Skin Saviour: REN Invisible Pores Detox Mask

I'll admit I'm a little bit late to jump on the REN bandwagon, When a lot of other bloggers were raving about the products I was busy pretending that I had enough skincare products and didn't want to buy anymore for the foreseeable future. Once I was done lying to myself I took a little trip to the M and S Beauty Hall with a voucher kindly donated by the mother and picked up this little gem.

The first time I used this I was a little bit disappointed, as far as I could see this did nothing to my skin, I thought even in the worst case it would at least mattify my t-zone a little but nope, nada, nothing, not even a little bit of of a change. Now I realise that the issue was that I was already having quite a good skin day and this mask is best used when my skin is having a major tantrum, when that happens this mask is absolutely fantastic.

The product itself is a white clay mask with an unusual herbal scent, one of the main ingredients is lavender oil which is a natural anti inflammatory and that is probably the main thing I can smell as it can be quite a strong scent. It also lists Kaolin clay as a main ingredient and this is something I look for when I'm choosing a new mask as it seems to work well with my skin.

The people at REN claim that this product 'Purifies and detoxifies, Reduces the appearance of oiliness, open pores and blackheads, skin looks smoother, firmer and clearer' and they aren't lying, the day after using this my skin looks less red and angry (ask anyone with acne, spots can definitely look angry if you poke them too much) and the blemishes take less time to heal if I use this on a regular basis. It's not a miracle worker, you won't go to bed with acne and wake up with the perfect skin of a newborn baby but it helps to speed up the healing process and blackheads aren't as obvious which is an issue for me.

My only issue with this is that instead of a recommending how long to leave this on for it just states to 'allow to dry until the mask can be removed by gently rubbing skin with fingertips.' Generally it's okay as I just wait until it's touch dry but sometimes if I've put on a thicker layer than usual or it's cold It can take longer to dry and it can irritate my sensitive skin a little and I end up washing it off when it's not fully dry just in case it happens. It's also quite pricey at £19 for 50ml but a little does go a long way and  has lasted me a good few months of applying it once a week.

That's not much in the negative column so for me this product is definitely worth the money and I would recommend this if you have combination/sensitive/moody skin like mine that needs a bit of help with controlling breakouts.

                                             Have you tried this product? What are your thoughts?