REVIEWSDAY: Umberto Giannini Indulgent Beauty Moisture Mask

Here’s a not-so-secret secret: I bloody love a hair mask.

Last week, Pops and I went along to the Bloggers Love Hub in London, which was mad and lovely, and while we were there we got to talk to some wonderful people from Umberto Giannini. After some gentle bullying about the fact that I don’t get my hair cut anywhere near as often as I should, I was actually told that my hair wasn’t as dry as it could be (yay!) and that I should try out their Indulgent Beauty Moisture Mask.

Well, it would be rude not to.

The mask smells gorgeous (a huge plus for me) and has a silky, serum-y kind of texture with a bit of sheen to it. The instructions say to apply liberally and leave for three minutes. I actually found, though, that the amount I used (about the size of a small egg) was a bit too much, even on my hip-length hair, so I’d recommend putting a medium-sized amount on at first and then building it up.

The initial feeling, like most masks, was of a thick conditioner, and I was pleased to find that it was thick enough not to drip out of my hair as some masks do (top tip from an over-user of mask treatments: squeeze the water out of your hair first to stop this happening). I applied it only to the lower two-thirds of my hair (from about the nape of my neck down), but I think with thorough rinsing a little bit would be OK on the scalp area, providing you don’t have super fine hair or any scalp problems.

It says on the tub that the longer you leave it on, the better the results will be, but I thought for a first go I’d leave it for the suggested three minutes (it might actually have been a bit longer; I got distracted being Beyonce). It rinses out nice and easily, with none of the filmy, greasy texture you get from some masks.

I left off using my normal post-wash hair treatments to get a sense of what this mask does, and I was pretty impressed – the very ends, where I usually get dryness, felt soft, and the length of my hair also looked shiny and bouncy and generally a bit healthier. Over the next couple of days before I washed it again my hair also had less of the slightly mad frizz it usually gets. Because my hair is curly/wavy and very long, some masks weigh it down and I end up looking a bit like that girl from The Ring, but this one is actually very lightweight.

This mask retails at £6 (mine was a PR sample, but at that price I would absolutely repurchase) and if your hair is in need of a little TLC and you’re worried that a mask will weigh it down or make it greasy, I absolutely recommend this. It’s got the word indulgent in the title; what’s not to love? 

PS. It's Poppy! (P.S. are in fact my initials, how convenient). I chose the Umberto Giannini Glam Hair Backcomb in a Bottle, because I am engaged in a constant battle to make my hair be something other than fine and flat. I have tried sea salt spray, normal hairspray and I always use mousse, but generally everything just tends to make the mid-lengths enormous and do nothing for my roots. This stuff, however, works. I swear, it actually works. Also £6, bloody bargain, I will be buying this again immediately. All you do is spray it on your hair (it is a fine mist, super easy), jujj and ta-dah - not flat hair! And anything that actually says jujj on the bottle is worth it just for that surely?