Tested: Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask

I've always loved masking because it has always felt like the most luxurious process of the self-care ritual that I call skincare.  I've recently become reliant on masking ever since I started frequenting downtown Los Angeles with its dirt, grime, and polluted air.  My ultimate dilemma was that, while I had many clay masks that I loved to draw out impurities, I didn't own a moisturizing mask.  I've known about Antipodes for a while as Essie from Essiebutton raved about them a while ago and I also know that Nic from OrgaNic Obsessions loves their face oil.  Due to these fellow bloggers, my trust in the brand grew and I decided to take the leap to order the highly talked about Aura Manuka Mask from the line.  It was quite difficult to track it down at a somewhat reasonable price, but I managed to use a promo code for Naturismo (a European natural beauty store) and I was well on my way to happy skin after a click of a button (thank goodness for the internet).  I've included my thoughts below on this holy grail mask that happens to calm my breakouts like no tomorrow.

Consistency:  This mask comes out of a metal squeeze tube easily as a slightly thick, viscous cream.  First off, this smells absolutely divine!  I can smell honey and vanilla right off the bat but there's also a freshness to the scent.  This spreads very easily on the skin into a thick layer and dries to a sticky finish without any of the initial wetness of the product.  This also washes off quite easily which I enjoy especially in a moisturizing mask.  Something to beware of is that this product has Phenoxyethanol near the bottom of the list.

Ingredients: Aqua (water), Leptospermum scoparium mel (manuka honey), Persea gratissima (avocado oil), Glycerine (vegetable), Cetearyl alcohol, Stearic acid (coconut derived), Glycerol stearate (coconut derived), Tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E), Vanilla planifolia (vanilla oil), Citrus reticulate (mandarin oil), Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Daucus carota sativa (carrot oil), Pohutuakawa (metrosideros excelsa) extract, Citrus grandis (grapefruit seed extract), Iodopropynyl butylcarbarnate.

Experience:  This mask is described as deeply moisturizing, cleansing, and anti-oxidizing.  I find that it is very moisturizing and my skin is left feeling cleansed and free of impurities.  I have yet to see the anti-oxidizing claim though I'm unsure as to how I would directly see that effect.  I love to apply this mask in thick layers on the weekends when I have more time to take care of my skin.  It does a great job of giving my skin more moisture and glow to combat the 5 days of the week where I wear makeup in a grimy city setting.  I usually leave it on for about 15-30 minutes( although the instructions recommend 15 minutes) and I find that my skin is left soft and smooth after washing it off.  This really helps combat the dullness that my skin has after many days of wearing makeup or on those days when I just don't have enough sleep.  I also love to use this as a spot treatment for whenever I get those pesky spots.  This works especially well for those red, inflamed spots that need calming.  I found that using this as spot treatment effectively helped reduce the size and redness of a spot.  I was mainly hoping that this mask would help with the hyper pigmentation left behind by acne scars on the sides of my cheeks, however, I only noticed a small bit of lightening in the scars.  I am unsure if it is because I have not used this mask long enough or if it is because brightening up scars was never the purpose of this mask ( I have a feeling it is the latter but one can hope that there is a do-it-all mask).  Overall, I truly enjoyed using this and will definitely be repurchasing for the calming and moisturizing effects of the mask not to mention the heavenly scent!

You can find the Antipodes Aura Manuka Honey Mask: HERE

Big Love,

Vanessa