japan beauty guide part 1

i will put recommendation according to my routine steps and i will try my best to link it to my review. you can basically find beauty products almost everywhere, not only in beauty shops. from drugstores to even BIC camera shop. but you won't find rare brands in those stores. usual drugstores brand you can find at don quixote (or they call it donki, and not two donki stores have the same inventory so you might want to enter every donki shops that you encounter) and matsumoto kiyoshi (again, not all shops are the same, so better roam every stores). there's also a small selection of beauty products at 7eleven, family mart and lawson. but if you want to find rare brands, you might want to peek into tokyu hands, ainz and tulpe, cosme store and department stores especially if you're looking into high end brands. different city sometimes offer different products, one of them is lululun. they make special limited edition mask for some cities, so make sure you get one if you're interested. so let's get down to the list. oh.. and i'm sorry if this post will be super long so i will separate this post into two part. read the part two here.

cleansing oil

if you're looking for a good cleansing oil, then you won't be disappointed. you can easily find good cleansing oil here. for high end brands, you might heard of shu uemura cleansing oil but i personally never tried it since it's quite expensive. and the other high end brand is DHC. fortunately, there are some sizes of DHC cleansing oil, and the travel size is quite affordable so i got the chance to try one. although i don't like it, many people love it, so you might want to try it (read my review here).

DHC cleansing oil

as for affordable option, it would be a lot, but i narrow down to three products that i have tried and like. if you're looking for super affordable, no lathering option, then you should try biore (my review here). if you're looking for the one that gives a bit lather then you should try kose softymo. they have the speedy version (review here) and the deep one (this one is similar to DHC but a bit lightweight, read my review here). they also sell the refill, so better grab one refill if you really like it.

biore cleansing oil (they have renewed the packaging so make sure to check the latest version packaging)

kose softymo speedy version

kose softymo deep version

cleansing water

if you're into cleansing oil, i also have tried several of their cleansing water, although i have not find a favorite yet. but i guess bifesta is easier to find than haruhada. bifesta has 4 different types and i have tried two of them, the bright up one (my review here) and the moist one (my review here).

bifesta moist

bifesta bright up

i also have tried two types of haruhada but i'm not sure how many version are there in the market. i've tried their hyaluronic acid one (my review here) and the collagen one(my review here). 

haruhada hyaluronic acid

haruhada collagen

facial wash

you can try different types of face wash, from powder, foam to just regular non foaming face wash. if you're looking for travel friendly face wash, maybe face powder wash is a good alternative for you. and you might've heard the famous kanebo powder wash and it comes in little pods, good for travelling but if you're concern about those plastic waste, then skip it. my review here.

kanebo powder wash

if you're looking for gentle and non foaming face wash, you should try mochitto face wash. you have to look carefully though as the face wash and the lotion bottle is similar. i found this one in tokyu hands, so you might want try finding it there first instead of usual drugstores. read my review here.

mochitto face wash

if you have net foam, then these two face wash might work better. as it need net foam to bubble up, and it will be more gentle if you bubble it up first. both are affordable, and can be found in usual drugstores. the shiseido senka perfect whip is more popular and there are several types, but i only tried the usual type (my review here) and the hada labo is underrated because people like the foaming one better (read my review on hada labo face wash here and the foaming one here).

senka perfect whip

hada labo gokujyun foaming face wash

hada labo gokujyun non foaming

i also have tried other face wash from kanebo evita (entertaining as it forms rose bubble and it's not drying so it's a good thing), and several from rosette and sana, but nothing worth mentioning as they all will give you that squeaky clean feeling. but if you're curious, you can read all my thought about them in my blog.

first essence

even though japanese brand SKII brought fermented products to global market, surprisingly, not so many other brands follow. in fact, i haven't found any other brand that makes fermented essence there aside from SK-II. i understand that it's very expensive, but i believe they also make travel size so if you're interested, you should get the travel size first. i personally never tried it as i heard several people have reactions to it, so i can't say anything. but it's a highly recommended product, so if you're curious, get one while you're there.

