Masks we group for brightening

The short read

• At €1.97 an application the median here is the dearest of the four shelves with a page, against €1.75 across the catalogue. The shelf runs from €0.23 to €11.86 a use.

• The grouping is ours: a mask is here because its stated purpose and its formula point at an uneven skin tone, not because we found the word “brightening” on the box.

• Nineteen of the 36 carry nothing the encyclopaedia flags to check in pregnancy - the lowest share of the four shelves here. Fifteen leave fragrance off the list, and 34 of the 36 carry no drying alcohol.

• The median list of 29.5 entries is the second longest of the four. It sits directly opposite the exfoliation shelf, which is the cheapest and the shortest of them.

What these lists print that others do not

Not the most common ingredients - water is on nearly every list ever written and tells you nothing about who a mask is for. These are the entries that appear far more often on this shelf than across the 215 masks as a whole, counted by encyclopaedia entry rather than by printed name. A name appearing here is a reading of the label, not a statement that it does anything.

• Ascorbic Acid9 of 36 here·10 of 215 overall
• Niacinamide22 of 36 here·45 of 215 overall
• Adenosine12 of 36 here·27 of 215 overall
• Hydroxyethylcellulose9 of 36 here·31 of 215 overall

Names without a link have no encyclopaedia entry yet, so we make no claim about them beyond the count.

The sixteen concerns side by side

The dataset sorts masks into sixteen concerns, and only four have a page. Hydration covers 70% of the catalogue, so a page over it is the catalogue with a new heading, and two more are too small to carry one. Seven are already published under another heading - every oil-control mask is on the oily skin page, every firmness mask on the mature skin page - and re-heading our own indexed shelf is worse than re-heading the catalogue. The last two clear every mechanical test and are left out on a judgement instead: soothing sits exactly on the catalogue median of €1.75 an application and 26 entries, dullness within €0.10 and one entry of both, and four pages was the scope set for this family. Neither is excluded for good. Every figure here is counted across all sixteen, so the superlatives above are scoped honestly.

A mask is usually grouped under more than one concern, so the columns do not sum to 215. The grouping is ours throughout, read from what each mask sets out to do and what its formula suggests.

All 36 masks we group for brightening

Cheapest use first. Every one is on sale in the EU and has a published ingredient list we could source and check.

• 

  Balea

  Gesichtsmaske Niacinamide

  17ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €0.23 per use

• 

  Balea

  Gesichtsmaske Vitamin C

  23ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €0.23 per use

• 

  alverde Naturkosmetik

  Gesichtsmaske Q10 mit Vitamin C

  40ingredients

  !9 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€0.32 per use

• 

  COSRX

  Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Spa Mask

  19ingredients

  ≈€0.92 per use

• 

  Yeauty

  Tuchmaske Avocado Cucumber Niacinamide

  29ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  €0.95 per use

• 

  The Beauty Mask Company

  Tuchmaske Berry Love

  16ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €1.15 per use

• 

  Medicube

  Kojic Acid Turmeric Night Wrapping Mask

  22ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€1.20 per use

• 

  I'm From

  Rice Mask

  43ingredients

  ≈€1.30 per use

• 

  belif

  Super Knights Vitamin Mask

  26ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€1.32 per use

• 

  Schaebens

  Tuchmaske AHA Peeling

  17ingredients

  !4 ingredients we would look at twice

  €1.45 per use

• 

  Schaebens

  Tuchmaske Vitamin C

  19ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €1.45 per use

• 

  Schaebens

  Tuchmaske Summer Glow

  44ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €1.55 per use

• 

  SOME BY MI

  Real Vitamin Brightening Care Mask

  19ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €1.55 per use

• 

  The Ordinary

  AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution

  24ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€1.80 per use

• 

  Garnier

  SkinActive Vitamin C Tissue Mask

  21ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  €1.85 per use

• 

  Balea

  Glass Skin Collagen Maske

  17ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €1.95 per use

• 

  BULLRICH

  Tuchmaske Vitamin C + Retinol

  11ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €1.95 per use

• 

  Selfie Project

  Tuchmaske Nourishing #LittleOtter

  21ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €1.95 per use

• 

  Elizavecca

  Aqua Deep Power Ringer Mask Pack

  28ingredients

  !3 ingredients we would look at twice

  €1.99 per use

• 

  numbuzin

  No.3 Tingle-Pore Softening Sheet Mask

  42ingredients

  !10 ingredients we would look at twice

  €2.17 per use

• 

  Erborian

  BB Shot Mask

  34ingredients

  !8 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€3.75 per use

• 

  Petitfee

  Black Pearl & Gold Hydrogel Mask Pack

  33ingredients

  !4 ingredients we would look at twice

  €3.84 per use

• 

  TONYMOLY

  Master Lab Sheet Mask Vitamin C

  33ingredients

  !5 ingredients we would look at twice

  €3.89 per use

• 

  hautsache

  Gesichtsmaske Brightening

  33ingredients

  €3.95 per use

• 

  Svenja Walberg

  Glass Skin Mask Pink PDRN [DNA]

  26ingredients

  €3.95 per use

• 

  Benton

  Snail Bee High Content Mask Pack

  27ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €4.09 per use

• 

  Medicube

  PDRN Pink Collagen Gel Mask

  43ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €4.41 per use

• 

  Abib

  Collagen Gel Mask Sedum Jelly

  41ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €4.45 per use

• 

  Medicube

  Kojic Acid Turmeric Brightening Gel Mask

  35ingredients

  !4 ingredients we would look at twice

  €4.73 per use

• 

  COSRX

  The Alpha-Arbutin Discoloration Care Hydrogel Mask

  44ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €5.06 per use

• 

  Anua

  Rice 70 Glow Collagen Mask

  42ingredients

  €5.54 per use

• 

  numbuzin

  No.5 Vitamin Spotlight Sheet Mask

  33ingredients

  !2 ingredients we would look at twice

  €5.68 per use

• 

  Anua

  Peach 70 Niacin Brightening Collagen Mask

  44ingredients

  €6.52 per use

• 

  Susanne Kaufmann

  Glow Mask

  45ingredients

  !7 ingredients we would look at twice

  ≈€10.29 per use

• 

  Rodial

  Vit C Energising Face Mask

  30ingredients

  !1 ingredient we would look at twice

  €11.09 per use

• 

  Shiseido

  Vital Perfection LiftDefine Radiance Face Mask

  81ingredients

  !10 ingredients we would look at twice

  €11.86 per use