Yojiya Iebaeni Gift Assortment

Supposedly, the one thing every tourist must do when visiting Kyoto is to get a souvenir gift from Yojiya, a rather well known cosmetic brand founded in 1904 and has a cult following all over Japan. Their most famous and popular piece is the aburatori-gami, or Oil Blotting Facial Paper. You can read all about the history of Yojiya and their aburatori-gami on their English site.

No, hubby, my sister and I didn't go to Kyoto. This Yojiya Iebaeni Gift Assortment was actually a goodbye gift from a Japanese teacher to my sister on her last day of school. My sister isn't into skincare or cosmetics at all, but knowing I'm all about makeup she generously offered this gift set to me instead. In the end though, I only took pictures of it and plan to bring it back to her on my next home visit. It is a goodbye gift after all, and even if my sister doesn't use it she can still keep it for sentimental purposes as she will surely look back at it fondly. And I suppose it's paper. It's not going to go bad anytime soon.

Can you imagine a gift set of oil blotting paper that comes in a nice gift box like this? So very [excessively] ornate, no? Also, Yojiya's gift sets page lists this Iebaeni Gift Assortment set for 3,000yen. Can you imagine paying about $39 (with current rates) for blotting papers? Nuts!!!

This is Yojiya's logo. Kind of freaky, if you ask me.

This Iebaeni Gift Assortment comes with 5 booklets of the famed Aburatori-gami (Oil Blotting Facial Paper, right), a 100-sheet pack of Kuchibeni Osae-gami (Lipstick Blotting Paper, top left), a 60-sheet pack each of Oshiroi-gami (Powder Paper) in Beige (bottom left) and Ocre (bottom right).

One booklet of the Aburatori-gami. It's rather huge, almost as big as my hand!

I wonder if I'm supposed to tear out however much I need for each use, because it's literally a booklet and not loose leaf sheets...

Kuchibeni Osae-gami, top, Oshiroi-gami in Beige, middle, and Oshiroi-gami in Ocre, bottom.

Details on the back of the Kuchibeni Osae-gami, top, Oshiroi-gami in Beige, bottom left, and Oshiroi-gami in Ocre, bottom right.

Kuchibeni Osae-gami - note the red lips on the packet to distinguish itself from the powder sheets.

According to Yojiya's website, the Lipstick Blotting Paper will absorb excess oils in the lipstick, bringing out your lip's natural sheen and preventing the lipstick from bleeding beyond your lip lines.

Oshiroi-gami in Beige, which I think is a much more practical product. Though I'm not sure if the paper will blot the oil too in addition to depositing a fine layer of powder, or it's just powder. I think it's just powder.

These sheets have a very fine dusting of powder that will matte you up should you get shiny ^.^ And the size is perfect to carry around in your purse too, unlike the larger Oil Blotting booklet.

Oshiroi-gami in Ocre. It's extra nice that they have different colors, but ultimately I think it's unnecessary. Let's be honest now, how much powder do these sheets actually deposit to require different colors?

I tested the a bit of each color on the back of my hand, and they look indistinguishable, though I guess testing is not adequate enough and I would have to actually apply these powder sheets to see if the colors make a difference. I doubt it. The powder is so fine they're practically translucent.