Have you ever tried a product that the moment it touched your skin, you knew it was just the thing that it need? Like it felt it had just taken a drink of the most soothing and hydrating thing imaginable and that your skin was instantly thanking you for it? This was my experience in the first seconds I tried the Jet Lag Mask from Summer Fridays, the hero product, and the original one, that started of the brand and solidified its place on the skincare map. I tried this product a few years back and fell in love with its plush, plump texture and the soothing, cooling finish it left on the skin. However, this cooling effect came from the inclusion of both peppermint and cornmint in the formula, and many customers gave feedback that these ingredients were not well-tolerated by their skin, so Summer Fridays listened and shelved the product and has since redone the formula, factoring out those ingredients. So I am now reviewing the new, "mint-free" iteration. Spoiler alert: it's still a lovely, cushiony layer for the face.
Jet Lag, at first glance seems like any other white cream moisturizer or hydrating mask, but I have to say that this is truly one of the most instantaneously impactful creams I've come across. It is a hefty midweight texture, making it a great choice for most any skin type across the board when looking for a deep moisture product that does not leave the skin too slick-feeling or tacky, and it is a cream where even the smallest dab is easily spread and covers a lot of the face. Right as you rub it in your skin will feel plumped up, thanks to water-rich and water-binding chestnut seed oil and water-binding glycerin and a bit of sodium hyaluronate (a form of hyaluronic acid). In other words, any tightness or pulling you may feel within the skin starts to correct itself in one swipe while a host of ceramides and a moderate amount of shea butter help with the lipid barrier, helping moisture soak into the deeper layers and stay there. My skin feels super soft whenever I use this, but it never feels oily or too rich at all, but by the same token I still feel somehow a discernible presence of the product but not in an unpleasant way. A thing to note about the sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronic acid in this product is that this water-attracting, water-binding ingredient can also sometimes pull water out from the deeper layers in the skin, leaving you dehydrated over time IF you do not apply it to moistened skin first OR only just use it every so often. Typically I make sure my face is wet with water or otherwise misted before applying this, but if you cannot do that just be sure to know a little goes a long way and only use this every few days or so to prevent the water-pulling effect.
This texture and effect really speaks to the versatility of this product in that it can be used as an overnight moisture treatment to be washed off the next day, as a quick 10-minute flash mask for a quicker plumping of hydration and moisture, or even as a daily moisturizer under SPF and/or makeup. Jet Lag works beautifully well under both liquid and powder products makeup-wise and acts as a great primer to keep that makeup in place and keeping your skin feeling soft and comfortable all the while. In addition to comforting moisture, the mask also has niacinamide to help with inflammation and also reduce the lifepan of any breakouts as well as some antioxidant derivative ingredients for additional skin fortification. This makes it a particularly great product for traveling (as its name would suggest) because it helps keep the skin calm and soothed while also bolstering its barrier to any environmental shifts or stress effects.
Overall, there's still a lot to love about Summer Friday's Jet Lag mask, even without the pepperminty, cooling effect I enjoyed in the original version. Frankly, I dearly miss the scent of it and the sensation effect. That said, though, Jet Lag remains the defining product of the brand that is talked about online and in beauty publications for a reason. For any skin looking for a great chill-out and moisturizing treat I cannot recommend enough, and likewise, many other Summer Fridays products are now on my "to-try" list. You can purchase the Jet Lag Mask at Sephora in certain stores and online as well as the Summer Fridays website for $26 for a 1 oz mini, $49 for the 2.25 oz standard size, or $71 for the 5 oz value size. All prices are in USD.