New addiction: Japanese skincare August 3, 2009

I’d like to think I have nice skin. Not uber nice, but OK-nice. I do have some overactive pores around my nose, and I get the occasional zit or two. I don’t have to rely on a lot of cosmetics to hide flaws and I am not very sensitive to products. Still, I do take good care of my skin. I have a strict cleansing, moisturizing and massaging regimen at night and I religiously put on suncreen daily. I did start with sunscreen a little late in life, but my skin is thanking me for it. I dumped all my talc-based cosmetics and switched to mineral makeup. I discovered emu oil and the many wonders it can do to my skin, and it is now an integral part of my nightly skincare regimen.

But for the past few weeks, I’ve been more conscious of the real and perceived effects of my different skincare products. Blame it on Morita-san and the constant presence of her outrageously beautiful skin. Eversince I met her at school, I would always find myself stealing glances at her skin. Her face is even-toned all over, and her alabaster skin is just glowing. Even Violy-sensei was curious, because I caught her asking Morita-san the brand of cosmetics and skincare products she was using. It was Orbis. Hehe. The day after, I Googled ‘Orbis’ and tried to find Ebay sellers.

The weeks following that, I made several more searches on Japanese skincare and found a book by Saeki Chizu: The Japanese Skincare Revolution. Apparently, Saeki-san is a very famous aesthetician in Japan. She runs a beauty clinic, and often appears in TV and print. I read about her techniques and advice on skincare, and that was all I need to purchase her book. Haha! Currently, it is on its way here. Get here soooooon…!

Saeki Chizu Yume Mihada (Dream Skincare)

Then, by accident, I found a software for the Nintendo DS and it is called: Saeki Chizu Yume Mihada (or ‘Dream Skincare’). Of course, since it has the ‘Saeki Chizu’ name on it, I had to have it right away. OK, I admit I only have the ROM. I am still testing it. Once I am done with the 7 days-regimen, I will see if I still have to buy the original from Play-asia.com.

I love her methods. According to her, you do not need a lot of products (nor very expensive ones) to get great skin. You only need to have your own two hands, enough patience and some basic items (moisturizer, cotton, etc). In the DS software, there is a 7-day regimen to get you started on the Saeki-style of skincare. There is one regimen for the day, and one for night. Before each, there is a check process to assess your skin condition: elasticity, moisture. It even checks how many hours of sleep you had, how exposed you were to the sun and what your mood was for the day. The software even checks if you did your bathroom business. Haha. I am in day 4 and so far, my skin is loving it!! I am really addicted to this now. The very first thing that I do after my morning prayer is to turn on my DS to do my skin check. When I get home from work at night, I always reach for my DS, again to perform and record my skin check results. I have already memorized the steps for both morning and I don’t know what comes after day 7. Other parts of the software contained the massage exercises, step-by-step videos (my favorite!), your personal schedule/memo pad, recipes, additional tips/advice and many others.

Speaking of essentials, I got a bit stumped at the names of the products she uses. She mentions ‘lotion’ as an important item, but seeing her videos, I realized that their lotion is different from the lotion that I (we?) know here. Lotion ローションor 化粧水 has a toner-like consistency, but it is not a toner. While a toner is used to clean dirt from skin, a lotion is used to make the skin soft and preps it to receive more moisture. I did a bit of research on local alternatives and Shiseido sells one. Only, they call it ’softener’, probably to prevent confusion. The 乳液 is an emulsion or cream — any of your moisturizer can fall under this category. The 3rd item was the most difficult: 美容液. I could not find a lot of non-Japanese products that fall under this. Even the international Shiseido lines does not carry one. Only their Japanese brands carry 美容液 items. But this is very important. According to Saeki-san, 美容液 is the skin’s ‘main dish’. Good thing I found one. Here are my skincare line items so far:

化粧水 – Shiseido, Kanebo Impress (*&&% expensive for a lotion!)
美容液 – Godiva Vitamin C Serum – for now. Still on the lookout for other (better) serums
乳液 – Shiseido, Leyende, Clean and Clear

I love, love, love my lotion mask! It makes my skin very soft and supple. Now I think I cannot live without a lotion. Here is a pic of me with my lotion mask on (left). I think I will regret posting this picture…but what the heck! At least I have great skin I think the lotion I used was Shiseido Hadasui (pink) and I left it longer than 3 minutes because I loved it so much. My cotton pads aren’t very neat, sorry. I can’t seem to make it like Saeki-san’s. Still, it is effective, and that’s what is important! I look like Peebo (Peabo?) from Bioman The cooling eye pads, I got for P99 a pair at Watsons. I like these better than the ’superhero’ type eyemasks, but I don’t understand why they had to put glitter in! It looks stupid.

Here is a short video of Saeki-san demonstrating the lotion mask. She’s too cute (and very few wrinkles)!!

Thank you, Saeki-san for saving my skin! I gotta go, my lotion mask is waiting…

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