Great Masque with Proven Ingredients

I'm not crazy about the smell of this masque, but if the results are even half of what people claim it's worth buying. In my area, clay masques do not appear to be all...Read complete review

I'm not crazy about the smell of this masque, but if the results are even half of what people claim it's worth buying. In my area, clay masques do not appear to be all that popular judging from the fact that not even a single one is available at your average drugstore or [...]. Now normally I hate reviews that are written less than a month after purchase because there's really no way to judge a product so fast. However, I'm breaking my own rule about review writing to post after the first week of ownership. When I put this product on my skin for the first time, it did not stick to my pores at all. Instead the clay formed all these outlines around the enlarged pores on my nose that made each individual pore stand out as a dark void in a sea of green. Overall the masque did not go on that evenly and I found myself adding extra layers. After 15 minutes I washed it off with a washcloth and hot water as directed. It did leave my skin soft and less tight than a peel-off masque I had been using. I can't say that it adhered well enough to the pore area to really extract anything or shrink them all that much, however. After removing the mask, I chased it with a product I bought here on Drugstore.com, a toner called "Aqua Glycolic", which contains alpha hydroxy acid. Let me warn everyone right now: That was a mistake! Immediately there was some sort of chemical reaction that gave off a rotten egg smell. My face turned rather red so I applied Ponds dry skin cream. Now it has settled down but still looks rather blotchy. I'm not giving up on this Queen of Helene Mint Julup Masque, but I would caution others not to chase it with a product containing ammonium glycolate or glycolic acid. The combination is just too harsh.Others have reported tingling while applying this masque; however, I did not experience any such sensation. Speaking of sensations, some of the negative reviewers stated their skin was irritated or broke out immediately in large red blemishes. Let me pass on an FYI: OTC products containing sulfer are rare because many people react to sulfur. Shannon's review back in March 2008 in which she describes an immediate breakout upon application is not a description of acne — since the infected pore takes some time to develop and would not present so fast — but rather, welts or hives associated with a sensitivity or allergy. In the past I have skipped OTC preparations in favor of prescriptions to control cystic acne, and that ultimately culminated in a course of Accutane some 15 years ago. All these years later, my acne has made a comeback despite the "cure" that Accutane is regarded as. About three years ago I obtained a prescription called Differen, but it dried out my skin so badly in a few uses that I was never able to apply it consistently enough to prevent breakouts. Now in my late 30s, my skin is both dry and acne prone. I use Freeman's peel-off cucumber masque, also available here on drugstore.com, which I feel tightens my skin and reduces the appearances of lines and wrinkles. Recently, I was attracted to Queen of Helene because it contains sulfur as did some of the prescriptions I used back in the 1980s. Sulfer is one of the few proven acne fighters out there that people who have skin that is too dry for other OTC or prescription products ought to consider. I will keep using this masque to see if the results are as good as so many claim. Truthfully, I am a bit suspicious of all the hype surrounding the Internet reviews because I typically find that OTC products are simply too weak to do the job (not to mention, you can go broke trying all of them if you're not careful). In this case, however, Queen of Helene's market longevity says something that competing OTC products, and those expensive infomercial "miracle cures", can't boast. For the price, you just cannot go wrong!