Beauty product of the week: Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask
Image: Instagram user peterthomasrothofficial
An intense mask that promises to exfoliate, peel and polish.
Why we love this product
Peter Thomas Roth is a brand that usually delivers on its promises to create high-performance skincare. Well known for its face masks, I was excited to try the PTR Pumpkin Enzyme Mask when it landed on my desk in a press pack.
Enzyme treatments are having a bit of a moment right now. Brands like Rationale and companies like Danné Montague-King (or DMK) are just a few of the recognisable names offering specialised enzyme treatments. In fact, we recently tried the DMK enzyme treatment, which you can read more about. It seems there might be something to enzyme products and treatments.
The quick verdict
Why is it good? It offers an intense exfoliation
How much is it? $80 for 150mL
Where can you buy it? Sephora or Cult Beauty
The PTR Enzyme Mask is designed to be a three-in-one skin resurfacer. It's designed to "exfoliate, peel and polish" at the same time. The pumpkin enzymes supposedly break down the keratin protein in dead skin to help lift it off. The added alpha hydroxy acids go deeper by breaking the glue in the skin that holds onto dead skin, lifting it more easily, but also encouraging your skin to turnover cells faster, essentially making new skin. The final active ingredient, aluminium oxide is often used in microdermabrasion treatments so it's another high-performance exfoliating ingredient. Whether is actually "polishes" the skin is questionable. To me, it just ups the ante on the exfoliating powers of this product. 
So, what's it like? Well, be warned, this is not a product for sensitive skin. It's one of the more intense masks I've used. It's not unbearable by any means, but you can definitely feel a bit of burn about a minute after applying it. I don't mind the experience to be honest, to me a bit of a sting means the product is working.
After applying a thin layer (you don't need much), the directions tell you to massage it into your skin with wet fingertips. This is presumably to get the exfoliating effects of the aluminium oxide particles. While these particles are microdermabrasion grade, they didn't feel any scratchier than a regular scrub. After a minute or so, you leave the mask to set on your skin for three to seven minutes while you enjoy the sweet pumpkiny smell of this orange mask. It's at this point that you'll start to feel the sting. When it's time to wash off, I'll always use a Face Halo. Once it's dried, it's a bit stubborn to remove.
The effects of this mask are immediately obvious. Even after one use, my skin was visibly brighter and a lot softer. I often experience a lot of roughness and congestion around my forehead and jawline and this mask helps a great deal in clearing it up. I'll often use this right before an event or a night out because the way it smooths my skin yields a better makeup application. It makes my foundation blend out better and sit more evenly on my face.
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But the real question for me was, does it work better than a regular exfoliant? There are plenty of scrubs and alpha hydroxy products on the market, so how does this one compare? In my opinion, it works much better than your average scrub. Exfoliant products that just contain rough particles only exfoliate superficially, which is fine for some, particularly those with dry or sensitive skin who maybe can handle acids. But this has three types of high-performance exfoliating ingredients that work together brilliantly. While the skin brightening effects of this mask are similar to other products I've tried, the depth of exfoliation is in its own class. My skin always feels really clean and baby soft after this product and I'm impressed every time I use it.
But, this is not something that I would recommend for sensitive skin or anyone who lacks oils. However, if you've got normal to oily skin, this is a great product for you to try.
Affordability
At $80, this isn't cheap, but the 150mL tub is quite big. I can think of a similar mask that's $75 for 50mL. The PTR one offers three times the product.
Generally, this is something I really love about PTR products. They do seem pricey but the product sizes are always massive. One of the cleansers I recently tried was 200mL for $50. When you consider that many of the cheaper supermarket brands are only 100mL, the price points become much more comparable.
Just some food for thought.
Where to buy
You can pick up this Pumpkin Enzyme Mask at Sephora or at Cult Beauty.
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