OK—before I dive into this Honey Bee Sheet Face Mask recipe, I need to warn you guys about something. If you’ve been following me for a while, by now you are used to my mask recipes coming with a few goofy-yet-cute selfies of me with pasty goo all over my face. This is not one of those recipes. Oh sure, I took the selfies… but they are neither goofy nor cute. They are more like horror-movie-set-in-a-spa, is-she-going-to-eat-my-face kind of… not cute. Pretty much flat out terrifying. And this is because this is a sheet mask. And there is a reason sheet masks do not make it into spa promo photography. But I love you guys, and wanted to give these things a try, so here we are. You’re welcome/I’m sorry.
I found these little sheet mask pellets at the Muji store in London, on the Kensington High Street. We went for pens (and SWOON, their pens are fantastic), and in the beauty section I stumbled up these tiny little pellets in a plastic bag. The line drawing on the back showed a serene looking lady with a sheet sort of thing on her face. A few readers have written to be about these things, and they were just a couple pounds, so I grabbed a packet and then we headed off to Hampstead Heath.
Upon returning home, these mysterious little nuggets were just begging to be played with. My first attempt was just a few spoonfuls of some random botanical extracts whisked into water. I tossed in the mask nugget and BAM! It expanded upwards like some sort of Dr. Suess dance routine. I carefully unfurled the resulting thin sheet of fabricy paper and lay in on my face (and took a handful of horrifying selfies for Instagram moments, muahahahah). Interesting. It was a great way to hold a bunch of water soluble stuff to my face for an extended period of time, and because there was no clay, it was a really hydrating mask instead of drying one—just what I need in February!
So, I got to thinking about the sort of things I like on my skin that are sort of hard to get on it in large dozes, and I immediately thought about bee goodies. A couple years ago I shared this, and while it is lovely, it can be quite drippy—so I thought I’d add a sheet mask to the mix and see how that went.
First off, let’s chat ingredients. Raw manuka honey is loaded with enzymes and anti-bacterial goodness; this is because the bees that make manuka honey are feeding on the same tree that gives us tea tree oil; Leptospermum scoparium. Cool, no? Pollen is packed with vitamins, and propolis boosts healing. Honeyquat PF is a positively charged humectant, meaning it helps condition and hydrate our skin. And last but not least, royal jelly—this is the jelly worker bees feed to larvae to cause them to grow into queen bees instead of worker bees. It contains amino acids, trace vitamins and minerals (like vitamin B6 and C), and antibacterial properties. The last two ingredients are pretty odd, so feel free to eliminate them if you don’t have ’em.
I whisked some raw manuka honey, bee pollen, propolis tincture, honeyquat PF, and royal jelly extract into some water, added the sheet mask, and slapped that soggy bad boy on my face. After taking a series of terrifying selfies that could make children cry I let it soak for twenty minutes or so before peeling it off, throwing it away, and rinsing my face. The first thing I noticed was the hydration—aaaaah. My skin needs all the water it can get these days, and water + humectants (honey + honeyquat PF) = happy skin. I was pretty gentle with my rinsing, and though my skin felt a bit tacky at first, after about ten minutes it just felt incredibly soft and hydrated, which is exactly what I was hoping for.
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- The mask as it comes—just a tiny pellet.
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- Drop it in liquid and it immediately starts to expand.
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- These photos were taken just instants apart.
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- Once it reaches this point you can unfurl it.
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- Ah, that’s starting to look more like a sheet of something!
I hope you’ll give sheet masks a try, and I hope you get a laugh out of these terrifying selfies 😂 If you’ve tried sheet masks before, what are your favourite things to soak them in? I had lots of fun with this Honey Bee Sheet Face Mask and I’m looking forward to playing some more!
Honey Bee Sheet Face Mask
~ 1/2 tsp manuka honey (or other raw honey)
1/16 tsp powdered bee pollen
10 drops propolis tincture (learn to make your own)
5 drops honeyquat PF (USA | Canada) (optional)
2 drops royal jelly extract (USA | Canada) (optional)
30g | 1.06oz warm waterWhisk the honey, pollen, propolis, honeyquat, royal jelly, and warm water together in a small, deep bowl.
Once the mixture is uniform, add the mask nuggets, and let them fully hydrate. Unfurl each nugget, and lay the sheet across your face, lining up the mouth, nose, and eye holes. Now, go terrify some children! Or hide in the bathroom—your choice.
After about twenty minutes you can discard the sheet mask and rinse off your face. Enjoy your lovely soft, hydrated skin!
This is definitely a single use, all-in-one-go mask. This recipe makes enough liquid for two sheet masks, so consider halving it if you’re not going to do facials with a friend. Any unused liquid can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to four days.
Alright… let’s do this thing!
Smoothing it down… this was moderately effective.
Hmm, these eye patch things are odd.
