Review: Mungo Murphy’s Nourishing Seaweed Mask

I have one more gorgeous goodie from Mungo Murphy’s Seaweed Co. to review for your beauties 🙂 As a lover of face masks, I was so excited to see a powdered face mask which is just pure, wild seaweed! Because it is in a dry powder form, no preservatives are needed to keep the mask bacteria free.

Seaweed is packed FULL of nutrients, it’s like an energy drink for your skin. Mungo states the mask should remove skin impurities and toxins (deeply cleansing skin), while hydrating, balancing skin tone and firming.

Mungo uses ascophyllum nodosum (a type of seaweed) for his face masks because it is full of alginic acid (a hydrator which acts like a humectant), ascorbic acid (vitamin C, antioxidant), mannitol (a sugar which also acts as a humectant moisturiser), vitamin E (antioxidant), vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, K3, Calcium, Copper, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium and Zinc. Vitamin B3 can be broken down into two forms, niacinamide and nicotinic acid – niacinamide is one of my favourite skin care ingredients because it reduces glycation (which can result in the yellowing of the skin with age or sallowness), reduces the distribution of melanin so it evens out skin tone and hyper-pigmentation and ups ceramide synthesis so your skin is more hydrated. Both forms of vitamin B3 reduce inflammation and strengthen the top layer of your skin so your lipid barrier can function at full capacity and ward off environmental stressors. Because of this, it is a great ingredient for acne prone skin. Zinc is another one of my favourite skin care ingredients, and I think it’s highly underrated. Zinc is brilliant at regulating sebum production and helps reduce inflammation while stimulating wound healing. It’s gentle on sensitive skins and this is why you will often find zinc oxide in nappy rash creams (not to mention, in your sunscreen – it’s a fantastic physical sun blocker).

Another bonus of using powdered masks is that you can mix it into various emollients, depending on what effect you want to achieve. I love to mix one teaspoon of seaweed powder with a teaspoon of honey. Using honey means you will get an even greater hydration boost while also calming inflamed skin. I try and use manuka honey when possible because of its high antibacterial count (to learn more about the effects of manuka honey on the skin, check out my One Hit Wonders post here). If you don’t have manuka honey don’t fret, because any organic and unrefined honey is still great (there’s a whole variety of bush honeys available in Australia).

 The consistency of the mask turns out to be a paste – it shouldn’t be to runny. You can also mix the seaweed powder with all natural plain yoghurt, if you want the mask to be more refining and unclog pores and blackheads (there is also a One Hit Winder post on using yogurt as a face mask here). The lactic acid found in yogurt gently exfoliates the skin, lifting out impurities for a clearer complexion. If you have extremely dry skin and find that honey doesn’t provide enough of a moisture hit, you could potentially mix the seaweed powder with organic argan oil as it’s not a solely occlusive moisturizer and is light enough.  You should get about 5 masks out of one pot of Mungo Murphy’s Seaweed Mask, even though the pot looks quite small.

So how did I find the mask? Well I use it mixed in with honey most of the time, and I find that the mask is very moisturising but also lightly exfoliates the skin also. Because the seaweed powder is slightly grainy, when you go to wash it off, Mungo suggests using your hands in circular motions to lift off the mask and lightly exfoliate your skin. You must do this with lukewarm water, otherwise it’s difficult to remove. I redip my hands into warm water a few times to gently remove the mask without being harsh and over rubbing my face. My skin is left smooth, clearer and looks more rested. I love that this is a multipurpose mask – it doesn’t just moisturise or just cleanse the skin. It does all of those things, while also adding antioxidants into the mix. The little pot would be excellent for travel. The powdered seaweed does have a strong scent, however it isn’t soooo strong that it would knock you over. I think that the first time you use the mask the scent is quite confronting, but once you pop the mask on your face, the scent disperses and fades. If you love DIY skincare and all natural products – you will love this mask! It’s a great pick me up no matter what your skincare concern is!

Mungo Murphy’s Nourishing Seaweed Mask can be purchased through Love Lula’s website (they offer free worldwide shipping!) for £8.50. That’s roughly $16-17 Aus dollars which isn’t to bad at all.

On a side note, can I just say how much I would love to go on a holiday? Or maybe that should be, I need to go on a holiday! The new uni semester has started and my schedule is a little bit crazy, so I apologize if my posts are a little scattered time wise. I will be doing my best to get at least one post up a week. I know that I shouldn’t complain – most people don’t get to travel overseas annually and some can’t even take a holiday for a few weeks to somewhere local, but I just feel so run down. My last ‘proper’ holiday was to Byron Bay in December 2011 (for about a week) and my last overseas trip was to Korea and Japan in 2010 (that was for 5 weeks). I am also lucky that I traveled extensively when I was studying at uni and I am still dreaming about going back to Ireland for a longer visit (I went to Dublin for a long weekend and also got to see some of the surrounding countryside and coast – it was gorgeous!). For those of us who can’t travel there just at the moment, here are some photos from Connemara Ireland where Mungo Murphy works hard, harvesting seaweed by hand from the Atlantic sea waters 🙂

The above two photos are not my own. Unfortunately I am not sure who took the wonderful photos. Let me know if you would like to see some of my own photos from my travels – even though they are a few years old now! 🙂

I also for the life of me cannot fathom that it is March already.  By the time I accept that a new month is upon us, another begins and the circle for delirium continues lol! Here’s to hoping March is good for all beauty bees 🙂

Check out Mungo Murphy’s Facebook page and website for more sea inspiration! Let me know how your month has started off and where your next holiday will be (even if we are just dreaming atm!).

Catch ya next time beauties,

Beauty Bee~

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