriend is home since I would’ve loved to have seen the look on his face when I came out of the bathroom with it on.
