Brides: Should you use a face mask before the big day?

As a bride, you want perfect, blemish free, glowing skin for your big day, right? Be careful not to use the wrong face mask or you could end up with just the opposite.

A face mask can do wonders to your skin, but they can also cause havoc so it's important to choose wisely before a big event, especially your wedding. Everyone knows that sometimes your skin can act up after having a facial and it's the same for when we use masks. Certain treatments and masks are supposed to bring out impurities or cause redness and even skin peeling. Obviously, it's with the end goal of making an improvement to your skin. Some treatments just make your skin worse before it gets better. These are great treatments to have far in advance of the wedding - just not too close to the time.

When you are choosing a face mask, say in the last week before the wedding day, you need to pick one that has instant results. Masks that are generally in the safe zone are firming masks, hydrating masks, radiance masks, de-puffing and masks to even out skin tone. You need to make sure the ingredients aren't going to cause a flare up. You don't want to use something that will cause redness, peeling or that draws out impurities, i.e. gives you spots.

In a nutshell, our advice is to never use a mask you have never tried before close to your wedding day.

Stay away from masks that are:

• Re-surfacing
• Contain high doses of Retinol
• Purifying
• De-clogging

Safe masks to use:

• Hydrating
• Plumping
• Brightening
• Radiance

Here are a couple of masks we deem safe for pre-wedding use

Kiehl's Tumeric and Cranberry Seed Mask €35

Glam Glow Thirstymud Hydrating Treatment €46.45

Decleor Hydra Floral White Petal Skin Perfecting Hydrating Sleeping Mask €34.90

We have tried and tested these masks and found our skin calm and glowing the next day. However, we still recommend that you patch test it on your own skin before slathering it all over and then there's no going back!