Favorite Japanese Products

Tags

Beauty, Face, Face Cream, Japanese, Mascara, Moisturizer, Skincare

I am not a beauty guru, not a beauty blogger, barely a blogger. But I do like to chronicle my favorites and experiences sometimes so I can come back to them and remember what I liked. The first half of 2015 has been great – we got a new house, a new dog, promotions at work, parental visits – eventful, to say the least. Between all the madness, I have managed to (somewhat) sort out my skincare routine. While earlier, I would just use samples every week when I was away from home for work and use my full size products only at home which meant that they never really had the chance to be used long enough to be truly effective on my skin.  In the past few months, I have diligently been sticking to a few products and have now decanted them into little travel bottles for travel as well, to truly test them out.

Sana Soy milk Isoflavone (or Isofurabon) Milk or Essence…

Since I don’t know Japanese, I do not really know what this product is. My guess is some kind of essence or emulsion. I got this from a drugstore in Japan, and believe it has fermented soy in it. I wanted to hop on the Asian million-step skincare bandwagon and thought this would be great to try. It is a milky emulsion that looks like a very light lotion. I use it twice a day after washing my skin and acid-toning, patting it all over my face and neck. I let it sink in and finish with a moisturizer. It feels a little sticky but absorbs quickly into the skin. And it does not break me out! My skin has been feeling smooth and plump and bright. Loving this!!

Hada Labo Gokujyun Perfect Gel

To add to my crazy obsession for Japanese skincare, this is another product I picked up in Japan that I had no idea about. This is a gel like face cream that I think can be used AM and PM (looks like I can read that on the jar 🙂 ). It is super light-weight on the skin and absorbs quickly. I love it for my oily skin that makes my skin feel smooth and plump. It has super hyaluronic acid for preserving skin’s moisture and keeping it supple and hydrated, and never oily. I’ve been using it consistently in the morning and as a night cream, and has not caused any break-outs. My pores appear smaller and clearer which I’m super delighted about! It also layers quite well under a BB cream or foundation. My only gripe is that I don’t think this has sunscreen. But that’s okay since I usually put a BB cream with sunscreen on top during the day. Another love!

Heroine Make Volume and Curl Mascara

Another love from Japan – the Heroine make volume and curl mascara. This is my new love that I carry around and want to fill up every nook and cranny in my home with this! It lengthens and volumizes my lashes so beautifully, and can also hold a curl. I can wear it everyday for naturally fluttery looking lashes, but also curl the lashes and build up the mascara for a more glamorous look. It doesn’t clump, doesn’t transfer or flake. The only downside, sometimes, is that it is waterproof so it is difficult to take off at the end of the day when used everyday. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, though, on the days when we want tough no-budge makeup. Overall, love it!

As soon as I run out of these products, I am running to my local Mitsuwa marketplace (Chicagoland area has one..so excited!!) to repurchase!

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My Newest Moisturizing Obsession

Tags

Beauty, Face, Face Cream, Fresh Cosmetics, Moisturizer

If you haven’t already guessed from the title, I’m loviiing a new moisturizer, the Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream! My first impression to this face cream was one of disgust. Why, you wonder? Because of the smell. If you’re familiar with Fresh products, you are probably aware of a certain smell associated with their products. I haven’t used any full-sized products from Fresh, but only their samples that have all had the same strange fragrance. And this fragrance, I had hated – till now.

Let’s talk about the face cream…

Packaging:

The Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream comes in a glass jar with a screw-on lid. The packaging is sturdy, beautiful and simplistic, and feels quite rich and high-end. It is also travel friendly, but is glass so gotta be careful of it falling!

Product:

I have to say – this product is expensive. It comes in 0.5 oz and 1.7 oz sizes for USD 16.50 and USD 42, respectively. I am still using a 0.5 oz sample I got in one of the beauty boxes, but now having used this cream, I might just splurge on a larger container of it! Damn you, Fresh!!

Perfume:

This was the part I was most on the fence about. The first time I smelled it, I could not stand the smell, so much so that I immediately stopped using the face cream. When I ran out of everything else, I decided to give this a go again just till I could get another moisturizer that I liked. However, I have to say that as I started using the face cream, the smell grew on me. Now I’m at a point where I actually really like the fragrance! I have not really smelled a lotus, but since the cream has lotus flower extract, I think that might be the source of the smell. I would describe it as a dried-rose-gone-slightly-bad type of smell. That doesn’t sound too good and it might take a little getting used to, but it’s worth it for how good the cream is!

Performance:

This is where I am totally blown away! It’s been a while since I’ve used a face cream consistently for a while and loved it since my Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel, which is the only moisturizer I have ever repurchased. But I haven’t enjoyed anything else since and I’ve been trying to test new face moisturizers to find The One. It becomes even more difficult to find the perfect cream for oily skin that balances the skin out without over-drying or being super heavy. The Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream is THAT cream. Despite being a face cream instead of a moisturizer, it leaves the skin moisturized without feeling heavy. It makes the skin silky smooth and preps the skin when used before makeup in the morning. At night, it acts as a great night cream – this has kept my skin hydrated throughout the harsh Chicago winters.

The Fresh face cream also contains awesome anti-aging ingredients like lotus flower extract, blue-green algae extract, hibiscus fruit extract, fig fruit extract, vitamins C and E, and vegetable glycerol, and maca root extract, all of which are supposed to be “youth preserving”, which I love for my skin!

I do wish this cream had SPF which it does not right now, because I hate putting sunscreen on my skin. But I can live with that for now.

Overall, this is definitely a must try for all skin types!!