Paseo UV Cut Powder SPF50+ PA++++

Like Ruje Mineral BB Lucent Powder, this Paseo UV Cut Powder SPF50+ PA++++ was also a brain-washed purchase. And note both powders have an orange and gold "#1" sticker on their packaging, Ruje for #1 selling powder on Rakuten JP, and this Paseo one for #1 selling powder on Yahoo shopping. I mean, go figure! They both got me to buy after all! Ah, the power of [relentless] advertisement.

Anyway, this Paseo powder comes in 2 varieties, Cool and Normal, each contains 8g of product and goes for 1,600JPY plus tax and shipping. I bought the Cool version from Rakuten JP for only 1,350JPY plus tax and got free shipping (my order total was over 3,000JPY with another powder, Nanoce BB Mineral Powder SPF50+ PA+++, will review next).

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Paseo is a brand from a smaller company, Issua, and this is the first time I've tried their products. Both of the Cool and Normal versions are translucent and colorless, i.e., they're supposed to be white loose powders, very much like UVLab Mineral Powder. That said, upon opening my jar I found that it's not completely white but is lime-tinted.

The Cool version has menthol for a cooling effect, think Nivea Sun Protect Water Gel Cool only in powder form and better sun protection. And according to the swatches I've seen on some Japanese blogs (like this one), the Normal version has fine shimmers as well as larger sparkles for a glowy finish. This is fine and dandy, but erhh...how is it "normal"?! I was really tempted to pick up the Normal version, but I figured the powder itself is already whitish and I don't need any shimmers on top of that. So I'm glad I went with the Cool version instead.

This powder is scented with a faint citrusy scent and has great sun protection, with some serious active ingredients: zinc oxide (酸化亜鉛), titanium dioxide (酸化チタン), octinoxate (メトキシケイヒ酸エチルヘキシル), and 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)! 

As for the powder itself, I'm sad to say it's a dud :( For one, it's coarse. I got a bit of a shock upon swatching some onto the back of my hand - it felt like fine sand! After taking the swatch picture, I massaged the powder into my arm and only then did it smooth out, so whatever they put into this powder probably caused some clumping. Secondly, it's very drying. You know in those crime shows, the detectives are always brushing some white powder onto a surface and then -wahlah- the finger prints magically appear? Well, I applied this powder onto my well-moisturized face and -wahlah- dry flakes magically appeared out of no-goddamn-where. What the...?!? Third, as you can probably guess from the swatch photo below, yes, it does leave a white cast. And the "cooling"? Nope. There was no cooling whatsoever. Boo. Hiss.

So if you live in a super humid environment and/or sweaty/oily all the time, then may be this powder will work. But otherwise I'd say it's not worth the 1,600JPY at all. If you have 1,600JPY to spend on a sun powder, I'd recommend buying 2 of Privacy UV Face Powder instead. Just browse around on Rakuten JP and surely you'll find a good price! As for my jar of Paseo powder, it's been demoted to arms and décolletage only for the oncoming summer.