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There are so many things to love about winter: a fresh snowfall, cozy clothes, and the very best in deep, moody hues. What we don't love, is how the cold affects our skin. Chilly temperatures and dry air, not to mention howling wind, all come into play, replacing your healthy, glowing complexion with a dull, flaky, dehydrated one. However, there are things you can do to protect your skin from winter's woes, the first of which is to make sure your skincare products are hydrating and super soothing. And that includes face masks. Keep reading for the best hydrating face masks that will quench your dry skin.
1. Biologique Recherche Creme Masque Vernix
To me, there is no better quick fix for dry, irritated winter skin. It's a cushiony cream mask formulated with rich fatty emollients, proteins, and antioxidant peptides to restore and protect your skin, even (and especially) under cold-weather conditions. Vernix actually refers to the waxy coating on a newborn baby's skin, and Biologique Recherche made this mask specifically to re-create that bouncy, hydrated, fresh effect. You only need to do 10 minutes, but since it's such a treat, go for as long as you can and remove with a warm washcloth.
2. Clark's Botanicals Deep Moisture Mask
Natural ingredients including algae extract, vitamin E, and green tea work together as part of this rejuvenating formula to hydrate, nourish, and comfort your skin when it's at its most vulnerable—in winter. It's deeply moisturizing, adds suppleness to your skin, and, with regular use, softens the look and feel of fine lines and wrinkles.
3. Epara Intense Hydrating Mask
Black-owned skincare brand Epara is known for its ultra luxe and hydrating formulations, and the Intense Hydrating Mask is no exception. It's a rich cream formulated with marula oil, plankton extract, and allantoin. These ingredients are designed to provide hydration, moisture, and restore your skin's elasticity and firmness. It's also brightening, soothing, and helps soften dry, stressed out skin. Basically, this mask does it all, and it's the perfect new product to add to your winter arsenal.
4. Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Hydrogel Mask
Neutrogena's Hydro Boost Water Gel-Cream Moisturizer ($21) is a dermatologist favorite so it's no surprise the brand's hydrating mask is just as much a wintertime favorite. The sheet mask, made from hydrogel rather than cotton, seals in the moisture-infused formula for better absorption as it quenches dry skin and adds a smoother, suppler texture.
5. Clinique Moisture Surge Overnight Mask
A time-tested favorite, Clinique's creamy, cooling night mask replenishes lost moisture in minutes. Then, after an eight-hour rest, you'll wake up with dewy, hydrated, soft, glowing skin.
6. Korres Wild Rose Vitamin C Sleeping Facial
A blend of hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, beeswax, and jojoba, and wild rose oils, this Korres multipurpose cream mask hydrates while reducing the appearance of fine lines and evening your skin tone. In fact, during a clinical trial, 97 percent of participants noticed improved skin texture after eight hours as well as improved skin radiance and elasticity after two weeks.
7. La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Sleep Mask
"When a skincare product falls just over $400, you expect it to deliver. And if it's a glowing, radiant, even, and clear complexion you seek, this sleeping mask from La Prairie checks every box," Byrdie's contributing writer and former assistant editor Erin Jahns gushes. "The formula offers skin-improving ingredients like exfoliating enzymes, caviar extract, and the brand's special cellular complex." Trust, you'll notice the lifting and firming magic overnight, and any moisture lost during the day will be replenished while you sleep. FYI: The brand has a caviar-infused moisturizer that goes perfectly with this mask.
8. Renée Rouleau Pure Radiance Creme Masque
Using bioactive, lipid-rich oils to repair dry, parched skin, Rouleau's creamy formula is meant to replicate your skin's own natural internal moisturizers while improving elasticity and reducing sun damage. It's so comforting, creamy, and rich, you can practically hear your skin breathing a sigh of relief as you apply it. Better yet, you can also use the mask overnight for even more benefits and to prevent stretch marks and relieve skin itchiness during pregnancy.
