Beauteque Mask Maven is a monthly k-beauty subscription box dedicated to masks. If you love trying new Korean sheet masks, this subscription is for you!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Beauteque Mask Maven
The Subscription Box: Beauteque Mask Maven
The Cost: $18.95 month-to-month ($15 subscription + $3.95 shipping), save with 6- and 12-month subscriptions
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off of your subscription
CODE: SHEETFACED
The Products: 9 to 11 masks of all kinds, straight from Korea. Most are facial sheet masks, but you will sometimes see a hair mask or hand mask or lip mask, too.
Ships to: USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia (see international shipping costs during checkout)
Beauteque Mask Maven June 2018 Review
The number of sheet masks out there for sale must be incredibly large. Mask Maven almost never sends repeat items, and I discover something new every month:
The box came with this information card. This month, all the masks have something to do with “detox” (in practice, relating to charcoal, volcanic ash, clay, etc.). (They did a better job of sticking to a theme this month than usual.)
Purederm Deep Purifying Black O2 Bubble Mask Volcanic – Retail Value $3.99
Every month you’ll receive at least one mask that’s different, unusual, or premium in some way. This month there were three that I’d put in this category, and this was one. This is a black mask sheet that starts bubbling when exposed to air. It’s honestly kind of a weird experience and the bubbles definitely get in your mouth towards the end of the time period no matter how well the mask is placed.
This has some of your standard moisturizing components like sodium hyaluronate and hydrolyzed collagen as well as an actual charcoal powder (which may help absorb junk from your pores) and papaya extract, which has some enzymes commonly used in gentle peels. It’s a nice way to address several different skincare goals at the same time although really seeing the peel aspects will take repeated uses.
Purederm Deep Purifying Black O2 Bubble Mask Charcoal – Retail Value $3.99
This mask is quite similar to the previous one in terms of both ingredients and experience using it. I’d say you were good going with either one if you are interested in the benefits described above. I further note that I used these on two consecutive days and it wasn’t too much for my skin; I had no sensitivity issues at all.
Cos.W My Real Skin Charcoal – Retail Value $2.99
To me, this one was mostly moisturizing. It contains a charcoal “extract” rather than actual charcoal. I’m not sure what that means from a chemical standpoint but it probably explains why the mask isn’t black. Anyway, this had lots of moisture-enhancing ingredients including sodium hyaluronate and trehalose (both of which tend to pick up moisture and hang on to it near the surface of the skin, so if you want temporary relief from fine lines, this may also be good for you). Please note this is not vegan as it does contain propolis wax, a bee-related ingredient, plus sodium hyaluronate is usually not vegan either (a byproduct of poultry and/or fish processing in most cases). But you probably shouldn’t expect K-beauty products to be vegan as most aren’t.
Skin Planet Daily Fresh Garden Mask Pomegranate – Retail Value $1.99
This one is just full of recognizable fruit and other plant extracts, including many citrus (lemon, lime, orange) extracts, pomegranate and tomato extracts, tea leaf extract, etc. This means it is going to be absolutely full of antioxidants, which is something I really like to see in skincare. Granted, the functioning of antioxidants is hard to assess, since the whole point is to handle free radical damage before it shows in your skin. But it’s one of those things I like to know I am doing, regardless. This one is also supposed to help with elasticity and it also has witch hazel so it tones a bit. This would be a good mask to use on a regular basis, especially if you spend time in the sun (don’t forget SPF too, though).
Tsaio Stayed Up Late Black Mask Alice – Retail Value $2.50
This mask actually is black. It’s supposed to be moisturizing and it has trehalose, soy protein, and baobab, all of which are supposed to be moisturizing (baobab is also very high in vitamin C). This has plenty of other ingredients that may be helpful if you really did stay up late, like chamomile (soothing), arnica (works on bruises but could also work on dark circles; I don’t have them so I can’t say), Allantoin (can soothe rough skin), salicylic acid (can help with breakouts), sodium lactate (used in some peels and is an alpha hydroxyl acid so be sure to use a good sunscreen with this one).
