Daiso DIY Expanding Sheet Mask Pellets

I went on a trip to Daiso last weekend and this cute little sheet mask set fell into my basket! For those of you who aren’t lucky enough to know, Daiso is a Japanese variety store where everything costs 100 yen, which somehow translates to $2.80 in Australia. This set contains 10 “blank” sheet masks compressed into little pellets, that expand into the full-sized masks when you wet them with serum. Massive novelty value, so of course I had to try it straight away!

The set comes with a helpful little well for preparing your mask. There were a few hiccups along the way. My first two tries were pretty terrible:

1. I first tried Apivita Express Beauty with Carrot mask diluted with water. Unfortunately, since these pellets require water to expand, the high shea butter content actually stopped the mask from expanding properly, forming a waterproof seal around the pellet pretty quickly.

2. I tried a water-based mask next – Uriage AquaPrecis Express Mask, diluted with water and a few drops of Daiso’s hyaluronic acid serum (this is a humectant that draws water to the surface of your skin). This was a lot more successful, but still required a lot of prodding to get it to expand.

3. Finally, success! Check it out in action:

This is with a little squirt of Jurlique Herbal Recovery Gel, thinned down to the consistency of milk. Another angle:

SO MUCH FUN! The mask expands immediately, and is easily unrolled to its full size.

Annoyingly the mask doesn’t fit too well – it doesn’t quite fit the nose right (my nose isn’t exactly long, but it’s still too short), and it’s a bit small in the forehead, but I can forgive that since my forehead is huge.

Advantages
– Cheap! $2.80 for 10 masks is 28 cents a mask, although you have to supply your own serum.
– Customisable serums – you can turn anything into a mask (if it’s watery)
– Really entertaining! Watching it expand and hearing it up suck the liquid is really cool.

Disadvantages
– Only super watery serums will work
– Weird fitting nose
– Wastage – you have to use a fair bit of product to wet the mask

If your skin needs a bit of extra moisture, these masks are a great idea – you can use diluted lotions and serums, or you can even DIY a hydrating mask with diluted honey or yoghurt or Yakult. But if you’re looking for something for an oil-based mask, you’ll be better off going for the pre-expanded sheet masks – Daiso also sell those.

You can find Daiso store locations on their Australian website.