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We all experienced that puffy morning saggy face, and by Murphy’s law, more often on those mornings when we are in a hurry and don’t have time for a thorough morning skincare routine. If you are not a morning person and would love to skip or have minimal morning skincare maintenance, then overnight facial masks are a perfect solution for you. The idea is to wake up with the best possible skin, so you can just walk out and get on with your day.
You might be thinking that using an overnight or sleeping mask is an unnecessary step in your skin routine, but wait till you see the results! Once you see your skin plump and glowy in the morning instead of dull (or too oily) skin, you’ll see get hooked to the ever-evolving world of overnight masks.
How do overnight masks work?
Sleep masks are not the same as typical face masks. Your regular face mask can serve to lightly peel damaged epidermis, hydrate, and calm down irritations. They are applied for 15 to 20 minutes, whereas sleeping masks are applied for long periods of time and are designed to provide longer more substantial care. Sleeping masks typically contain hydrating or remodeling agents such as hyaluronic acid and retinol, and their consistency is thick but non-comedogenic, meaning they let the skin breathe without clogging the pores.
For many, overnight masks have replaced the need to buy a separate morning and evening moisturizer. It’s a natural 2-in-1, so why not try?
Make the Most of Your Beauty Sleep With Overnight Masks
Before we jump into the selection of our favorite sleeping masks, let’s go over one more time how our nighttime skincare routine should look to get the most out of every product.
Step 1 – Use (Double) Cleanser
To get rid of the day’s grime, dirt, oil, and makeup, some experts recommend removing your makeup first with a dedicated makeup remover before washing your face with a gentle cleanser. Better yet, try double cleansing, which involves using a cleansing oil first to dissolve your makeup and then washing your face again with your regular cleanser. Japanese really nailed this step, as well as the art of “layering” in the skincare routines, so read about the J-Beauty skincare regimen to find out more.
Step 2 – Apply Toners, Essences, and Boosters
At night, some people also like to layer various types of skincare boosters. You’ll see them as either mist, essences, beauty waters, or hydrating (hyaluronic acid) serums. These are infused with different active ingredients, but for the most part, the purpose is mainly to hydrate and nourish the skin.
Since these are lightweight, almost water-like formulas, apply them after washing your face as you would a toner. If using both, apply toner and then essence. Toner is more to clean and essence is more about delivering a treatment. If using multiple boosters, the same rules apply: apply from thinnest to thickest.
Step 3 – Apply Eye Cream
Aside from addressing fine wrinkles and dark circles, eye creams also have another important role and that is to protect your delicate eye area from your other skincare products. Generally, you’d want to apply your eye cream before your treatments to protect your eye area against potent ingredients, which could potentially cause irritation.
Step 4 – And the Last Step – Apply Overnight (Sleeping) Mask
Sleeping masks are best applied as the final step — layered on top of a complete regimen — ideally just before bed. Apply a thin layer of the mask as the last step of your routine after applying your moisturizer. Alternatively, overnight masks can be used instead of moisturizer. Find out what feels good to your skin!
Pat to absorb into your skin, avoiding lips and eyes area (this is where the eye cream comes in handy!) In the morning, wash it off with lukewarm water and reveal bright and smooth skin. For best results, do not use cleansing foam or soap when washing off. Due to the potency of most of these formulas, we recommend using them no more than 1-2 times per week for optimal results.
The Best Overnight Masks For Dry Skin:
So here we are revealing some brands and products we love, that help us wake up with a nice, natural-looking glow.
GLOW RECIPE Watermelon + AHA Glow Sleeping Mask
This K-Beauty brand is one of the most popular lines in Sephora. And for a reason! If you are in for a summer treat, go for this Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask. Not only do they smell like watermelons, but they soothe and hydrate your skin just as eating watermelons does. Along with hyaluronic acid and seaweed extract, it will provide extreme hydration, without feeling heavy on your skin and leaving traces on the pillow.
This award-winning, breathable mask boosts your skin’s natural radiance by delivering watermelon extract and other notable ingredients such as hydrating hyaluronic acid and repairing pumpkin extract.
If you are already using Kiehl’s products, you are aware that Kiehl’s is a master of its skincare game! If you are not familiar with their products, this is a good place to get introduced to them. Here’s a face mask that will nourish your skin, hydrate it, and leave it soft for days. It’s a little bit sticky formula, but the results are too good to pass.
