This Moisturising Mask Is Like a Green Juice for Your Face

From the niche new beauty brands doing something different, to the industry’s evergreen icons, Sophie Bew opens up AnOther’s dream vanity in a new series...

1. Who should use it? Those with thirsty skin who want to glow.
2. How long until I love it? Ten minutes if you’re pushed for time but a half hour session will yield true results – and you’ll continue to see an improvement over 24 hours. 
3. How planet-friendly is it? Short answer please! Ingredients are inevitably sourced from across the globe but they are organic where possible and cruelty-free.
4. How do I use it? Trowel on a thick layer, preferably with a teeny spatula so your warm fingers don’t distract from its cooling qualities. Not got one? Try the back of a spoon. Remove with a warm wet flannel (use the Hydrating Floral Essence Toner instead of water if you’re feeling ultra) after 30 minutes.

I have never found a moisturising mask that, on application, my greedy skin cannot promptly devour. Your typical pot instructs you to rinse after use, conjuring the image of a face that, upon reaching its fill of hyaluronic acid, can simply take no more – this, I think to myself as I slather, will never be my face. Before time is up the potion has already been drunk; there is nothing left to remove. The benefits of this is I can wear them straight to bed without fear for my pillow but I’m always left wanting a little more. That was before Tata Harper’s Hydrating Floral Mask entered my life. True, I spread the gloopy goo over my face as if with a trowel, but it’s hard to resist its dewy promise and grassy green herbal smell. After 30 juicy minutes – long enough to forget it’s there so there’s a snail trail of it over certain appliances in my flat – it’s still sat there on the top of my skin, glistening and gleaming. The warm wipe of a flannel reveals bright and happy skin that beams all day. And while the accompanying slip of paper implores you to ditch your moisturiser for the day in exchange, I find that my thirsty pores can handle both.

Columbia-born Harper started her own beauty line when her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer. When his doctor told him to swap out all of his synthetic toiletries – everything from his deodorant down to his toothpaste and all those in-between – she began to view her “walk-in closet of cosmetics” with suspicion. She left her job in engineering and started working with a team of eight scientists to find natural alternatives to preservatives and active anti-ageing ingredients. As such, her generous range brims with herbs, flowers, algaes, vitamins and naturally derived hydroxy acids (sugar can provide a hard-working hyaluronic that enables deeply penetrating hydration). This particular pot contains tremella mushroom, an ingredient that enables a 27 per cent increase in hydration, which rises to a whopping 46 per cent within 24 hours of use. The mask boasts 43 high-performing natural actives – an outstanding achievement when you look at your typical natural products that list five or six – making it positively effervescent with glow-giving qualities. You can feel every single one at work, like a long green juice for your visage.