Garnier Pure Active Charcoal 3 In 1 Mask Review

Background to my skin type - I'm 24 years old with oily/combination skin that is prone to the occasional breakout. I also get breakouts on my chest and back. I get blackheads sometimes, but not often. Before using this product I hoped that it would be able to help with the breakouts I get on my face, chest, and back.

The product is a black-blue colour because it has both charcoal and blueberry extract in it. It has a thick consistency with little natural exfoliating particles in it. It has sort of a manly scent to it, but the smell goes away once you've washed it off. It contains salicylic acid which is good for clearing up pimples.

I've now been using this product daily for around three weeks on my face, chest, and shoulders/back. I have definitely noticed an improvement in my skin. I don't seem to breakout as much as I did prior to using this product. It also controlled a lot of the excess oil I usually get on my face.

This is meant to be a 3 in 1 product, but I think there's only two ways to use it. It's supposed to be used as a wash, scrub, and mask. However the wash and scrub method are basically the same thing. There's no way to use this as a wash without it also being a scrub since it has little exfoliants in it.

I've used other face washes before that have said they can also be used as masks, but they've never properly dried down. However the mask aspect of this product was very effective and actually did properly dry down. I would only use this as a mask once a week though, as I didn't want to strip my skin of its natural oils and get too dry.

Overall I really enjoyed this product. I didn't notice any improvements in blackheads, but I'm not really prone to them anyway. I'll definitely continue to use this to prevent breakouts and reduce excess oil.

I was excited to try this product and I found it really good for my skin, I noticed the difference after a week of using it, also my 10 year old daughter is using it and likes it. I have tried all 3 steps, and I like the mask because it just washes off, unlike a charcoal mask I have used before and really hurt to peel off. I would recommend this to others that want a good face cleaner, it's easy to use and leaves your face nice and soft. Small negative I didn't find it smelt that great but I love the product.

I've used this for each purpose a few times each now. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It took me a couple of uses to realize what I thought it smelled like, and that is Windex. You know, that blue spray stuff for cleaning windows and mirrors. That's exactly what it smells like. Maybe with a hint of men's Rexona body wash haha. So that was a bit off-putting. I wouldn't say my skin is overly sensitive, but I did find I had a bit of sensitivity with this product. Not an adverse reaction or anything, but my skin was mildly stingy after use. I found it odd as a cleanser, as it contains exfoliating beads, so I wouldn't recommend for daily use. The exfoliating beads weren't too coarse, but certainly not gentle enough to use as often as it suggests (which is daily). Using it as a mask obviously will provide an exfoliating effect when you wash it off. It wasn't too bad as a mask. Not as good as say Glam Glow, but the price point is very different, so it is what you'd expect for a supermarket brand. It wasn't totally awful, but I won't repurchase, and will probably give this one to my flatmate as I prefer my Dermalogica daily microfoliant. Would be best suited to oily, textured skin. Stay away if you're sensitive.

I have normal-dry skin but I have a big issue with those annoying little black dots on my nose. I have tried strips, peel-off masks and also scrubs to remove them but either they didn’t work or my skin didn’t like them. I waa thrilled to be able to try the Garnier Pure Active 3 in 1 mask. Finally something that is light om the purse strings and focuses on grtting rid ofbthose annoyinf blackheads. This comes in an economical 150ml squeeze tube making it easy to control how much you need and minimise wastage. It is easy to apply but can be quitr messy to remove. It made my skin noticeably cleaner and softer AND the little black dots reduced over the 2 weeks I trialled this. I did like the fragrance - It is a clean kind of aqua scent although it did remind me of men’s shower gel. Overall this product does exactly what I wanted it to and worked a treat. It is excellent value and I product I will purchase.

This product claims to be a 3-in-1 wash, scrub and mask.

It's a dark grey colour with a smooth, creamy texture. It has small scrub particles that are mildly abrasive.

It has a fairly strong cologne-y scent that I find to be a bit masculine. It smells more like a body product than face product but the smell doesn't linger.

Upon application there is a cooling/minty sensation that could be irritating to sensitive skin.

As a wash: It does not foam up so it doesn't feel like a traditional cleanser. I found it to be very messy because of the charcoal powder. I ended up getting grey water all over my basin so stuck to just using it in the shower. Still, you need to make sure you rinse the shower after use. I also found that it stained around and under my fingernails, which looked really grubby.

As a scrub: I don't really understand the purpose of this "use" as you do the exact same thing using it as a wash and a scrub. I found it to be decently scrubby.

As a mask: I found it to work well as a mask. It absorbed excess oil and made my pores look much smaller/less visible even after one use.

Bottom line: Feels weird as a wash, feels just like rubbing face mask on wet skin. Stains everything but works well as a mask to reduce appearance of pores. Smells too perfumey for my liking. Would not purchase.

I primarily used this product as a face wash every day in the morning. Initially I found that it tingled a bit on first application, which was a slight concern as my skin can be a bit sensitive sometimes, however that mostly went away after a few uses and I didn’t experience any irritation. While it was an effective morning cleanser, if a little drying, I found that it didn’t do an amazing job removing make-up at night.

As a scrub I found this gentle enough for every day use, and as a mask it did a reasonable job of pulling out the excess oil which was nice!

After using this every day for a couple of weeks, I noticed that my skin was a little bit less oily than usual, however I haven’t noticed any visible reduction in stubborn blackheads yet. Overall this is a nice product for reducing oil, however if you have combo skin like me, make sure to use a decent moisturiser on your drier areas when you hop out of the shower!

Can't say that I overly enjoyed this. Everything about it sounds great, I'm a huge fan of charcoal so it sounded ideal. It dried my skin out a bit too much for my liking so maybe would be suited to someone with really oily skin. After the first few washes I did find that I had quite a major breakout, larger than I've had for a long time.

I wasn't a huge fan of the smell. It smelt a lot like many mens products do, which is fine, it was just really quite strong.

I did like the mask aspect of it however, so may continue using it just as a weekly mask instead of a daily wash.

I am always on the lookout for a new product that will help improve my skin and I’m and all for “one product does it all” so I was super excited to try this new face wash.

I first tried this out as a mask and it worked amazingly, it made my face tingle a little and that always makes me happy as it makes me believe that the product is working. I loved the way my skin felt afterwards, smooth and clean. Black heads were slightly less noticeable. The product itself has a chemical type scent, not too strong but it is noticeable. Once applied, the mask dried up pretty quickly which is a bonus as I don’t always have time to wait for masks to dry. When washing it off, I scrubbed it into my skin using circular motions and this helped exfoliate my skin, maybe even remove more blackheads. So all in all it works as a good mask and scrub.

I like a daily face wash that can remove all my makeup and I don’t have to do double the work to take my makeup off. Whilst this face wash did remove my makeup, I found it a little harsh for every day use. The tiny sand like particles were a little rough to be using every day. I also found it difficult to remove eye makeup with this face wash as the particles would get into my eyes. Again even as a face wash, it did leave my skin smooth and clean however mentioned, it was just a bit too harsh for every day.

If you are looking for one product to use as a mask and a scrub to get rid of blackheads then I would recommend this but maybe not so much as a daily face wash.