My friend group's a weird one. There's fall outs, there's favourites, there's times when we go weeks without seeing each other and times when we see way too much of each other. Growing up and growing apart is just a part of life that we've come to accept. Our other halves, our jobs and our schedules don't always allow for leisure time to catch up with friends. It's not right.
We had to fix this, and fast.
I know, I know, you're supposed to make time for your friends, and that's exactly what we've sworn to do. After another bit of friction in the group, I, being the 'mother' of the group decided enough is enough. Making them all patch things up with each other and calling for a 'bitch-free girls night' seems to finally have done the trick in uniting us.. but we shall see.
I wanted to have one of those slumber party-style nights in where we're all in our jim jams and cuddle up under duvets and share our weeks with each other, in a conflict-free, no bitching, no judging zone. Putting on a funny film, (unfortunately, I couldn't find my Mean Girls DVD, as that would have been perfect!) we all jumped on my sofa and spoke about boys, work, ordered takeaway and had a lovely time.
I had the idea of doing face masks, because, you know, we're girls and why not. As one of my friends has ridiculously sensitive skin and is allergic to practically everything, I got out my FaceTox box and checked the ingredients, in the hope that we could all use it, no matter what our skin sensitivity.
The Extract, Pull and Detoxify FaceTox face mask contains Aztec healing clay and 100% rose water, that's it. Being 100% natural, cruelty free, vegan, 100% organic with no paragons and suitable for all skin types, I thought, YES, this is perfect! I showed my friend the box and after seeing it had just three ingredients, she agreed to give it a try.
I've used Aztec healing clay before as a mask, but combined it with apple cider vinegar, so I knew how good this mask would be for drawing out toxins, unclogging and shrinking pores, reducing scars, evening skin tone etc. So boasted to my friends of its benefits as well as treating acne and being a natural exfoliant for preventing blackheads. When mixed together, the clay and rose water create a negative charge which actually pulls any toxins out of your pores, leaving you free of imperfections and squeaky clean skin.
The kit comes with fourteen sachets (7x Clay Powder and 7x Rose Water) for you to make your own face mask - this is already a super exciting concept for us as it meant we could take it in turns to mix up our own. A sachets of clay powder and a sachet of rose water was distributed to each of us as we read through the super easy instructions. It's just 4 easy steps:
- Grab a Step 1 and a Step 2 sachet.
- Mix together in the bowl provided
- Apply the mask with the spoon provided and wait 30 minutes
- Wash off with warm water and a face cloth.
As there were four of us, I thought it would be easy enough using whole amount of mask per person. It was way too thick for that. In hindsight, a mask per two people would have been more than enough! Luckily, they'd all arrived to my house without makeup on so a quick cleanse was enough to prep the skin. Lathering this mask on until the bowl was empty, as I mentioned probably wasn't the best idea.
We had fun mixing together the masks and applying it to each other's faces, careful not to drop any on my sofa or carpet! We sat and watched the rest of our film and chatted about how we'd be better friends. We finally decided on dedicating a day in the first week of each month to seeing each other, all of us, the whole group (not just the 3 that could make it that evening) but all 8 of us. Whether it's a dinner, a girls night in, a big night out or a bowling or cinema trip. Just something that we can all do together without there being conflict or awkwardness. In the hope that we stop the toxic fights and petty arguments and become proper adult friends. Heck, we're 23/24 and arguing like we're in year 8!
The mask was too thick and didn't dry after the full 30 minutes. As I was helping everyone with their mask, I was the last to have it applied, so I actually ended up using everyone's scraps and took a bit of their faces to thin theirs out and add to mine. It was quite funny - "erm, soz. I'm just going to take this bit off your forehead..."
After the 30 minutes was up, a lot of laughing and chunks of clay flaking off our faces, we decided it's probably time to take it off. Now, with the thickness that these masks were, it took us about half an hour to take them off! - Another reason why you should use only half the packet.
We spent most of the time pulling off the majority of the chunks with our fingers, and used a muslin cloth and warm water to remove the rest. You could already see and feel how soft the skin was underneath!
I would also recommend not putting the clay chunks down the toilet or in fact down your sink as it will clog it up (it took 5 days for it all to be rinsed away!) so perhaps get as much off as you can and throw it in the bin before wiping the rest away with disposable cotton pads. For easier removal, you can also get their Charcoal Konjac Sponge for oily and spot prone skin or their Original Konjac Sponge for normal skin, which help exfoliate, soften skin and stimulate blood flow... and they're great for getting those masks off.
Once the face masks were off, our faces were a little red - mainly due to the scrubbing to get off the last dried on bits, but secondly, as our faces had just had a deep exfoliation and toxin extraction by the most powerful face mask I've ever used. And yes.. that is a Harry Potter jumper...
At only £24.99, it's totally worth the money. If you only used half the mixture, and preserved the other half in a zip seal sandwich bag or cling film, you'd easily get 14 uses out of this.
Why not have a girls night and invite all your friends round for the girlies night in imaginable with pampering and preening? Build bridges, and reaffirm friendships whilst getting the best facial of your life, what's not to love.
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