ORIGINS Drink Up™ Intensive Overnight Hydrating Mask with Avocado & Swiss Glacier Water
The superheroes of this mask are avocado butter and apricot kernel oil. They keep your skin well hydrated with every passing day. Another wonder ingredient is Japanese seaweed. It will repair skin barriers, and prevent dehydration and signs of premature aging. Although it feels a little heavy on the skin, this mask will give long-lasting results and restore the elasticity of your skin.
YOUTH TO THE PEOPLE Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Mask
Super berries and vitamin C come together to provide your skin with the ultimate moisturization. Maqui, an antioxidant fruit, defends the skin against stress, while squalene boosts skin hydration. One reviewer reports that the rich texture lives up to the hype—it improved their skin’s moisture after just four uses.
Its whipped cream-like texture and the smell of the mask make the whole experience of applying it very luxurious.
Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask
A gentle and oil-free formula that replenishes the lost moisture and improves the skin texture. It has a creamy gel-like texture that feels great on the skin. It also adds a protective layer to your skin – such that you wake up to dewy and soft skin. This mask is actually good for skin types on those days when you are feeling your skin is a little dry.
The Best Exfoliating Mask:
SUMMER FRIDAYS Overtime Mask
One of the main ingredients in this mask is apricot seed powder. It is a very gentle exfoliator that makes skin visibly brighter after use. Furthermore, it will take all the dead skin away without causing irritation or making the skin produce excess oil. So this mask is perfectly suited for both oily and dry skin.
Along with brightening pumpkin, this mask makes for a clarifying and exfoliating formula that will instantly give you a bright, clear, and overall, nourished complexion. And with the gorgeous (and strong) smell of pumpkin, you’ll feel every time like it’s Thanksgiving.
The Best Overnight Masks For Acne-Prone Skin:
Allies of Skin Promise Keeper™ Blemish Sleeping Facial
This nightly leave-on treatment mask keeps its blemish-busting promises! It works double-time as a curative and preventative measure to keep skin clear. Formulated with a powerful blend of alpha hydroxy acids, enzymes, and probiotics, it works hard to unclog pores and nourish with clean hydration for a more even, less congested complexion.
COSRX Ultimate Moisturizing Honey Overnight Mask
This overnight mask is packed with 87.26% propolis extract, an antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory ingredient that expedites the healing of acne and skin sensitivities. The formula also contains therapeutic and moisture-sealing beeswax and anti-aging adenosine.
The overnight mask formula is perfect for oily, combination, and normal skin types. It’s pretty lightweight so it is a better fit for summer days, as in the winter you may be wanting to use a more moisturizing mask.
The Best Overnight Masks For Oily Skin:
Shiseido Waso Satocane Pore Purifying Scrub Mask
This mask will hydrate your skin, but will not feel heavy or cause any breakouts. Its rich gel consistency is great if you have acne-prone skin, and it is perfectly refreshing on hot days. For the added cooling effect, keep it in the refrigerator before use.
It has a fresh citrus smell and it comes in cute and practical packaging with a spatula to help make getting the right amount of product out easier.
Laneige Water Sleeping Mask
Although it sounds like an oxymoron, it’s possible to have skin that’s simultaneously dry and oily. And it’s hard to find a good moisturizing mask for those combination skin types. But the extremely popular Laneige Water Sleeping Mask is worth the hype and seems to do the trick for all skin types.
Light and non-sticky texture doesn’t clog the pores and cause breakouts but manages to deeply hydrate the skin. It absorbs quickly into the skin and you wake up looking like you had the best sleep, even on days when you snoozed for only a couple of hours.
The Best Overnight Masks For Mature Skin:
The beauty of Joseon Revitalize Sleeping Mask
This Beauty of Joseon Revitalize Sleeping Mask markets itself on the dual purpose of brightening and anti-aging. It has a non-sticky formula and makes skin smoother and more resilient overnight with the inclusion of ingredients such as black soybean, ginseng, and orchid extract in the ingredients.
A big part of the hype surrounding this brand and its products definitely comes from its unique packaging. It comes in a beautiful frosted jar (that looks like glass but is solid plastic), with a paper cap and tag covering the lid. It’s unnecessary and fanciful but really gets the brand identity across as being based on traditional and ancient Korean skincare. Not to mention how pleasing to the eye this looks displayed on your vanity.
