Friday, April 22, 2016

Hada-Labo Koi-Gokujyun Perfect UV Gel SPF50+ PA++++

So I finished my bottle of Menturm the Sun UV Watery Milk a few weeks ago, which means I no longer have anything thick and opaque to mix with the super thin and completely transparent Sunkiller Perfect Strong Moisture. Shuffling through my stash, I decided on this 50g tube of Hada-Labo Koi-Gokujyun Perfect UV Gel SPF50+ PA++++.

My rationale was this: quite a few UV "gels" and "essences" I've used thus far have been thick and pasty, basically anything but gel or essence. A few examples includes Menturm Watery Gel UV, SunCut UV Protect Gel, and the much better known Allie Extra UV Gel Mineral Moist N (now discontinued, replaced with Mineral Moist Neo as of spring 2015). So chances are, this Hada-Labo UV gel too should be thick and pasty, a good replacement for the Menturm milk, right? 

Turns out I was both right and wrong! I was right in that this Hada-Labo UV Gel is anything but a gel. It comes out of the tube an opaque white cream that feels "melty" in my palm but is really quite thick and pasty going on. It should be exactly what I was looking for to mix with the Sunkiller milk, right?

Wrong!

This is marketed as a 5-in-1 product (all-in-1 multi-purpose skincare seems to be trendy these days), a lotion, serum, moisturizer, and sunscreen that also doubles as a makeup base. Koi-gokujyun means concentrated super moisture, which spells bad news. Another bearer of bad news is the fact that this sunscreen contains mostly chemical filters, namely octinoxate (メトキシケイヒ酸エチルヘキシル), Parsol SLX (Polysilicone-15, ポリシリコーン-15), Tinosorb S (ビスエチルヘキシルオキシフェノールメトキシフェニルトリアジン), Uvinul A+ (ジエチルアミノヒドロキシベンゾイル安息香酸ヘキシル), and titanium dioxide (酸化チタン). You know where I'm going with this, right? 

Yup, little mineral physical sunblock means little to no coverage. Sure enough, this Hada-Labo "gel" is almost completely transparent. It's just a thicker and much more moisturizing version of the Sunkiller milk, and genius ol' me decided it'd be a good idea to mix them together! Guess who ended up with glossy, bacon grease face that stayed that way all day? +.+

Yet stubborn as I am I still doubted. What if I'd added too much of the Sunkiller milk? After all, even with the super thick Menturm "Watery" Milk I'd only needed 5 drops of Sunkiller. I'd only used 5 drops of Sunkiller with Hada-Labo too but okay, I tested the latter by itself just to appease my own blockheaded-ness. Nope, same result, day-long shiny, bacon grease face. Urgh.


So I tried blotting and finishing with a sunscreen powder and it went from bad to worse. By itself or mixed with the Sunkiller milk, the Hada-Labo "gel" melted the sunscreen powder right off of my face almost immediately. As if bacon grease face was not enough I now had bacon grease face caked and creased with powder. Goddammit, now what?

With only a few bottles of milk left, I had ran out of thick and pasty options in my stash. I was saving the milks for the coming summer you see, among them a small 25mL trial bottle of Anessa Perfect UV Sunscreen A+N SPF50+ PA++++ (will review next but note that it's now discontinued, replaced with Perfect UV Sunscreen Aqua Booster as of spring 2016). As you may recall, Anessa sunscreens have a reputation of being overzealous when it comes to oil control, i.e., they're very drying. Ding ding ding, it seems we've got a winner, folks. Or rather, a winning combo.

But I wasn't going mix the Anessa milk with the Sunkiller milk. Both are too runny. Instead, I mixed Anessa with Hada-Labo. After some experimenting with quantity, I found that 20 drops of Anessa and 10 loops of Hada-Labo do the trick (the dispensing tip squeezes out thin noodles of the "gel," left picture). I do have to blend the milk and "gel" in my palm first (right picture), but what I get is a milky emulsion with a consistency very similar to my trusty Allie. And hallelujah, it applies well, absorbs well (quickly too, in just a minute!), provides some coverage, and gives me a wonderful dewy matte finish. What a freakin' pain!


So there you have it, my conclusion is to avoid this Hada-Labo "gel" at all cost. As for me, once finish the Anessa milk (there's only 25mL of it after all...), I'll either identify another drying milk in my stash to mix with Hada-Labo, or find another thick and pasty something to mix with the Sunkiller milk. And I'll never repurchase either Sunkiller or Hada-Labo ever again.

2 comments:

Citrine said...

Phew, I was this close to ordering this (there is another tinted version)as an alphabeauty cart filler...my face gets rather sweaty oily during summer so I am glad (ok maybe not) you took the bullet on our behalf...

D. said...

Yeah, don't do it! ^.^ If you want to try a UV "gel," try the Allie one instead. Way better with a better dewy matte finish that takes well to finishing powders to boot!

Cheers,
D.

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