Beauteque Mask Maven Box Review + Coupon – October 2018

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

LIMITED TIME DEALS: Sign up by 12/15 to get the December box and get a free gift with code CREAMERYBB or CREAMERYMM! Learn more here!
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 October 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 has a theme of “Creepy and Cute.” I think this was meant to be a Halloween-themed package, and this was technically October’s package, but I received it almost a full week after Halloween (Beauteque ships very late in the month).

Wish Formula Bat Eye Mask – Retail Value $4

This one basically goes across the nose, with the wings covering the under-eye area. It covers the middle third or so of your face and, unlike full sheet masks, probably works well for people with different face sizes and shapes, since you’re not limited by the placement of eye and mouth holes.

I wore this on a day I stayed home (actually just before writing this review) and I can still feel the toning effects of this one a few hours later. This was a little drippy but because it didn’t cover the whole face, I could just rub the excess serum into my skin. This has something called “black strap powder,” which maybe comes from blackstrap molasses? In which case it would have a lot of minerals. This is supposed to brighten dark circles under the eyes, but I don’t get those, so I can’t say how well it works for that. This one also has lemon, hops, sage, and calendula extracts, as well as numerous extracts from fermentation products.

Berrisom Animal Mask Pack Tiger/Red Ginseng – Retail Value $2.60

This has a lot of root extracts (ginseng, ginger, licorice) which are supposed to have anti-aging properties. It is very moisturizing because it has both hydrolyzed collagen and sodium hyaluronate (these are polymers that hold on to water at the surface of the skin). It is probably a good time to mention that neither collagen nor hyaluronic acid is a vegan ingredient, both are generally byproducts of poultry and/or fish processing. Obviously, they’re purified so there’s no smell or anything, but a lot of K-beauty products are not going to work for vegans because of ingredients like this. (This also has propolis wax, which is collected in beehives. Propolis is full of minerals.) This was a good one to use before work one day when I wanted to put makeup on, afterward.

Candy O’Lady Candy Mask – Mellow Cotton – Retail Value $2.25

This brand shows up rather frequently in Mask Maven but I am OK with that because I am usually pretty happy with their masks. (I don’t honestly see a ton of difference among the different types, though.) I also like the smaller package as it seems much less wasteful, considering how small most sheet masks are folded up in the first place.

This has chamomile and aloe so it should be nicely soothing and moisturizing. It also has willow bark extract, so it does contain some salicylic acid, which is great for broken out skin, but just be aware in case you are sensitive, and be sure to wear a good SPF product as well. This one is also quite full of herbs like rosemary and sage, though I would not say it smelled herbal. It also has cholesterol, which is not an ingredient I’ve seen in a mask before, but cholesterol is a lipid (oily ingredient) and is probably somewhat moisturizing when applied to the surface of the skin. Finally, there are lots of fermented ingredients. I don’t really believe all the hype about fermented skincare products (it’s not like the bacteria doing the fermenting are going to colonize your skin) but they are pretty trendy right now.

Holika Holika Baby Pet Mask Cat – Retail Value $3.50

Like a lot of masks that are printed with pictures, this one has kind of a stiffer fabric and not as much serum as other masks. (Low serum can be good if you have somewhere to go afterward and actually want it to dry on your skin in a reasonable period of time.)

This one is good for soothing and moisturizing and helping out problem skin, in general. Tea tree leaf water and allantoin should help soothe broken out and rough skin, as should calendula extract, and this also has aloe, sodium hyaluronate, and trehalose for moisture.

Feferafe Ice Cream Mask – Retail Value $4

This is a new brand for me. I am honestly not sure where the ice cream comes in as it didn’t have a scent that reminded me of ice cream, nor did it have an extra thick serum or anything. That’s not to say it wasn’t a pleasant experience!

Looking over the ingredients list, I see this one has green tea, which has a ton of antioxidants that should help fight sun damage and may reduce inflammation. It also has strawberry, which has more antioxidants and vitamins (and which the product page claims will help fight oily skin). And it has vanilla extract which is supposed to be anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial. I guess the “ice cream” comes in here because green tea, strawberry, and vanilla are all common ice cream flavors. (But I wouldn’t necessarily have known that if I didn’t look the product up online!) This also has niacinamide for brightening, allantoin for soothing rough skin, and a sweet cherry fruit extract that probably has more antioxidants.

