This was the most expensive thing in my Tony Moly haul. I was shocked. One, because the store didn't have a price tag anywhere
near this mask set, and two,
THERE ARE ONLY 5 MASKS. That's $10.80 for each mask!! Which altogether is nowhere near SK-II's masks or the "fancier" brand sheet masks at Sephora, but I definitely had some sticker shock when the clerk rang me up.
On the box the 5 Day Project promises: "A clinical-quality sheet with vegetable stem cells, it promotes skin exfoliation for total skin care and gives 5 types of care."
I bought this mask set over individual masks because it was packaged as a complete set. With other masks one can argue that you need prolonged use or multiple uses to get the "full benefits" of the mask. This comes packaged in a 5 Day Format, so I think you should at least expect to see results after 5 Days.
The masks, in order, are:
Day 1: Peeling
Day 2: Water Glowing
Day 3: Toning
Day 4: Lifting
Day 5: Total
So let's start off with Day One, shall we? As you can see on the package, the mask isn't a traditional face mask, but instead a "peel-off" mask composed of densely woven silk and a special mud. I didn't understand what they meant by "peel-off" mask, but you'll come on the journey of discovery with me.
Unfortunately this is the best before picture of my face that I have...
On the back of the mask it touts this description: "The peel-off mask is a new-concept mask created by the combination of highly dense silk and special mud. It makes skin smooth and bright by absorbing old dead skin cells and impurities from skin with its ingredients of volcanic ash extract and seaweed extract."
Already when I first opened it, it was a very, very dry mask.
The mask itself came in three separate parts: a white 'barrier" layer, the silk mask, and a brown application layer.
The mask stuck together a little bit and I had a hard time separating all the layers and applying them on my face.
The texture of this mask was really quite different. I was partially afraid I was going to destroy it by pulling it apart incorrectly, but I realized after manipulating the sheet for a little while the silk is quite strong. I tried to follow the instructions as much as I could, but I actually messed up immediately. You're supposed to put your top piece on first and your bottom piece later to layer.
I feel like these masks have a pretty quick drying time. You have a span of maybe 2-3 minutes where you can play around and adjust them on your face, but the mud and silk combo begins to harden quite quickly.
I tried to maximize the amount of "mask to skin coverage" there was by smoothing out all the creases that appeared during application.
Behold! Leatherface. Terrifying, I know. After you're satisfied with the placement and overlap of the two halves, you now have to wait for 40 minutes for it to dry. The drying process wasn't too difficult, but it certainly wasn't necessarily a "relaxing" experience. With all "mud" based masks the drying process can be slightly irritating. The mask dried so tightly around my face I was unable to talk after 20 minutes. As the mask dried I could feel it pulling the oil from my skin. Which is a good thing! Albeit a bit uncomfortable.
After the allotted time has elapsed and you look like a straight up serial killer, start peeling the dried mask away from your face, beginning with the parts closest to your ears.
You can visibly see where the mask didn't dry completely. This made the removal on my cheeks very easy, although it makes me wonder if my cheeks received the full benefits of this mask. The removal took slightly longer and was slightly more painful than I thought. The peeling sensation was similar to using a blackhead strip.
I definitely didn't peel the mask all off in one go, my pain tolerance was a little too low, but overall the mask wasn't difficult to get off.
I think that this mask actually made a pretty big difference in my skin. I know that my inflamed red areas definitely calmed down, partially because of the dusk-like sediment the mask left behind, but I also felt like it shrank my active acne.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with Day 1!