If You Love KiraKira, Then You'll Love This Glitter Face Mask

If 2017 has shown us anything, it's that the Rolling Stones got the chorus to "You Can't Always Get What You Want" all mixed up. Turns out, we can't always get what we need (to leave the EU with a shred of dignity), but if we try sometimes, we just might find we get what we want. And what we want is glitter — lots and lots of glitter.

That's why KiraKira+, a Japanese iPhone app which costs 99p and includes seven filters for adding moderate to insane twinkle to your videos and photos, and GlamGlow's Glitter Mask, which launches in December, exist.

As far as we know, the two aren't plotting world Instagram domination together, but they might want to consider it: KK does its best work when in the presence of already sparkly things, like $10,000 Saint Laurent boots. And glitter is the industry's hottest new beauty ingredient that only serves one purpose: vanity.

The day I got the Glitter Mask in my hands, I knew what I had to do. I put on my most galactic outfit, painted on a thin layer of the tightening licorice and marshmallow leaf formula (which is the same as the brand's GravityMud Firming Treatment, only with glitter particles suspended in gel to keep them from scratching your skin), and got to work KiraKira-ing. Like ASMR or a Katy Perry concert, the app has become a sort of mindless therapy for me since I discovered it — it's strangely mood-lifting, even more so when you add a spa treatment in.

The mask dried in about 15 minutes, but didn't get uncomfortably tight or feel any rougher the longer I wore it. Still, as a serious skin-care buff who prefers ugly, dermatologist-developed products to adorable jars of panda cream, I expected nothing but a good Instagram out of this; in fact, I anticipated picking it off in a million messy bits and seeing some irritation.

That wasn't the case. It peeled off the way masks only peel off in commercials — in one perfect, glittery sheet — and left no redness behind. I'd planned to reapply my makeup after, but felt good enough to skip it altogether. And since I can't remember a time I've gone out in public without foundation — even to work out — that's a pretty big deal, on the scale of things that aren't actually a big deal at all. Maybe firm, smooth skin and a distraction from the news is, actually, exactly what I needed.

GlamGlow Glitter Mask, £34.85, available at Look Fantastic.