One beauty product to rule them all: Hands on with three LED at-home face masks

By Alison Baenen

I am a 43-year-old woman with a face, so, by the rule of law in accordance with the internet, I have been served ads and content proclaiming the holy miracle that is the LED face mask.

The purported benefits are a marketing word salad dream: They can soothe inflammation, repair skin cells, reduce fine lines, stimulate collagen production, improve skin tone and texture and treat acne, rosacea and eczema. One beauty product to rule them all.  

In addition to the internet, I also have a friend. You probably have a friend like this, too — someone with a beautiful house in the country, an apartment in the city, a verdant garden, and a creek full of attractive friends in small swimwear. My friend has an eye for beauty — antique home goods, a toned physique, a handsome partner who makes breakfast burritos for a crowd — and great, healthy skin. My friend also has an LED face mask (of course he has an LED face mask … he has it all). And because I, too, would like a house in the country, I set out to buy a face mask of my own.

What to know about LED face masks

There are many masks on the market. It seems like some of them work for some people, but not all of them work for all people. When I asked my friend about the mask, he said the hardest part is remembering to use it. Consistency is key. To reap the benefits of the good light, you have to wear the mask at least three but probably five times a week. Some mask evangelists wear theirs every day. 

 There is also so much science. 

To enter this world is to engage with acronyms: photobiomodulation (PBM), light emitting diodes (LEDs), wavelength nanometers (nm). Red light therapy is a type of PBM that delivers red and near-infrared light to your cells through LEDs in different nms.

These LEDs are on the interior of the mask, as close to your face as possible. The type of light, the placement of the bulbs, and the wavelengths they emit all matter. But in all of the dermatologists’ treatises, marketing materials and Reddit reviews I’ve read, there is not, as far as I can tell, one mask that rises above the rest. 

The mask is part of the solution, not the solution. If you eat well, get eight hours of sleep, hydrate regularly, exercise, hang out with friends, feel a meaningful connection to your life’s work, have good genes, don’t smoke, abstain from alcohol, use sunscreen and wear the mask, your skin is probably going to glow like a gleaming pearl, fresh from the sea.  

The test

Armed with these facts I choose three masks that the internet (and dermatologists) seem to really like, and that all cost around $400. Here’s what I learned. 

Omnilux Contour Face

$395.00 from Omnilux

Our review

The Omnilux Contour comes in a sleek, shiny case stripped of screaming marketing claims and includes a bonus bottle of hyaluronic acid to "boost hydration and amplify LED.” Nice touch. 

When not in use the mask lies flat, which removes it from the realm of ominous Jason horror movies and drops it gently into the land of elevated Beauty Product. It is soft, pliable, and non-threatening. When I open the box, I feel like my at-home spa journey has already begun. 

If this mask could talk, it would whisper, “Take me with you.” Nestled beneath it are four interchangeable, country-specific plug adapters for your place of residence or destination, and a travel bag. The mask also comes with a charger and a remote. 

In pictures I’ve seen of people wearing masks, they appear to be hands-free, blissfully untethered, a glowing face in space. The reality is that all of these masks have cords dangling from them that plug into controllers. Can I walk around in this mask? I am not plugged into the wall, so in theory, yes. But can I really walk around in this mask? Not really, no. 

To state what should have been obvious before I strapped one on, it is very bright inside the mask. The Omnilux Contour has 132 medical-grade LED lights on its interior that form a bright red halo around my eyes. 

The Contour claims to be “hands-free and completely portable” (true), “meaning you can read a book, cook, clean, or watch TV” (I cannot stress enough how untrue this is). To read, cook, clean, or screen in the Omnilux Contour would be like doing any of those tasks facing due west into the setting sun without sunglasses while driving a car after taking a recreational dose of psychedelics. Possible, yes, but not pleasant.   

Once I figure out how to affix the country-specific plug adapter to the charging cable and charge the controller, the mask is easy to use. I adjust the fit using Velcro straps, which are charming in their humble beginnings. Contoured to my face is a piece of technology revolutionized by NASA, and it is held there by a 1941 invention by a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral that was inspired by burdock burrs that clung to his dog. 

After 10 minutes, the mask shuts itself off. I am plunged into darkness. It was nice, actually, inside the mask. I had no choice but to close my eyes. All I could do was rest. 

CurrentBody Skin LED Red Light Therapy Face Mask: Series 2

$469.99 from CurrentBody

Our review 

Kim Kardashian takes 35 supplements a day, works out for an hour and a half seven days a week, and gets a DEXA-scan from a guy in a van outside her house once a year to measure her bone density. This is not normal or attainable, but it is a sign of rigor and dedication, a nod to the belief that the quest for beauty demands commitment. Kim is serious about optimization, and the CurrentBody Skin mask is, according to a 2023 Instagram post that the company is still talking about, part of her wellness tech stack. 

