The Pink Seoul Mask Box is a monthly Korean skincare subscription that contains ten masks plus an accessory item. It’s a great way to test out a wide variety of masks that are customized to your skin type!
$29.95 per month, free shipping in the US. Also ships internationally.
Pink Seoul also offers a Pink Seoul box ($39.95) with at least four full-sized skincare products, and a Pink Seoul Plus box ($49.95) for subscribers 35+. These two boxes are bi-monthly, as opposed to the Mask Box which ships every month. When you sign up for any subscription, you get to choose a skintype (normal, combination, oily, dry, sensitive) and a “focus” (acne, pores, pigmentation, wrinkles, wrinkle prevention, having fun and experimenting). Pink Seoul will then customize your box according to your preferences.
This box is for the combination skintype, focusing on pigmentation. For reference, my T-zone gets slightly oily, and the area around my mouth/chin gets very dry, flaky, and red.
Pink Seoul includes product literature in every box that describes the key ingredients in each mask, along with instructions on how to use them. That’s helpful because most of the mask packaging itself is in Korean. The font on the card is quite small, but there’s a ton of useful information so I definitely recommend reading it! One thing I love: Pink Seoul is running a #payitforward campaign, where each week they send a free product box to two women fighting cancer. I love this idea! If you know someone who deserves a box, you can email love@pinkseoul.com to set it up!
Skinfood Black Sugar Mask – $10
If you previously received the Pink Seoul or Pink Seoul Plus launch box, you’ve already gotten the original Black Sugar Mask, so they included either a honey or strawberry variation for those subscribers. I received the Strawberry version (left). If you’re a more recent subscriber, you received the original mask (right). I’ll compare both below, but overall I’m a big fan of either!
Google “Skinfood Black Sugar mask” and you’ll see the phrase “holy grail product” come up frequently in the searches. It’s one of the best exfoliating masks on the skincare market right now, and is extremely popular both in the US and in Korea. It’s a sugar scrub that you massage onto clean skin, then let sit for 15 minutes before rinsing off. It has a pleasant citrus-y sugar scent, and always leaves my skin very soft and smooth after use. I love following it up with a sheet mask since I think it preps your skin to better absorb essence and serums.
The Strawberry mask has a delicious strawberry jam/strawberry lip gloss fragrance. The mask has the texture of strawberry jam, complete with tiny exfoliating strawberry seeds mixed throughout, and the sugar grains seem finer and less abrasive. I felt like this didn’t exfoliate as harshly as the original, but my skin certainly did not feel any less smooth in spite of that. The jammy texture also made my skin feel a little more moisturized afterward. I would recommend this one for people with more sensitive skin who want a gentler scrub.
Mediheal French Rose Flowater Gel Mask – $5
Of all the many masks in this box, I was looking forward to trying this one the most. I love hydrogel masks in general, and I absolutely adore all things rose, so this was really right up my alley. The info card says this mask contains French rose powder, collagen, and hyaluronic acid, all of which are good for hydration and skin elasticity. The mask itself was a tan color, with little flecks of real rose petals. Unfortunately, there was some slippage during shipping so the hydrogel slid out from the two paper sheets that it was initially sandwiched between, which made it difficult to apply to my face. Once I got it on, I found that the mask was a little small, as it left some skin uncovered between my hairline and the edge of the mask. It had a lovely rose fragrance, which lasted throughout, and it dried out fairly quickly (as hydrogels tend to do), so there wasn’t much essence left on my face after I removed the mask. It did leave my face smoother and brighter (the boyfriend immediately went, “Your skin looks so good!” after I came out of the bathroom), so I’m ultimately quite happy with the results.
Mediheal Mask Dress Code Red (Ginseng) – $3
This mask contains ginseng, an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine that improves skin elasticity, wrinkles, and skin tone. It has a fancy masquerade-mask design on the sheet itself, which makes masking a little more glamorous and fun (I normally look like a scary ghost from an Asian horror film). This mask fit very well, with few wrinkles and slippage, and contained plenty of essence without dripping. There wasn’t much fragrance, which I appreciated since I’m generally not a fan of the smell of ginseng. The mask left my skin quite tacky afterward, but definitely smooth and hydrated.
Tosowoong Snail Sheet Mask – $2
Snail mucin is probably the most popular ingredient in Asian skincare right now: almost every subscription box I have received contains at least one snail product each month! It provides a variety of benefits, including hydration, skin tone improvement, and skin cell regeneration. This mask in particular also contains niacinamide for brightening and adenosine for firming skin. This mask had a light soapy fragrance that didn’t linger, and it fit well on my face. The essence felt a little heavier than usual (probably because snail secretion filtrate is a heavier ingredient), and there was plenty leftover on my skin after I removed the sheet. The mask left my skin soft and smooth, with no irritation or redness.
5ildongban Bio Cellulose Mask (Ginseng) – $10
I love bio cellulose masks! They’re made of a gel-like material instead of the usual cotton-y sheet, and I think that makes it hold to the skin a lot better. It also allows your skin to absorb more nutrients, since the bio cellulose won’t soak up (i.e. waste) as much essence as a sheet mask would. This mask contains ginseng extract to improve skin elasticity, wrinkles, and skin tone. I loved the fit of this one! It was big enough to cover my whole face, even past the edges, and the eye and mouth holes were the perfect size. The hydro-gel of bio cellulose masks tends to dry out faster than sheet masks, which I definitely noticed here. I didn’t mind though: I still felt like my skin was moisturized and soft, there was just less tapping after I removed the mask. (Note: tapping is when you gently and quickly pat your face after taking off the mask so that your skin can absorb the remaining liquid. It’s better than wiping off and losing the essence, but I do sort of doubt if tapping actually forces nutrients into your skin the way companies claim it does.)
