[Review] Sheet Mask Shenanigans: My Scheming Deep Ocean Water Saccharide Isomerate Mask (我的心機 海洋深層水 & 鎖水磁石保濕面膜) vs. Tosowoong Pure Deep Sea Water Mask (토소웅 퓨어 해양심층수 마스크)

9:50 PM

Hello, all! I thought I'd change it up in how I review sheet masks. Rather than have a long written diatribe about one mask--and seemingly never get through writing about all my sheet masks--I thought I'd compare and contrast two masks that have the same ingredients or theme. This time it's a theme of "ocean water", with the My Scheming Deep Ocean Water Saccharide Isomerate Mask and Tosowoong Pure Deep Sea Water Mask.





tosowoong pure deep sea water mask || 토소웅 퓨어 해양심층수 마스크

Around Black Friday 2015, I picked up a few Tosowoong sheet masks from from Memebox, for US$1.50 ea. I bought two each of "Blueberry" and "Pure Deep Sea Water". Today, I'm using the Tosowoong mask before getting to work on items on my to-do list--it's tidying and organizing, mostly.

As described by Peach and Lily, Tosowoong's Pure Deep Sea Water mask is designed to "hydrate and promote skin elasticity" with its deep sea extracts and [can] "lessen the appearance of wrinkles and uneven skin tone." (I'm interested, tell me more.) (I wish I had some Korean grammar skills up my sleeve, not just reading hangul...)


The outside packet gives off a clean, modern "organic" vibe with a image of fairly water with light filtering through to the bottom. It's a smaller than average sized rectangular packet with a limited colour palette of blue tones and white. (This is kinda my aesthetic...)

The ingredients from CosDNA shows butylene glycol as a acne trigger of one and three other ingredients (PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Phenoxyethanol and Sodium Polyacrylate) as potential irritants.
Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Niacinamide, Sea Water (944 ppm), Xanthan Gum, Peg-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Adenosine, Sodium Polyacrylate, Disodium EDTA, Allantoin, Panthenol, Parfum.


Tosowoong's Pure Deep Sea Water mask itself is a cotton type--a little thicker than usual but not thick like Tony Moly's I'm Real mask series--and is covered in a watery essence. It will drip too: I happened to let some of the essence dribble down onto my desk and oh boy, it'll stain my dark wood toned desk with a white mark if I'm not careful. Anyway, the essence was cooling to my hands and face as I started to apply the mask. Could it be the cooling ocean...? (lol)

The scent is a combination of a dilated dollar store perfume and a scented gel pen. This one in particular, in a "soap" scent. Remember these...??



But it's kind of a nice scent....? While it doesn't invoke thoughts of water or the ocean, it's more like the romanticized ideas of "fresh" and "clean" with a light, faint floral scent floating in the background.

I did experience some light tingling with this mask, but I kept it on--I had no reactions or anything. After taking off the Pure Deep Sea Water mask, I gently patted the essence into my skin. It was initially sticky but I persisted and now my face is feeling softer and pretty quenched. I did notice my face was slightly brighter when looking in the mirror afterwards, probably because of the niacinamide. Hell yeah, niacinamide!!

Here's my face:



Last, while I usually don't take notice of the fit as I feel the masks aren't catered to me so I shouldn't really say much on it but this mask was wide than usual, and particularly for the nose area, it fit!! Usually the nose area of a sheet masks rarely molds with my nose and instead, just loosely lays over it.  This does mean that if your (cute!) nose is wider, you may have trouble with fit in that area--just stretch it out!


Woo~~~scary~~~~!

This Tosowoong mask is available through:



My Scheming Deep Ocean Water Saccharide Isomerate Mask || 我的心機 海洋深層水 & 鎖水磁石保濕面膜

Wow, what a mouthful! Just in the past few weeks, I did a mini-haul from Beaverton Uwajimaya while on a road trip and picked up some My Scheming goodies, including some individually sold masks for US$1.75 ea. I actually had used the My Scheming mask first, before getting ready to go to work yesterday afternoon/early evening.



My Scheming's Deep Ocean Water Saccharide Isomerate sheet mask is supposed to brighten and hydrate the skin with its "deep sea water [that is] extracted from 800-feet beneath the sea and it is enriched with a myriad of minerals that can be fully absorbed by the skin."

The illustration on the outside of the packet is very cute, whimsical vibe that paints a youthful, fun image. So far now, both masks fit my aesthetic needs. I really dig that blue...!!

Now onto the fun part! CosDNA brings up a few more warnings on this one--more than the Tosowoong mask does--with a preservative (methylisothiazolinone) listed as a four for safetly and....SIX other ingredients marked with a three. Hoo boy...
Algae Extract, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Caviar, Propylene Glycol, Ceteth-6, Sclerotium Gum, Saccharide Isomerate, Fagus Sylvatica Bud Extract, Ceteth-20, PEG-60, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Potassium Glycyrrhetinate, Hydrolyzed silk, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Xanthan Gum, Sea Salt, Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract, Polyquaternium-39, Allantoin, Sodium, Hyaluronate, Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid, Methylparaben, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Methylisothiazolinone, Seawater, Water

Granted, I'm still learning on how to interpret a product's ingredients versus its marketing claims but what stuck me is why does the My Scheming mask have "deep ocean" in it's (long) title, yet the seawater as an ingredient is second-to-last in the ingredients list? Honestly, my guess is that it's just a marketing tactic, but then this My Scheming mask could be a plant-based mask instead, as its top ingredient features an algae extract. What's the deal?

I have no prior experience with My Scheming masks but this particular mask was initially perfumed after opening the packet. It leant towards to a wavering floral smell but almost like laundry soap--nothing that lingered for long.



The mask essence was surprisingly milky but thin; I dripped some on my desk again!! (groan...) and it stained it a matte white as I took a few pics. Be careful, guys! I did have enough essence to wipe the extra backing sheet on my legs...(does anyone else do this, too?)

Here's my face:



The fit was pretty average--nothing exciting to report.

This My Scheming mask is available through:


Comparing the two, the Tosowoong has less preservatives but the My Scheming has a longer ingredient list and equally so, more preservatives and potential irritants. The My Scheming offers a better experience and instant result whereas the Tosowoong likely relies on the user diligently patting in the essence.

For me, I liked both for different reasons. I did prefer the scent and fit around the nose of the Tosowoong mask but enjoyed the immediate result (soft skin, for the rest of the night at work) of the My Scheming mask. I may purchase a full box of the My Scheming Deep Ocean Water Saccharide Isomerate masks soon, or another lot of assorted, individually sold masks. I would unlikely purchase the Tosowoong Pure Deep Sea Water masks in bulk but would purchase only individually as a throw-in item, say if I were to order from Memebox.

See you!!!

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1 comments

  1. Such a. Great review comparison. I have only tried the my scheming mask and remember to like it, but looking at the ingredients list it seems that they aren't many super boosting moisturizing ingredients up on the list

    Kbeauty.byMaya

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