Good Enough to Drink

So, it finally happened. I think I'm (actually, properly, seriously) getting into skin care. I blame it on Cherie's recent purchase of Hydraluron and her linking me to the gospel of skin care God Caroline Hirons. I've had a cursory browse though Caroline's blog a few times in the past, but never really immersed myself in it. But now that my willingness to venture into skin care has increased considerably, sometime last week I found myself reading it well into the early hours of the morning. The more I read, the more concerned I became about the multitude of skin care sins I was supposedly committing. For one, the mineral oil in Nivea Soft (something of a hero product to me), only splashing my face with water in the mornings, putting my face under the hot shower at night, never using a washcloth, my reliance on foaming cleansers, not having an exfoliating toner in my routine (or any kind of toner for that matter), the list goes on.

In an effort to overhaul my skin care routine, in a short period of time I've purchased a lot of new stuff. It's still a work in progress and I confess I don't really know what I'm doing, but hopefully my skin will thank me for it later. The first and most exciting purchase was the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask. Not specifically recommended by Caroline (in fact, she's previously mentioned the high essential oils content may be an irritant for some), but I've seen it pop up on countless blogs and wanted a piece of the action.

It's winter in Australia and I noticed that my skin was becoming quite dry and flaky. Foundation wasn't sitting as nicely, especially around the edges of my nose. I needed a serious moisture boost and the Drink Up Intensive seemed to promise exactly that. It certainly wasn't cheap (I bought mine for $34 from Kit), but at least the tube was a relatively generous 100ml and due to the falling dollar, the price was basically the same as the UK (where this retails for £20).

The instructions suggest to use the mask "twice a week or as desired", massaging onto clean skin at bedtime and removing the excess with a tissue. I use it more as I would a rich moisturiser — it has a thick consistency but it sinks into the skin well enough that I don't need to remove any excess (or maybe I'm just not applying a thick enough layer?). It does leave the skin slightly sticky to touch, but nothing unbearable. I absolutely adore the fruity apricot/orange/rosewater scent, which I find both soothing and energising. It's probably my favourite aspect of using the mask. It really adheres to the skin overnight, so when I wake up in the morning and splash my face with water, I can still feel remnants of the product being washed off my face. I can't say that I wake up with visibly plumped, glowing skin, but I do think that it helps replenish and retain the skin's moisture overnight and gives you more hydrated skin the next morning.

The mask is said to contain a host of ingredients with the aim of quenching thirsty skin (Plant Glycerin, Hyaluronic Acid, Apricot Kernel Oil), building up a moisture "reservoir" (Avocado Oil, Mango Butters) and preventing moisture loss (Japanese Seaweed).

Ingredients (I couldn't find a list anywhere online): water\aqua\eau; rosa damascena (rose) flower water, myrtus communis (myrtle) leaf water, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) flower water, anthemis nobilis (chamomile) flower water • glycerin • cetyl alcohol • glyceryl polymethacrylate • dimethicone • peg-75 • peg-8 • glycereth-26 • sorbitan stearate • citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) flower oil*, prunus amygdalus amara (bitter almond) kernel oil*, rosa damascena (rose) flower oil*, cinnamomum camphora (shiu/camphor leaf) oil*, citrus aurantium dulcis (sweet orange) oil*, prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil*, osmanthus fragrans (osmanthus absolute) flower extract, ribes nigrum (blackcurrant) seed extract, linalool, limonene • aloe barbadensis leaf extract • cladosiphon okamuranus extract • oryza sativa (rice) extract • avena sativa (oat) kernel extract • olea europaea (olive) fruit extract • triticum vulgare (wheat bran) extract • peg-100 stearate • sucrose** • citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) peel wax • panthenol • pantethine • cetyl ethylhexanoate • mangifera indica (mango) seed butter • prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil • persea gratissima (avocado) oil • butylene glycol • cetearyl alcohol • cocos nucifera (coconut) oil • punica granatum (pomegranate) sterols • tocopheryl acetate • oryzanol • bisabolol • caprylyl glycol • caffeine • hexylene glycol • sodium hyaluronate • dextrin • potassium carbomer • disodium edta • sodium dehydroacetate • phenoxyethanol
*essential oil
**organic sucrose (brown sugar)

Yes, I typed up that list from scratch, squinting to read the size 3 font at the back of the tube and doing my darndest to not misspell the gibberish scientific contents.

Overall, I'm really pleased with the addition of the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask to my skin care cabinet. I've started to use some other products which also have helped to restore my skin's moisture levels, so at the moment I would use this mask at most twice a week. I can see this becoming a staple for winter, and for whenever my skin needs a good hydration hit (especially perfect the night before a long haul flight, as Chloé mentioned in her pre-flight skin care routine). The scent makes it an absolute pleasure to use.