I’ve been wanting to try Origins Original Skin Mask since it first came out, but I had a good rhythm going with my skincare routine at the time and I didn’t want to risk upsetting months of calm, clear skin by changing things. Fast forward a few months and that well and truly went out the window, after a stressful winter my skin was in an absolute state. Origins had a pop-up store in central London at the start of the year, and I ducked in before a meeting one day and couldn’t resist picking up a tube of this gorgeous rose clay mask – my skin had become so rubbish I had nothing to lose!

Original Skin Mask contains Canadian Willowherb, which is a natural anti-microbial that kills acne causing bacteria whilst soothing redness and inflammation. I’ve never had acne, but I have been getting lots of spots recently, and the red patches from all the irritation I had when I was stressed were driving me crazy. Rose Clay, another key ingredient, is a really gentle kaolin clay (all clay absorbs toxins from the skin, but Rose is a very gentle one so it doesn’t strip combination skin types).

Now here’s a funny thing. One of the other key ingredients is a plant extract called Persian Silk Tree, which is native to Asia and South America. It’s an antioxidant that helps restore radiance to dull, tired complexions. When I was googling it to find out what it does, I found a few pictures and my first thought was ‘umm…I’ve seen one of those somewhere before’ – and a quick scroll through my photos revealed I was right! I spent two months in the Amazon rainforest a few years ago, and one day on a trek, I stumbled across a mysterious pink flower. I photographed it, meaning to look it up when I got back home, but I completely forgot. Well, now I know! Here’s the specimen I found, deep in the jungle in Peru:

I really, really love this mask. I’ve found that the formulation is gentle enough that it doesn’t irritate my skin, but at the same time it deeply cleanses and purifies my complexion. It brightens and smooths my skin without drying it out, and it really was exactly what my skin needed. I tested it out on my boyfriend too, who has oily, acne prone skin, and he loved how soft and bright it left his skin. Although, he probably wouldn’t use it regularly as he has the kind of skin that would benefit from Origin’s Charcoal Mask three times a week!

If you have normal to combination skin, the occasional blemish or dullness and red patches, I cannot recommend this mask highly enough. Get it from Look Fantastic for £25 – link