Beauty Related Goodies From Asia

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Hey! This is a "haul" post of sorts. While I'll do individual posts for the color cosmetics that I bought, I thought I'd combine some of these beauty products that I can't write a full post about into one giant post.

I love, love trying out new products and I found that I loved many of the goodies that I brought home.

Sheet masks. Us beauty lovers cannot go to Asia and not stockpile beauty masks, right? I am a bit cautious when it comes to trying out new face products, so I've only tried two of the five pictured here. My favorite was the For Beloved One Active Anti Wrinkles Bio Cellulose Mask and the Eight Cups of Water. If you remember, I really liked the TATCHA Luminous mask (review here), alas it was a bit costly for frequent use. The For Beloved One Mask is a very suitable alternative (about $13 per sheet on eBay) and according to the blurb on the Sephora Singapore website, it was the first biocellulose mask. My dehydrated skin also loved the Eight Cups of Water Mask, it was delightful skin quencher.

My friend Yoyo showed me this app called ZaZhiMi that contains Japanese beauty and fashion magazines for iPads! I've spent many hours poured over the pages of ViVi and Baila, I love looking at different brands of makeup and different techniques.

You can thumb between the pages, then open them up for the full quality images.

When it comes to American magazines, I'm afraid I've become rather cynical and assume every product pictured is a paid-for product placement (hello there, alliteration) and I don't subscribe to any. I'd rather read blogs! It is however, kind of interesting to pick up a magazine with makeup items that invoke less brand recognition from me.

This Shiseido Hand Cream is the absolute bee's knees. It's reached Holy Grail status for me. The cream provides moisture and makes your hands really silky, but not greasy in the least bit. Since I haven't blogged much about nail polishes lately, my hands are in a state of woeful neglect. A few applications of this hand cream has my cuticles all supple and soft. The best part is that this comes from the drugstore line of Shiseido, so it is really not expensive at all - I paid less than $8 per tub.

I've been keeping a jar near each sink so that I won't forget to moisturize after washing my hands. This small change was all it took for my nails to become strong and flexible again.

I bought four packs of my secret pimple stickers. Well, it's not really a secret that I've used these for years and years... it's just that 3M doesn't sell them in North America (seemingly only Asia). They're little hydrocolloid (you can find this in the first aid section of your pharmacy, near bandages and gauze) patches that you put on zits that have formed a "head". That is to say, the white little pus is clearly visible and protruding. These stickers absorb that liquid quite well and you'll see a huge reduction in pimple size overnight. Plus it's slightly disgusting/fascinating to see the white liquid absorbed by the translucent sticker. You can get them on eBay (try "3M Nexcare Acne Patch") for around $8 for a 36 pack.

My cousin sent me off with a pack of these that she had bought from Japan. They're entirely in Japanese so I can tell you neither the name of the product or the maker, just that they're disposable little eye masks that smell like orange essential oils and produce a slight warmth for ten minutes. They're supposed to be for unwinding (though funny, the opposite temperature for depuffying eyes) and let me tell you, the smell itself will make you want to relax. So delicious.

Do I look ridiculous?

Morgan: Yeah you do.

I wanted to try a different shampoo so I picked up a trio of haircare from the Korean brand Ryeo (stylized as Ryo on the bottle but 'Ryeo' by AmorePacific, the parent company). You can find this trio on Amazon or eBay, shipped for around $50. It's from the Anti-Hair Loss line, but specifically I bought the version for oily scalp. So far I'm really loving Ryeo products, not that I've noticed less hair loss off the bat, but because they give wonderful volume and my scalp feels really clean. It only takes a very little bit of shampoo (less than one pump) but the downside is that the shampoo smells more herbal/incense/smokey than any other shampoo I've tried. Husband says the smell is a little like stale cigarettes but it dissipates once the hair is fully dry. This set is the shampoo, conditioner and the treatment.

I'm pretty happy that I liked all the products that I brought home this time but it was entirely because I heeded the recommendations of my friends and family.

What are some of your favorite products that you can't get at home?