Unboxing Beauty

Annie’s Way is a fairly new brand to me, from Taiwan.   I have really enjoyed my Taiwanese masks from My Beauty Diary (their strawberry yogurt is amazing!) and Lovemore masks, which are ultra-thin, essence soaked masks, introduced to me via MaskGenie.   Beautibi introduced me to Annie’s Way this year via their jelly masks, but I really was also interested in their facial sheet masks.   A reader noticed that Beauteque.com just started to carry Annie’s Way Facial sheet masks in collection kits and I promptly picked three of the five collections.  I started to use them and fell in love!   Since I had a huge chin-zit crop up over some night skincare testing (arrghh, stay tune for that review in October and why I have this zit!), I went with the Anti-Acne collection first, but I will chug thru my 2 other collections, Moisturizing  and Soothing/Anti-Allergy as well.  Each collection contains 10 masks ~ 5 masks x 2.

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I originally posted my photos and comments on IG and as you can see by my IG posts below, I don’t have a lot of viewer activity ~ I would love it if you followed me on Instagram and comment too.  I really want to engage and connect with my readers.   I am friendly, so don’t be afraid to comment or ask questions 🙂  I won’t ignore you!

Annie’s Way Anti-Acne Masks Characteristics

All of the Annie’s Way masks I tried  in this review are ultra thin masks, soaked in essence.   They have a “pearl paper” (plastic sheet) to help place the mask on your face without ripping the thin mask, and then you remove the pearl paper.   These masks remind me of Lovemore masks, another brand I adore, but it so hard to find online ~ they are always sold out.  The fit is very good around my face, not a lot of open areas or bunching up and it does fit like a second skin.  In fact, once it is smoothed into place, you can barely see the mask.   When the sheet is removed, you can see the different open weaves in the mask sheet.

Established in 2009, Annie’s Way mask sheet material is imported from Japan and it is made from silk, based on the sticker on the front of the box.  

Their products go through intense quality control processes and are insured for NT$10,000,000 (about $308,689 USD) ~ that is how confident they are about their products and safety.

Anti Acne Mask Line

Clarifying set contains five different types of sheet mask that address the diverse issues inherent in acne prone skin. Tea tree oil deep-cleanses, killing acne-causing bacteria deep within pores. Royal jelly and green tea then normalizes sebum production, while seaweed extract boosts the immunity level and reverses the effects of environmental damage. Witch hazel clears up clogged pores and refines pore size, leading to a visibly smoother and clearer complexion.

Royal Jelly Anti-Oil

Royal Jelly Anti-Oil mask has a light sweet honey scent, and it left my face hydrated and it DID control my oil.  I waited 20 minutes after I removed this mask, and I could tell that my face was not dry, but also that my face was not oily either.   This is a great morning mask. 

 

Description: Royal Jelly controls skin’s oil production, helping to minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and improves skin’s texture, making it soft and supple. It also protects skin from premature skin aging.

Ingredients: water, carbomer, butylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, honey extract, collagen, panthenol, fragrance, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, propylene glycol, potassium iodide, algae extract, glycerin, coco glucoside, royal jelly, honey, propolis extract,potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, methylisothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate  cosDNA.com analysis

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Witch Hazel Anti-Acne

This mask has a faint scent, but it isn’t witch hazel and I am not sure what it is, but it isn’t unpleasant and it is faint.  Again, this mask felt great on ~ very cooling,  and when I took it off, my face was not tacky or sticky with any residue, the essence had been absorbed quickly.  However, my face felt hydrated and I could see that my chin-zit (I haven’t named it, because it won’t be around long enough for me to feel sentimental about it) was less red and my pores were very clean and smaller looking.  I know, pore size cannot be shrunk, but you can temporarily make them look smaller.

 

Description: Witch Hazel extract is a natural pore minimizer. It clears up clogged pores and oily secretions, leaving your skin visibly clean, smooth, and toned. 

Ingredients: water, carbomer, butylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, propylene glycol, glycerin, fragrance, panthenol, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, quercus robur (oak) root extract, hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) leaf extract,  methylisothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate cosDNA.com analysis

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Tea Tree Anti Acne

This strongly tea tree scented mask is designed to really clean out your pores and skin, and help heal, as tea tree contains antibacterial properties.   If you don’t like tea tree scents, then you will not be happy with the scent of this mask.  I am very strange and LOVE the smell of tea tree ~ I find it to be such a clean scent ~ and this also contains green tea leaf extract which has powerful anti-oxidants.

 

Description: Tea tree oil extract deep cleanses skin, removing deep seated dirt and oily secretions, clearing clogged pores to give your skin a clean refreshing radiant look and feel.

