Best Face Masks For Every Skin Type 2020

Face marks aren’t necessarily deemed an essential part of a skincare routine - that accolade is firmly reserved for cleansers, moisturisers and SPFs, but I would beg to differ. Using a face mask at least once a week can dramatically improve the quality of your skin and it’s one of the best and easiest ways to show your body some love and self-care. I don’t know about you, but I think there’s no better or a more important time for some pampering and self-care than now. What with all the unsettling events currently happening in the outside world, the one thing we can control is our health and wellbeing. And looking after your skin is an essential part of that daily practise. After all “cleanliness is next to Godliness” and we should treat our bodies like a temple and that includes adding a great face mask to your skincare routine. So here’s our edit of the best face masks on the market for different usages and skin types!

Face masks used to fall into two categories, purifying and moisturising. Luckily beauty boom has significantly expanded the category, which now includes brightening, anti-ageing and many more. So many in fact that the multi-masking trend has started to look like a necessity for people with a lot of masks and only one face. A lot of improvements have been made texturally too; goodbye drying clay concoctions and heavy-feeling creams and hello silky formulas that can purify and hydrate at once.

Wondering how often should you use face masks? There’s no right answer; select the right products and you can use them daily, while once or twice a week is a good baseline rule. It can feel more than a little overwhelming to narrow down the best face masks for you—that’s why we’re rounding up our favourites below.

Purifying Masks

For many of us clay masks, possibly with a side of a walnut scrub, constituted first forays into beauty. Who doesn’t remember covering their face in the thick concoction only to watch it dry and then try to crack the newly-formed film by grimacing in the mirror? It couldn’t have been just me! Thankfully, those drying formulas are a thing of the past and it’s now much more common to find clays in combination with soothing and detoxifying ingredients.

For me, the best clay masks combine the substance with lightly exfoliating components and a dose of something to calm. La Roche Posay’s Effeclar mask uses kaolin clay with panthenol; Instant Detox Mask from Caudalie blends pink clay with papaya enzymes to work its magic, while Sisley’s Deeply Purifying Mask uses white clay, benzoin and burdock extracts to clear and tighten pores. But a word of advice: don’t feel like you need to apply a clay mask all over; instead keep it to areas that get congested and follow up with a hydrating mask for a speedy at home facial.

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Anti-ageing Masks

Let’s discuss the heavy hitters of this category and the term ‘anti-ageing masks’. We’re firmly in the pro-ageing camp (let’s not discuss the alternative) but many brands continue to use the term as a stand in for ‘this mask contains beneficial ingredients, can soften fine lines, and provide a temporary firming effect.’ Not exactly catchy, right? So, anti-ageing label aside, I tend to reach for one of these when I spot a pillow crease that’s hanging around a little too long or before an event, to create a perfectly smooth canvas. Susanne Kaufman’s Lifting Mask uses fermented blossom extract from the white lupine to create a firming effect on the skin while Allies of Skin Retinal Peptide Mask combines two active powerhouses, peptides and retinaldehyde, to work its magic overnight.

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Hydrating Masks

When my skin feels uncooperative, usually when the weather changes rapidly or an extra glass of wine passes my lips the night before, I reach for a hydrating mask. Most skin types can benefit from having a hydrating mask in the skincare arsenal as they tend to be unfussy, providing instant relief to parched complexions through a combination of ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and aloe vera. While you don’t need to spend a lot on a hydrating mask (Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Mask does the trick every time, especially when kept in the fridge), I can’t help but love Seed To Skin’s The Golden Dew Intense Hydrating Mask. Its hydrogel texture melts into the skin, plumping and hydrating instantly; rose water, calendula extract, and rosehip oil work to soothe and infuse my skin with antioxidants too.

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Glow and Radiance Boosting Masks

There are some days when I can’t tell what my skin wants. It’s a little dry, the texture could be better, maybe a hint of dullness has set in that a serum just won’t shift. That’s when I disregard the rest of my masking arsenal, choosing instead a product that promises to deliver radiance and glow. Susanne Kaufmann’s Glow Mask utilises coffee, ginger, and papaya enzymes to boost circulation and refine skin texture in under fifteen minutes. I reach for the Rescue Mask by Eve Lom when I want a slightly gentler approach, it delivers all the radiance (thanks to glycolic acid) in a formula that’s rich in nourishing oils like grapeseed, camelina, and hempseed.