white tea & plum roses

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! I certainly haven't been writing a lot this past week, sorry. February is always kind of hectic in our family because of birthdays, taxes, and Chinese New Year. Speaking of birthdays, I recently got myself an iMac so I've been trying to get used to all the functions and different shortcuts, as well as transferring all the files from my old laptop. Since I have no plans for Valentaine's Day anyway (sobs), I finally have time to write!

After finally having time in my life again, I met up with some friends for a nice get-together dinner. One of my friends' mom had just come back from Hong Kong with an extensive mask haul apparently. She gifted us all each a different type of Annie's Way sheet mask, a Taiwanese mask brand that is relatively popular in HK. Having at this point, never trying masks other than korean masks, I was really delighted to be able to try this brand.

For those of you who are not familiar with Annie's Way, they are a Taiwanese Mask brand established in 2009 exclusively for masks of all types. The sheet material is 100% imported from Japan and all of their products go through extensive quality control to give consumers the safest and best products. Other than sheet masks, they also have jelly masks, soaps, and now even skincare products. More information can be found on their website; here.

Starting off, I just want to say that the packaging is really nice. It's very minimal and looks very elegant. The colour of the packaging is dependent on the function of the masks. The pink ones are generally for sensitive skin.

Function: Chamomile keeps skin supple and smooth. Infusing over sensitive and dry skin with moisture to regain your skin’s healthy glow.

I chose the chamomile one out of the other ones that she brought since my skin wasn't feeling too great at the time (as mentioned in a previous post). Surprisingly though, most of us in the group of friends do have relatively sensitive skin to begin with. Being all from the same line of work at some point, we all looked at the ingredients list almost immediately after receiving these. I was very surprised and delighted to see the extremely short ingredients list. With only five ingredients, it seemed almost too good to be true. There was no mineral oil, alcohol, paraben, or any other harmful ingredients in the list. This is however only the MAIN ingredients and not the full list.

Full list of ingredients: Dist water.Carbopol 980.Butylene Glycol.Chamomile Extract.Soy Extract.Vitamin E.Allantoin.Dipotassium Glycyrrhizinate.D-panthenolB5.Methylisothiazolinone.Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate.

You can find the full list of ingredients on the official website listings for each product. While the full list is not too much longer, it is kind of misleading to only have the main ingredients on the packaging. The only ingredients that I found to be somewhat questionable are the Methylisothiazolinone (MIT) and Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate (IPBC). They are both relatively strong preservatives of which have somewhat harmful properties if one has constant or over exposure to.

There isn't any artificial fragrances and the smell was very very subtle. It was a very calming floral scent that wasn't over powering. The mask was sufficiently soaked and had a plastic sheet to make it easier to open up I assume. The plastic sheet actually confused me but it kept the cloth of the sheet from sticking to each other.

I had only a small problem with the fitting of the mask. The cutouts for the eyes and the lips were a little on the smaller side. The cutting for the eyes were a little small and closer together than many of the ones I've tried before, the mask would touch the outer corner of my eyes. The philtrum area was too thick and it actually covered my upper lip as well. Otherwise, I think the fitting is okay.

In terms of results, my skin definitely felt more hydrated and soft. It slightly reduced the redness of my skin but not to the extent that it was fully gone. There was no further reaction so it is definitely good for sensitive skin. It basically does what it is supposed to, I don't expect masks to go beyond their descriptions to impress me. Overall, it is a satisfying mask. I didn't expect too much and it gave me exactly what was promised.

Pros:
- Subtle floral smell
- Hydrating, moisturizing
- Attractive Packaging

Cons:
- Questionable preservatives
- Small fitting

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day whether you have a companion or not. I'll send you my love and chocolates all the same. Feel free to follow me on bloglovin now if you like my posts, it'll probably make it easier to follow!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin