What is the Deal with Sheet Masks?

Sheet masks seem to have stormed the skin care stage recently.  If you are not familiar with these just yet, they are a cloth mask that has been saturated in a serum.  You remove the face-shaped cloth from the packet, peel off any films or barrier layers, and lay the cloth over your face.  They usually have openings to accommodate your eyes, nose, and mouth.  You usually leave them in place for five to twenty minutes, depending on the instructions.  You can rinse the remaining serum off and apply your normal products, or you can massage the remaining serum into your skin and leave it.

They are quite handy to travel with since you only need the one packet for a full treatment.  I have read on some websites that they are great for hydrating your skin mid-flight but given the mummy effect of the mask itself, I am not brave enough to try this.

I have tried several of these, and while I have not reacted to any of the serums contained in the masks, I am just not sure that I like them.  The pre-cut holes rarely seem to fit correctly to my face and I have torn more than one cloth sheet trying to unpeel it from itself.  I do appreciate the tidiness and sterility of the sheet mask versus a mask from a jar, and I also like the portability of them.

I just don’t know if I can replace all of my traditional masks with just the sheet mask.  Sometimes there is a satisfying feeling in the regular clay mask that I just don’t get after a sheet mask.  There is usually enough serum in the packet for a whole second facial and that seems wasteful to me.