Mediheal Mogongtox Soda Bubble Sheet – $4
Wow this mask was interesting. Bubble masks are all the rage now, but I have yet to try them so I was pretty excited for this one. The information card doesn’t list any active ingredients, but says that this mask will “cleanse and tighten your pores.” When you first apply it, it just looks like a black charcoal mask with some soapy residue. It does not cover your forehead, and it was a little small for my face at first so there was a lot of extra space on my cheeks. But when it starts to bubble, it EXPANDS. A LOT. I looked like one of those kids who make Santa beards out of their bath bubbles. My face was fully covered in foam within ten minutes (which is how long they recommend you to wear it). Then I removed the mask and rinsed my face clean. My face did feel smooth and squeaky clean afterward, so I feel like it did its job there. While I was wearing it though, I felt some tingling and my face was a little red and irritated after I rinsed it off. Nothing long lasting, but it was probably a little strong on my sensitive skin.
Soc Animal Panda Whitening Sheet mask – $3
Look at this little guy! He’s so cute with his little beanie cap. I love face masks that have animal prints, although full disclosure I always look super creepy in them. This mask contains hyaluronic acid and ceramide for moisture, and niacinamide for whitening. It was suuuuper drippy: it dripped as I took it out of the packaging and it took forever for the remaining essence to dry after I removed it. I do want to say that I found this mask fit my mouth area the best of any mask I’ve ever tried. I have very dry skin on my chin and at the corners of my mouth, but masks don’t usually fit that close to your lips so those areas of my face tend to get neglected even when they need hydration the most. Unfortunately, this mask left my skin a little red and irritated afterward. I have pretty sensitive skin, so I think the niacinamide was maybe a little too harsh for me.
The Face Shop Lemon Sheet Mask (Brightening) – $2
The Face Shop Rice Sheet Mask (Brightening) – $2
There’s a small Face Shop store near my apartment, and I go there often to stock up on inexpensive sheet masks. They offer a wide variety of masks with different star ingredients for different skin issues. Lemon is for brightening, and rice is for whitening. These masks had a nice fit with plenty of essence, and they moisturize nicely. The Face Shop’s masks in general aren’t my favorite though, since almost all of their inexpensive ones contain denatured alcohol, which irritates and dries out my skin. But for the price and the variety I do continue to use them as a midweek pick-me-up for my skin. If alcohol is also an issue for you, I would suggest wearing the mask for less time (10 minutes tops) so that the sheet doesn’t dry out completely, and then immediately applying serum and moisturizer after removing.
Skinfood Everyday Orange Sheet Mask – $2
Skinfood Everyday Lentil Sheet Mask – $2
I liked these masks! I’ve used Skinfood products before, but this was my first experience with their sheet masks. The fit was decent: the gap around my eyes was a little large, but the mouth area fit perfectly and the sheet as a whole was big enough to cover my giant face. There was an interesting double-helix pattern on the sheets themselves; I’ve never seen that before and I’m not clear on what purpose that would serve. I have heard that some companies put patterns on their masks to create small “air pockets” that can hold more essence to your skin, so maybe that’s it. Both masks had the same floral lotion scent, which was surprising as neither really smelled like their star ingredient (although I’m not sure I’d like the smell of lentils on my face, so no complaints). I do think the essence made my skin a little brighter immediately after use, but there was quite a bit of it so my face felt tacky for some time afterward.
In general I like that Skinfood’s masks are inexpensive, but don’t contain alcohol. I would buy these in bulk and use them when I need an emergency boost of moisturizer, but don’t have time to go through my whole skincare routine. Maybe they’ll replace my Face Shop stock once I run out!
Tonymoly Banana Hand Milk
The Face Shop Chia Seed No Shine Intensive Hydrating Cream
These foil packets were little extras this month. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Tonymoly Banana line: namely that it smells amazing and is super moisturizing (also, the full-size packaging is pretty cute). I’m a fan of The Face Shop’s products, since they’re inexpensive and focus on natural ingredients. “No Shine Intensive Hydrating Cream” sounds exactly like what my skin needs, so I look forward to trying it! I tend to save foil packets for travel, so I don’t have to carry around giant bottles of shampoo/body wash/lotion, so these will go into my makeup bag.
Overall
This was my first Pink Seoul box, and I loved it! They included a great mix of unique masks and reliable staples. I like that they give you the opportunity to try harder-to-find masks like the Mediheals and the 5ildongan, but at the same time introduce you to more popular and affordable brands like The Face Shop and Skinfood. It shows a lot of range and attention to curation, which I appreciate. Pink Seoul doesn’t really do themes for their mask box, but it seemed like they put a focus on “Skintertainment” this month by including masks with fun decorations and unique formulas (the foaming bubble mask!). These kinds of masks are pretty on trend right now, so I enjoyed getting to test those out. If you go by the values they provide (which I think are pretty accurate overall), it comes out to a $45 box, which is a good value for a $30 price point. If you live in an area where sheet masks are harder to come by, or would like to try a wider variety, this is a great option!
PR sample. All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for this review. This post does not contain affiliate links.