Best Sleeping Mask Creams To Rejuvenate Your Skin

With so many beauty products popping up, it’s hard to know how to really keep your skin healthy. Are sleeping mask creams even worth it? Do they offer anything different than night creams, moisturizers, or paper masks? The answer is a resounding yes.

In this post, you’ll learn how these night masks can refresh tired, dry skin, making them a great addition to your routine if you’re struggling to stay moisturized. We’ll also dive into our picks for the best sleeping mask creams to use at night.

How Do Sleeping Mask Creams Work?

Night or sleeping masks are easy to apply. They come in lotion or gel forms and are simply swept over the face. Like any moisturizer, you’ll follow your normal nighttime routine of washing, toning, and drying before applying a mask on your bare skin. Then you go to bed and let the night mask get to work. By the time you wake up, your skin will have absorbed the mask.

Like paper masks, night masks offer a heavy dose of moisturizing, but unlike their paper counterparts, these masks don’t leave extra waste for you to throw away. Some users also use sleeping masks for short-term skin pampering by massaging cream into the skin, letting it sit for 20-30 minutes, and then washing it off.

Sleeping Mask Creams vs. Night Creams

Night creams are used every night and act like a moisturizer formulated especially for nighttime use. Sleeping masks, in contrast, are often thicker and more restorative than night creams. Indeed, these masks are designed to deliver serious rejuvenation to tired skin and are usually used only once or twice per week.

If you have exceptionally dry skin, you may consider using a sleeping mask every night for a week or two. But most of the time, you’ll want to supplement your mask with a cream intended for regular use.

Who Should Use a Sleeping Mask Cream?

Your skin may not be getting enough moisture if you experience any of the following symptoms (source):

• Acne
• Tight-feeling skin
• Dark spots
• Redness
• Cracks in makeup

In these instances, you may benefit from giving special attention to rehydrating your skin. And a night mask is just the thing to deliver powerful moisturizing skin agents. Since they work all night, sleeping mask creams can repair dry, damaged skin faster than masks intended for removal after a few minutes.

Of course, your skin doesn’t have to be in bad shape to shake up your nighttime routine. Sleeping masks are also a great way to practice self-care and sleep hygiene. Problems related to sleep can be helped by following a relaxing routine before hitting the hay, and night masks can be an indulgent part of that practice.

So, consider keeping a jar on your nightstand and give yourself a facial massage every night. You can use this time to wind down your thoughts and let the repetitive movements of your fingers draw you towards sleep. Many sleeping mask creams, in fact, come with gentle, flower scents for added relaxation. But if you have sensitive skin, choose a mask with non-irritating fragrances.

How to Choose the Best Sleeping Mask Cream

The beauty industry is often a confusing market. Every cream claims it has the best ingredients, the most powerful formulation, and the most relaxing scent. But don’t be fooled by marketing. Here are some of the best (and worst) ingredients to look for in night masks:

Ingredients to Avoid in Sleeping Masks

• Alcohol – We used to love the clean, “tight” feeling that certain moisturizers gave us. Eventually, we realized the lotions and creams we faithfully applied resulted in no real change in skin quality or appearance. We did our research and learned that many products on the market contain harmful ingredients like alcohol, which dries out skin and breaks down cells, preventing the skin’s natural repair ability from functioning. If you’re struggling with overly dry skin, avoid creams with alcohol, including denatured or isopropyl alcohol (source).
• Chemical fragrances – While they may smell nice, chemical fragrances usually aren’t good for your skin. Many artificial fragrances contain acetaldehyde or benzophenone, both of which have been linked to cancer (source).
• Parabens and sulfates – Some research has indicated that these chemicals can interrupt hormone production in your body. With so many all-natural options on the market, it’s best to avoid unnecessary chemicals like these (source).

Ingredients to Look for in Sleeping Masks

• Sodium hyaluronate – This chemical fills up spaces between collagen and elastin, giving skin a plumper, younger appearance (source).
• Fatty alcohols – Not all alcohols are bad for your skin. Certain types of alcohol, like cetyl and cetearyl alcohol, help moisturize skin and keep other ingredients to last longer.
• Glycerin – Glycerin is a humectant, which means it attracts water to itself. This is good for skin care as glycerin can draw water from the air into your skin while you’re asleep (source).

Check out this video for another look at good ingredients in skin care routine. While the woman in the video, Mariiana, talks about night creams and not sleeping masks, the same rules still apply for choosing beneficial ingredients in both products…

Lastly, consider the texture of a night mask. We prefer thick, traditional lotions that sit on the skin’s surface. But you may want a thinner, more gel-like mask that looks more natural, especially if you’re sharing a bed.

Reviews of the Best Sleeping Mask Creams

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Hydra-Firm Sleeping Cream

This sleeping cream is thick, and we mean really, really thick. You only need a few dabs to cover your entire face and neck, but even just a small amount will make your face feel heavy for several minutes after application. While it may seem weird, that’s precisely what makes this such a powerful sleeping cream.

