Anti-blemish

Ziaja Microbiome Face Mask For Oily Skin Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - September 14, 2024

Here's one face mask for those of us who have way too oily and acne-prone skin! This is the Ziaja Microbiome Face Mask For Oily Skin!
 
 
So, the primary reason why I bought this face mask in the first place was because it was advertised as being specifically made for oily skin. That, and it was super affordable! I really liked how it has a bunch of balancing ingredients, including inulin and a mineral blend ferment. It definitely sounded like it could help my skin be more balanced, perhaps even reduce how inflamed my pimples are! And even if it isn’t good in the end, I don’t care too much because it is very affordable. But I am really hoping it is good, and that it will help and be gentle enough for my sensitive skin! Now, let’s see what it’s like!
 
 
 
 
Packaging: a plastic sachet, like most masks. This one is very hard to tear open, though. I almost always have to use a razor to cut it open. In terms of design, it is quite basic, featuring just a model that looks like she is feeling really relaxed from using this mask. The text is aqua, and black; both are easy to read. The text in the back is black, so that you can read it easily. Like I said, pretty simple, but I like it!
 
 
 
 
 
Ingredients: glycerine, zinc, inulin, copper, magnesium, iron, silicon, hyaluronic acid, urea for nourishment. Also, thermal (sea) water! Unfortunately, there are parabens here, methylparaben and propylparaben. That sucks. But the rest of the ingredients list has barely any ingredients that aren’t serving a purpose, so it’s overall incredibly rich in active ingredients. It’s also fat-free; indeed, I cannot see any fats in the ingredients list. Now, just having thermal water and HA would already be awesome, but it’s also enriched with a cocktail of fermented minerals (Zn, Cu, Mg, Fe, Si) that should balance the skin’s microbiome. Awesome! This looks so promising! The scent is very intense, though. Too intense, actually. It smells very perfumey and aromatic. It reminds me of men’s perfumes or aftershaves, it’s salty and herbal and kinda summery. Fortunately, it’s not that intense when you spread the mask on your face. The expiration date is listed along one side of the sachet. I have no idea how long this mask should be left on; the instructions only say to “leave it until absorbed”, but that could be 10, 20, or 30 minutes, all depending on the skin type or how thickly you apply it. I usually leave it for 20-25 minutes, but it’s still not absorbed by then. How hard was it to just write “leave for 30 minutes”, just to make it safe? This is quite annoying, and can lead to not enough serum absorbing.
 
 
 
The serum is very thick, but it’s gelly. It literally feels (and looks) like a gel. It’s colourless and clear. It’s also quite greasy once you start spreading it across the skin. It’s a bit too heavy for me, even though it doesn’t feel too occlusive or heavy while it’s absorbing. Although, how does it feel so greasy if it is fat-free? Anyways, the mask is wonderfully easy to spread across the face because of the greasy, gelly formula. Oh, and there’s sooo much serum inside! 
 
 
Like, if I try to use it all in one go, it will never absorb or dry, so I have to, effectively, throw away half of the mask... this feels wasteful to me, but that’s what comes with having a small face.
 
 
 
 
Oh my! Immediately, this feels super refreshing and cooling – and that’s achieved without using menthol! The coldness feels so relaxing and soothing! It also feels quite hydrating, like my skin is really going to be hydrated after using this mask! There’s also a definite balancing feeling, like it’s balancing the skin’s microbiome. The one thing I dislike, though, is how heavy it is, but, paradoxically, it also, somehow, feels light?? Oh, also, after about 20 minutes, the cooling sensation is replaced to some degree with a warming one, this is interesting. However, this is not a sign of irritation, as my skin still looks happy under the mask. 
 
 
 
The formula is definitely good for sensitive skin, although it is triggering a bit of a reaction on my neck, where I have started to get severe itching and redness from adapalene. But everywhere else, it feels soothing and hydrating, which is just wonderful!
 
 
Okay, so... this mask should be left on until it completely absorbs. Thing is, with how much serum there is inside, it never fully absorbs on my face because there is just too much of it. And believe me, I have left it on for long enough! I left it for up to 20-25 minutes and it still isn’t absorbed. So I usually just take a moist cotton pad and wipe off the excess; I have found that this is good enough for me, to prevent messes and my skin becoming irritated from being suffocated by such a thick layer of mask on it. 
 
 
 
Anyways, if you leave it on, it will be extremely tacky, and will likely prevent moisturisers from properly absorbing. This is one more reason why I think you should just wipe off the excess, instead. Now, after removing the excess, my skin looks pretty happy! After just one use, my skin looks more balanced and even, and it reduced how red acne look! My skin feels balanced and happy, too! It feels moderately hydrated, not as much as I’d hoped, but as long as it feels calm and content I am happy, too! Honestly, I never expected it to work quite this well, to be able to actually reduce the amount of acne and make them less inflamed – plus, it doesn’t irritate my already very irritated skin! It says that it can be used daily and I’d be inclined to believe that, it is definitely gentle enough while showing genuinely great results!
 
 
My skin still looks balanced and even the next day. Pimples are less red and inflamed, and there is no itching or any kind of irritation. Yay! It seems that my skin really likes this mask, even if it is way too gelly for my liking. 
 
 
All in all, a wonderful and very affordable mask that is gentle enough to be used every day! I find it to be quite interesting; its formula is extremely gelly but it spreads easily like a cream. You’d think that such a gelly formula wouldn’t apply quite so easily, but here we are. I really like how it feels while it is absorbing; it feels like it is balancing the skin from within, I think I can even feel the zinc drying out acne from inside out! It feels refreshing and calming and cool, interestingly enough! But it doesn’t have menthol, so this is not irritating. And the results are amazing, as well! It visibly reduces how red acne is, and it calms down irritations. It also makes the skin look and feel balanced and even, and that’s all from just 1 use! Amazing! The biggest thing that I dislike is how I don’t know how long it should be left on and whether you should rinse it or not; on Ziaja’s website it says that the mask should be rinsed out, but then, on the sachet it doesn’t say that. So, which is it, then?? I just gently remove the excess serum with a moist cotton pad, I think this is a good middle ground between the two. Because, if I were to leave it on, I feel like it would suffocate my skin and not let any moisturiser through it. It’s really thick, and tacky after it dries. But, since the results are so visible and great, I can deal with these negatives. Yay! What a great little mask! I will highly recommend it to people with oily, acne-prone skin!
 
 
 
Rating: 7/10
 
 
Would buy again? YES


 

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