Aqualabel All-in-One Whitening Jelly Essence

At long, long, last I finally, finally finished this gigantic bottle of Hadanomy Collagen Lotion. I only use it once a day on my face, neck, and decolletage right after getting out of the shower, then throw in the 15 months gap while hubby and I pranced around in Tokyo la la land.

I'm moving on to another equally gigantic 200mL bottle of Aqualabel All-in-One Whitening Jelly Essence, bought this past spring along with Aging Care Royal Rich Essence. 

This is marketed as a 4-in-1 product, a lotion (toner), serum/essence, moisturizer, and astringent all in one bottle. The "jelly essence" part totally distracted me from the fact that the Japanese government considers this product a "quasi drug."

Not exactly sure what "quasi drug" means and don't care much for whitening products either way, but what do you know, I like this stuff quite a bit! ^.^ I expected it to be half way decent like the royal jelly essence, but it turns out way better. It goes on better, feels better on the skin, and absorbs better too.

I use this the same way as the Hadanomy lotion, slathering a generous amount onto the face, neck, and decolletage right after stepping out of the shower. This jelly is totally clear and has an herbal-y methol fragrance, there's menthol in the ingredients after all. It applies with a tingly sensation, heats the skin a tiny little bit, and then disappears completely.

Now for the whitening part I'm not too sure about. I haven't noticed any drastic change but I like it enough to recommend it to my aunt who was looking for a new whitening product to try. I told her no promises on the whitening but she'd probably like the texture. We'll see how it works out for her. If she sings any praises I'll be sure to update this post and let you know :)