A SanDaWha devotee road tests the new SanDaWha sheet masks. Do they live up to the rest of the Jeju camellia-based skincare line?
Just about every skincare enthusiast or expert has a couple of pet brands where the majority of their products light up those joy sparkles within. For me, SanDaWha is one of those brands. I get as excited as a prize fighter hyped up for a big match whenever I see a SanDaWha product I haven't gotten my grubby little mitts on. I'm not saying my skincare routine is a battlefield, but I am saying I get way too excited about potential new ammo.
When I saw that SanDaWha had two new sheet masks up on the Beautytap shop, I immediately emailed our team and said "pls gimme oh god pls i need dis" … in the most professional way possible, of course.
SanDaWha's whole thing is providing nature-based products very affordably but not skimping out on the formulations. When I saw they now had a sheet mask, I had high hopes. When I saw they had two sheet masks to choose from, I had double high hopes.
As I laid the two SanDaWha sheet masks out before me, I had an exceptionally neurotic moment of trying to decide between the two with an inner dialogue that could rival an early navel-gazing Woody Allen film. In the end I landed on the Calendula mask for the oh-so cerebral reason of "It's yellow and looks cheerful." Clearly I am a deep thinker who should be in charge of everything ever.
SanDaWha Calendula Mask
The mask material is nothing to write home about — it's pretty standard stuff texture-wise. What I initially picked up on is the thickness and fit. The material is thin but not overly thin, meaning I can easily slap this sucker on and let it get to work.
And the fit? OK, let me preface this by saying I have a weird small face, and there is always excessive miles of mask threatening to cover the sides of my hair whenever I mask. This mask however was the true Goldilocks discovering Baby Bear's “juuuuuust right” porridge. I don't think I've ever had a truer fitting masking experience before this one. If you've got a big, beautiful, wide face (that I am totally envious of because you'll age beautifully), you may find this mask on the small side, but for me it was, to use another storybook metaphor, Cinderella glass slipper perfect.
Ingredients & performance
There is no real smell to speak of — maybe the faintest hint of the jasmine and rosemary contained within the concentrated serum inside. Speaking of which, there are some real winners in there starting with the obvious calendula flower extract for some super soothing, which they doubled down on by also including Centella asiatica extract. Then you also have my fav brightener licorice root extract (I still carry a grudge against Missha for taking this out of their First Treatment Essence). Rounding things out there's some nice botanicals like Chamomila recutita extract and the aforementioned jasmine and rosemary.
This is a water-based mask so it's exceedingly light, in a good way, mind you, but I'll get to that in a minute. It's just a wonderfully juicy (but not overly so), refreshing mask that I would liken to a gentle morning cup of tea versus a jittery morning cup of double espresso. A light summer rain versus a hellacious thunderstorm. What I'm trying to say is, this is a perfect morning mask to ease your way into the day.
Now this is where the light water-based formula really shines. Because it's so airy, it does not in any way interfere with your sunscreen or makeup application. When a mask is too thick, heavy, or sticky, as great as that is for your skin before bed, it's a nightmare when you've got to get your face down to smooth and even to best apply color and foundation. Not to mention the fact that depending on how heavy it is, the oils in an oil-based mask could disrupt the effectiveness of your sun protection. Here we have a just-right mask packed full of nice stuff.
Oh, and the results of this mask? Calmed, brightened, happy, hydrated skin. This goes right into my absolutely will repurchase SanDaWha list that's already six products deep.
SanDaWha Camellia Mask
Given how much I love camellia as an ingredient, you won't be surprised to learn that the other mask was an instant hit with me, so much so that I'm still surprised this wasn't the mask that I instantly ripped into when it came time to test them.
Ingredients
SanDaWha Camellia Mask is made with Camellia japonica flower extract. It's not just made with this extract, it is seriously made with it, as in a whopping 84.31% made with it. Yessssssss ma'am. Love at first ingredient reading. If the Calendula mask is a light cup of morning tea, this is the highly nourishing, packed with antioxidants flask of kombucha that's been aged to perfection.
I love this mask. Same great fit and feel of the Calendula, but this one has a little more kick to it. There's niacinamide for brightening, adenosine to help with anti-aging, sodium hyaluronate for instant plumping, there's even cuspidatum root extract, aka resveratrol!
Performance
Even though this is labeled as a nourishing mask, it's still got the same great lightness the Calendula has that makes it suitable for pre-makeup and sun protection, but because of all the goodies in it I also love it as a nighttime mask. On nights where I really wanted to baby my skin, I'd lay down a good layer of SanDaWha Camellia Oil Serum and then proceed with my Camellia sheet mask. My skin absolutely loves this! It's dewy, plump, brighter, and just overall healthier looking.
When winter hits, I plan on kicking things up a notch by adding the SanDaWha Centella Natural Multi Balm to my driest, most irritated areas post-sheet mask. Speaking of which, that little Multi Balm is a must-have for all seasons; I'll have to write about it soon.
Back to the mask. What we have here is a truly versatile little sheet with giant skin benefits and a great price tag. Both masks retail for $15 a box for five masks inside. Is it worth it? I've already got two boxes of each in my Beautytap cart right now!
What are your pet brands that sparkle joy within? And have you tried these SanDaWha sheet masks? What did you think? Let me know in the comments?
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