Patchology Hydrate Flash Masque: My Experience and Review

Since I just mentioned my favorite mask in my Self Care Sunday post, I thought I would share my review of another sheet mask I’ve tried recently.

I blind bought these when I saw them on sale and tried one a few weeks ago. I’ve never tried anything from Patchology before but have wanted to try these for a while. I read a lot of great reviews and checked the ingredients, and didn’t see anything that seemed too harsh or stood out as a known irritant for me. The Flash Masque is supposed to provide a boot of hydration in a short amount of time. It even says it’s a “thirst quencher” on the package.  These masks regularly retail for $30 USD for a box of 4.

The sheet masks are a cotton like material, so not my most favorite type, as I prefer the biocellulose or gel type sheet masks, but I thought I would give them a try since they were such a good deal. These sheet masks are supposed to be hydrating and had good reviews.

The first thing I noticed was the fragrance. It was not a fragrance I liked. No where in any of the reviews I read did I see anyone else mention that these had a strong scent, but that was off putting right out of the package. I do have a very heightened sense of smell and do enjoy many fragrances, but this was not very pleasant to me.

I put it on anyways, hoping the smell would dissipate and left it on for the suggested 5 minutes. It started burning my skin after only about a minute and made my face a little red after I took it off. I washed my face afterwards but I could still smell the scent faintly the rest of the day. The redness did fade after a while, though. While I initially felt a little hydration after removing the mask, it didn’t last very long, only about a couple hours. Any of my usual hyaluronic acid serums hydrate my skin much better with hydration that lasts all day.

When I woke up the next day I saw that I was broke out in tiny red bumps scattered around my face, and it took about a week for my skin to return to normal. I consider this type of reaction to be an allergic type for my sensitive skin. I’m certain it was because of the fragrance. I also felt like my skin was a little drier than it had been before trying the mask.

Overall, I do not think these are a good option for people with sensitive skin or who are sensitive to some fragrances. It seemed to trigger the eczema I can get on my upper cheeks by the second day post mask and the masks didn’t really provide much hydration either.

If you have strong skin and nothing makes you react, or if you aren’t looking for very much hydration, you may like these, but I still feel there are better masks out there and better ways to add hydration that lasts. Even though these are comparatively less expensive than my beloved Tatcha Masks (see recent empties for the Tatcha ones), I still feel like these Patchology masks were overpriced for the large claims they made on the package, and the less than stellar results they provided for my skin. I honestly don’t feel comfortable recommending them. I also wonder if I got an old batch and that’s why they were such a good deal at the time.

 

Have you tried these Patchology hydrate masks? If so let me know your experiences. I’m curious if anyone else had a similar experience.