This was taken on “one of those days” – puffy, tired, sore eyes, but lots of work to do and no chance to lie down and relax for a few minutes. Hence the eye masks underneath the spectacles. You wouldn’t think that these more “solid” masks would be that effective – there’s no serum or cream touching the skin, for a start – but these do have rather a nice cooling and toning effect on the eye area. Yes, you could probably cut a couple of slices off the end of a cucumber and use those instead, and yes no doubt you could soak chamomile tea bags and sit there with brown liquid dribbling over your face, but if you want a quick (non-messy) fix then these Eye Gels from Skyn Iceland are pretty handy.

I have no idea, really, how these gel masks work – I reviewed a full-face one from Dr Lewinn’s recently and that was nice and cooling/toning too. For me, their primary benefit is that they are mess-free. I think that overall I prefer the sheet masks that are saturated in beautifying product (Institut Esthederm patches, Shu Uemura masks) but these “dry” masks are wonderful for neat, hassle-free treatment. I kept the eye patches on for an hour. AN HOUR. I just couldn’t bear to take them off, they were still cool after all of that time, but the window-man arrived to give a quote and I had to take them off. I would have reapplied again had Mr Bear not licked them!

£25 for eight pairs, Marks and Spencer Beauty

To see all sheet mask reviews, have a look here