My Top 5 Face Masks - stick your middle finger up to winter!

This post was originally published on Smaggle.com. Carly, the genius behind Smaggle, is probably one of my favourite internet people. Her blog is awesome. If you don't read it already, you're missing out. 

I love a list, don't you? Of course you do, everybody does. I especially love a list that's going to help me keep my skin in tip-top shape. There is something about winter that takes me from regularly doing face masks to obsessively masking my face every chance I get. If overdosing on face masks is a crime, mea culpa. Between the icy wind and the air-conditioning, colder months are a dermis's worst enemy. Ergo, my top five face masks to help fight the winter blues.

Subtle Energies Dry Mix Pitta Mud

This clay mask is the bees knees for sucking impurities out of the skin. It's a superfine clay called Ayurveda, and it has a cooling effect when it hits the skin. It's packed full of minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron and zinc, which gets into the skin to give it a huge nutrient boost, and leaves you all glowy afterwards. If you're heads (white or black) are giving you grief, look no further. At $52.80 for 100gms (see www.subtleenergies.com.au), this is a steal. I have done about 6 masks already and the level of clay in the tub has barely gone down. And that's after spilling about 4 masks worth down the sink by accident.
Fun fact: the Ayurveda clay in this mask is the same sort of clay that was used to restore the Taj Mahal in 2002 and 2009. If it's good enough for one the seven wonders of the world, it's good enough for me!

Super by Dr Nicholas Perricone Ginger 3-Minute Facial

When it's single-digit temperatures, you don't have time to be sitting around in face masks - there's cocoa to be drinking and doonas to be hiding under. Enter the 3-minute facial from Super, Dr Nicholas Perricone's new line made from natural ingredients like fruit and vegetables (all superfoods, hence the brand name). This mask packs a 20 minute facial into 3 - you get intense hydration, while the ginger stimulates the skin to make you all glowy. It actually tingles as you take it off, rather than while it's on. Perfect when you're looking a bit dull and need to be sparkly for a night out (or in). This is $75.95 for 59mls (from Kit Cosmetics) and you even get a little spatula with it, so you don't have to stick your icky fingers in the jar. Clever

Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque

Sweet, sweet antioxidants. I have written about this one before, but this baby fights all the free radical damage you get from wind and air-conditioning without even trying (ok, it tries a bit). Think lots and lots of vitamins packed into the tube and they work to soothe your skin when it's angry, stop if from getting angry again in future, and then reverse the damage that has been done. If you sit in an air conditioned office all day and then stand at a freezing cold bus stop at either end, then this will cure what ales ya. At $76 for 75ml, it's about $5/mask. Worth it.

The Jojoba Company Botanical Hydrating Face Mask

This is a clay mask that doesn't feel like a clay mask because it's so silky and smooth. While the clay sucks the nasties out, marine collagen, honey and golden jojoba oil restore hydration - think of it as a push-pull action: bad stuff out, good stuff in. You definitely need to leave this on for at least 20 minutes, so have a cup of tea ready to go and spoil yourself with a good book (or catch up on your blog reading). Fun fact: It doesn't smell like a clay mask. To me this is a good old fashioned mask that does what it promises without any bells and whistles - squeeze it out of the tube, slap it on, let it work, Bob's your uncle. At $49.95 for 80mls, you can't complain (see www.thejojobacompany.com.au)

The Jojoba Company Skin Refining + Brightening Face Masque
Firstly, I have no idea why The Jojoba Company have called one a Face Mask and one a Face Masque (if anyone knows the difference, please tell me), but this is another mask that delivers what it promises without being flashy or show off-y. This is clay as well, and once it has finished detoxifying the skin it also fights pigmentation. Salicylic acid does the renewal work (you know about salicylic, yes? it cleans away dead skin) while ingredients like Kakadu plum and bearberry extract (made from real bears*) improve skin tone and make skin look brighter and more even. Genius! This one is $59.95 for 80mls (www.thejojobacompany.com.au) and smells like instant coffee. I know, random.

If you're skin doesn't look amazing after our little chat, then nothing will get you there. I have given you the tools, now go! Go forth and glow my little beans!

*no bears were harmed in the making of this masque/mask