FRESH Black Tea Firming Overnight Mask
This mask will even your complexion, firm your skin, and protect it from free radicals thanks to the extracts of black tea. If you are looking for products that provide a contoured, defined, and even skin tone, look no further. Although it has a super, super hydrating formula it will not grease your pillows and make a mess which is a big plus.
Reportedly, this mask is not suited to those who have acne-prone skin as its ingredients can cause breakouts.
The Best Drugstore Overnight Masks:
Olay Regenerist Luminous Overnight Facial Mask
Proof that you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get an overnight sleeping face mask that really works? This drugstore option is from Olay. It erases years off of your face, easily. The gel formula is infused with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E to plump and hydrate your skin while you snooze.
Vitamin E, the superstar antioxidant of this mask, essentially creates a barrier around the skin to protect it from surface free radicals—a cause of wrinkles and fine lines. It is a good solution for all skin types but probably would recommend it the most for mature skin.
Bliss What A Melon De-Stressing Overnight Mask
This product is as sweet as a watermelon! Not as hydrating as some of the other options on this list, but it gives nice results with brightening and reviving your skin overnight. And on the plus side, it is an affordable solution that smells delicious. What more do you need?
The Best Overnight Masks for Sensitive Skin:
LANEIGE Hypoallergenic Cica Sleeping Mask
The main function of this sleeping mask is to calm down the skin and fight redness, and dryness. This mild, repairing mask majorly smooths and hydrates your skin—all without irritation. In addition is also free of phthalates, mineral oil, and parabens and contains less than one percent of synthetic fragrances. Did we mention it is also vegan?
Cicapair Sleepair Ampoule-in Mask
Using Dr. Jart’s trademark blend of Centella Asiatica-rich minerals to provide urgent relief for sensitive skin, this divine sleeping mask provides instant relief to the skin.
And also Dr Jart Cicapair Mask is also inspired by the legends of tigers in Asia with the use of anchor ingredient Centella Asiatica, also known as Tiger Grass.
While tigers were said to roll around in Centella Asiatica to heal their wounds (hence the name), humans have recognized the medicinal benefits of the herb for centuries, using it as an effective healing ingredient.
If it is good enough for tigers, why wouldn’t it be for us as well?
The Best Luxury Overnight Masks:
Velvet Sleeping Mask SISLEY PARIS
Massage this formula into the face and neck right before bed, and allow a unique combo of saffron flowers, shea butter, and thyme honey to rejuvenate your skin overnight. This stuff is an amazing mask for dry and irritated skin and you’ll wake up with plump and relaxed skin. Its mousse-like texture, once it’s applied on your face, sits on your skin like a sheer moisturizer that hasn’t been completely absorbed, and it provides a velvety, comforting, and luxurious feel on your skin.
SULWHASOO Overnight Vitalizing Mask
One word to describe this mask would be – luxurious. Its lightweight and soft texture goes on smoothly and leaves your skin feeling velvety and plush.
It is formulated with ingredients such as Korean medicinal herbs Contains Acutelobed Angelica and pomegranate to brighten skin tone, blended with Walnut and white Mulberry to restore the skin’s vitality by delivering essential nutrients.
The Best All-Natural Overnight Masks:
Best Natural: John Masters Organics Overnight Facial Mask
Skin looks awake and luminous like you had 10 hours of sleep. Brightening pomegranate enzymes play a big role in this fruit-based formula. It does double duty by reducing the appearance of wrinkles and providing intense moisture. You’ll love the transporting and calming scent of Moroccan rose oil, which can instantly put you to sleep.
The Best Overnight Mask For Eye Contour:
TALIKA Eye Dream Night Repair Mask
The delicate skin around our eyes needs a chance to restore, too. Horse chestnut reduces puffiness around the delicate eye area while a combo of anti-aging peptides helps to visibly smooth wrinkles. We love the convenience of application, thanks to the massaging steel roller ball.
Incorporating overnight facial masks into your skincare routine might just be the transformative secret you’ve been searching for. The allure of waking up to plump, radiant skin after a good night’s rest is undeniable. These masks, packed with potent ingredients and designed to work their magic while you sleep, bridge the gap between convenience and effective self-care. Whether you’re a minimalist or a skincare enthusiast, the world of overnight masks offers something for everyone. So why not embrace this innovative approach and unlock the true potential of your beauty sleep? Elevate your skincare game and step confidently into each day, knowing that your radiant glow is an ever-present testament to the power of a well-rested and well-nurtured complexion.