hydrating toner

you might be surprised that there's almost no acid toner in japan. if you said that there's hadalabo tamagohada peeling toner, then let me tell you, it's not available in japan. they have this regional products and the tamagohada can only be found in singapore and malaysia. but if you're curious, here my thought on the peeling toner here. the famous hydrating toner would be hada labo hyaluronic acid toner which everyone seems to love and the premium version. though i've never tried the premium version, i do like the regular one but not enough to repurchase as there are so many options there. read my review about the hydrating toner here.

hadalabo gokujyun toner

and if you're familiar with CSM method or dry tablet mask, you might want to buy hydrating toner that comes in a giant size. i've had two of them, one is hatomugi which is super lightweight (read my review here), and the kikumasamune one (there are two version, the light one that comes in white bottle and the moist one that i bought in pink bottle. read my review about the moist one here).

naturie hatomugi toner

kikumasamune high moist toner

there's another option from cezanne that also comes in two varieties, but i haven't tried it but i will if i could find it. there's also muji toner that people like, but i only tried the light one and for me it's too lightweight, so i will try another version if i could get it. for now, read my review about the light one here. oh, and they use "lotion" to indicate "toner". 

muji light toning water light

essence and serum

there's not so many essence and serum from japan that i like, but i have tried some of them. i prefer korean serum better somehow. the kikumasamune essence is basically a hydrating and brightening essence/serum and it comes in big size, and it has sake in it, so if you're interested in liquor-scented essence, read my review here.

kikumasamune essence

melano cc serum

and if you're looking into vitamin c serum or spot treatment, the famous one is melano cc serum. though so many people like it, i don't fond of it, so try it yourself (read my review here).

emulsion and moisturizer

okay, so they call emulsion in japan as "milk". i've tried several of them and none of them can compare to my favorite emulsion from the face shop. but if you're interested, i could line up some for you. my favorite among four that i've tried is the cutura milk that contains probiotic. unfortunately the one that i tried is discontinued but they use another strain to make the similar product, only with different strain of probiotic. read my review here.

cutura emulsion

the hada labo one is from their alpha line which contain retinol, but i think it only contains little concentration of retinol (read my review here).

hada labo alpha emulsion

the other two are from sana. sana is known for using soy as its main ingredients and there are several line from this brand too. the original one comes in white bottle, the moist one in orange one, the one with added coenzyme q10 comes in pink bottle and last one has retinol in it in yellow bottle. i've tried the pink one (read my review here) and the original one (read my review here) but honestly, i don't like them both. but i think if you live in 4 seasons-country or have drier skin than i do, you might like them.

sana haritsuya emulsion

sana original emulsion

as for moisturizer, the famous one is obviously from hada labo. people like the gokujyun one, unfortunately i bought the wrong type. i got the koi-gokujyun that also has brightening properties like shirojyun line (read my review here).

hada labo koi-gokujyun gel

my favorite is from sana retinol one (read my review here) and i've repurchased it once but i bought the big tub so it seems forever before i finish it. and now they renew it, so i'm hoping i could get the newer version when i visit japan next october. i also have tried the haritsuya (the pink one) but i seems ordinary so i don't repurchase it (read my review here). anyway, whatever you decide to pick, all of my recommendations are affordable and easy to find on any drugstores.

sana retinol cream

sana haritsuya cream

another people favorite is hatomugi gel, which also comes in tub, but i never try it. 

peeling gel

another famous product is their peeling gel. i bet you've heard of cure natural aqua gel. it's been best selling peeling gel for years. unfortunately it's not that affordable and you have to use it in 6 months or it will gone bad. you can read my review here. but if you want affordable option, there's rosette peeling gel. there are two of them, the blue one is the original version (read my review here) and the red one is the moist type that i haven't tried so i don't know what is the difference. 

cure natural peeling gel

rosette peeling gel

okay.. i think it's enough for part 1. i will try to list the rest of the routine in my part 2. i hope this list will help you to make your own wish list. if you're looking for trusted website that has japanese products review and ingredients list, you can check out ratzillacosme website. also, make sure you screenshot the picture of the products you want to find and ask for help if you couldn't find it. i hope you spend your money wisely and have fun in japan.