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Today we are going to explore one of my new favorite sheet masks by famous Korean brand Banobagi. Professionals from many beauty groups (medical, surgical, pharmaceutical) came together to develop unique and safe products.
If you are searching for a product that will boost hydration of your skin, then Banobagi Vita Genic Hydrating Jelly Mask is what you need.
Why skin hydration is so important for your skin?
Before we dive deeper into hydration, I wanted to point out that there is a difference between hydrating and moisturizing products.
Moisturizing products create a seal on the surface of your skin to prevent water from escaping. Examples of moisturizing products are oils and fats.
Hydrating products, on the other hand, absorb water from atmosphere or your skin and hold it in place on your skin. Examples of hydrators are hyaluronic acid and glycerin.
Your skin needs both products: you need to gather and hold water in place on your skin and then seal it off with a moisturizer, so water does not leave your skin.
Let’s go back to out question: why does your skin needs hydration?
- From the very cosmetic view very well hydrated skin look plump, glowing, young and healthy looking.
- If your skin is dehydrated, it starts loosing its tone, so all your small wrinkles and fine lines become more obvious.
- Dehydrated skin produces more oil, because it’s trying to compensate lack of moisture. So even if you have oily skin type, you still need to hydrate your skin on a regular basis.
- If your skin is dehydrated it is more prone to any type of irritants: environmental like wind, dust, heat, cold; hormonal, especially during your period; and others.
- Dehydrated skin generally looks dull and tired due to lack of oxygenation and nutrient delivery.
These are very few reasons to start hydrating your skin and hopefully, I convinced you 🙂
Hydrating your skin is a whole science and it is not easy to wrap all the things you have to do. That is why let’s start with very easy, yet efficient step to boost skin’s hydration – hydrating face mask.
There is a HUGE amount of hydrating masks on the market, I mean you probably can found thousands of different masks, that claim to hydrate your skin.
To make your search a bit easier, I wanted to review a very affordable mask that my skin really liked.
(This post contains an affiliate link. That means that if you make a purchase, I might receive a small commission at no extra cost to you).
Vita Genic Hydrating Jelly Mask
According to the manufacturer, this mask contains water from Jeju Island that is loaded with oxygen, vitamins and minerals necessary for appropriate hydration.
If you read the package, you will notice that it says something like “Liposome vitamin”, which made me really confused. After all I could not say that I was great at chemistry. So, if you are like me, and have no idea what “liposome vitamin” is, then let’s do some digging.
If we simplify what Wikipedia says, then liposome acts as a vesicle that transports vitamins, minerals and all the good staff from one place to another (Wikipedia). In this case from jelly sheet to deep layers of our lovely skin. So, this is a good thing, yeah!!! 🙂
Main ingredients of the Vita Genic Hydrating Jelly Mask
Glycerin – here is your hydrating agent that will plump and fill your skin cells with water and oxygen.
Ubiquione – in other words it is coenzyme Q10. It is a very powerful antioxidant that is able to repair sun damage. It also promotes skin elasticity, so slows down appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
Sodium ascorbyl phosphate – another powerful ingredient that can help slow down the aging process and the formation of fine lines and wrinkles.
Butylene Glycol – smoothes and softens the skin
Niacinamide – in other words it is vitamin B3, which helps visibly improve enlarged pores, uneven skin tone, fine lines and wrinkles, dullness, and a weakened surface.
Biotin – helps to regenerate skin cells quickly and easily.
Camellia Seed Oil – this is our moisturizer which protects water from escaping. Camellia seed oil absorbs very quickly without leaving oily residue and promotes cell growth giving skin support and flexibility.
Oxygen – stimulates body’s natural healing functions. It also boost collagen production and stimulates skin cells turnover.
Trehalose – this is a type of plant sugar. It is considered useful because of its rehydrating and water binding properties, as well as its antioxidant powers.
Hydrogenated castor oil – amazing oil suitable even for the most sensitive skin. It has strong anti-inflammatory properties protecting your skin from flare ups and redness.
Adenosin has soothing and anti-aging properties.
Hyaluronic acid – well, this is another hydrating agent which will boost your skin hydration.
As you can see this mask is full of hydrating and moisturizing as well as other excellent ingredients to keep your skin youthful, hydrated and oxygenated.
Awesome!
What about skin type?
Knowing your skin type is extremely important, because if you just apply any skin care product that is not suitable for your skin type, you will do more damage than good. If you are not familiar with different skin types, or just want to refresh your knowledge, please, read my extensive post HERE. You can also receive my FREE ebook Skin Care Basics where I in very specific details on how to determine your skin type, how to establish your skin routine and you will also receive a free worksheet, which will help you track your products.
How to apply the mask?
The application is quite standard and not different from other sheet masks application. Let’s read from manufacturer’s instructions:
- After cleansing face, use a toner.
- Gently unfold the mask and place it on your face; adjust it to fit your face better.
- After 15-20 minutes remove the mask and massage remaining serum onto the face.
- Do not apply around eyes.
Some tips from my experience. I waited 30 minutes, because I could not bring myself through out the mask that was still full of wonderful serum.
As with any hydrating product, you need to “seal” with with moisturizing one (remember, we said that moisturizing products form a protective barrier on the skin, that prevents water from escaping). We do not want water from the skin to be lost.
My impression of the mask
- Once you open the package, you will be stunned how much product is in that one small package. There is so much hydrating serum, that you can easily treat not only your face, but also your neck, chest and hands. And very generously, mind you.
- Jell-like serum has light and very pleasant smell; the jell is transparent in color.
- The sheet itself is made out of 100% cotton. And it is SOAKED in serum with all the goodies.
- Manufacturer wants you to keep this mask on your face for 15-20 min, but you can go all 30-40 min and your sheet will still be very wet enough to go for longer. However, I try my best to follow instructions, so I did not go over 30 minutes of application.
- Serum from the mask did not dry instantly after I removed the sheet, so I had to wait some time to be able to finally apply moisturizing cream (which locked in all the moisture from the mask).
- My skin really felt hydrated. I honestly felt like every cell in my skin was receiving much dreaded water (heating season started here, in Canada, so heated air is really drying my skin).
- My skin looked exactly how I wanted: plumped, glowing (as if I applied some shimmer), all small and yet upsetting tiny wrinkles became not visible (at least to me, lol).
- Keep in mind that this mask does have hyaluronic acid, which tends to give your skin sticky feeling. So after serum dries up, your skin might feel a bit sticky. So apply your moisturizer and go to bed. I do not think I could walk around with all these layer of skin care products without feeling overwhelmed.
- Doing this mask made me feel as if I had hydrating facial only in the comfort of my own home. An, obviously, for a fraction of price.
Would I recommend this mask? Absolutely. Especially when you factor the cost: it is less than $2 per mask!!! Sounds pretty good to me. And, in my opinion, the ration between price-quality is very reasonable.
I just used my last mask out of the whole package and I will definitely will be ordering more. After all, cold winter with its heating season could be very long in Canada. Keeping skin hydrated will be one of my battles for sure.
I purchased this mask from eBay LINK
Please, share your thoughts, experiences, tips in your skin care or drop us a comment.
Stay beautiful!!!