I see so many masks for sale in the big box stores these days - most of them in plasti-foil type pouches that consumers cut the end off of and squeeze out. While this is extremely mess-free and convenient, it really doesn't offer you the best end product. Clay and activated charcoal are inert - they do nothing - when they're in dry powder form. Once they're wet, they begin exchanging ions with whatever they're in contact with - plasti-foil included. These masks have already done most of what they were intended to do before you even purchase them.  

Our masks are dry, so that you get maximum performance out of the clay and/or charcoal. You wet the powder when you need it, and the mask begins exchanging ions right away. This is why we recommend that you mix the masks in our mask dishes, or in the palm of your hand - never in plastic or metal.

Because you're mixing them by hand, they don't have quite the smoothness of consistency they would have if they were mixed by machine; but what they lack in smoothness of texture, they make up for in performance!