Muo Cleansing Oil

This 150mL refill pouch of Muo Cleansing Oil was yet another one I finished recently, just last week actually.

 

This one had a light and runny texture too, although nowhere near as runny and watery as The Face Shop Rice Water Bright Cleansing Oil. It did the job ok. I didn't like it as much as I did the SkinFood Black Sugar Cleansing Oil, probably because of the texture. It was unscented though, so for those whose skin is  sensitive with fragrances, maybe this is worth a try. I won't repurchase though. Would much rather move on and try other new things.

Hadabisei Moisturizing Facial Emulsion

Some time last year, I became a little obsessed with emulsions and milks and bought several bottles from Amazon JP. This 130g Hadabisei Moisturizing Facial Emulsion was one of them. I hadn't planned on using this emulsion so soon though. Rather, the whole order arrived in terrible shape and while this bottle wasn't the actual casualty, it's also the only one that's not factory sealed and had its outer packaging destroyed in transit. Which is to say I had no idea whether its content had leaked, making it unsuitable for storage. That was how it jumped the queue. 

Dear Beaute Himawari Oil In Shampoo & Conditioner

Been really enjoying this Dear Beaute Himawari Oil In Shampoo & Conditioner! There are three types, the brand new Smooth & Repair, Rich & Repair--this is what I'm using, and Gloss & Repair. This was a recommendation from Julia way back in 2017. When my sister did her international pharmacy rotation in Japan, I asked her to lug home for me a set of two 500mL pump bottles of shampoo and conditioner, two 360mL refill bags, and a 200g tube of Oil In Treatment. When she came home the summer of 2018, I was in the middle of moving house and, like many of my other bath and body stuff, they were misplaced among all the moving boxes, until now =.="

Shampoo

Conditioner

Treatment

Snack Time

Since last fall, dear friends in Japan have been sending me care packages with snacks and other goodies. The first giant package I got in November was from sweet Julia who sent me a whole lot of everything I love: adorable printed masking tapes from Daiso, sweets, snacks, tea, hand cream, and lippies! How am I so lucky, I've no idea, but let's just say the sweets and snacks and the tea didn't last past the month. Good thing I took notes as I ate (and drank) them ^.^

Ichikami Moisture Hair Treatment

It's been 9 months and I'm finally done with this 100g tube of Ichikami Moisture Hair Treatment! It came from the Ichikami Moisture Set I bought back in March, and hubby and I have since gone through that bottle of Moisture Shampoo, the Soft and Smooth Shampoo, a 400L refill of Super Mild, and currently finishing up another refill of Macherie Moisture Shampoo.

Ichikami Soft and Smooth Shampoo

Almost through with my full size bottle of Ichikami Soft and Smooth Shampoo. This shampoo is from the Soft and Smooth Set I bought in Japantown, after having a fantastic experience with the Moisture Shampoo from the similar Moisture Set.

Ichikami Soft and Smooth Set, with 530mL each of the Shampoo and Conditioner, and a 100mL tube of the Treatment.

Ichikami Moisture Shampoo

Ichikami revamped its haircare range late summer of 2012 and introduced 2 new lines of haircare, Moisture, and Soft and Smooth. This is the Moisture Set, with a full size Shampoo, Conditioner, and a smaller tube of hair Treatment. I bought this set on sale for $18.99 at the Ichiban Kan shop in Japantown, my favorite haunt in SF ^.^

I've only used the Shampoo so far and have one word for it - fantastic! I tried the old Shampoo a few years ago and thought it was great even though I had to get used to the scent, and this reformulation is definitely better. No, make it much, much, much better! Now, it's right up there with my old favorites like Super Mild, Lux Super Rich Shine, and Tsubaki Shining Shampoo! In the beginning, I only planned to try this Moisture line. But then I like it so much I returned to Ichiban Kan the next day to get the other Soft and Smooth Set too! Sure, since they're too different shampoos it might not work out, but hell, this one is so good I'm more than happy to give the other one a chance!

