Mask and you shall receive.
When it comes to your skin-care routine, using the best face masks can take the results to the next level. Whether you prefer a deep-cleansing clay formula or a hydrating overnight mask, there are different types of face masks to address every skin concern — and, not to mention, serve as a welcome time-out during your day. These powerful formulations “are designed to deliver high concentrations of active ingredients to your skin,” Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, tells Allure. “Generally speaking, masks are used intermittently to help give your skin a boost when it needs it.”
The exact way to use a facial mask generally depends on the type of mask used, since there are so many options available on the market — and each one has a specific function for overall skin health. “You can get masks for clarifying, brightening, hydrating, soothing, or anti-aging,” explains Claire Wolinsky, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in NYC. “You should test the ingredients of the mask on your hand first if you have sensitive skin, and always keep it on for the least number of minutes the first time using it.” After applying and letting it dry, wash it off with water (or a gentle cleanser if it’s an acid-based mask), and apply moisturizer. Dr. Wolinsky also suggests not using drying masks more than twice a week at most, but you can use hydrating masks more often.
And while our desks are continually graced by new product launches on the daily (a tough job, we know, but someone’s got to do it), we’re taking a step back to spotlight the best face masks that actually work — so skin feels and looks brighter, dewier, and less congested.
Here, we’ve rounded up 16 of our all-time best face masks, including editor favorites, Best of Beauty winners past and present, and dermatologist-approved formulas that deliver every time. Time for a well-deserved self-care moment.
Best Overall: The Outset Purifying Blue Clay Mask
Why It’s Worth It: This paste-like clay mask and 2023 Best of Beauty Award winner earned points for its ability to clear out pores, thanks to a powerful combo of kaolin clay, salicylic acid, and charcoal. It leaves skin clear and taut, but not at all tight — courtesy of the brand’s proprietary, botanically derived alternative to hyaluronic acid, which replenishes hydration.
Best for Dry Skin: Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Overnight Rehydrating Mask With 10.5% Squalane
Why It’s Worth It: This velvety, overnight balm won a 2023 Best of Beauty Award for its high content of fatty acids, which actively repair and strengthen the skin barrier throughout the night. Importantly, the rich formula won’t rub onto the pillow while you sleep, and the formula is both fragrance-free and noncomedogenic, so it won’t clog pores and inadvertently cause breakouts.
Best for Oily Skin: Caudalíe Vinergetic C+ Pore Minimizing Instant Detox Mask
Why It’s Worth It: Combat excess oil and breakouts with the deep-cleansing Caudalíe Vinergetic C+ Instant Detox Mask, which contains papaya enzymes to brighten, plus pink clay and coffee to target blackheads. Commerce writer Jennifer Hussein was thoroughly impressed by the instant, glowing gratification this mask provided after a mere 10 minutes — so safe to say, this one’s worth the hype.
Best for Plumping: Laneige Water Sleeping Mask
Why It’s Worth It: Don’t sleep on Laneige’s Water Sleeping Mask, which, as one Allure editor put it, is the beauty product equivalent of skin-care commercial models rinsing their faces serenely “by dramatically splashing water on it in slow motion.” It’s spiked with squalane, which is known to mimic your skin’s natural lipids, to boost moisture retention.
Best for Acne-Prone Skin: Tata Harper Clarifying Mask
Why It’s Worth It: For skin that looks and feels out-of-sorts, consider Tata Harper’s Clarifying Mask, which pairs bentonite clay with alpha hydroxy acids to counteract breakouts. (It also includes quartz-derived micro-crystals to gently refine and polish skin.) Botanical ingredients like lavender extract, oat kernel oil, and rosehip seed oil also do much of the heavy lifting, leaving skin calm and clear.
Best for Mature Skin: Mario Badescu Super Collagen Mask
Why It’s Worth It: If you’re worried your clay mask may be too drying, you need to try Mario Badescu’s Super Collagen Mask. Even though the kaolin clay is designed to absorb oil from the skin, the soothing blend of oatmeal and collagen in this mask will boost up any hydration that’s been lost, explains Philadelphia-based board-certified dermatologist Michele Farber, MD. While any skin type can benefit from this mask, it’s especially ideal for mature skin.
