I’ve eyed Skin Food products for months now, being totally taken in by their rustic, nostalgic and cute packaging. So when www.sasa.com was having a 15% sale on Skin Food masks, I decided to pick up a pot of Skin Food Acorn jelly Mask. As I have long suffered from white heads on my nose due to enlarged clogged pores, I felt this mask was the most suitable one for me, with its promises to reduce pore size and provide effective exfoliation of dead skin cells.

I’m totally in love with the adorable packaging! The look is of a little jar of homemade jam that you might find being sold on trestle tables at a small town farmers market. The acorn illustrations also add to the vintage feel.

The little spoon that comes with the mask is a great touch, meaning that you can hygienically spoon out the mask without using your fingers. The handle is complete with a bas-relief Skin Food cherub.

The mask itself doesn’t look too appetising, the colour and texture reminding me of baby food. The smell is also a bit strange. It’s decidedly nutty, and very sweet smelling.

The promise:

A mask pack that effectively tightens oil-clogged enlarged pores and exfoliates layers of dead skin cells with powdered acorns from Jiri-mountains

Jiri-mountain Acorn: Acorns, grown in Jiri-mountain which is famous for crystal clear water, contains a high amount of tannin that is effective in tightening enlarged pores

Apparently the main ingredient in Skin Food Acorn Jelly Mask is tannin derived from Jiri-mountain Acorns. Tannin is a naturally occurring astringent, meaning a substance that shrinks or constricts body tissue. A common example is tea, especially black tea (hence the reason tea bags are quite often used for eye masks to help reduce puffiness). You’ll notice that after sipping tea, you’ll get a weird dry sensation in your mouth. What is happening is that the tannin is binding the proteins in your mouth, causing them to precipitate. Tannins are also used treatments for inflammatory conditions such as burns, stings and rashes.

As for the actual ingredient list, the pack is in Korean, but I’ve located an English version on Cosdna.com =>http://www.cosdna.com/eng/cosmetic_250659693.html:

The fifth item down the list, “Quercus acutissima” is the scientific term for the Sawtooth Oak, an oak that is native to Korea, and most likely refers to the ‘Jiri-mountain’ oak tree that produces the acorns in Skin Food Acorn Jelly mask.

But there are also many other ingredients in this mask, including:

• moisturizers
• anti-inflammatory ingredients, and
• antioxidant and whitening ingredients

The moisturizing ingredients are self explanatory, and the anti-inflammatory ingredients would likely work together with the astringent, tannin, to help reduce pore size. Oleanolic acid is an antioxidant and also inhibits melanin production to promote lightening of skin.

Skin Food Acorn Jelly also promises to exfoliate dead skin cells. This may refer to the inclusion of Butylene Glycol, which is often an ingredient in facial cleansing products due to its ability to dissolve most essential oils.

The instructions say to leave Skin Food Acorn Jelly Mask on skin for 1 minute then rinse off with warm water. There is no recommendation of how often you should use it.

Keep in mind that with this mask a little goes a really long way! I keep scooping out way too much every time.

On the skin it feels cool and refreshing. After a few seconds starts to sting a little, especially around my sensitive nose area. I suppose this might be the feeling of the skin tightening.

So does it work?

I’ve used this mask every day for a week, and I have noticed tightening of the pores on my nose, which was my major concern, and there’s been a visible reduction in white heads on my nose! I have combined this mask with a deep cleansing step (using Zino Bubble Mask), the theory being that first I remove white heads, excess oil and dead skin, and then tighten pores so that they don’t come back.

An effect I didn’t expect was that my skin has actually become really smooth. In fact I’ve received many comments, quite randomly, about how good my skin looks. So I definitely think this mask is doing great things for my skin, and I’ll definitely keep on using it!

• Does appear to tighten pores
• Has made my skin appear and feel smoother over 1 week
• Feels cool and refreshing
• A little goes a long way
• Leave on time of 1 minutes means you could fit it easily into your everyday skin care routine
• The promise of this product ticks all the boxes for someone with oily blemish prone skin

• Not the best smelling mask out there, but not all together unpleasant
• Does sting a little so may not be the best mask for sensitive skin

I would definitely buy this mask again, and it’s totally made me excited to try out other Skin Food products!