Volcanic ash, carbon, and clay—no, this isn’t a geology lecture. It might seem odd to put rocks and ash on your face, but these earthy, mineral-rich ingredients work overtime to clear pores and scrub away dead skin. The concept of mud masks isn’t new. So too the use of Clay as well as Green Tea. Truth be told, the skincare market is overwhelmingly saturated with players a-plenty, all proclaiming to be the next best thing since, well, the introduction of mud masks to begin with.

I was mud-mask shopping a little while back, in the hopes of addressing several (household) issues. Personally, I needed something to ward off the beginnings of fine lines and a potentially furrowed brow. My man proclaimed his face parched and in dire need of hydration. And my baby? She was sick of acne attacks on her otherwise flawless face (so I’m biased, lynch me).

As it so happened, I was also on one of my all time fave blogs (love Keiko) and from her Naked In New Orleans story, I found myself at Teni’s blog where I discovered GlamGlow. Yup, I’ve got mud on my face but there’s no disgrace 🙂 there’s just awesome skin, for the most part. It’s glam gunk, thank you very much, and I’m officially part of the cult.

I completely appreciate that beauty (often) doesn’t come cheap but for the price tag, I started conservatively and ordered the Sample Sexy Pack because it seemed perfect.

Ok, even the packaging looks sexy. Damn.

The various concoctions – YouthMud to combat the signs of ageing. Supermud to treat acne-prone skin. And ThirstyMud, well, that’s self-explanatory 🙂 BrightMud, I’ll be trying that out this weekend.

First, the YouthMud. I have no idea if it’s going to be my elixir of youth but it’s certainly incredible on my face. My skin wasn’t just smooth, it was VELVETY smooth. I forgot to take pictures so I’ll be as descriptive as possible. In terms of appearance, the mask looked like, well, mud, peppered with tiny shreds of something that looked like seaweed but which turned out to be bits of Green Tea Leaves. There was no discernible smell which is so very important for someone like myself who’s allergic to practically every possible scent out there. It dried fairly quickly given that certain areas were coated thicker than others (my nose and sides thereof, my forehead, and my chin), around 10 minutes. As I begun rinsing the dried goo off, I realised that there was a mild exfoliation going on thanks to that superstar element, Volcanic Rock Pumice. Made all the difference in the world and sets YouthMud apart from others.

SuperMud too was another miracle worker. My daughter’s acne spots completely disappeared. I’m not joking. They did resurface the next day but at a fraction of their original size, and vanished 24 hours later. Although similar to YouthMud in appearance and texture, SuperMud was lighter. Not as viscose a concoction, if that makes sense, and in fact, it dried much quicker as in under 5 minutes. The colour was also a smidge different, veering towards Grey, and the Green Tea Leaf bits were absent. All that said, SuperMud is God’s gift to anyone with acne or blemish-prone skin. It’s that good.

Now comes the letdown 😦 no visible mud here, ThirstyMud had the appearance of milk with a touch of honey stirred in. We followed the instructions down to the letter but even after 20 minutes, there was zero difference in my husband’s complexion. Yes, his skin had absorbed around 90% of the mask but it still looked and felt dry, lacklustre, flat. I was quite disappointed with ThirstyMud, I can’t lie. It’s definitely not something I’d be purchasing again.

The official verdict is that YouthMud and SuperMud, I’ve already made my purchases on GlamGlowMud and I can’t wait to slather that gunk on my face again. ThirstyMud, no thanks, you can keep it.

Have you recently tried any GlamGlow mask or mud masks in general?  What was your experience like?

Love, Sheela