You want something that will retain moisture all night long so you can wake up with soft, begging-to-be-touched skin. Just don’t plan on going anywhere once you’ve finished your nightly skin care routine.

First Aid Beauty formulates all its products to be free of harsh, unnecessary chemicals. You won’t find skin-drying alcohol derivatives or worrying parabens in this cream. Instead, you get helpful ingredients like sodium hyaluronate to reduce wrinkles and glutaline to firm up sagging skin.

With our oily combination skin, we’ve always been wary of heavy moisturizers. We’ve had the nightmare experience of using moisturizers to reduce shine only to find they made the problem worse.

As we learned more about skin care, we realized that cheap moisturizers with low-quality ingredients eventually strip the skin’s moisture away, causing sebaceous glands to work overtime, producing even more nasty shine. That’s why we love the real ingredients in this cream; there are no alcohol or chemical irritants here, just the good stuff.

Laneige Water Sleeping Mask

Why do sleeping masks always come in jars? Don’t manufacturers know that using your hands to scoop out product can introduce acne-causing bacteria into your favorite moisturizer?

We usually solve this problem by ordering a pump-style lid, but that leaves us with an ugly-looking Frankenstein combination on our vanity. That’s why we were so excited to see that Korean manufacturer Laneige includes a spatula with their cream. Sure, it’s a small, inexpensive addition, but it shows an attention to consumer needs. None of the other night masks we reviewed come with an applicator.

This mask is a gel, not a lotion, and it goes on easily. If you don’t like the feel of lotion-based moisturizers, you may want to give this one a try. It’s especially nice if you need serious moisturizing to repair dry skin but can’t stand the way thick, heavy creams feel on your face.

Since it contains both glycerin and butylene glycol — another ingredient that helps draw moisture into the skin — this sleeping mask should leave your skin feeling refreshed in the morning (source).

While its specially developed SleepScent may irritate more than relax your skin, most users love the calming, chamomile-inspired scent. Unfortunately, like many Korean beauty products, this product is sold in China, where animal testing is required by law.

Goodal Want Night Sleep Anti-Wrinkle Cream Pack

Goodal is a thick cream that soaks into skin overnight, ensuring you wake up hydrated and refreshed. It avoids damaging ingredients like denatured alcohol and artificial scents, so you know your skin’s health won’t suffer if you choose to go with this product. But keep in mind, it’s light on clinically proven ingredients and there’s no guarantee your skin will improve.

This night mask feels good on application and smells nice due to gentle, all-natural lavender oil. We like the smell, but you may have a negative reaction if your skin’s extra-sensitive. While this is a good choice if you have a complex nighttime regimen and need something to seal in other products, we can’t recommend it as your sole bedtime cream.

Korres Advanced Brightening Sleeping Facial

We really want to love this product. It’s plant-based and cruelty-free, and smells so good. The jar is a beautiful deep red color. The cream itself feels great when applied to the skin; it’s thicker than a gel but lighter on the face than other moisturizing creams. Plus, it’s one of the few night masks that comes with Vitamin C, in the form of ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate, to limit pigment production and keep skin bright.

All that said, the ingredients list gives us pause. If we’re handing over our hard-earned cash, we want results. Korres claims that wild rose oil can reduce the appearance of fine lines but the company hasn’t released any clinical trials to back up its claims.

This cream also has harmful denaturalized alcohol that can dry out skin. Although it comes with clinically-backed ingredients like sodium hyaluronate and glycerin, it still isn’t our top choice.

Mizon Special Solution Good Night White Sleeping Mask

Mizon Good Night Sleeping Mask 80ml 2.7 fl oz

Check Price on Amazon

While Korean beauty products are the biggest trend in skin care, Mizon’s sleeping mask comes up a bit short. Sure, the cream contains good ingredients like glycerin for bringing moisture to the skin and nicotinamide for reducing discoloration but with alcohol listed as the seventh ingredient, any short-term benefits gained may result in long-term skin drying and damage.

On the flipside, you may love the Mizon Special Solution for its affordable price and thin, light feeling upon application. Also, it contains proven ingredients to reduce fine lines and smooth out blemishes and thus may still be worth its skin-drying effects.

So, while you’ll likely see better results with one of the other creams on this list, the Mizon Special Solution is satisfactory if you’re on a tight budget.

Conclusion

So, what’s the best sleeping mask cream overall? Well, we’d definitely have to go with the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Hydra-Firm Sleeping Cream. It’s full of skin-moisturizing ingredients like sodium hyaluronate and glycerin and it avoids bad ingredients like alcohol or unnatural fragrances. And even though it’s a thick, heavy cream, we think you’ll enjoy the way your skin looks after using this night mask.

Now Over to You!

What are your thoughts about our choices for overnight face masks? Do you have any questions we haven’t addressed? Leave your comments below!