Biore Charcoal Mask and Cleanser

Nobody tells you that acne is still a thing after you stop being a teenager. I’ve been having some good skin days and bad skin days. Over the past few months, I’ve also had some big changes that caused my skin to panic a ton. Long story short, it’s a bad time. Biore was so kind as to send me some packet samples from their new charcoal cleansers line. I’ve used Biore in the past, but I’m not particularly faithful to a skincare brand, so I was certainly up for trying them.

First up is the Self Heating One Minute Mask.

Melt away the stress. Melt away the dirt and oil. Infused with natural charcoal, this thermal mask opens pores and draws out dirt. It finishes with a cooling sensation for tingly-smooth skin in just one minute. Mix this charcoal face mask with water to increase heating action by 2x. Talk about turning up the heat.

This comes in single-use packets, so you tear the pack open and then rub it on your skin. It’s not the kind of mask that you leave on, more like a cleanser that gets massaged in and then rinsed off within a few minutes. This is really thick. I had a really hard time getting it to go across my face because it’s like tar. It does heat up quite a bit, but not so much that it burns. You can certainly feel it though. It does claim to have this cooling effect at the end, and I didn’t notice that at all. It was just warm. After a few minutes I ended up just taking it off.

My skin did feel smoother after using this, but I don’t think it made enough of a difference to be worth putting up with the stickiness.

Next is the Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser.

Skin acting up? Meet Charcoal. The new secret weapon from the Bioré® Skincare Experts. Draw out and trap 2x more dirt and impurities than a basic cleanser with this innovative black cleanser that foams white and rinses clean. Infused with Japanese Skin Purifying Technology, this facial cleanser gives you results after just one use!

I didn’t feel particularly compelled by this product either. It has a gel consistency, much like you’d expect, but with suspended black speckles (the charcoal, presumably). This didn’t do much for me at all. It dried out my already dry skin and didn’t do a very good job cleansing. It also had that icky face cleanser smell.

I feel bad because this is a new product line, and it seemed like it had a lot of potential. I think that these products would be good if you had really oily skin, but they definitely don’t work for me.

Have you tried the new charcoal line from Biore?