Prince of Darkness Fresh Face Mask

My first review will be an Oxford Street Exclusive - the Prince of Darkness Face Mask

Ingredients: Glycerine, Kaolin, Fullers Earth, Water, Powdered Charcoal, Labdanum Resinoid (Cistus labdaniferus), Patchouli Oil (Pogostemon cablin), Tincture of Benzoin (Styrax benzoin), Lavender oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Fine Sea Salt, Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool, Citral, Perfume.

Vegan

This little tub certainly packs a punch, acting as both as a scrub and cleanser. I think with the key ingredients, this mask would work well for those with a slightly oily and greasier complexion but could work equally well with those with a normal complexion.

Kaolin is the scrubbing ingredient which exfoliates and cleanses dead skin cells as well as getting rid of any impurities. Lush use cosmetic Kaolin rather than the clay that is used to make fine Bone China! This can be found in other products such as Mask of Magnaminty, T for Toes and Angels on Bare Skin.

Fuller's Earth is another clay that Lush has used in this mask and is designed to absorb excess oil and dirt and is an ingredient that can also be found in Love Lettuce Fresh Mask and Ayesha Fresh Mask and can also be used on the scalp to absorb excess oils such as in the Hair Doctor hair and scalp mask.

The Charcoal is what gives this facemask it's distinctive colour and is once again an ingredient that is being used to exfoliate the skin and to rebalance it be absorbing the excess oils, leaving your face deeply cleansed and glowing. This is also used in Coalface facial soap, the Guv'ner deodorant powder and Dark Angels cleanser.

The Lavender oil has also been added as it has antiseptic and anti bacterial properties and has been used medicinally to treat skin complaints, burns and sunburn and so I would imagine that this has been added to soothe any irritated sensitive skin caused by the exfoliating nature of the mask.

I applied this mask for 15-20 mins and compared to the other masks I've tried it is runnier than Cupcake and Mask of Magnaminty and didn't really set throughout the time it was on which was quite nice as it meant that it didn't flake off whenever I moved my face. As you can see from the photos, it is quite shiny and stays this way.

This left my face looking very clean and very soft but I did have to moisturise my skin afterwards and I did have to use toner water to get rid of some remaining particles around my nose and on my chin.

I'm not sure whether I would repurchase this after I've used it up as I find that Lush's other facemasks have worked better for me in the past but I'll certainly enjoy using the rest of it up! I anticipate getting another 3/4 masks out of the pot.

3*/5

£6.95 for 75g