Detox After Halloween With These Skin-Saving Masks

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I especially love it because it gives me an excuse to try wild and crazy makeup the entire month of October. But after spending so much time caking on the full-coverage foundations and slathering my face in paints with ingredients like mineral oil (yikes!), my skin starts to turn on me. I suppose it's too much to ask to be able to put whatever I please on my face and have my skin improve. Or at least stay the same, I mean, come on. But this is why October is the month when my clarifying face masks really start being put to use.

Here's a gross confession: I once washed black paint off my face and still had black gunk stuck in my pores. Blackheads have never felt so literal. Or disgusting. Normal washing does not always take care of all the crap that can get on your face. If the paint hadn't been black, I might not have even noticed. This is why masks that have ingredients like clay or charcoal (these help draw out impurities) are so, so helpful after a night of heavy makeup — like Halloween.

Here are five pore-unclogging masks to try after Halloween is over. Trust me, your skin will thank you for it.

1. Clarifying

Murad Clarifying Mask, $37, sephora.com

This clay-based mask helps to draw out impurities while also treating acne, thanks to its sulfur content.

2. Activating

Origins Clear Improvement Mask, $25, sephora.com

Activated charcoal works to unclog pores and white china clay clears skin of other dirt and toxins.

3. Exfoliating

Glamglow Tinglexfoliate Treatment, $69, sephora.com

French sea clay absorbs impurities and volcanic pumice rock exfoliates for clear and smooth skin.

4. Purifying

First Aid Beauty Purifying Mask, $30, firstaidbeauty.com

Rosemary leaf oil unclogs pores so red clay can absorb impurities to purify skin.

5. Luminizing

Boscia Luminizing Black Mask, $34, sephora.com

Calcium montmorillonite clay absorbs impurities while Witch Hazel kills bacteria to clear skin. Bonus: this mask peels off for easy cleanup.

Images: Courtesy Brands