A little bit of an exclusive on the blog today, as I don’t think any other UK blogs have had this brand to review… This is Juki No Shingyu, a Japanese brand made in Italy, exclusive to Italian perfume house Mazzolari. Handcrafted, non-industrialised products rich in natural phytoextracts, although, to be honest, I was sold at the smell. There are some beauty products that make you feel like you’ve been transported into an Elizabeth Taylor-esque  life of luxury in a spa in the mountains; this brand does exactly that with its fresh delicate fragrances that are lightly sensuous and indulgent. With two face masks to test and being generally quite low maintenance on the beauty front, the idea of slapping a mask on for twenty minutes on the weekend seemed perfectly reasonable. As it was, I ended up testing these out post-shower while waiting for my hair to dry off a little.

First up I tried the Anti-Stress mask. Like creamy clay in colour and texture, it contains soothing Calendula oil and Hamamelis Virginiana, a species of witch-hazel which is an astringent and good for toning. (My natural remedy loving mother is a huge fan of witch hazel btw, using it for everything from mosquito bites to cleaning.)

Apply generously with your fingers…

Let it work its magic for twenty minutes while indulging in clown-like behaviour (or just trying not to give family members heart attacks!)

And then remove with a hot wet cloth. This isn’t one of those masks that tightens or dries, so it wiped of very easily  with the cloth and a few splashes of water at the sink. It left my face feeling extremely moisturised, replenished and dewy…

Next I tried the Hyaluronic Acid mask – obviously completely skewing the testing process by applying one mask straight after the other, but my skin felt so good after both I didn’t apply any moisturiser for the rest of the day! Hyaluronic acid is a gel-like water-holding molecule in our bodies which cushions joints and nerves and hydrates skin and hair. Apparently (according the internetz, obvs) it came into the limelight after a journalist discovered that the wrinkle-free and unusually fit and healthy elderly in the Japanese village of Yuzuri Hara were eating loads of soya and tofu that was stimulating the production of HA. For beauty products, and there are a lot around at the moment containing hyaluronic acid, it is made synthetically.

Again, apply generously. Although this one being a light blue see-through gel, it doesn’t really have the same comedy factor…

Leave for 20 minutes and then wipe off with a warm, damp cloth.

The verdict? These are gorgeously luxurious products which do what they say on the tin and are ridiculously easy to apply and take off leaving your skin loved and nourished. Given how easy they are to use, I definitely think I’m going to make this a weekly practice which I know my skin will thank me for!

These masks are available at mazzolari.co.uk