I’ve been experimenting a little bit more with my skincare lately. For years, I was really hesitant to make any changes – it took me a really, really long time to get my acne under control, and to get to a place where I was comfortable with my bare skin. Since it took me so long to figure it out, I was so nervous to make any changes to upset the balance! But I feel like I have a better handle on what’s ok to change, what ingredients won’t irritate my skin, and what kind of products I like, so I’m a little more willing to switch it up or try something new. The most recent thing that I tried and ended up loving was the Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial Brightening Mask.

I love skincare masks in theory – love the idea of taking some time to yourself and treating your skin – but in reality, the effort it takes for me to use them is often just not worth it. It’s a whole thing for me to wash my face at the sink – get lined up, drape myself in towels so I don’t end up with a puddle on my lap, and get someone to help me. I do it to wash my face on days that I don’t shower, but doing in twice for a mask (once before I apply, and once more to take it off), especially in such a short time period, is just annoying. And often, leave-on masks just target moisture, which isn’t something that my oil-prone skin needs more of. So while I’d like to be more of a mask person, I’m usually just not.

The Drunk Elephant Bouncy Brightfacial intrigued me for a few reasons, though. It was a leave-on mask, but an exfoliating one – meant to target texture, dark spots, and brightness. Now that I’m in my 30s, I notice that any time I have acne, the red spots and pigmentation left afterward take so much longer to heal and disappear than when I was in my 20s. I chemically exfoliate regularly, but found that my normal products just weren’t strong enough to really make a difference on these spots. I also loved that the ingredient list included salicylic acid, to help keep new acne from forming.

I’ve been using it for a little over a month now – I use it every other night, as the very last step of my routine – and I am really loving it. I use about two pumps and find that it covers my face completely without having too much extra left over. I’m noticing that my dark spots are actually fading faster – they’re not gone overnight, but it’s a noticeable difference. And I can tell a subtle difference in the texture of my skin, too – it’s just smoother overall.

My very favorite part of the mask is the texture and the finish. It comes out kind of thick, and I was worried that it wouldn’t really absorb well into my skin, but the opposite actually happened. It absorbed almost immediately, and actually left a nice, soft matte finish on my skin – for someone like me, with oily skin, this is huge. It wasn’t drying or anything, but my skin is slightly less oily in the mornings on nights that I use it. It also plays really well with my other skincare products – there’s no pilling at all.

The Bouncy Brightfacial has quickly become a must-have product for me – I’ll definitely be buying this again when I run out.