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!
FYI: This box has had significant shipping delays. This is the January box and was received in late February.
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: $15 per month + $3.95 U.S. shipping. Save with 6- and 12-month subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off of your subscription
CODE: SHEETFACED
The Products: 9 masks of all kinds, straight from Korea and Taiwan. Most are facial sheet masks, but you will sometimes see a hair mask, hand mask, or lip mask, too.
Ships to: The U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia (see international shipping costs during checkout)
Beauteque Mask Maven January 2021 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:
1 of 4
The box came with this information card. This month's theme was "Little Box of Self Love."
On to the items:
Beauty Treats Oatmeal Oxygen Bubble Mask – Estimated Value $1.20 (buy 24 for $28.80)
This is a mask you are meant to put on briefly and then wash off (common with bubble masks). When the product inside hits the air, it starts bubbling, which is allegedly supposed to exfoliate. (It’s hard to judge that after one use but this is a common type of claim for this type of mask to make.) This has papaya, which may provide some gentle enzymatic exfoliation, green tea, which is a source of antioxidants, and bamboo extract which, among other things, has carbohydrate polymers that may hang onto moisture near the surface of the skin, temporarily minimizing the look of fine lines. Oatmeal, of course, is soothing.
I do enjoy masks like this every now and then. Usually, my problem is that there is too much product in the package and some go to waste; this time, however, I kind of wish there had been a little more, as the lower left quadrant of my face didn’t get enough to product to produce the bubbles. Perhaps if I am more careful applying the second package (there are two uses here) I will have better results.
Beauty Treats Charcoal Purifying Facial Mask – Retail Value $1.99
Charcoal in masks is supposed to help clear pores and absorb oil. There is precedent for this; in chemistry labs, you often do run your product over charcoal in order to remove impurities. I mostly have problems with my pores on my nose and I think this helped a little, but I would also want to use it for a few days or weeks to really see an effect.
This may also absorb excess oil; I certainly did not find it drying but then my skin is quite oily, to begin with. Those with other skin types may have different results in this regard.
Beauty Treats Avocado Collagen Face Mask – Retail Value $2.99
Avocado is a good source of plant oils, which of course are moisturizing. (For my skin type, plant-based moisturizers tend to work better than silicones or mineral oils.) It also has collagen. Collagen is a massive protein that can’t get absorbed by the skin (it’s too big for that) but it will stay on the surface of the skin and hold on to water molecules so you may see a plumping effect or minimization (temporarily) of fine lines.
This one did not have a strong scent and absorbed into my skin fairly nicely.
Etude House Therapy Air Mask, Lemon – Retail Value $1.30
I was a bit worried that this was going to have an artificial lemon cleaner-type smell, but it didn’t. It was light and pleasant and comes from essential oils rather than artificial fragrances. This one is supposed to be hypoallergenic and good for sensitive skin. At any rate, it did not irritate my skin (I am actually more sensitive to essential oils than to artificial fragrances). This has a really thin sheet that is supposed to help your skin breathe while you’re wearing it.
This one has vitamin C, an antioxidant, and niacinamide, which may help brighten your skin and/or reduce redness. This may be a good one as the weather starts getting warmer and you spend more time outside (although it is not a substitute for a good sunscreen!).
Mediheal Collagen Impact Essential Mask – Retail Value $3.50 (found here for $1.75)
This is the first of two masks from this brand. I thought it had a nice level of serum and didn’t take too long to dry. This has marine collagen (so probably a byproduct of fish or shellfish processing). We’ve talked about collagen up above and the effects would be the same here. This also has elastin which is supposed to help with skin elasticity but again, I’m not sure it’s small enough to penetrate the skin. At any rate, I did feel this was nicely moisturizing and I wasn’t too oily later in the day after using it.
Skin Planet Amino Solution Cream Mask
I couldn’t find this for sale online in the US, only from Russian websites I’ve never heard of before, so I don’t have a value for it. Anyway, this has a cream instead of a serum. To be honest, it didn’t absorb into my skin well. I think a skincare product like this may be better as a moisturizer in a tube or pump bottle; I think having the mask sheet over it prevented it from really settling into my skin. Amino acids *may* be small enough to penetrate the skin although honestly, your best bet is probably just eating something with some protein if getting more amino acids is your goal.
JNN-II Urban Daily Routine Cooling Mask – Retail Value $1.99
Cooling may sound exciting to some people but it’s about the last thing I want! (I drive around in August in Atlanta with the AC off and the windows up. Seriously, I am cold all the time. Working from home I bundle up with two blankets and a space heater.)
Anyway, this is supposed to calm sensitive skin and it has a few ingredients like cucumber extract and allantoin that may help with that. There are also a lot of plant extracts (carrot, tomato, pepper) that will provide antioxidants, and a lot of moisturizing ingredients, like sodium hyaluronate, trehalose, and potato pulp extract (another source of carbohydrate polymers). Luckily this one warmed up after I had it on for a minute or two.
Mediheal NMF Aquaring Ampoule Mask – Estimated Value $3.50
Like the other Mediheal mask, this one had a good level of serum for me. This has hyaluronic acid and ceramide, which of course are moisturizing, both from a water-based (hyaluronic acid holds on to water) and a lipid-based (ceramide) perspective.
This one is also supposed to control sebum; I guess at the end of the day my face wasn’t a total oil slick after using this in the morning, so maybe there is some truth to that.
Peripera Smoothie Time Pomegranate Mask Sheet – Retail Value $0.89 (found here for $0.59)
I can’t find much about the ingredients for this one. I did not find it particularly strongly scented (this is good!) although I found it to be very, very drippy (so it’s moisturizing, I guess?). Pomegranate, as a highly-colored fruit, is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants. If you don’t mind masks with tons of serum, this one is inexpensive and thus feasible for daily use from a cost perspective.
Verdict: I couldn't calculate a total value for the January 2021 Beauteque Mask Maven because one of the items was not available from reliable and/or U.S.-based retailers but the rest of the masks had a retail value of $17.36. Mask Maven is always fun for me. There are rarely repeats and I enjoy looking up all the ingredients (when I can find them in English) to see what they’re supposed to do. I also just enjoy spending a few minutes relaxing while using sheet masks, and my skin is nevermore moisturized than the week or so after I receive this package.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, this was the January package. You have to sign up by the 15th to get a current month's box, so your first box would probably be April’s box.
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 10% off of your subscription
CODE: SHEETFACED
Value Breakdown: At $18.95 ($15 + $3.95 shipping) for this box, you are paying approximately $2.11 per mask.
Check out all of our past Mask Maven reviews and the best skincare boxes of 2021 as voted by MSA readers!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What did you think of the January 2021 Beauteque Mask Maven? Do you get any K-Beauty or Asian Beauty subscriptions?
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