Clarins Cryo-Flash Instant Lift Effect & Glow Boosting Face Mask ($80)
It’s products like this where I truly believe influencer marketing is unparalleled to any other form of advertising. One moment I am thinking, or actually, purging my entire bathroom of products, and the next I am hitting “Place Order” on an $80 mask that is marketed to be an ice roller in a jar. Its also products like this that are the reason I created this account. Do you REALLY need an $80 mask when the $10 ice roller you just bought last year from the same influencer is doing its intended job just fine?
Ice rollers and cold massage in general is amazing to soothe puffy, red, sensitive, or “tired” skin, while sculpting the face in just the right areas, but mostly they just feel really really good. The best way I can describe the feeling of an ice roller is that first sip of an ice cold can of Diet Coke. A bit of sting, refreshing, and will want you begging for more.
Clarins’ Cryo-Flash mask uses a menthol derivative to deliver cryotherapy like results, but more. Their studies conclude that this mask reduces the skin’s temperature by seven degrees, two times colder than cryotherapies. I know the thought of menthol on your face probably sounds horrifying, but I promise it’s a much more relaxing sensation than IcyHot. I used this mask on clean dry skin for 10 minutes as instructed. The mask alone does not feel as cold as my ice roller, but what it does that my ice roller can’t is keeps my skin feeling cool for at least 20-45 minutes after. With ice rollers, your skin’s heat is melting and warming up the roller itself so the the cold therapy is immediate but not long lasting. This mask is the exact opposite. My skin after looked very even in tone, cool to the touch, glowy and hydrated.
The texture is a cream gel that you can apply liberally, much like Summer Friday’s Jet Lag Mask, and can either wash off or rub off the excess, keeping some remnants left. I tried both ways and both delivered the same results, so if you’re wearing this before bed you could wipe off the excess and then use it as an overnight mask.
Like the ice roller, the effects are not long lasting, so I personally would use this in the morning to wake up the skin or before an event. This is not a mask you need to use regularly to see results like an AHA or BHA mask, this can be used as a one-off. This is a good because one jar will last you quite a while or you can read this as bad because it’s pricey for a temporary result.
At the end of the day, I’m not mad I bought this mask, but I also wouldn’t run to my IG stories and say everyone needs this. If you are someone who loves a luxury or you struggle with red, puffy, or “tired” skin then I think this would be worth your while. In all honesty though, I think what I love most is it smells exactly like the after tan lotion I’d be given at the tanning salon in high school and to me any form of nostalgia is priceless.
Clarins Cryo-Flash Instant Lift Effect & Glow Boosting Face Mask