Kiku-Masamune Sake Skincare Essence

Finished the bottle of Kuramoto Bijin Komeyu Rice Oil Serum a couple of weeks ago and eagerly moved on to this Kiku-Masamune Sake Skincare Essence.

I'm sticking to the combination of layering a sake-based skincare essence/serum beneath Boscia Sake Balm because it's been working so well for my skin. Kiku-Masamune is a new brand for me, a recommendation from a reader, Caty (thank you, Caty!). While at it I also picked up a 150g jar of Kome and Hakko Moisture Gel, an all-in-one moisturizing gel for hubby. Will review later when he gets to it, because how else will I "borrow" some? ^.^

Here's what incredulous about this skincare essence/serum--it retails 1,944yen (tax included, ~$18.25) for a huge 150mL pump bottle, which is extraordinary generous! Even better was I got my 2 bottles through Rakuten JP and only paid 1,257yen each (~$11.50), which was a good 35% off of retail! Normally, a 30-50mL bottle of essence/serum would set me back a cool $30-40 at a minimum. Even the Kuramoto Bijin serum was 1,800yen (~$16.50) for 30mL, which I thought was already quite generous.

Should I worry why this Kiku-Masamune essence/serum is so cheap? Its official product page boasts of 12 different types of animo acids in addition to whitening ingredients like placenta extract, arbutin, 2 vitamin C derivatives, and 3 ceramides, certainly doesn't sound cheap. If anything, it sounds too good to be true and you know what the old wisdom has to say about that. Hmmm...

This essence/serum is a lovely gel that's slightly milky in appearance, and it's just as light and fast-absorbing as it looks. The instructions call for 2-3 pumps each use, which has me raising my eyebrows because I find that just one pump is more than enough for my face, neck, and decolletage. One pump, folks. So the 150mL bottle will likely last me for months, if not half a freakin' year with my nightly use.

The essence/serum smells strongly of sake which I don't mind at all. What I do mind is Kiku-Masamune trying to mask this sake with a synthetic fragrance that's supposed to be flowery, only it causes the whole thing to smell of alcoholic bananas. Ehhh...what?! Yeah, it smells like spiked bananas to me, which I'm not sure I dig but I'll put up with it because I that's just how much I like this stuff. I really do wish they hadn't mess with it and just let the natural sake shine.

So you got the spoiler, right? I love this stuff! It works just as well as the KB serum when paired with Boscia Sake Balm. If anything, it's a tad more moisturizing than KB, and I wake up to soft, soft, addictively soft skin. It's unbelievable how affordable this is. I'm going to go back to get a few more bottles for my mum too, especially since it has whitening ingredients and she loves whitening stuff.

Hell yes, I definitely recommend this essence/serum.