The Drowsy sleep mask is a padded silk cocoon built by two brothers who developed insomnia after years in hospitality. This edit pairs it with silk pillowcases and the other kind of sleep mask, the skincare one you wear overnight.
Drowsy Sleep Masks From Two Brothers Who Could Not Sleep
The phrase sleep mask means two entirely different things in beauty, and I love that nobody has fixed it. One is fabric that blocks light. The other is a cream you sleep in. This edit has both, and I begin with the fabric one. The Drowsy sleep mask comes from brothers Thom and Rich Hemelryk, who spent five years running high-pressure hospitality businesses and ended up with chronic insomnia. They sold the business and set out to make the ultimate sleep mask, and after twelve months of testing fabrics, fillings and designs they launched one. The first six months were quiet. Then, in August 2020, a leading UK beauty editor featured it on national television, and by their account the mask sold out in minutes. The design is what makes it different: pure silk over a blackout liner with padding, shaped more like a small pillow for your eyes than an airplane mask. Each one here is silk. My own rule for any mask is to try it lying on your side, because that is where the flimsy ones always give up. Start here and work out which shape fits your face. I went deeper on a related idea in Drowsy Sleep Mask vs Nodpod: Silk and Weighted Masks.
The rest of the bed
Drowsy built its name on the mask, and the brand also makes a pillow spray, so the two pair naturally. The Sleep SOS spray is a blend of natural oils, meant as the last step of a wind-down routine, and the Breakfast at Drowsy mask is the dress-up version, turquoise silk with embroidered lash detailing and gold fringe trim. Then there is Slip, which came years before Drowsy. Fiona Stewart was prescribed acne medication in 2003, had very sensitive skin, and a dermatologist suggested sleeping on silk. She could not find one, so she wrapped silk around her pillow, and in 2004 she and Justin Dubois launched what they call the first silk pillowcase branded as a beauty product. The king and the queen with lace trim are the two sizes here. My tip is to spray the pillow a few minutes before bed, not on your face, and to wash silk on a gentle cycle. Sleep creases are a reasonable thing to look for in the morning. If you want to keep going, Blissy Silk Pillowcases, Masks and Bonnets I Would Sleep In is the one I would read next.
The other sleep mask
Now the other meaning. Laneige launched in 1994 from Amorepacific in South Korea, and its name comes from the French for snow. It relaunched in the United States in September 2017, starting with the Lip Sleeping Mask, which is why most people think of it first. Here are two more: a Cica mask with centella asiatica and a Bouncy and Firm eye mask with peony and collagen complex, which is a cooling gel. The Sephora Collection pair is one for lips in Cherry and Vanilla and one gel with polyglutamic acid and ceramides. What I would skip is layering a thick overnight mask on top of every other treatment, because the point is one calm step at the end. Apply a thin layer, leave the pillowcase clean, and rinse or wipe in the morning as directed. If you are testing a new one, try a small patch first. I also put together Medicube Collagen Mask and the Overnight Masks I Would Sleep In.
Lights out
That is the whole bedtime. Something over your eyes, something on your pillow and, if you like, something on your face. None of it needs to be complicated, and all of it is easier than lying awake. I would pick one new thing this week rather than changing everything at once, and give it a few nights before you decide.
