Queen Helene Mint Julep Masque: the Hidden Treasure

Let's talk about the classic look, shall we? Inducted to the Classic look of fame are: the little black dress, the red lipstick, the pearl necklace, the Chanel tweed jacket, the pair of black high heels, the bottle of Chanel no. 5, the smokey eyes look, and this

Yup, you're right. The green facial clay masque!
Except you can't wear it outside haha

Back in my freshman, sophomore year, I was deadly broke. My beauty budget was near zero as most of the money went to tuition, books, rent, and food (I didn't have a car yet and some of my friends were nice enough to give me carpools.) Needless to say, the freshman 15 plus my lack of a skincare regimen really brought havoc to my face. At that time somehow I got a tube of Queen Helene mint julep masque on my slimy hands. It was about 1 dollar and gas was about 99 cents/galon! The good ole days!

Since those days, I did not use this green masque again, partly because I thought I got older, hence a better and more expensive skincare regimen is good for me. Wrong! What was better is I ended up paying more but my skin did not even get any better from the mint julep days. Recently, my face gone wild on me and I had to dig deep into my memory to pull out my all-star skincare lineup and my quarter back player is...tada! Queen Helene mint julep masque!

Notice how big it is on the palm of my hand.

I got this big tube o' Queen Helene at Sally beauty supply for $5 USD! It weights 3/4 pounds and guarantee to last me a long time. I did a quick internet research and found out this formula was created 70+ years ago since the 1930s. This product was developed before synthetic materials were used and the manufacturing process is still the same. I guess the company realized "if it ain't broke, why fix it" and let the masque be.

According to Queen Helene website, this product aims to "dry up acne pimples and rinse away blackheads. This original masque treatment helps to dry up acne pimples, rinses away blackheads and even shrinks enlarged pores. Relaxes tired facial muscles and eases tension lines on the face and neck."

The green gooey goodness inside the jar is what you put on your face

The mint julep masque comes in three different types of packages: plastic tube, small and large plastic jar. At Sally beauty supply, the small jar is sold at $2.39 USD (I think) and the large jar is sold at $4.99 USD and it's about 3 times larger than the small one. It contains a mixture of green clay and other ingredients that aim to treat acne. The smell is minty and quite relaxing to me. Upon application, the masque feels cool and as it gets to work, you can feel the pores on your face constrict slightly. It takes about 1/2 hour to dry up and can be washed off with water and a washcloth. I simply skip the washcloth and use my hands.

The wonderful thing about this masque is the ingredients. There are not a lot of them but the ones included are solid ingredients to treat acne.

List of ingredients: purified water (aqua), kaolin, betonite, glycerine, zinc oxide, propylene glycol, sulfur, chromium oxide green, fragrance (parfum), phenoxyethanol, methylparaben.

Notice:

• Kaolin clay is the 2nd most abundant ingredient.
• Betonite is a compound naturally found in clay so these two actually go together.
• Glycerine and propylene glycol are moisturizing ingredients commonly used in cosmetics.
• Zinc oxide is a natural ingredient often found in the earth's crust and also used in mineral makeup.
• Sulfur is one of the ingredients used to treat acne. You can find it in some anti-acne masques from Murad's, Mario Badescu, and Pro-Activ. The mint julep masque is simply much cheaper than the above products.
• Chromium oxide green is a natural pigment that gives the color green (duh!) This company does not use synthetic color, kudo to them!
• Fragrance: to give out the nice minty smell. I don't know if it's synthetic or natural but based on the claim of the company, it may be natural.
• Phenoxyethanol is a bactericide, preservative, and topical antiseptic.
• Methylparaben is an anti-fungal that used as a preservative.

I use this masque twice a week; whenever I need to dry up an acne spot overnight I just spot treat it with a bit of the mint julep masque. When the mask dries, the green color changes to a slightly lighter color and the masque also cracks a bit. It takes about 30 minutes to dry and I'd like to apply a goopy layer so that the color of my skin does not see through. During the waiting time, I either lay down and relax or wait until the masque crack a bit and sneak around to scare people off (it's fun, you know!). And in my mind, I imagine myself as the Incredible (Edible) Hulk. Luckily, my roommate does not have a faint heart as I tried to sneak attack her many times.

My rating: A+, bonus point for the price and the fun it brings to me. Your kids will love you in the masque and I don't think they can pass a chance to see mommy as the Hulk at all!

A note for dry skin people: this masque is quite drying, thanks to sulfur, so I don't think it's suitable for you. However, Queen Helene also has a mud face masque you can try. I've heard good things about it as well.

For less than 5 dollars, you can get a very good (and big) jar of facial masque to use for about a year. The Queen Helene mint julep masque is truly a treasure to me because it is effective in treating my pimples. It also gives me a nice glow after I wash it away. I highly recommend it to oily and acne proned skin people since you do not need to spend a lot of money to get nice skin.

Have you used this product? If you experienced it before, please share! I want to hear about it.

Have a lovely day everyone!
Your Makeup Blogger