The best face masks are like having a dermatologist give you a targeted treatment at home—minus the exuberant copay. Some suck out dirt and grime from your pores, while others will hydrate the skin with an added boost of vitamins and nutrients.
“Anyone with a targeted skin concern—dryness, dullness, acne, or aging—can benefit [from using a face mask],” Dr. Tia Paul, a board-certified dermatologist, says. “But masks are especially helpful for those needing a quick boost or a self-care moment.”
Face masks generally refer to clay creams or just-add-water powders that you shellac onto your face and wash off after ten to fifteen minutes, but can also include sheet masks and overnight masks. If anything, do a mask for this reason: It forces you to slow down during your skin care routine, which reduces stress—which in turn probably makes your skin look better. So, it’s a two-for-one deal.
The Best Face Masks, According to GQ
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Best Face Mask Overall: Tatcha The Clarifying Clay Mask
This GQ Grooming Award winner is great for all skin types, stuffed with clay, konjac, and volcanic ash to draw out dirt and impurities. It’s also really fun to use—starting off green, the warming mask transitions to a pinkish color as it wraps up its job. Who doesn’t like a show when they’re sprucing up? Plus, afterwards your pores feel cleared out, your skin feels tighter (in a good way), and your usually oily skin is a little less so.
Best Face Mask for Exfoliation: Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask
The pulpy texture of this mask feels like you’re slathering freshly squeezed fruit all over your face—and you’re doing just that with exfoliating pomegranate enzymes. There’s also white willow bark extract and pink clay throw in to really help slough off dead skin cells and resurface your glow. This is great for those days when your skin is feeling a little dull and you feel like you can use a brightening boost.
Best Face Mask for Acne-Prone Skin: Brickell Purifying Charcoal Face Mask
This charcoal and clay face mask absorbs any and all impurities in your skin, and is also perfect for one-off breakout checks, whenever you get a big honking pimple that needs drying up. It’s also enriched with hyaluronic acid, aloe, and vitamin E to hydrate and soothe the skin while also shielding it from toxins. This is a tough product, literally, in that you’ve got to warm it a bit in your fingers before it smooths onto your face. And that’s a good thing, because it firms up nice and taut on the skin, so that you know it’s effective as it dries.
Best Face Mask for Traveling: Sisley Paris Exfoliating Enzyme Mask
Some physical exfoliants are too harsh on the skin, leading to tugging (and worse, micro skin tears), but not this one. Sisley’s enzyme mask starts off as a powder (it’s finely grated papain, derived from papaya) before turning into a creamy yet lightweight mask once water is added. You only need to keep it on for one minute in order to unlock brighter, smoother skin—a win for those running on insanely tight schedules.
Best Face Mask for Sensitive Skin: SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Mask
Skin feeling a little meh lately? SkinCeuticals’ Phyto Corrective Mask contains a mix of botanicals, dipeptides, and hyaluronic acid that all act in tandem to calm down skin that’s seen some better days. Paul recommends this mask because it “soothes redness and irritation while [being] deeply hydrating” for intensive skin repair. The gel-like texture has a cooling sensation that feels like an immediate relief for skin that might be a little more sensitive than usual.
Best Overnight Face Mask: Murad Cellular Hydration Barrier Repair Mask
There are face masks and then there are overnight face masks, which Paul says are more concentrated than regular nighttime moisturizers so they can “more deeply hydrate and repair the skin while you sleep.” This Murad overnight mask is great for folks with dry or sensitive skin, able to penetrate deep into the skin for near-immediate effects. Paul says “it’s packed with intense moisture and skin-repairing ingredients to leave your skin plump and rejuvenated by morning,” so slap this on the before you go to bed and wake up feeling like you (and your skin) got the best sleep of your life.
Best Sheet Mask: Dr. Jart+ Cryo Rubber Brightening Face Mask
This Dr. Jart mask is a favorite of a lot of skin care junkies simply because it works. To use, place the sheet mask over your face once you apply the included serum so that it can more deeply soak into the skin. This mask in particular contains vitamin C and niacinamide, which are hydrating and help to reveal the glow in your skin that you didn’t know you had.
Best Face Mask for Dry Skin: Laneige Water Sleeping Mask
The Water Sleeping Mask features a cooling sensation that feels like it’s immediately soothing the skin, which is only amplified as your wear it through the night. Its gel-like consistency feels nice to apply, and it quickly absorbs into the skin so you don’t have to worry about leaving any residue on your pillow.
Best Mud Mask: Pixi Glow Mud Mask
Mud masks are like the OG face masks, the type you’d see at a traditional spa. While they can be too aggressive for some people, this one is just gentle enough to be used on pretty much all skin types while doing exactly what it’s supposed to: clearing out the pores and brightening the overall appearance of the skin. Just 15 minutes on the face is all it takes to clear everything out and start a new with fresh skin.
Face Masks FAQ
By utilizing active ingredients to target specific skincare problems—hyperpigmentation, fine lines, excess oil, anti-aging, etc.—face masks provide targeted relief for anywhere between 10 minutes to overnight. They’re some of the best skin care products to make sure you’re getting deep into the skin barrier with specific treatments for whatever ails you.
When should you use a face mask?
Face masks, or facial masks, should be used after you use your cleanser (or toner if you’re using that), Paul says. Check the specific product’s instructions to see how often you can and should be using it every week. (In other words, don’t just slap on a random collagen eye mask from Sephora every day.)
