Neckless Cage: Forever Luminous Exhilarating Neck Mask Review

Nicolas Cage Cats←Why, internet, whhyyyyy???

Ahem, so I recently spotted sheet masks for the NECK at Marshall’s.  Not sure which is more surprising: the neck or Marshall’s.  (Actually my Marshall’s has had sheet masks regularly for a while now in the skincare/hair/beauty section.)

I had to try this because of the novelty factor and because I have deep neck lines that I’ve become obsessed with lately.

This Pearl + CoQ10 Exhilarating Neck Mask is under the brand Forever Luminous distributed by SpaLife.  It came in a box of 3 for $4.99 (IIRC) but retails for $20!  (Google for better prices.)  Although aimed for the American market (everything’s in English), it was made in Korea and no doubt uses the same sheet mask technology that AB addicts are used to.  It claims to have anti-aging, firming, and hydrating effects, even boasting of “locking in moisture for 24 hours of extreme hydration.”  I’ll say right now that that claim is a bit of a stretch.

The ingredients list is surprisingly short compared to what I’m used to seeing for other sheet masks.  The top ingredients are fairly ordinary and the pearl extract and CoQ10 (i.e., ubiquinone, coenzyme Q10) are the 5th and 6th ingredients, respectively.

Directions: Use as you would any sheet mask.  Recommended duration is 20 minutes.  Optional ways to enhance the experience: refrigerate beforehand or place the package in warm water for 2-3 minutes before use.  Although the directions say to follow with cream or lotion “if desired,” I recommend always following with cream or lotion to seal in and amplify the hydration.

The fit of the mask is great.  I have a skinny but short/average-length neck, and the mask covered pretty much the whole length.  The mask has a crease and notches down the middle to fit the center of the neck better, and the outer edges of the mask reach around the sides of my neck.  It’s not 360° coverage but it’s more than 180°.

There’s a ton of serum in the mask.  I used this twice and both times the serum leaked down my front.  Pretty much unstoppable.  Maybe I should apply it while I’m lying down.

Lying down is the position I ended up in anyway.  Standing, walking, and exhibiting other signs of life result in the mask shifting around and wrinkling.

I doubled up on the sheet masks and relaxed on my Save My Face pillow (I got my La Petite at Beauty.com, but I’m now experimenting with sleeping with no pillow at all or with just the La Petite to try to reduce my neck lines).

After 20 minutes, the neck mask was still quite wet so I decided to keep on with it (i.e., I fell asleep).  When I woke up an hour after I had applied the neck mask, the skin underneath the mask felt damp and hydrated but the mask itself was dried.  For comparison, the My Beauty Diary mask on my face was still damp.  So this neck mask is no MBD, but that’s OK because it was plenty wet for the recommended 20 minutes.

As for results, the mask didn’t plump up my deep neck lines into oblivion or even plump them up into merely fine lines.  Still, I enjoyed relaxing with the mask and feeling like I was doing something to fight my neck lines.  If you have only fine lines, the results might be more obvious.

The claim about “24 hours extreme hydration” is a little dubious.  Admittedly, I moisturized my neck right after and the next morning as usual, so my neck would have felt moisturized anyway.  That said, I don’t feel as if my neck was extra or extremely hydrated for the next 24 hours; it just felt normally hydrated.

I’d repurchase this in a second…if I can ever find it again for cheap.  I’ve gone back to Marshall’s several times and the neck masks were gone!

Pros: Hydrates well with plenty of serum.  Wraps around the whole neck.

Cons: Absolutely must lie down while using it.  Serum drips all over for the first few minutes.  Makes no big difference in deep neck lines.  Not worth $20 MSRP.