Poreclearing with The Face Shop's Volcanic Clay Mask

Hello hello~~~ (>__<) Apologies all around for my brief disappearance after my last post...or did nobody notice? ( T_T ) DIIIIIIID YOUUUUUU NOTICEEEEEE~~~~~~~

....... *awkward silence*

Anyway, moving on. I am still only about halfway sifting through my photos from the Japan trip since I was out of the country again for most of the past week so I shall, in the meantime, post about other stuff.

Today, The Face Shop's Volcanic Clay Blackhead Heating Gel Mask! I bought this in KL quite some time ago for about S$20-ish but only recently got round to using it. It's cheaper in Singapore though, under S$20 I think!

Back-of-the-tube info:

I must admit I'm a sucker for visual presentation and that little sticker showing the white foam turning into black totally did it for me =P It gives me the impression that 'something' has happened and the mask is doing 'something'. Now, what exactly is that 'something' is anybody's guess really...

This is what the dispensed product looks like:

Doesn't look quite so magical huh. =\ Yeah I was abit confused too, like "Did it spoil or separate in the tube?" But I just slapped it on anyway =)

The mask heats up quickly, within a couple minutes of application, but it's a fairly gentle warmth so I doubt it would be painful. As you massage it, it turns grey and finally a dark grey. It also becomes more watery as you massage.

The instructions weren't very clear so I wasn't sure whether to massage for the whole 15 minutes or just massage till it changes colour then leave the mask on for the rest of the 15 minutes. I eventually decided that I'm too lazy my nose will be rubbed raw if I massage for 15 minutes so settled for the latter method.

Here's a before pic:

 

 

Hmm...I now realize the before photo is really rather blurry.....damn...

 

Above is after a couple of uses, about 3 times I believe. I think it's slightly visible that my nose is a tad clearer, just that tiny little bit though.

 

After the first use, I was hoping to see lesser blackheads on my nose but there didn't seem to be a difference. So I took my extractor to my nose and the bits of gunk popped up more willingly than usual. So I deduce that this is more like a pore opener mask rather than straight up blackhead-ridding. So you still need to do your own extraction after washing off the mask, which puts some people off I know.

 

So in short, The Face Shop Volcanic Clay Blackhead Heating Gel Mask is:

• an inexpensive heating mask considering not much is required for T-zone use
• does help in opening up the pores thus making extraction easier and less painful but doesn't mean ALL your blackheads and assorted gunk will surrender
• warming effect is gentle and shouldn't hurt
• mask washes off easily with lukewarm water and doesn't leave the skin with any discomfort e.g: tightness, tackiness etc
• results should be much more visible on more serious cases of course

Would I buy this again? Mmmmm....nah. It doesn't really make that much of a difference to my blackhead situation. It was mildly interesting and I probably will continue usage since it's not entirely useless.

 

Have you found any good blackhead pwning products?

**21 May 2013 Edit: I have recently started using this gel mask as a pore prepper for my various peel off pore masks/packs and it helps a lot in removing extra gunk! Try it! =D