Review: Skinfood Rice Mask Wash-Off

In our quest to always find the best beauty products available in Asia, we’re always trying new things to see what works and what doesn’t. In our recent installment, we tried the Skinfood Rice Mask Wash-Off to see if it’s worthwhile. Of course, our results may be different from yours, but it’s fun to try new things!

The rice mask promises to leave skin soft and radiant. The rice extracts are supposed to leave skin more moisturized while evening tone and brightening skin. There is also ground rice that, through massaging, removes dead skin to leave behind softness. Per Skinfood, the rice in the product provides a good source of vitamin E that “fights aging and free-radical damage,” while linoleic acids serves as an anti-inflammatory. With all that it promises, the rice mask sounds like a great option to a skincare routine.

Packaging

The mask arrives in a 100g white plastic jar. The jar is sturdy and not see-through, so the product’s integrity is well-intact. Skinfood does a nice job letting purchasers know when products are made, so you’re guaranteed fresh product when you order direct from them or through their Amazon store. The batch we purchased was manufactured August 28, 2016, so we’re within a few months of its creation.

Skinfood packages their products well! The product is well-sealed with plastic wrap and a plastic cover. If you receive an open product, chances are you didn’t receive a fresh mask and should dispose of it or send it back.

Ingredients

The rice mask has the following ingredients:

WATER, CETYL ETHYLHEXANOATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, CETYL ALCOHOL, GLYCERIN, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, ORYZA SATIVA (RICE) BRAN WATER, STEARIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 80, HYDROGENATED JOJOBA OIL, GLYCERYL STEARATE, PEG-100 STEARATE, SORBITAN STEARATE, CARBOMER, DIMETHICONE, TRIETHANOLAMINE, SODIUM ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, SUCROSE COCOATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, DISODIUM EDTA, METHYLPARABEN, IMIDAZOLIDINYL UREA, BUTYLPARABEN, FRAGRANCE

Use

The rice mask is easy-to-use and doesn’t require a lot of attention.

After washing and drying the face, apply a thin layer of the mask onto skin using gentle circular motions to allow the ground rice to exfoliate your skin. Do not rub the mask into your skin, however. Let it sit on top so it works well. Then, allow the mask to work its magic for ten-to-15 minutes before washing it off with warm water. Then, pat skin dry.

Impressions

The scent for the mask is light and unobtrusive. It smells almost like a tapioca or rice pudding, so you’re not smelling chemicals or florals. For those with scent sensitivities, the mask should not bother you.

This mask is one of the easiest masks to use from the Skinfood line. The mask has a nice texture and consistency that doesn’t feel goopy or sticky on the skin. The mask has a nice cooling effect that feels relaxing, creating a spa-like experience.

While wearing the mask, everything went well and felt great. After washing it off, however, the experience was less enjoyable because the mask left behind a strange film that made my skin shiny and unnatural looking. My skin was soft and felt supple, but the film felt strange and required washing it off with face wash, defeating the purpose of the mask to some degree. Thinking it was a fluke and that I didn’t wash off the mask well enough, the next day I used it again and had the same results.

Despite the film, which did eventually wear off, my skin felt radiant and it did appear much brighter. The mask isn’t a whitening mask, but it enhances skin to put your best face forward. Makeup also smoothed on better and looked more natural after the mask was used, so it appears to have been a good product… until later in the day.

After a few hours, my normally dry skin felt like it had oil poured all over it. For some reason, the rice mask made my skin go haywire to where it become unnaturally oily. At first I thought it was because of my makeup, but after washing it off, the oil production continued at an uncomfortable rate. No amount of cleansing stopped it until I switched back to my usual Skinfood honey and black sugar mask.

In addition to oily skin, my face did break out along my jaw and T-zone. CosDNA identifies some of the ingredients as skin irritants and potential breakout causers, so my sensitive skin probably reacted to one of the ingredients in it. It took a while for the breakouts to subside, so it was an unpleasant experience despite my face feeling baby-soft.

Verdict

As much as I love Skinfood products, this is one of my least favorite masks to date. I wanted to like it because of how great it feels texture-wise and while in-use, but the after effects are far too negative to even consider this a good product. For those who don’t have sensitive skin, it might be worth a try. Others have used this mask and had great results and didn’t experience the issues I did. For me, this mask isn’t worth the risks.

—-Joelle Halon