It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these. I have too many masks and too little time. Since time is of the essence, let’s have 5 quick reviews.
With all of these masks, without exception, I felt that my undereye area was hydrated and the skin looked plump. None remove any wrinkles (not even temporarily) nor eliminated dark circles (just not possible). If you are using an undereye mask with those expectations, only two outcomes are possible: you’re disappointed because it doesn’t work, or you are happy and delusional.
These masks mainly provide hydration and may help with wrinkle prevention (only some of them) with regular use. Let’s see which ones are worth that regular expenditure.
Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks Review
A gold mask for my undereye area… how fancy am I? Well, not much, because these masks are foiled just on the outside, and I’ve been fooled inside and out, since I thought gold was an ingredient (it’s not). The inside of the patches, the part that actually touches your skin, is just plain white. Not the first time that being plain white disappoints (and certainly not gonna be the last).
After that little intro dogging on this thing, you would think this isn’t that good. Well, it is good. Very good. These eye patches did not slid down/off of my face, they are comfortable to wear, and ingredients wise, this is stellar. To be honest, gold adds as much to your skin as diamond powder would add to your coffee. I wanted the gold for the fanciness, not the efficacy.
This contains a lot of soothing ingredients like aloe vera and other plant extracts that also double as antioxidants, and a ton of skin-identical ingredients that contribute to a healthier skin barrier. But above all, it has peptides (good for wrinkle prevention), particularly Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, which is know as the “Botox in a jar” ingredient – a gross exaggeration, and even more so taking into account the amount that is probably present in this mask, but still – one if the ingredients that would make the most sense having in an undereye skincare product. Sidenote: the ingredients list has been updated since I’ve gotten mine, and even though the ingredients are more or less the same, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 is way up in the list so probably at a higher concentration, which is a good thing).
Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Xanthan Gum, Polyglyceryl-4 Caprate, Panthenol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Myrciaria Dubia Fruit Extract, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Glyceryl Caprylate, Sodium hyaluronate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil , Lecithin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Natto Gum, Glycine, Serine, Glutamic Acid, Beta-glucan, Aspartic Acid, Leucine, Alanine, Lysine, Arginine, Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Proline, Valine, Isoleucine, Histidine, Methionine, Cysteine, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Copper Tripeptide
Made in Korea, 30€ for a pack of 6.
Repurchase? Maybe (it’s pricey though).
Rating: 9/10.
Patchology Serve Chilled Bubbly Eye Gels
First impressions, these eyepatches are as bubbly as a soda can that has been open for a week. There are no bubbles or effervescence at all. And I used them right out of the fridge as indicated, but I didn’t notice they were cooler because of it. Other masks are equally as cool on the skin, so that felt like a waste of time.
Just like most other gel patches I’ve tried, these kept sliding down the skin. As it dried, it happened less. I did found some bubbles on the gel patches when I removed them, or at least I dreamed I did. Gosh, they had a gimmick and it really didn’t work.
Ingredients wise, it’s pretty good. Quite a lot of soothing antioxidant extracts, niacinamide (always welcome) and a bit of vitamin C to help brighten the area. This is not as focused on wrinkle “elimination” as other eye patches on this list might be, but it’s good to balance out dark circles.
Ingredients: Water (Aqua/Eau), Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Ceratonia Siliqua (Carob) Gum, Chondrus Crispus Powder, Betaine, Chondrus Crispus Extract, Butylene Glycol, Centella Asiatica Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract, Morus Nigra Fruit Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Gardenia Florida Fruit Extract, Hydrolyzed Gardenia Florida Extract, Niacinamide, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Resveratrol, Cellulose Gum, Algin, Xanthan Gum, 1,2-Hexanediol, Potassium Chloride, Glyceryl Caprylate, Sucrose, Polysorbate 20, Ethylhexylglycerin, Dextrin, Maltodextrin, Acacia Senegal Gum, Peat Water, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Potassium Sorbate, Disodium Edta, Fragrance (Parfum), Limonene
Made in Korea, 3,50€ each.
Repurchase? No, though cheap I’d rather have something that targets wrinkle prevention more.
Rating: 7/10.
Wishful Eye Lift & Snatch Review
These eyepatches were probably the easiest to use I’ve ever tried. All the serum was on the gel patch, nothing left outside of it – which meant less mess. These patches do not slide down, even though the instructions say to reposition as needed. In fact, their hold on my undereye area was so strong I had difficulty looking down!
