REVIEW: The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask

Whenever I am beauty shopping I always keep an eye out for the next big thing to help me with my skin problems, in my case: blemishes, redness and oily skin. A few weeks ago I bought this Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask from The Body Shop to help me out when things get rough.

This mask was originally created for people with combination/oily skin but I have read a good amount of reviews loving this for normal skin. The active ingredient in this mask is the bladderwrack seaweed which is known to have powerful antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The mask looks like thick green/blue/grey -ish mud and has a thick grainy consistency that goes a long way. Only a little product is needed to cover the whole face. The scent can come off rather strong when opening the lid so I'm guessing it's not for everyone - although when put on the face the scent is quite unnoticeable. Considering it is in a pot, I have to use a Popsicle stick in avoiding transferred bacteria.

The mask dries fast onto the skin (between 2-3 minutes) and make your pores look ginormous. Immediately I start to get a tight feeling, making me helpless to speak or smile. I tend to keep it on for 20 minutes rather than the recommended 10 minutes.

The Body Shop states that it can be used up to twice weekly, but I find that once a week is enough for my skin. Also because I like to use a Tea Tree oil mask for my blemishes throughout the week. After I rinsing out the mask (usually with a rather wet, soft face cloth because I find it hard to remove with my hands), I pat it dry and I immediately afterwards see a huge difference to my skin. It feels softer, cleaner and the redness fade away. Moreover, blemishes seem to dry faster which is a major bonus.

Excuse the poker face - it's really hard to smile with it on the face.

You can see how ginormous this mask makes my pores look like.

The Good:
-purifies, refreshes, and smoothes the skin.
-gets rid of excess oil.
-reduces black heads.
-fades redness and help blemishes to dry faster.

The Bad:
-strong chemical/clay scent.
-takes a long time to wash off.
-can't talk or smile when with it on your face because it might gunk all over the place (obviously when applying clay masks).

In conclusion, this mask works great as clarifying and detoxifying mask for people with combination/oily skin. Do use it on oily skin parts since it will dry it even more. You can get this mask from any TBS store or online for £12 (also at the moment they have a huge sale - 40% off everything).

Hope you'll find this useful. Have a good day!

Stay Beautiful,
Belle xxx