Let me just say up front that I love these masks so much they make me want to pollinate something. If you know what I mean.

My first five-pack of Banila Co Miss Flower & Mr Honey hydrogel masks was the result of a small impulse haul from the Memebox site–the same haul that got me the awesome Freeset Donkey Milk Aqua hydrogel masks. I actually wanted to review these before the donkey milk thing, but I couldn’t find an English ingredients list and wasn’t willing to review or recommend anything without that. You guys have Redditor /u/lostinpretty to thank for this review: she went above and beyond in tracking down the ingredients for me, translating them, and even checking her translation against a Korean skincare app’s database! If you go broke because of this mask, blame her, not me.

Purpose: The Banila Co Miss Flower & Mr Honey hydrogel masks claim to moisturize and nourish skin.

Do not use if: You are sensitive to carrageenan, botanical extracts, fragrance, or anything else in the ingredients list. Tread carefully and patch test first if you have any bee allergies, as this product contains multiple bee-produced ingredients.

When and how to use: After cleansing and either after or in place of your pre-cream skin care steps, remove mask from package and protective plastic backing and apply to face, bottom half first. Wear for 20-40 minutes as directed on mask packaging, or longer if you want (and you will). After removing mask, pat in any remaining essence and seal with your usual moisturizing cream or sleeping pack. Go to sleep and dream of flowers and fat, happy bumblebees and other happy, happy things.

Ingredients list: Purified water, glycerin, niacinamide, ceratonia siliqua (carob) gum, carrageenan powder, lactobacillus ferment, scutellaria baicalensis root extract, camellia sinensis (white tea) leaf extract, artemisia princeps extract, houttuynia cordata extract, yuzu extract, castor seed oil, 1,2-hexanediol, caprylyl glycol, phenoxyethanol, ferric oxide, titanium dioxide, synthetic fluorphlogopite, PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, chrysanthemum indicum flower extract, butylene glycol, saccharomyces ferment, honey extract, oenothera biennis (evening primrose flower) extract, calendula flower extract, chamomile flower extract, propolis extract, royal jelly extract, ethylhexylglycerin, adenosine, disodium EDTA, potassium hydroxide, fragrance

Notable ingredients: One of the more notable aspects of this mask is the fact that its essence is apparently made using a one-month fermentation or “ripening” process. As I discussed in my review of DD’ell Extra Vitalizing Serum, fermentation may make skin care products more effective by breaking ingredients down into smaller and more bioavailable components in much the same way the process does for food.

Miss Flower dominates in the ingredients list, where you’ll find many moisturizing, brightening, calming, and antioxidant botanical extracts, but Mr Honey has his say as well, with the addition not only of honey, which moisturizes and can help calm acne, but also of royal jelly extract and propolis extract. Royal jelly is secreted by honeybees to feed queen bees and queen-bees-in-training (larvae, in other words) and may be nutritious and beneficial to skin, while propolis, which bees produce to line their hives, is antioxidant, antibacterial, and has wound healing properties. This mask also contains plenty of niacinamide, one of my all-time favorite proven brightening, oil-controlling, barrier-repairing, and anti-aging ingredients. Yay.

My CosDNA analysis of this mask’s ingredients flags carrageenan, an algae extract used as a thickener, with a 5 as a potential acne trigger and a 2 as a potential irritant. Chamomile gets a 2 as a potential acne trigger, and calendula, butylene glycol, and castor oil all get 1s for acne as well. If your skin breaks out easily or is sensitive to any of these ingredients, patch test before trying out this mask.

Performance

Like most other hydrogel masks, the Banila Co Miss Honey & Mr Flower hydrogel masks come in two parts, one for the upper half of the face and one for the lower, and it’s better to apply the lower half first, as overlapping the upper half on top of it will help keep it from sliding down off your chin. The mask sheets are, like most hydrogels, a bit slippery and hard to unfold and put on, because they’ll slime and flop all over your hands as you struggle with them. Once I have mine on, though, they mold perfectly to my features and stay on well.

Oh. And did I mention that the mask sheets are gold? Gold!

These masks smell beautiful. The fragrance is floral and incredibly feminine, but not overwhelming or perfumey. They smell more like real flowers than like flower fragrance, if that makes sense.

I use these masks for a full hour apiece, partly because they feel so wonderful on and partly because at the price of these, I want to get my full money’s worth out of them. By the time I take them off, the sheets are significantly thinner, indicating that most of the essence has melted into my skin. When I remove the masks, the surface of my skin is hardly damp at all, no massaging or patting necessary, and what’s left of the sheets is dry, with most of the inner weave exposed.

After wearing these masks, my skin always feels very, very, very nourished from within and always looks incredibly bright, even, and hydrated, but not greasy at all. My face sometimes feels a little warm, but not in a bad way, as if irritated; rather, it’s as if my circulation has been stimulated (or as if I’m OD’ing on niacinamide, but whatever). And my face consistently looks a little rounder and softer from the hydrating powers of this mask!

Those results always last well into the next day. My skin remains super plump and firm and feels velvety soft; skin texture looks more refined, and overall, I just get an incredible glow. I’m hooked.

Conclusion: Did I say I’m hooked? Because I’m totally hooked. These masks may be the best masks I’ve ever tried; they’re so, so good that it’s difficult to stop myself from using them all the time. In fact, apart from the price, I don’t have a single substantive complaint to make about this product. The price makes these more of a “special occasion” indulgence (har, har, says the woman with only one left out of a pack of five), but everyone has special occasions sometimes, so I definitely recommend having a few of these on hand.

Rating: 5/5, Holy Grail status

Rating scale:

Where can I buy Banila Co Miss Flower & Mr Honey Hydrogel Masks?

I checked Amazon and my usual webshops and came up with two places where you can buy these masks.

• Currently on sale for 5,250 won (about $4.80USD) apiece at TesterKorea
• Pack of 5 for $21USD (making them $4.20USD apiece) at Memebox (affiliate link)

If you’re located in the US, I’d definitely recommend purchasing these from Memebox, since shipping will be far faster and cheaper (or free if your total purchase is over $30).