CNF Cosmetic Iceland Mask Sheet: Mangosteen – Retail Value $2

I used this one on a day I was working from home so I didn’t have to deal with makeup afterward, but it didn’t take a super long time to dry on my face so it probably would’ve been fine on a day I went into the office, as well.

You can just look at that fruit on the package and guess that this is going to have a ton of vitamins and antioxidants (basically, the darker the purple/red color, the more likely that is to be true – think of pomegranates, cherries, and blueberries). This also has seawater, so it should be full of minerals, and a few moisturizing ingredients like sodium hyaluronate (essentially the same thing as hyaluronic acid, a polymer that holds on to a lot of water molecules at the surface of the skin, thus minimizing the appearance of fine lines).

Niju Brightening Mask – Retail Value $2

This one also is a new brand for me (there were a lot of new brands for me in this package). This one has niacinamide, a brightening ingredient. I have had pretty good luck with niacinamide in skincare although to truly see the effects you would have to buy a whole package of these and use them over the period of a few weeks. This also has vitamins C and E, which are both antioxidants. And it has tea leaf extract, which has even more antioxidants. So, essentially the strategy here is to use standard brightening ingredients like niacinamide to deal with uneven skin tone that’s already present and then prevent future unevenness by protecting the skin with antioxidants. (You should still use a good SPF product if you’re going outside, though.) This one was not a problem before makeup.

Elizavecca Red Ginseng Deep Power Ringer – Retail Value $3

This is a new brand for me. There is a lot going on, on that packaging, but it’s a pretty simple mask inside. This one is very heavy on the serum and took a long time to dry afterward, so maybe this is not a good choice for a “before makeup” mask in the morning. It had an earthy, herbal kind of scent.

This one has some standard toning (witch hazel) and brightening (niacinamide) ingredients as well as red ginseng, which is supposed to be energizing in food and dietary supplements but in skincare is supposed to be a powerful anti-aging component because it has a lot of antioxidants and vitamins. It’s also supposed to be toning and I definitely felt the mask was good at that, but it’s hard to distinguish the effects of red ginseng and witch hazel since they were both present.

A’pieu Chi Ka Po Ka Tooth Brushing Mask – Retail Value $3

I also received this in Tutiibag recently. This mask is designed to allow you to do other things while using your mask, like having breakfast or brushing your teeth (as an aside, I never fill my whole lower face up with foam when brushing my teeth…). If you are looking to save time but still get the benefits of a mask, this would probably work for you. As for me, I set aside my mask time to relax and I don’t try to multitask. (Well, I read novels in small chunks during mask time, with the book held up one inch from my face because I have terrible vision.)

For what it’s worth, this does seem to stay in place well so you could, in theory, do all of those other things. The product page doesn’t list ingredients, and I can’t read Korean, but this was nicely moisturizing and a bit soothing.

Verdict: I calculated a value of $26.35 for the October 2018 Beauteque Mask Maven. That’s a good bit above the month-to-month cost of the box. I definitely appreciated receiving a number of completely new brands this month, and I actually thought the masks stuck to the “creepy and cute” theme fairly well (most of the time, the themes are only loosely related to the items). I do wish this had come before Halloween, to make the theme more relevant, though.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, this was the October package. You have to sign up by the 15th to get a box for the month, so your first box would probably be December’s box and arrive in early January.

LIMITED TIME DEALS: Sign up by 12/15 to get the December box and get a free gift with code CREAMERYBB or CREAMERYMM! Learn more here!
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off of your subscription
CODE: SHEETFACED

Value Breakdown: At $18.95 for this box, you are paying approximately the following per item:

• Bat eye mask $2.88
• Tiger ginseng mask $1.87
• Mellow cotton mask $1.62
• Baby pet cat mask $2.52
• Ice cream mask $2.88
• Mangosteen mask $1.44
• Niju brightening mask $1.44
• Power ringer mask $2.16
• Toothbrushing mask $2.16

Check out all of our Beauteque Mask Maven reviews and the Beauty Subscription Box Directory for more great beauty-oriented subscriptions!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What did you think of the October 2018 Beauteque Mask Maven? Do you get any K-Beauty or Asian Beauty subscriptions?