9. Sisley Black Rose Cream Mask
Our previous editor Faith wrote a love letter to Sisley's iconic Black Rose Skin Infusion Cream ($230), explaining, "It transforms from a rich, creamy texture to the refreshing feeling of actual water. I'd never felt anything like it. It absorbs right away and leaves the skin feeling absurdly soft. Not sticky, not greasy. Just naturally hydrated and smooth." So I had to give the mask a try, and after applying a generous layer of the vitamin- and plant extract–infused formula, I was smitten. It's plumping, deeply hydrating, and wonderfully reparative.
10. L'Oréal Age Perfect Cell Renewal Rosy Tone Mask
L'Oréal's refreshing gel mask is a mix of peony extract and fruit acids to revive a tired, dull complexion to a youthful, hydrated rosy tone in just five minutes. It exfoliates flaky, dry skin cells (which is as necessary for hydration during the dry winter months), leaving behind a healthy-looking glow and softer skin.
11. Talika Bio Enzymes Purifying Hydrating Mask
To restore softness to your dry skin, look no further than Talika's sheet mask. It's meant to renew your skin's tone and texture courtesy of alpine botanical extracts, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, and hydrophilic sugars. Each ingredient binds moisture to your skin for an instant plumping effect, while arnica extract soothes any redness caused by inclement weather.
12. Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Mask
Dr. Barbara Sturm's offering is one our editors can't get enough of, as its hydrating and soothing properties are unmatched. It offers up extracts of aloe vera and chamomile along with the signature ingredient of Sturm's entire line, purslane, to provide intense moisture as well as to activate your skin's own antioxidant system and protect sensitive cell membranes against free-radical attack. Leave it on for 15 minutes and expect better skin post-removal.
13. SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Mask
Since I've already announced my devotion to SkinCeuticals' Hydrating B5 Gel on numerous occasions, you better believe I can get down with the hydrating mask by the same name. It's highly concentrated and swiftly replenishes moisture to your dehydrated and stressed skin, restoring your water balance as it plumps and illuminates.
14. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Instant Oatmeal Mask
Brimming with shea butter for moisture and colloidal oatmeal to calm irritation and soothe redness, First Aid Beauty's unique mask offers up a boost to distressed skin like no other. It feels incredible, starts to work immediately, and offers results with a doable price tag.
15. IS Clinical Hydra-Intensive Cooling Masque
Recommended by celebrity facialist (and Byrdie favorite) Shani Darden, IS Clinical's cooling professional-strength mask includes rosemary and aloe leaf oils, hyaluronic acid, and resveratrol to hydrate, promote healing, and brighten your skin. Plus, it feels absolutely amazing when you apply it right out of the fridge.
16. EltaMD Skin Recovery Night Mask
EltaMD is a cult-favorite brand for sensitive skin types. This nighttime recovery mask features amino acids to strengthen skin and a slew of hydrating ingredients such as bisabolol and turmeric root extract. Plus, being paraben- and fragrance-free is always a good thing in our books.
17. e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Sleeping Mask
Another calming pick for sensitive skin, Elf's Holy Hydration Sleep mask features a creamy formula that replenishes dehydrated skin. It can be used as a rinse-off mask or worn overnight. While it does have some fragrance, its blend of ceramides and glycerin make it a great option for dry skin, strengthening the skin barrier during winter.
18. Paula's Choice Skin Recovery Hydrating Treatment Mask
Deeply hydrating with a rich creamy formula, Paula's Choice Skin Recovery Hydrating Treatment Mask uses antioxidants and plant oils to nourish and calm dry, inflamed skin. It also features vitamin-based antioxidants to banish dull skin and restore brightness to your complexion.
19. Youth to the People Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Mask
This Byrdie Eco Beauty Awards winner has been hailed by many as the holy grail of boosting skin's radiance when it has been dulled by winter dryness. This fruity-scented overnight mask features antioxidant-rich superberries, squalane, moringa, and THD ascorbate, which is a clinically-proven form of stable vitamin C to deeply hydrate, brighten, and plump skin.
20. Kiehl's Calendula Petal-Infused Calming Mask
This lightweight gel face mask is cooling to the skin thanks to aloe vera and calendula petals. Suitable for all skin types, it hydrates and leaves skin soft and smooth, reducing any signs of distress that comes with dry, dehydrated skin. Apply, leave on for 15 minutes, and rinse off to reveal refreshed skin.