Best for Large Pores: Fenty Skin Cookies N Clean Whipped Clay Detox Face Mask
Why It’s Worth It: The Fenty Skin Cookies N Cream Whipped Clay Detox Face Mask is the perfect mattifying treatment for oily, acne-prone skin, which is why it won a 2022 Best of Beauty Award and Readers’ Choice Award in 2023. It features a double dose of charcoal and salicylic acid, two ingredients known for their shine-reducing abilities, to mattify your complexion and balance oil production. (Despite the name, it’s fragrance-free.)
Best for Discoloration: Hyper Skin Fade and Glow AHA Mask
Why It’s Worth It: This mask contains a 2022 Allure Best of Beauty-winning combo of two of the most effective AHAs (or alpha hydroxy acids) — 5% glycolic acid and 5% mandelic acid — to gently exfoliate the skin and get rid of congestion. But not just that: “This mask also contains niacinamide and bearberry to fade dark spots and soften the skin,” says Dr. Wolinsky. “This makes this mask ideal for people who currently have acne-prone skin since it’s so decongesting, but it also helps those looking to treat older scars and smoothen their skin.”
Best for Sensitive Skin: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Instant Oatmeal Mask
Why It’s Worth It: New York City-based board-certified dermatologist Blair Murphy-Rose, MD, turns to this soothing face mask for stressed or irritated skin. “Colloidal oatmeal, shea butter, and sea buckthorn provide intense hydration to dry skin while soothing, nourishing, and protecting the skin barrier,” she says.
Best for Combination Skin: Tatcha The Clarifying Clay Mask
Why It’s Worth It: It can be hard to know when you’ve kept your mask on for the correct amount of time — too much and you can irritate the skin, but too little, and you wonder if you actually made a difference. The Tatcha Clarifying Clay Mask, however, has helped fix that problem by changing from green to red after it’s been massaged in, so you know when it’s time to take it off. Containing a self-warming mix of Japanese clay, konjac, and volcanic ash, it works to decongest pores — all while exfoliating and hydrating the skin.
Best for Redness: Fresh Floral Recovery Calming Mask
Why It’s Worth It: If a good night’s rest can improve your mood, catching eight hours with 2022 Best of Beauty-winner the Fresh Floral Recovery Calming Mask is downright transformative. The overnight treatment is made with squalane, which smooths and softens skin as you sleep. Meanwhile, a quartet of floral extracts helps calm inflammation and keep redness at bay.
Best Peel: Shani Darden Skin Care Triple Acid Signature Peel
Why It’s Worth It: Yet another 2023 Best of Beauty Award winner, this exfoliating treatment is a favorite of executive beauty director Jenny Bailly, who tends to use it for luminous-looking skin and barely-there pores ahead of a big trip, presentation, or party. It consists of two steps: the exfoliating portion, powered by a blend of alpha hydroxy acids, and a neutralizing step consisting of kaolin and bentonite clays. Together, they help deep-clean pores of impurities.
Best for Dehydration: Youth to the People Superberry Hydrate and Glow Dream Mask
Why It’s Worth It: The Youth to the People Superberry Hydrate and Glow Dream Mask snagged a Best of Beauty Award in 2019 for its powerful-yet-gentle formula. With four plumping, moisture-boosting ingredients — squalane, hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and betaine — your skin will start the morning feeling refreshed and replenished. Plus, vitamin C and prickly pear extract help turn up the skin’s natural brightness.
Best for Overnight: Paula’s Choice Super Hydrate Overnight Mask
Why It’s Worth It: A 2020 Best of Beauty winner, Paula’s Choice Super Hydrate Overnight Mask is a great choice for anyone, but especially those with dry and sensitive skin. The cream-gel formula is infused with calming reishi mushroom, soothing algae, shea butter, and glycerin to lock in moisture while you snooze. Come morning, you’ll wake up to plumper, dewier skin. However, you can also use it as a 20-minute wash-off mask depending on your preferences.
Best Budget: The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Masque
Why It’s Worth It: The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Masque is perfect for oily and acne-prone skin because its main ingredient, salicylic acid — along with kaolin and charcoal — sloughs off dead, pore-clogging skin cells and speeds up the healing process of inflamed pimples.
Best for Dullness: Kora Organics Turmeric BHA Hydrating Treatment Mask
Why It’s Worth It: Dr. Wolinsky says that this exfoliating mask contains “plant-based ingredients like rosehip, peppermint, and turmeric [that] also serves as a physical exfoliant containing mineral powder. “After five to 15 minutes, the instructions to remove the mask include using circular motions to allow for a physical exfoliation.” This helps to not only clear clogged pores, but also to diminish the appearance of scars and blemishes by removing dead skin cells and debris.