Medicube Zero Pore Blackhead Mud Facial Mask Review – Clearer Skin Instantly
Medicube is a beloved Korean beauty brand that delivers science-backed skincare in a wide variety of formulas to help suit any skincare routine. For oily skin types, their Zero Pore skincare range has been a triumph. It utilizes innovative botanical extracts to help revitalize and balance sebum on your face. Their specialty is the addition of ‘astringent’ ingredients, which are extracts that actively ‘shrink’ your pores by withdrawing moisture and trapped oils from larger pores.
One of the most popular products in their original line is their Blackhead Mud Facial Mask, which is a bright-blue and thick mud mask that clings to skin and acts in just 3 minutes. It’s a base of restoring Kaolin clay infused with exfoliating acids (AHA, BHA and PHA), balancing green tea, grape extract and primrose. It seems like an exciting addition to an oily skin routine and as someone who loves a good mud mask, I was excited to test it out.
So, is it suited for acne-prone skin? How often should you use it? What’s the before-and-after and does it really shrink pores? Let’s put it to the test!
What's In The Bottle?
Kaolin Clay: mineral-rich, white clay that adheres to skin to withdraw impurities and excess oils for clearer, softer skin. Great balancing treatment for oily skin types.
Sodium Hyaluronate: powerful water humectant that helps draw moisture into skin cells to create plumper and longer-hydrated skin. Great for reducing pore size.
Chlorella Vulgaris (micro-algae) extract: powerful bioactive ingredient that helps soothe redness, clear skin and boost collagen production for reconstruction of damaged skin. Helps reduce acne-causing bacteria.
Bergamot/Lemon/Orange oil: brightening and astringent agent that helps treat acne spots, cool redness and boost antioxidants for improved cell healing and clearer skin.
Evening Primrose extract: hydrating and firming extract that helps clear fine lines and smooth skin texture for a refreshed, glassy finish.
Grape extract: rich in antioxidants to help refine and protect skin biome from external stressors. Great to brighten and refresh skin.
Coffee extract: rich in polyphenols and caffeine, this helps brighten skin texture and boost elasticity for refreshed and glowing skin texture.
Green tea extract: rich in antioxidants that help enhance hydration, reduce redness and boost UV protection to prevent irritation and inflammation.
Chestnut Shell extract: soothing extract that helps halt aging enzymes and pigment to help clear and firm skin for soft, smooth texture with reduced pigment and lines.
Cellulose: gentle exfoliating agent that helps massage away dead skin cells and impurities for clearer, softer and refreshed skin appearance.
BHA/AHA/PHA: soft exfoliating acids that help melt dead skin cells and clear pores from sebum to help reduce blackheads and oil deposits in skin.
Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide: pigment with a vivid, deep-blue colour that gives the colour to this face mask. It’s non-irritating to skin but should avoid eyes and mouth.
Who Should Avoid?
This mask is designed to shrink pores of oily skin types and thus would be quite irritating to dry skin types. Even in combination skin, you should avoid ‘non-oily’ regions of your face with this mask, or wash quickly, as it dries quite aggressively and can feel unpleasant. It's a face mask specifically designed for oily skin and to help re-balance sebum and cool acne spots.
The Results
I have combination skin and acne, so finding clarifying treatments that helps clear pores and provides a soft finish is always amazing. It can feel overwhelming struggling with oily skin, constant build-up and irritation – so pore masks are one of my favourite ways to ‘reset.’ This face mask had a classic Kaolin clay base that a lot of other pore masks have, so expectations were high on Medicube to differentiate this from usual products. The main thing that was completely different than other clay masks was it’s “quick drying” capabilities. It was meant to be applied and washed off in just 3 minutes, making it almost more like a face cleanser than a long-stay face mask.
It has a rich vivid blue colour and nice gummy texture that applies really well to the skin. And it dries so fast. You actually can’t really sit with it like other face masks, as it will quickly become hard and tight on dry areas of skin. Having combination skin, this is much more of an ‘oily T-zone' mask than most other masks and provides a quick treatment that you can use often and without having to wait.
You can see the before and after of two weeks (using twice weekly as a quick treatment) and with the second picture taken directly after washing off the mask. Although it has an ‘aggressive’ drying pattern (which can feel rough on dryer skin) the results can’t really be argued with. It helps reduce pore size quickly, clear blackheads and when you’re washing it off, it turns back to this lovely soft and gummy texture. It also contains cellulose, so rinsing with warm water and massaging in a circular pattern helps create a deeper cleanse.
Final Thoughts
This mask is a great addition for oily skincare and is safe for use in acne-prone skin, for clearer and brighter texture. It is really not suited to dry skin types, so take care if you have regions that tend to lean dryer and perhaps wash quickly to avoid that pinching feeling. It's a really lovely treatment for oily skin and will help reduce/clear blackheads quickly. Also a great addition if you're looking to shrink large pores before an even or cool skin redness.
Want to check out the exciting range of Medicube products? All the best of K-beauty is available on Arktastic! Authentic skincare shipped directly from Seoul.
Looking for more exciting K-beauty reads? Check out our review of the viral Medicube Zero Pore Pads. Or check out our guide to our favourite Medicube Gift Sets (for yourself and those you love):
