Battle of Balance

How Different Face Masks with Similar Claims Compare

I LOVE a good face mask. They not only help your skin (usually) but also give you a warm and cozy sense of self-care, without actually having to do much. When your life is crumbling and a face mask if your band-aid (been there), there’s nothing worse than using one that absolutely sucks. Because now you’ve not only put something ick on your face, but you waste your weekly mask.

One of my favorite things to do to avoid this is using two masks at once. I often find myself with multiple unopened masks- all promising the same glowy outcome. I’ll pick two that should be doing the same thing to my skin and put each one on half of my face. This way if I can see in real-time how they compare on my skin and if I hate one, I still have one good half of my face.

For this one, I tried two new ~balancing~ masks.
Apto Skincare Balancing Mask vs Goldfaden MD Skin Balancing Mask

These are the claims from each one, directly off the label, put into table format. They are worded differently of course but are more or less synonymous with each other.

Application
The Apto one was green, while the Goldfaden was clear.
They both dried but still allowed facial movement.
The Apto one felt like nothing on my face, while the Goldfaden had an ever so slight tingle.

Rinse
I left these bad boys on for 10 minutes then hopped in the shower.
The Apto one was a bit harder to get all the way off than the Goldfaden one.
My face felt waxy on the Apto side, and smooth on the Goldfaden side.
It felt almost as if the Apto one left a film, while the Goldfaden one did nothing.

Data
Right away I noticed my skin looked more glowy on the Goldfaden side. 1 point Goldfaden for healthy/refreshed.
My skin was soft all over. 1 point each for softness.
But it looked smoother on the Goldfaden side. 1 point Goldfaden for smooth/tight.
I used my toner and saw on my cotton pad a green tint. I have never had face mask residue that I could see or feel, much less both. -100 points Apto for a waxy film.

Results
I didn’t love either of these masks, but I liked one more than the other. The Goldfaden MD Skin Balancing Mask won this battle no question. I don’t feel like either mask made my skin any smoother, softer, tighter, hydrated, or healthy than it was before. Maybe my skin wasn’t unbalanced, to begin with. Who knows. All I know is The Apto Skincare Balancing Mask found her new home in my trash can.

Have you tried either of these before? Do you love or hate either of these? Have you ever had a mask leave a residue on your face before? Any masks you’d like to see go head to head? Let me know!