Etude House I need you, Red Ginseng! Mask Review

Sorry all for the lack of updates, I was on a family trip for a few days and the next review I have to do is for a BB cream..... and I'm really lazy with doing BB cream reviews because they require so many pics. Anyway, I promise to be better about updating now! This mask was a big improvement over the Pomegranate version, read on to find out why! ALSO, getting my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday! Woohoo!

Where to buy:

prettyandcute.com 1 Mask- $1.99

roseroseshop.com 3 masks - $2.40
w2beauty.com 1 mask- $3.13
testerkorea.com 1 mask - $0.86
koreadepart.com 5 masks - $5.86

Description: Etude House Red Ginseng Mask uses 6-year-old red ginseng to help restore skin strength after being damaged by stress, pollution, debris and weather. If you have experienced harsh weather or environment or would like to relax after a long day of work, this mask will be sure to cure you from your troubles. Also helps maintain firmness and smoothness.

Claims:

~ relaxing
~ firmness/ improve skin elasticity
~ smoothness
~ restoration

Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Panax ginseng Root Extract, butylene Glycol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Alcohol, Cyclohexasiloxane, Polysorbate 20, Phenoxyethanol, Dimethiconol, Acrylates/ C10-30Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, triethanolamine, Disodium EDTA, Fragrance, Squalane, sophora Flavescens Root Extract, Lonicera Japonica (Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Prunus Persica (Peach) Leaf Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis root Extract

I really like how these masks have the extracts so high, but also really dislike the fact that they have what I assume is the bad sort of alcohol in them. :/

Scent: Mild, like the pomegranate version... but it's a very Ginseng-y/herbal/earthy smell. I really enjoy it, but I love the smell of dirt. If you don't think that sounds nice then this mask might smell a bit gross to you. The scent is similar in some ways to a Sulwhasoo eye cream I've used before.

Packaging: No complaints about the little plastic-y pouch. It's easy to open and has a cute little illustration on it. Like with the Pomegranate mask, the material of the sheet mask is thicker than MBD masks I've tried in the past. Again, this makes it harder to adjust and heavier- this is a bad thing for the fit, as you will see in the fit area!

Fit: I'm copying + pasting what I wrote in the my last Etude House review-
"Suuuuucks. It was irritating to have on due to the placement of the holes- the eye holes in particular were right near my eyes at times, which slightly rubbed against it, irritating it. The mask is also too long and too wide, so I have to fold it over. However, due to the thickness of the material, the mask doesn't 'hold' the fold well... which basically makes it pointless. Anyway, the fit is terrible for me and I'm looking forward to using up the rest of my Etude House masks a little bit less because of it. It kind of screws up the whole pampering experience whenever your eyes are poked by the mask."

Results: This mask is significantly better than the pomegranate version. They both claim to do similar things, but I my skin felt softer, firmer, and overall better after using this version. This serum is noticeably more watery than the Pomegranate version as well, as well as most other MBD masks. It felt refreshing however, and was not as cooling as the Pomegranate version. I assume that this means it doesn't have as much alcohol in it, but I'm not 100% sure about that. I cannot make any comments about the long term efficiency of this mask, but it's a great choice if you're interested in trying out Etude House masks.

I saw no brightening, but a slight redness reduction. However, as this mask didn't claim to do either of those things I didn't feel the need to dock points for that. I will also say that the results have lasted atleast 24 hours after using the sheet mask- a big plus. However, due to the fact that alcohol is high up on the ingredients list as well as the poor fit of the mask, I don't think that I will be repurchasing this mask.

Conclusion: Final Score: 4/5

Pros:

• smells Ginseng-y/earthy
• mild scent
• leaves my skin feeling very soft and firm
• noticeable 24+ hours

Cons:

• alcohol is fairly high up in the ingredient list
• sheet mask itself fits poorly, making it a hassle to wear