These patches in particular felt refreshing. They contain an ingredient I haven’t seen much: Gluconolactone. It’s a PHA (similar to an AHA, but without the irritation) so it exfoliates the skin by lifting off dead skin cells. It also moisturises, works as an antioxidant and it helps with wrinkles in the long term. Besides that, I’m very happy to see collagen-production-inducing peptides so far up the ingredients list. For a brand which success I associate the success more to the celebrity status of the owner than actual performance, this is pretty well done. I’ll be looking more into Wishful skincare now.
Wishful Eye Lift & Snatch Review Ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Agar, Sodium Polyacrylate, Polyacrylic Acid, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Calanthe Discolor Extract, Rosa Centifolia Flower Water, Chrysin, Tocopherol, Tartaric Acid, Cetyl Ethylhexanoate, Steareth-20, Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, Aluminum Glycinate, Xanthan Gum, Gluconolactone, Sodium Benzoate, N- Hydroxysuccinimide, Cellulose Gum, Vegetable Oil/Olus/Huile Végétale, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Gluconate, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Disodium Edta, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance/Parfum.
Made in Korea, 4,52€ each.
Repurchase? Maybe. If they get cheaper in a pack.
Rating: 8/10.
StarSkin VIP The Gold Mask Eye Review
Just like the Wander Beauty eye mask, reviewed above, these “gold” eye patches are white on the inside and there is no gold in the ingredients. The gold is just for an insta photo op. The patches are pretty large but not heavy, they did not slide down the face and they felt quite cooling. A pleasant user experience.
I’ve sang praises abut StarSkin before because they had really well formulated masks. And I expected to be doing the same for these patches except StarSkin completely changed the formula (while keeping the same product name). They boast about the (new) mask containing 83% rose water, and I don’t know why that’s a flex. Rose water may have some antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, but it’s also a potentially sensitising ingredient that you may want to avoid using in your eye area.
And it’s not even that the new formula is that bad, but it focuses more on humectants and moisturising ingredients, and they stopped including Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, which I think makes sense for an undereye mask and is harder to find (see first review on this post for why). The formula I tried had quite a few soothing and moisturising ingredients, so I didn’t feel like their previous version was lacking anything.
StarSkin VIP The Gold Mask Eye Ingredients: Selaginella Lepidophylla Extract, Butylene Glycol , Glycerin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Water, Ruscus Aculeatus Root Extract, Hedychium Coronarium Root Extract, Althaea Officinalis Root Extract, Sedum Sarmentosum Extract, Myrciaria Dubia Fruit Extract, Arginine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate , Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Allantoin, Meteorite Extract, Castanea Crenata Shell Extract, Chenopodium Album Flower Extract, Rehmannia Glutinosa Root Extract, Plantago Asiatica Extract, Dipropylene Glycol , Trehalose, Panthenol, Carbomer, Hydroxyacetophenone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Polyglyceryl-10 Myristate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Chlorphenesin, Fragrance.
Made in Korea, 7€ each.
Repurchase? It was reformulated, so no.
Rating: 7/10 for my version, 5/10 for the reformulation.
Skimono Radiance Recovery 4C
These eye patches have a different shape than what you would typically see. They’re like crab claws, you can use it folded just under the eyes or unfolded and use it on the lids as well (that’s what I did). They were packed full of serum and barely slid while I wore them (25 min). My skin felt very hydrated afterwards, as I expected.
Formula wise, this contains a few humectants, vitamin C (always a great ingredient for an undereye mask, helps brighten the area), and a few peptides, which I’m happy to see. I just wished that fragrance wasn’t higher up the list than the vitamin C and the peptides. I don’t mind fragrance in a mask that I’ll use occasionally, since I don’t think the skin will be exposed to it for enough time to develop sensitivity, but I rather have a higher concentration of the good stuff.
Skimono Radiance Recovery 4C Eye Mask Ingredients: Aqua, Glycerin, Lecithin, Hydroxyacetophenone, 1,2-Hexanediol, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Pentylene Glycol, PVP, Sodium Polyacrylate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sorbitan Caprylate, Propylene Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Euglena Gracilis Polysaccharide, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Extract, Hydrolyzed Rice Bran Extract, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Fragrance, 3-O-Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7.
Created in Great Britain, manufactured in Taiwan. 10£ per mask.
Repurchase? No, too expensive.
Rating: 6/10.
