The Body Shop Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask Review

I received my sample of The Body Shop's Japanese Matcha Tea Pollution Clearing Mask in my October Topbox. While I used to be a Body Shop regular, it's been awhile since I've shopped there so I pleased to see this new offering from that brand in my Topbox.

Like most Body Shop products, this one comes with a story about its ingredients. A completely vegan product, the mask is made with "...matcha green tea from Kakegawa, Japan, dandelion extract and soul-soothing Community Trade aloe vera from Mexico." Along with a few other ingredients—but not "silicones, mineral oil or paraffins"—these items create a mask that, "deeply purifies, gently exfoliates and liberates your skin from the weekly build-up of city pollutants and everyday impurities." The end result is supposed to be, "radiant, younger-looking skin."


According to The Body Shop, "91% of women agreed pollution felt removed from their skin." I would include myself in that number as this mask did cleanse the top layer of my skin. After using this mask, my skin did look brighter and more radiant and sure, even a touch younger. But while I think it is fair to say that this product "gently exfoliates," I can't agree with Body Shop's "deeply purifies" claim.

Did this mask cleanse and perk up my skin? Yes but only on a superficial level. It had no impact on getting deep down and cleaning out clogged pores. It also appeared to have no impact on blemishes, dry patches or any other problem areas. It did soften my skin up nicely so that I could do manual extractions but I would have preferred if this mask could have just cleaned my pores out itself.

So overall, this product was okay but nothing special. I did like that it wasn't a sheet mask and that I could easily layer it on every centimetre of my face. But once it was on, it didn't feel amazing on my skin. It didn't feel bad either—I never experienced any irritation while using this mask—but it also didn't feel moisturizing or luxurious or anything like that. Its light, fresh scent was also nothing remarkable.

The Body Shop retails this product for $28, which is a lot for a mask that produces the same results as a $1.99 Balea mask. It does though have nicer packaging than a Balea mask, I will give it that.

Would I buy this product: No, it just didn't wow me.

Should you buy this product: No, there are better masks out there.