Ingredients: water, carbomer, butylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, propylene glycol, panthenol, fragrance,  dipotassium glycyrrhizate, camellia sinensis leaf extract, methoxy-PEG-7 rutinyl succinate, arctium lappa root extract, sodium benzoate, methylparaben, sorbic acid, methylisothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate  cosDNA.com analysis

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Seaweed Anti-Acne

This one is highly emollient and smells like aloe, as it does contain aloe vera extract in it as well as seaweed.  Seaweed has highly moisturizing proprieties as it contains essential fatty acids that not only moisturize but prevent moisture loss.  The essence is very slick on my skin, but not greasy or oily.  My skin felt refreshed and since seaweed is also an anti-inflammatory, it helped reduce the swelling and redness of my blemish.  Seaweed also draws out toxins in your skin, so it removes dirt, debris and dead skin cells!

 

Description: Seaweed helps to protect your skin from degradation caused by harmful environmental influences. It controls skin’s oil production, giving you a healthy, radiant complexion.

Ingredients: water, carbomer, butylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, panthenol, fragrance, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, propylene glycol, potassium iodide, algae extract, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, phenoxyethanol, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, methylisothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate  cosDNA.com analysis

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Green Tea Relaxing

What a better way to round out the week by using the relaxing mask in this collection!  Made with green tea, full of antioxidants to combat free radicals, reverse damage to your skin and relieve your skin from environmental stress .  This is the only mask in this collection that contains alcohol, but I cannot smell any alcohol in the product ~ just the light, soothing fresh scent and green scent of green tea and a bit of light fruity sweet tone as well.   This is the best smelling mask out of the 5 ~ I feel like I should be sipping tea with some nice moon cakes on the side ~ reminder to myself ~ purchase moon cakes.   

This also has quince extract (pyrus cydonia), which is also highly moisturizing and has soothing proprieties and will help smooth skin.   I did take the pearl paper off the mask before placing on my face so I can show what the sheet looks like ~ do not do this!  The mask is so thin and fragile, that it was so difficult to put it on my face and it was not a good fit, as it tore and sagged.  This mask has so much essence that it will lose its shape if you remove the pearl paper before you apply it to your face.  I have to mention this again, the scent is amazing ~ too many times, green tea smells floral ~ this smells like a delicately brewed cup of green tea, imho.

 

Description: Green tea protects, moisturizes and controls skin’s oil production. It helps to relieves stress with its relaxing aroma relieving your tired skin, giving it a radiant glow.

Ingredients: water, carbomer, butylene glycol, sodium hyaluronate, panthenol, fragrance, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, propylene glycol,camellia sinensis leaf extract, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, alcohol, pyrus cydonia (quince) seed extract, sodium benzoate, methylparaben, methylisothiazolinone, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate  cosDNA.com analysis

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I am so seriously impressed by the Anti-Acne line by Annie’s Way.  All of these masks really left my skin hydrated, but not greasy, controlled the oil and help reduce that zit on my chin that was the by-product of a failed skincare product!  I used several items to combat that chin-zit, but these masks really helped in deflated and reducing swelling.    I do believe they helped stop other blemishes from cropping up around that monster ~ usually, when there is one, it has some friends that show up later.    I do think that if you have oily or oily to combo skin, you might really enjoy these, even if you do not have blemishes.  These masks do not dry out your skin at all, but they seem to neutralize the extra oil.  Honestly, I haven’t tried anything like this before.   I really like that Annie’s Way has marketed their packs as a variety pack, which gives you a lot of different types of masks to try before deciding when ones work best.  In the Anti-Acne line, there isn’t one dud.  I like them all but if I had to choose two that I loved the best, it would be the Royal Jelly Anti-Oil and Tree Tree Anti-Acne  and for scent alone, the Green Tea Relaxing one was the best ~ but they are all great, and I would use any of them, any time.

As with any product, please check the ingredient list to see if you have any sensitivity or allergies to the ingredients.  Methylisothiazolinone and iodopropynyl butylcarbamate are  ingredients in all of the Anti-Acne masks and both are used for their preservative and anti-fungal properties.  Both of these compounds can be a skin irritant, but this is in such low quantities, as both of these ingredient are near the end of the list, that it is deemed not harmful, according to the experts.

Annie’s Way Collection Packs are sold at beauteque.com for $14.00 for a set of 10 masks, 2 of each type, so they are a relatively inexpensive mask at $1.40 a piece.   I purchased mine at beauteque.com, which does ship internationally to certain countries.   Beauteque has a current promo code of FALL10, which will give you a discount of 10% off your purchase ~ good until 10/16/2015

 

[ description in italics from product package.  All products purchased by me ]