Hydrating face masks: 10 of the best

A large part of my job, as you know, is trying out a plethora of beauty products. It is why every beauty editor has a "beauty wardrobe". But a beauty wardrobe can, frustratingly, work exactly like its sartorial counterpart. Every so often you notice gaps ("The perfect white shirt would make all the difference"), duds ("There's a reason that knitted yellow skirt/cropped iridescent jacket/5in slingback was on sale") and multiples ("Surely no one needs 10 black sweatshirts?") Multiples of masks that do more or less the same thing – resurfacing, exfoliating, pore refining – is what I noticed in my beauty wardrobe a few months back. Having masks that perform this task is not a bad thing – this is a great way to say goodbye to dullness and dead skin. But it's a fine balance. Everyone is obsessed with getting a glow, but over-exfoliating can play havoc with your hydration levels and destabilise your skin. This is where a restorative hydrating mask comes in. It provides a surge of moisture – be it in 20 minutes or overnight – that leaves you with balanced, plumper, juicy skin that radiates "I’ve just had a really expensive facial." And if you still want to exfoliate the skin and unclog the pores, that's fine; just slow down and remember that many masks – like Glow Recipe, which resurfaces the skin as well as hydrates – are excellent multitaskers.

1. Dr David Jack Blue Face Peel Hydrating Balancing Mask £149, drdavidjack.com2. Glow Recipe Watermelon Hyaluronic Clay Pore-Tight Facial £36, sephora.co.uk3. Elemis Peptide Plumping Pillow Facial £22, ukelemis.com4. Tata Harper Hydrating Floral Mask £85, cultbeauty.co.uk5. Zelens Instant Recharge Renewal Mask £85, libertylondon.com 6. Medik8 HEO Two-Step Mask £57, medik8.com7. Dr Jart Cicapair Tiger Grass Sleepair Intensive Mask £14, lookfantastic.com 8. Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask £26, spacenk.com9. La Mer The Intensive Revitalising Mask £140, cremedelamer.co.uk10. Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask £19, sephora.com

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