I’m scaring myself.
Err.. what have I got myself into?
Eeeeep. Well, best let this soak in and see how it goes…
I’m OK with terrifying sheet mask selfies 😀
A classmate of mine had a habit of doing all sorts of odd to creepy looking face masks and wandering around dimly lit campus hallways 😀
Thank You for the lovely reminder to do something nice to my skin 🙂
Ah hahahaha, your classmate sounds like a gem As long as they weren’t your roommate, I suppose!
Can you create a bee pollen tincture or extract?
I’m sure you can—I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pollen extract for sale. Check out LisaLise for more info on extracts—she is the DIY extract/infusion queen!
This sounds divine for this time of year. I have a question – does this make enough for 2 masks? Is that why you use 2 sheet masks?
Yes it does—a great lady-date activity! If you just want to make one, halve the “sauce” part 😛
I am going to take a very old (frayed) cotton dish cloth destined for my rag bag, cut it into a face mask & try that! Sounds like fun!
Ah, good call! Much easier than going to London for one haha.
I’m also cool with terrifying sheet mask selfies, and this one is no different. I LOVE IT!!!
I do have a question though: If I want to make this mask, and have it along with the sheet already folded inside it, in some heat-sealed baggie. Which preservative would you use? Do you think it can work out right?
Thanks a lot!!!
Honestly, there is so much delicious bacteria food in this I wouldn’t trust any home formulator preservative job to do the trick. Sorry! This is a make as needed and use fast mask! Happy facial-ing 😀
I now have a name for them! Who knew?
Over here, we soak them in our toners for a quick toner mask. I usually toss one on top of something like your sea weed mask. Keeps things in place longer.
Fantastic post! Thanks for let me know what these suckers are called!
I might’ve made it up, but I think I must’ve heard it somewhere lol. I love the toner idea, too! 😀
You mentioned you need lots of moisture right now on your skin. I was at the face washing house the other day and was talking to a lady about ingredients in one of the face wash products she used in me the other day. I watched as this woman has what looked like silky cream painted on her face, then one of these masks plopped on her. Turns it, the silky cream she was getting as a “hydrating mask” was actually an avc product!
Ingredient listing went something like this (I removed all the crazy chemical stuff fillers not even a Chinese person knows what they are): aloe vera, rose hydrolat, sweet almond oil, camellia oil, silk, preservative, avc. There was also some extract stuff, I know the characters for extracts but we were both at a loss for which extracts, and something that translated to plant silicone. Yup. Chinese. Have to love it! I’m thinking it might actually be plant based silica or glycerine. I’m meeting with another friend today to try to find out.
The lady laid there for almost thirty minutes while she got a head, neck and shoulder massage. Can’t wait to try to jack that product!
How is creating stuff with little poochie?
Hmm. So, I actually tried something sort of like this… I looked a touch like I had leoporasy after I schmeared myself up like a heavy duty cream cheese bagel and wandered around the house. I added some pine pollen, so it’s brigh yellow, and some allantoin and other goodies. From my research silk is a no-go with AVC as it doesn’t play well with hydrolyzed proteins 🙁 At least not the AVC I have—I think there are at least 7 different ones! Anywho, I think it did help, I just wish AVC played better with cationic ingredients and proteins!
Gotta try this. I just ordered some from Amazon. I can see many possibilities for mask ingredients here. I have manuka honey and honeyquat but not propolis or pollen. I’m guessing some other water soluable extracts might be added. I love your selfies, adorable!
Oh yeah, there is room for so much water soluble fun with these sheet masks—I definitely have some pantry goodies that are all ready to be transformed into terrifying facials 😀
I love that you were brave enough to post the selfies. The mask makes your beautiful eyes really stand out. Thank you for sharing this. Sounds like a fun project.
LOL thanks! I’m not sure I’d quite class this as bravery, but perhaps I will regret those words one day if these photos come back to haunt me Thanks for reading and happy making!
Awesome mask and entertaining post! Thanks for the smile.
No worries, haha! 😀
your expression is priceless!
Ha, thanks! That is the look of scaring oneself with ones own face LOL.
Has anyone found similar sheet masks anywhere else other than amazon? Is there a way to know what are they made of (i know it says wood pulp) and try to make our own, or sth else (fabric?) that would work in a similar way?
Anyhoo, since you’re experimenting with face masks, what about diying a peel-off mask in the future?
I would think muslin would work well for a DIY 🙂 I love the idea of peel off masks, but lack the ingredients (and the sources for said ingredients) to create one at this time!
Just making sure that I am getting this – these sheet masks are basically blanks that you can soak in almost anything to use on your face?
very interesting; thanks for sharing a new product.
Yup, exactly!
I was wondering… Is it possible to add a preservative so I can bottle this and give it to my friends as part of a Christmas gift?
Cause I saw it would last only 4 days on the fridge…