Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Facial Mask

Apologies for the scant reviews lately, but they're coming--I promise! Today's review is on the Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Facial Mask. It comes in a sleek white plastic pump 3.4 oz bottle and retails for $52. You can purchase this at Sephora, the Bliss website, and any department stores that carry Bliss products.

I wanted to try this mask because I really loved Bliss' Peeling Groovy serum (previous review here) and I've heard good things about it from various beauty gurus like Pursebuzz, Phyllis at Makeupforlife, and Queenie at Youtube. Furthermore, Bliss reports that this mask is one of their best sellers, and it's been featured in countless other magazines. Tons of people love it!

You're supposed to apply this mask to a clean, damp face. As I pumped the product out, I noticed it looks a lot like a shaving gel (it's also a creamy orange color with a pleasant scent). It took quite a few pumps to get it covered amply all over my face and neck (I'd estimate about 10 pumps total). Basically, you slather it all over the skin just like you do with shaving gel on your legs, and it even foams up a bit like a shaving gel does at first. Then, the mask becomes more and more bubbly and frothy on the skin as time passes, and less like a thick foam. You wash it off after 3-5 minutes, and the directions say you can use this mask up to 3 times a week. (Not sure why you can't use it more often--perhaps your skin becomes tolerant to it.)

The product claims to "brighten" and "lighten" your complexion and help your face look less "dull or tired" with "the most active powerful form of Vitamin C available." Also, the oxygen bubbles are supposed to help deliver more antioxidants to the skin through "innovative Fluid02 technology." Since I'm a fan of anything with antioxidants or skin brightening and lightening, I was really eager to try it.

However, after I rinsed off the mask the first time, I felt like my skin felt pretty clean and smooth, but I didn't notice any difference. Unconvinced, the next time I tried it, I used it on half of my face to really test it out. Both sides of my face looked identical despite using the mask on only one side. So then I tried it on a single spot on the back of my hand. Nothing. My complexion was the same color in that one spot, and it didn't get lighter or brighter at all.

People rave about how this product is like a spa in a bottle, but I think the luxurious pampering feeling they get from it is an overly hyped, placebo-like effect. This mask really doesn't do anything for me. It's just like an expensive bottle of shaving gel for the face that happens to turn into foam. Maybe it does help with free radicals and cell damage, but I can think of a ton of other products out there (not necessarily masks) that do a better job. As for the (many) people who see genuine results after using it, I say good for them, but if you haven't tried this yet and are thinking about purchasing, I highly recommend getting a sample first to see if it even works for you. I have to say I'm very disappointed--I guess Bliss' products are either hit or miss.

Ingredients (as taken off the box):
water (aqua), methyl perfluoroisobutyl ether, sorbitol, cocamidopropyl betaine, methyl perfluorobutyl ether, sodium laureth sulfate, chondrus crispus (carrageenan), cyclopentasiloxane, glycerin, fragrance (parfum), cyclohexasiloxane, limonene, phenoxyethanol, benzyl alcohol, potassium sorbate, xanthan gum, coco-glucoside, sodium PCA, tocopherol, oryza sativa (rice) bran extract, camellia sinesis leaf extract, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, gynostemma pentaphyllum extract, panthenol, polyhydroxystearic acid, hydrolyzed soy protein, benzoic acid, PPG-1 trideceth-6, citric acid, tetrahedexyldecyl ascorbate, ethylbisiminomethylguaiacol manganese chloride, ethylhexyl isononanoate, mica, linalool, isononyl isononanoate, sodium cocamidopropyl PG-dimonium chloride phosphate, citral, titanium dioxide (CI 77891), yellow 5 (CI 19140), red 40 (CI 16035)