I’m a sucker for a good scrub, a good mask, & charcoal so this Freeman Charcoal & Black Sugar Facial Polishing Mask appears to check all the boxes.

As you can see from the handy squeeze bottle packaging this is a dual action gel mask & scrub that is supposed to instantly detox pores & smooth skin. The activated charcoal is supposed to absorb oil (great cause my skin is oily) & impurities without over drying. The black sugar is supposed to exfoliate away dulling skin cells for softness & clarity (also great cause my texture needs help).

Freeman boasts itself as being cruelty free, animal friendly, & nature inspired so the ingredient list is filled with extracts like banana, coconut, ginger, papaya, raspberry, sandalwood, & lavender. The sugar & charcoal are right at the top in the first 3.

This has a nice dark pigment out of the tube & you can see the sugar granules for scrubbing. When applied it’s a little messy & doesn’t actually dry completely, but it has a nice fine grit that is very satisfying for the scrubbing promises of the product.

I was targeting a specific area (which Freeman suggests with their full range of products) that was feeling particularly bumpy & dull. The directions state to apply to clean damp skin & leave on for 5-7minutes. This is to let the charcoal do it’s thing. Like I said, it doesn’t really dry & it’s messy. I don’t love leaving it like a mask, but I guess letting it sit is supposed to give me more benefits. After it’s set I used warm water to scrub it around a bit in circular motions & rinsed it off. Again, I found the scrub very satisfying. The granules are decent sized, think raw sugar crystals, but combined with the thickness of the base it feels more like a fine grit to me.

I think you can see in these pictures my skin texture is a little smoother & little less dull. If you could feel my face you would be completely sold on this product. I really does leave my skin buttery soft. This is maybe one of my favorite scrubs EVER. Not my favorite mask because it isn’t really a mask in the typical sense, but at about $5 a tube this is quite an affordable product to work into my problem places a couple times a week.

-Cassy