Why You Should Upgrade Your Sheet Mask to Lace

We love a good mask. Bubble masks, splash masks, lip masks, snail masks, we’ll try them all. But most of the time, those masks look a little creepy while you're wearing them. Very Freddy-Krueger-esque.

Lately though, beauty companies are rolling out masks that are incredibly glam. Besides the 24-karat gold mask trend, you can swap out your regular old sheet masks for delicate lace masks.

“Lace is a gorgeous material that looks and feels luxurious on the skin. We love its feminine, sexy and boudoir-like appeal,” says STARSKIN co-founder Nicole Arnoldussen, who is based in Amsterdam. Her Lifting Lace collection — featuring waterless lace face masks and a meltaway lace eye mask — made their US debut at Barneys this month.

But STARSKIN uses lace beyond aesthetic reasons: Nicole says lace can give your skin a lift. "Our Lifting Lace face masks are inspired by medical compression treatments and woven with breathable and stretchable cotton fibers to fit tightly onto the face and chin to visually sculpt and reshape dull and sagging skin," she explains. "This works in synergy with the 45ml of non-water based serum, filled with potent skin-sculpting and contouring ingredients, to simulate a natural facelift and create a more defined V-line."

STARSKIN's lace masks may look expensive, but they're an affordable luxury at $15 each, similar in price to Dermovia's compression lace masks. Compare that to Givenchy's Le Soin Noir Masque Dentelle Review, which debuted a few years ago at $300 for four lace masks or $82 bucks a pop. That was the sheet mask to end all sheet masks.

So are lace masks worth adding to your #maskmonday beauty routine? The Lookbook posed this question to Joshua Zeichner, MD, Director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research at Mount Sinai Hospital's Department of Dermatology. "When choosing a sheet mask, there are two components to consider. First is the active ingredient and the second is the delivery system. Masks now come in gels, creams, paper, biocellulose material, and even on lace," he says. "Not all active ingredients may be able to be delivered through all different mask materials, which is why different masks target specific skin care needs."

"The advantage of the newest lace delivery systems is that they are not messy and actually can be used more than once. The lace is impregnated with the active ingredient that is delivered to the skin is activated from heat from your face. This design allows you to receive more than one treatment using the same mask," he says.

So a lace mask could actually be cost-effective. Plus, you could use it for a #maskmonday selfie, and then recycle it for a Halloween costume or a fancy masquerade ball.