Usually, Beauty Bloopers involve anonymous tales from readers. This one, though, is all Bella. This weekend, I had a hot date with Mr. Bella, or at least a lukewarm one. (How scorching can Scrabble be, you know?) So I took a shower, dried off, and thought, "Oh, I have an hour left before we meet up. I think I will use this new Astara mask!"
So I put on the mask (a full review will follow, of course) and felt it stinging a little bit. No pain, no gain, I figured. Plus, some of the best masks are gonna do that... they'll eat away the dead skin. After 10 minutes, I washed off the mask. As I was rinsing, I could feel how smooth and soft my skin was. Hooray! I patted my skin dry, looked into the mirror, and shrieked.
Have you seen any horror films lately? I haven't, but after looking in the mirror, I won't need to for a few years. My face was as red as a tomato. Or a lobster. You get the idea. It was not exactly the luminous, foxy-lady look I was going for. Can you work "red-faced" into Scrabble?
Lesson learned: Use a facial mask when you're relaxing, not before an event. And if you're trying a product for the first time, go with a patch test first.
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Oh no!
1How horrible!
Astara's Blue Flame is my FAVORITE face mask, but it is, indeed, pretty potent. I hope Mr. Bella didn't give you too hard of a time. Guys tend to think that kind of thing is hilarious.
2Yikes! How long was it before the redness went away?
3It took about an hour to go back to normal. Mr. Bella pretended not to notice, which was very sweet of him. (Trust me, if he had called me Tomatoface, he would have been playing Scrabble by himself! ha!)
But otherwise, the Astara mask gave great results! Glad to hear that you're a fan, Cageyme!
4I hate that! That's how I found out I was allergic to cucumber.
5YOu poor thing!
6I actually like it if my face is red afterwards - it makes me think it's working! LOL And usually my redness only lasts 10 minutes.
7LOL...i knew tat..just like weddings, the bride is asked to do the facial a week before the wedding and not the day before. LOL
8Oh no! Lesson learned. I want to try this mask- but not right before a date, I guess!
9hahha..that girls face in the picture is kinda...disturbing!
10Yikes! I guess that was a RED hot date as opposed to just being a hot one
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There are only a couple of masks that I will apply just before an event and I'd never try a new one unless I knew i had plenty of time to recover from any adverse reactions. Talk about having to learn a lesson the hard way! Just be glad it was only scrabble and not a photo filled evening or anything.
11Yeah... my papaya enzyme mask makes me look horribly sunburned, but my skin feels SO GOOD and it fades in a while. I love that thing.
12I'm assuming you're talking about the blue flame astara mask. I've tried it before and it is WAY too strong for a full on face mask, but it is one of the best spot treatments I've ever used. Oh, and I always check the ingredients list before I use a mask because a lot of them have alcohol in them - to make them dry faster. Also, I don't think a mask should burn or sting when you use it - no pain no gain is definitely not something I believe in when it comes to my face.
13Oh no!! I'm sorry about that. It's definitely a good lesson learned!
14wow thanks for the advice!!!!
15I had a similar thing happen to me with Neutrogena Clear Pore Cleanser/Mask. You can use it as a face wash (which I rarely do because it bleaches towels), or leave it on longer for a mask.
Well, my face was looking dull/broken out so I decided to use it while in the shower the morning I was supposed to go do something pretty important for work. I put it on and let it sit and I went about shampooing, conditioning, shaving, etc. When it started to tingle, I grabbed the bottle and read that it was supposed to tingle. So as I'm finishing my shower, I rinse it off and decide it would be a good idea to use my regular face cleanser (Neutrogena Stress acne facial wash) to make sure it was all off (so it wouldn't bleach anything I would touch like it has before).
When I got out of the shower, my face felt hot. I thought this was just perhaps the effects of hot water on my skin, but when I looked in the mirror I saw that my face was red and puffy. Imagine the episode of Sex in the City where Samantha is red-faced after leaving her dermatologist. Chemical peel, anyone?
At this point, I had 30 minutes to be completely ready and leave the house (or else!). My face looked HORRIBLE!!! All the time I was going to spend on my hair, now had to be spent on my face.
So I quickly grabbed the Eucerin Dry Therapy cream and smeared it all over my face, thinking it might be over dry with the two cleaners. That didn't work. So I took two benadryl, thinking it might be an allergic reaction to either of the products. That didn't work. So I quickly grabbed some cortisone cream, thinking its the only substance I know that quickly reduces redness. That didn't work. So I grabbed a sheer, moisturizing foundation (Neutrogena Sheers) to cover up the redness. That helped a little. I'm sure by now you can imagine how my skin actually felt. Yuck. Oh well, off I went!
Within a couple of hours, the redness was gone. Of course it didn't matter as I had to leave my house and immediately get on a crowded subway which would drop me off at a crowded meeting with important people. The next day my face was so broken out, I had someone ask me if I had fallen down or gotten punched (and if there was RudeSugar, I'd be leaving a nice part II to this story about them over there...heh).
16I like Astara's Blue Flame mask as well! I just don't purchase it on a regular basis, as I prefer Philosophy's Microdelivery Peel better for the price. And like Megafie, I like when my skin is a bit red afterwards as well! I use masks before bed and by morning - viola - clear skin!
17Same thing goes for new make-up -- never try it for the first time when you're in a rush! You need time to play with a new product before you wear out to work or school. If you're in a rush and it looks horrible -- you only have time to 1) wash it off and go out 'naked'; or, 2) leave it on feel like you look like a clown -- whether you do or not -- it's equal to the self-esteem of a bad hair day!
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