I didn’t actually stay up late before using this (I am dead to the world after 10 or 11 PM most nights) but I do like the variety of ingredients for daily use and found it to be moisturizing and soothing.
Farm Stay Charcoal Visible Difference Mask – Retail Value $1.99
This is another one with charcoal “extract.” It has a rather short ingredients list but includes several moisturizing ingredients (glycerin, sodium hyaluronate), allantoin to soothe rough skin, and a few preservatives (e.g., phenoxyethanol and methylparaben). This is a good time to point out that a lot of K-beauty products contain parabens, but I do not avoid parabens as the commonly-cited study pointing to an association with breast cancer was flawed in its methodology and doesn’t actually show what people commonly conclude from it, due to the flaws. This mask was super drippy and the serum took a long, long time to absorb into my skin after removing the mask.
Ultru I’m Sorry for My Skin Black Mud Mask – Retail Value $5
This brand name makes me laugh every time. I don’t know who you’re supposed to be apologizing to about your skin as if you owe anyone an apology about that at all
Anyway, this is the third “premium” mask for the month and it’s kind of odd. It’s a two-piece mask and it’s like a mud mask in sheet form (the “serum” is actually a grayish clay). It has some nice antioxidant ingredients (e.g., orange, bergamot, and lemon extracts), asparagus stem extract (that’s a new one for me), some super moisturizing plant extracts like agave and yucca extracts, and of course kaolin clay.
In the end, I’d probably just as soon buy a jar of clay mask (either pre-mixed or mixable with water) and use that over this sheet as there’d be less paper and plastic waste, but this was fun to try.
Skin Planet M-NMF Solution Cream Mask – Retail Value $2.99
This had a light, white colored cream as a serum. The ingredients list looks poorly translated and/or scanned with a lot of words running together that probably should be separated by commas. Moisture is the primary function of this mask and it has just a ton of moisturizing ingredients: glycerin, Caprylic/capric triglyceride, hyaluronic acid (from cows), shea butter, jojoba oil, aloe extract, and ceramides (and those are just the ones I can identify from the list). This serum absorbed nicely, like a light moisturizing cream, and was a great one to try in the morning before putting on makeup.
Esfolio Pure Skin Essence Mask Sheet Volcanic Ash – Retail Value $2.25
This is another one with a lot of antioxidants, but they’re different antioxidants from some of the other masks since they come from plants like broccoli (though there is also tea leaf extract). Thankfully this does not smell like broccoli…Anyway, there are some unusual moisturizing/thickening ingredients here as well, like carrageenan and agar (both from algae).
The key ingredient here is “scoria water.” Scoria is a volcanic rock with a lot of pores (so it has the appearance of foam and also may float; it is also used in landscaping if you have seen red lava rocks in someone’s plant beds). This ingredient may be good at removing excess sebum and/or helping to slough off dead skin cells, though I would expect that to work better if the scoria itself was actually there instead of scoria water, which is not a super defined concept. I do think this helped a bit with soothing my skin which was not in the greatest shape after weeks of being lazy about skincare.
Verdict: I calculated a value of $27.69 for the June 2018 Beauteque Mask Maven. That’s above average for this subscription and it is quite a few dollars above the cost of the subscription on a month-to-month basis (the SHEETFACED coupon will bring the price down even further). Although I was puzzled by the concept of “charcoal extract” (which may actually mean different things depending on the original source of the carbon atoms), I do think the masks were nicely moisturizing and soothing to my skin, which was in pretty rough shape this month, and I was happy to see at least three masks one might consider “premium” based on price and concept.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, you have to sign up by the 15th to get a box for the month, so your first box would probably come near the end of July.
Coupon – Save 10% off your subscription with code SHEETFACED
Value Breakdown: At $18.95 for this box, you are paying approximately the following per item:
- Bubble volcanic mask $2.73
- Bubble charcoal mask $2.73
- Cos.w charcoal mask $2.05
- Pomegranate mask $1.36
- Stayed up late mask $1.71
- Farm Stay charcoal mask $1.36
- Ultru clay mask $3.42
- M-NMF mask $2.05
- Esfolio volcanic mask $1.54
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What did you think of the June Beauteque Mask Maven?
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