Product Review: Chella Enzyme Exfoliating Crema Mask.

Hey gals.. hope you are having a great week. I went away to Tampa, clearwater beach for a quick getaway and more than me, hubby needed a well deserved break. I had an awesome time and will definitely go back again 🙂

Every woman who’s into skincare will vouch for the role masks play in keeping her skin sane. Specially if you have insane skin issues like me 🙂 these days my T-zone is shiny, cheeks are flaky and my chin broke out… LOL I really have a hard time handling that 🙂 but that’s another story 😉 Usually I swear by the Queen Helene’s Mint Julep Masque (reviewed HERE) and Lush cosmetic Warrior (review coming up) but then I decided to experiment a bit and got this.

Chella’s exfoliating mask has both alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs) and enzyme. AHAs and enzymes perform different functions to achieve exfoliation; that is, to remove dead cells on the skin’s outer layer. AHAs loosen and lift the top layer of dead cells, primarily composed of keratin (a protein), while proteolyitc enzymes dissolve it.

AHAs can irritate sensitive skins and with frequent usage, the effectiveness levels off; the skin has the ability to adapt to treatments with “accommodation response”. It is difficult for cosmetics companies to formulate with enzymes since they are highly sensitive to solvents and tend to break down, losing their effectiveness very quickly. However, when stabilized, enzymes can serve a catalytic function and help improve the activity of other ingredients in a formulation.

Chella’s AHAs come from sugar cane, malic acid (from apples) and lactic acid, which comes from sour milk and is relatively gentle. The enzyme exfoliator is protease, an enzyme that breaks long proteins down into short ones. In addition, Chella has added a host of botanical extracts such as inflammation reducing ginger and licorice. Butcher’s broom (ruscus aculeatus) is also an anti-inflammatory and contains chemicals that attach to and strengthen blood vessels. Horse chestnut trees (particularly the seeds) contain a saponin called escin. This is supposed to strengthen veins and capillaries by blocking an enzyme called hyaluronidase, which can breakdown of proteoglycans (part of the structure of capillary walls). And it also has Lavender oils 🙂

The directions say that it has to be used once a week. I figured since it has all those AHAs I’d better play safe.

Description

• 2.5 oz face mask retails for $60.
• Uses Lactic Acid and Sugar Cane Extract, which eat away dead skin cells evenly where applied.
• Directed use is once per week.
• It is good for all skin types, including sensitive and acne-prone skin.

My experience with the mask:  When I read “enzyme exfoliating mask” I thought it must be gritty and I’ll have to scrub it and then maybe leave it on. but as you can see… it’s just a plain colorless creamy mask. But I still massaged it a bit and then let it be for around 15-20 mins. It dried pretty quick and felt a bit cool on my skin. I honestly did not know what to expect  as this was the 1st time I tried a mask like this.  I washed it off with  warm water and felt nice, clean and smooth.
But I’d still wanna be careful with it 🙂

Summing it up:
Yayys:
– AHA mask evenly exfoliates your entire skin.
– Spreads onto skin easily, a little goes a long way.
– Doesn’t leave skin feeling dry or flaky.

Nays:
– You need a good 10+ minutes for the mask to do its job.
– Some might feel an uncomfortable tingle. (And if you do, you’re advised to wash it off immediately.)
– Frikkin expensive if individually purchased.

Note: I got this as a part of the Glossybox. It’s a really great deal and you can read all about it HERE.