CurrentBody is part of the Beauty Tech Group and it feels like their north star is to do for beauty products what Apple did for phones: make them obsolete every couple of years. The packaging is an homage to Jobs, from the crisp white box to the molded interior trays that nest in a neat stack to reveal hidden treasures (charging cord, multi-straps, a user guide in nine languages). 

The multi-straps are … a pain. If you, too, have to watch a YouTube video on how to attach the straps several times and pause it at critical junctures, it’s okay. When it comes to the mask, you should not have to be a technician. You are someone concerned with collagen production who is eager to feel the warmth of 236 LEDs that emit three wavelengths — 633 nm red, 830 nm near-infrared and 1072 nm deep near-infrared, whatever that means — on your aging skin. 

After the hassle of the straps, slipping on the mask is a relief. It fits. It really fits. The chin strap, a new feature of this model, makes me feel tucked in. Cozy even.

It’s technically a soft mask, in that it is flexible, but the silicone is thick and sturdy; the mask is rounded when not in use — not flat, like the Omnilux Contour — and as a result it rests on my face in a pleasing way. My cat comes and sits on my lap while I bathe in the red light. This means the mask has passed the Turing test and my cat has failed. 

The controller has a clip I can attach to a durable waistband so I can come and go as I please. But why? Don’t move. With the optional eye inserts in the lights emit a slightly less intense glow, but everything I look at has a red aura. I am literally seeing red. The controller will shut off with a beep in 10 minutes.  

Shark Beauty CryoGlow Red Blue & Infrared iQLED Face Mask & Under Eye Cooling

$349.99 from Ulta

Our review

Do you love gadgets, gizmos, and the word “whiz-bang?” Are you a fan of disruptive consumer-focused product innovation? If so then sidle up to the Shark CryoGlow, brought to you by the same disrupters behind the Ninja Slushie and the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum. 

SharkNinja specializes in products that address consumer “pain points,” and the CryoGlow, their entry into the LED mask space, addresses a bunch of them: You can use “Under-Eye Revive” with their InstaChill Cold Technology and do the “Skin Sustain” with their iQLED Technology and have “more radiant skin in just 4 weeks.” SharkNinja found its initial audience through infomercials, and that legacy is apparent in their love of names and claims.

One personal-to-me pain point is head straps. Of the three masks I tried, the CryoGlow is the only one with the head straps already attached. This should not feel like a game changer, but I will never get back the time I spent pausing and rewinding the CurrentBody YouTube tutorial to figure out how to get the mask on my face. 

The other pain point is time. There is never enough of it, you will never be as young as you are at this very moment, and you feel the need to multitask to make the most of your wild and precious life.

The Shark CryoGlow has thought of something that other masks have not: Your wrinkles are showing and your under-eyes are puffy. Under-Eye Chill Pads are built into the mask so you can calm and cool your hollows while wearing the mask and doing another treatment at the same time. Say goodbye to cucumber slices and hello to doing the most.  

Here’s what I liked about the Under-Eye Chill Pads: They protected my eyes from the bright red lights, and I could control how cold they were (cold to incredibly cold). Here’s what I didn’t like: For them to work, the mask’s internal fan has to be on, and this fan is extremely loud and incredibly close to my head. In fact, it is on my head.  

The Shark CryoGlow has 480 of something called a 160 tri-wick LED, which is an LED light that emits three different kinds of light — red, blue and infrared — at the same time. This is both more bulbs and more kinds of light than the Omnilux Contour (132 LEDs giving off two kinds of light, red and near-infrared) and more bulbs and a different kind of light than the Current Body (236 LEDs; red, near-infrared and deep near-infrared).

Confused? Great. Modern life is overwhelming, and we all deserve a 10-minute break to refresh and restore our dermal layers. 

The 480 160 tri-wicks mean the Shark CryoGlow can offer multiple treatments by combining the three different lights in different ways. The official treatment names are too long, but it comes down to Wrinkles, Acne and Glow.  

The Shark CryoGlow’s remote is the most comprehensive of the masks I tried, and with it you can select your treatment, track your progress over time, adjust the temperature of the Chill Pads and wonder if this mask is overengineered. Maybe it an LED mask should be this thorough, but I found myself wishing for the simpler options — a quieter, softer mask whose remote turned it on and turned it off.

This article is written and edited by a writer who selects the products and ensures the information provided is accurate. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the publication date. We may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases made through these links.