— The Catalog · Twelve Formats
Our full working catalog of facial mask formats — each profiled with its actives, texture and best use. This is an educational reference: we describe formats, we don’t sell them.
01 / FormatKaolin & bentonite · mineral clays
The original ritual. Mineral clays drink up excess oil and lift away what the day left behind, leaving skin matte, smooth and quietly rebalanced. Kaolin is the gentler of the pair; bentonite, the more absorbent. The format entire routines were once built around — and still earn a fixed night in the week.
02 / FormatMineral-rich mud · draw-out
The spa classic that earned its reputation twice over — once in resort brochures, once in bathrooms. Mineral-dense mud draws out impurities while its salts and trace minerals leave skin feeling tightened and freshly rinsed. The honest rule: treat it like clay’s more dramatic cousin, same ten-minute clock.
03 / FormatHydrogel or cotton · single-use
The ten-minute ritual. A pre-soaked sheet seals a serum against the skin, slowing evaporation to a whisper and letting humectants work undisturbed. No rinsing, no measuring, no mess — which is exactly why it became the most-traveled format in skincare, from red-eye flights to red-carpet prep.
04 / FormatActivated charcoal · purifying
The deep clean with the dramatic ingredient. Activated charcoal is enormously porous — a single gram unfolds the surface area of a tennis court — which is why it’s the classic pairing with clay for city skin and post-commute evenings. Matte finish, tight schedule: ten minutes, twice a week at most.
05 / FormatAloe barbadensis · cooling gel
The cool head of the range. Water-light gels carry aloe, cucumber and panthenol to skin that’s warm, flushed or simply tired of the sun — no oils, no film, nothing to rinse away but a fresh feeling. The fridge shelf is its natural habitat; the sensation is half the treatment.
06 / FormatEmollient cream · replenishing
The comfort blanket. Where clay takes away, cream gives back — ceramides, shea, squalane and oils that sit with skin for fifteen unhurried minutes and leave it fed rather than stripped. The winter-night answer to indoor heating, cold winds and calendars that forgot the humidifier.
07 / FormatFruit enzymes · gentle resurfacing
The polite exfoliant. Papaya’s papain — and pineapple’s bromelain beside it — quietly dissolves the loose, dull cells sitting on the surface instead of scrubbing them away. The result reads as glow rather than polish, which suits skin that finds acids and grains a little loud.
08 / FormatRaw honey & botanicals · soothing
The oldest entry in the journal. Honey is naturally humectant — it pulls water toward the surface of the skin and holds it there — and famously gentle, which is why it anchors the soothing end of the range. Warm it slightly between the fingers first; it spreads like a much more expensive product.
09 / FormatLeave-on formula · night repair
The overnight shift. Sleep masks are sealed-in moisturizers — humectants under an occlusive veil — that spend the night compensating for everything the day took out. Skin does most of its repair work after dark; the mask’s job is simply to keep the lights on and the door locked.
10 / FormatPhysical & chemical exfoliants
The once-a-week polish. These masks borrow from both worlds — fine grains that lift and acids or enzymes that dissolve — then stop, which is their whole discipline. Skin should look lit after, not red. The honest cadence our journal keeps: one night a week, and never on mask-triple nights.
11 / FormatFoaming microbubbles · effervescent
The one that makes people laugh. Bubble masks foam on contact — oxygen microbubbles fizzing across the face for five minutes — while mild cleansers ride along underneath. Half treatment, half theatre; the deep-clean feeling it leaves behind is as much relaxation as chemistry.
12 / FormatCucumber extract · de-puffing
The cliché that earned its place. Cucumber is mostly water held in cool, quiet structure — sliced over eyes in every spa photograph for a century because it genuinely feels like morning arriving early. Modern versions blend its extract into gels for tired, puffy, over-screened skin.