Tuesday 26 June 2012

Plastic Fantastic: Sanctuary 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask

I have been holding off reviewing Sanctuary 5 Minute Thermal Detox Mask for a few weeks as I wanted to be really sure of my thoughts on the product. I am glad I did, because time made all the difference...


Boots recently did a "3for2" special on their skin care stuff and I picked up a few bits that I was meaning to try. This 100ml tube costs €13.75, and I happen to think its worth every penny. I like that my Boots generally always has this in stock too (not like the cleansing balm that I have to wait 6 weeks for...)

Sanctuary says:


Ok great what ever. I was looking for a clay mask, this one takes 5 minutes to suck out the gunk, I can spare 10 minutes a week before I hit the sack, so in my basket it went. I really like that the ingredients list was simple...


First impressions are a bit sketchy... it comes out of the tube in a funny greyish green, very plastic-y looking gel, it is thick. It is hard to move around, and you need about the amount of a €2 coin to do your whole face.  It smells of nothing. I couldn't for the life of me detect a smell, the Hubs said its smells faintly herbal, "But its extremely faint". I had this stuff smooshed all around my schnoz and I smelled nothing. 



Spreading it onto the auld visage is a bit of a thing. It takes a bit of elbow grease to spread what looks like liquid plastic over moistened skin and while you are trying to trowel it on, it heats up on contact with the moisture on your skin, so you work especially hard to spread it quickly so as not to lose the heating effect so that the Kaolin can suck out the pore-gunk. 


The heating effect is a bit of an initial shock, it feels almost instantly too hot, but for me, it was a split second feeling and it moved quickly into a lovely warmness that enveloped my skin.

Ooh... Its warm....
The downside is that the warming effect wears off very quickly. I recon it only lasts about 2 minutes. But then it it only supposed to be on your skin for 5 minutes.

I used this at night, before I went to bed, so I didn't really notice a massive difference in my face immediately after using it, but then I was focussed on getting ready for bed: removing the mask with my trusty face cloth and warm water, then toning with my rose-water & witch-hazel toner followed with moisturiser (applied whilst nearly asleep). You could use this in the morning, its only on for 5 minutes, but for me, I like to mask before bed...


What I did notice, was that in certain places on my face, the clay seemed to move to the more oily parts of my face... All By Itself... odd...


a very bad plastering job....
And I have to say I wasn't overly blown away the next morning either... I didn't notice a difference at all in fact, well, not until later on in the day when my t-zone felt less oily than it normally would... I put it down to the weather, but I was wrong...

I was bloody pissed off after two weeks of using the mask (I used it 5 times in 2 weeks) and I had THE MOST HORRIFIC breakout EVER. It coincided with "that time of the month" so it was extra special sore and horrible. But then I realised what was happening. I had hit the dreaded purge stage.....

Deep breath. Fine. I just kept using the mask 2 times a week and keeping my skin as clean as I possibly could. I only used foundation when I absolutely had to, and removed it as soon as I got home and I upped my water in take, and set a reminder on my phone to take my Evening Primrose Capsules.

After just a week I could see an improvement on my skin. Less oil-slick on the t-zone and breakouts were calmer. Another week and even the stubborn congestion around my chin was clearing up and my skin was smoother and less bumpy. My next Hormonal Breakout was a walk in the park. I got one small cyst-like pimple on my forehead, but that was it... Awesome.

It's taken around 8 weeks, but my skin, to me, is really looking good. The congestion on my chin and jawline has shown the biggest improvement. I am a happy camper. AND I still have about 1/3 of a tube left, so it is pretty good value for money.

Happy clay face :)

This is deffo a product I will be repurchasing and using regularly. And I while I will quite happily pay full price for it, I will stock up when Boots has its offers on...


7 comments:

  1. Sounds good - love your photos!

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  2. Oh, you were so brave to keep going through the purge!! My beautician (the one I see about once a year when I have a few quid for a facial!) tells me it takes about 7 weeks to see whether a product is working or not... I'm definitely gonna give this a try (Boots 3for2 watch out!) ...

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    Replies
    1. I nearly chucked it out, bt I am glad I stuck it out. I have my next one in the cupboard waiting to be used as soon as my first tube runs out.

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  3. This product lasts absolutely ages, I have been using mine for a couple of months now and have half left!! Please check out my review at http://hiddentreasure21.blogspot.co.uk/ xxx

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  4. I brought a packet size on Sunday, looks like I'm going to get a tube! Thank Girlwiththeskew-Earring.

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  5. Got the single packet version on Sunday, looks like I'll be buying the tube now. Thanks for the tips. 👍

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