By Olivia Cuccaro
If you’ve set foot in a beauty department over the past year, chances are you’ve noticed a new product popping up on shelves. If you’re like me, you’ve even tried this new trend for yourself in hopes of a skin transformation. One-step simple and light enough to carry in your purse, masks are taking over the skin care world as more and more brands put out their own versions. As we approach the point of oversaturation in the mask market, not to mention literal oversaturation found with many a watery product, how do you choose the right mask for you? I spoke to Nannette de Gaspé, founder of the eponymous brand, about the science of skin care today and what makes her reusable dry masks stand out.
Nannette de Gaspé Youth Revealed Face Restorative Techstile Masque, $120, nannettedegaspe.com
Starting a brand takes a certain passion for cosmetics. When did you become interested in skin care?
From a very young age, I can remember my mother being very insistent about always having clean skin. She placed a lot of importance on her skin care ritual being simple and effective. Mom truly believed that good skin started with a properly cleansed face and ended with toner. She would always tell me to be gentle in the way that I removed my makeup and stressed that I should not pull or tug at my skin, especially under my eyes, as I cleansed my face. I was encouraged to exfoliate my skin weekly and follow up with a toner and good moisturizer. For daytime, I was always told to layer on sunscreen overtop of my skin care while at night, mom preached adding retinol to her skin care routine. She felt that this would help her skin age more gracefully. Keeping it simple was important to my mother and she always felt that skin care should be something that easily complemented her lifestyle.
Masks are having a moment in the beauty world. How does your collection differ from others on the market?
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We have referred to our infusers as ‘masques’ but they cannot be compared to any traditional wet masks that you see on the market. Traditional wet masks are on average 85 percent water and glycerin, with five to seven percent active ingredients. In the case of our Youth Revealed collection, our infusers are 87 percent active ingredients and emollients and act more like serum with reparative properties, with a mask-application. They are also 90 percent natural as our dry masque technology does not require the amount of preservatives required in wet masks, lotions and creams. Traditional emulsions bring very short-term hydration to the skin as dry and harsh environmental conditions cause the water in the applied formulation to rapidly evaporate…and do not contribute to improving the skin’s condition over time. With our technology…the release of the ingredients is sustained for a period of six to eight hours beyond the contact period. Because of our waterless dry masque technology, our formulation includes 87 percent of powerful age renewal active ingredients and emollients that hydrate and nourish the skin.
Wearable technology is a buzz-worthy term these days and can be used to describe your masks. What’s the science behind your collection?
We refer to our dry masques as infusers because they infuse active ingredients into the skin and work to repair the skin from the inside out. In describing how our infusers works, it is important to also discuss our breakthrough active ingredient delivery system, the Biomimetic MicroVectors (BMV). It is the BMV coupled with our dry masque technology that produces our outstanding results. The instant that BMVs make contact with the skin, they merge seamlessly with the skin’s structure and begin the prolonged release of active ingredients. As each individual’s skin profile is unique…actives are fed to the skin only as required. This prolongs and enhances the effectiveness of the active ingredients. BMV have a rich, smooth balm-like texture which is imprinted on our soft, luxurious, ‘techstile’ infusers [to] gently wrap around your eyes, mouth, neck, hands, face and are activated by humidity, temperature, pH or natural body movements. By using lipids with a very high content of actives and delivering them without water, you don’t just temporarily fill the gaps between the cells but repair them.
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Nannette de Gaspé Youth Revealed Library of Skin Seduction Restorative Techstile Masques, $425, nannettedegaspe.com
Can you recommend a Nannette de Gaspé anti-aging and restorative regimen?
We like to encourage people to use our masks on their terms as far as what they are trying to achieve as a skin care result. Our Youth Revealed collection features highly repairing and restorative anti-aging results that are visible after only one day of use. For an intensive treatment and to obtain the maximum results in the most efficient way, we recommend using our infusers four days in a row. I like to use mine in the morning while I blowdry my hair, after I’ve cleansed and exfoliated my face. Given it isn’t necessary to follow our infuser application with any type of moisturizer, I tend to remove the infuser from my face, allow the formulation to absorb into my skin, apply an eye cream, some SPF and I am out the door. In order to maintain the result, we always encourage people to adopt their regular skin care routine in between treatments.
To learn more and shop the Nannette de Gaspé collection, please visit nannettedegaspe.com