Ichikami Moisture Set, with 530mL each of the Shampoo and Conditioner, and a 100g tube of the Treatment.

Skincare Stocking Stuffers (Picture heavy!)

In 2012, hubby and I moved out of Japan in late August, then to Taiwan for 3 months until mid December. Going to different countries means lots of shopping and while I tried to exercise control, I don't have much self restraint. As a result, everyone in my family got at least a few skincare related stocking stuffers this past holiday season ^.^ Anyways, with permission from the recipients I took pictures of the products prior to wrapping them. 

This Naive Rich & Deep Moist Cleansing Foam Gift Set came with the full size Cleansing Foam Rose Extract in the yellow tube, which went to my mum, and a travel sized Cleansing Foam Madonna Lily Extract in the blue tube, which I kept for myself.

Naive Makeup Cleansing Oil

Happy Holidays everyone!!! I'm home visiting my folks for the rest of this month so posting will be sporadic until I get back. Keep warm (unless you're in the Southern hemisphere, in that case, keep cool!) and take care!

Anyway, this bottle of Naive Makeup Cleansing Oil actually says "cleansing oil for use in bathtubs." I think that pretty much sums up this cleansing oil, yep, it can be used dry or wet! I spotted this newbie a few months ago when it first came out. At the time I was still using Hada Labo Super Hydrating Olive Oil Cleansing, but I bought it anyway and have been using it now for the past month. And it was cheap so that helped ^.^

Kracie Umi no Uruoiso Shampoo

This Kracie Umi no Uruoiso Shampoo is very nice and refreshing! After 2 bottles of Macherie, both the Moisture and the Air Feel kind, both hubby and I were ready to try something new and this one seems different. The bottle says it contains extracts of 11 kinds of seaweeds in addition to deep sea water, sea collagen, marine squalene, and marine herb essence. That's a lot of fancy stuff in a bottle (minus the fancy prices)!

I actually bought the refill bag and not the actual shampoo bottle. They burn their plastic trash here, and I like the pretty pink Macherie bottle much better than the kind-of ugly blue bottle this Umi no Uruoiso Shampoo comes in ^.^

Naive Peach Hand Soap

From my pleasant experience with Naive Peach Body Wash, I was so excited when I spotted this Naive Peach Hand Soap at the local drug store. Soft, moisturizing, foamy, and nice smelling soaps for my hands? Yes, please!

I was sorely disappointed however. This turned out to be like any other average Japanese hand soap. It's a translucent pink liquid that barely foams and dries out my hand as though I am using harsh glycerin soaps. Boo. Hiss. I wouldn't bother with it if I were you.

Naive Peach Body Wash

I didn't think I would ever use these Naive Body Washes again as both the Aloe and the Grapefruit were so crazily drying, but hubby and I needed a break from our bar soaps marathon, you know, just to keep things interesting. So I dug out this Peach bottle from the closet and boy am I happy I did because, surprise surprise, I like it a lot!

This picture is of the bottle I'm using, but I believe Kracie has repackaged the Naive Body Washes differently now. I'm not sure if they reformulated them too, but the bottles definitely look different the last time I saw them at the supermarket.

***Picture from Amazon.com.

First the similarities - just like the Aloe and the Grapefruit, this Peach Body Wash is light and runny in texture and is extremely foamy. Now the differences - most immediately noticeable is that it does not smell of generic soap. I opened the bottle expecting the same old Naive body wash generic soap smell again but nope, none of it. In fact, I'd have to say this Peach Body Wash smells pretty amazing, a powdery peachy but clean scent, very similar to L'Occitane Shea Extra Gentle Soap Milk (I still haven't reviewed it, but I've used a couple of bars already...sorry...), only fruitier.

Now, the second most significant difference is that this Peach Body Wash isn't drying at all, even though I am now at much higher elevation and in a much drier environment. So yes, this Peach Body Wash takes me by total surprise and I can't believe I waited so long to use it!

Naive Facial Cleansing Foam Part II

I was hoping my last Naive Facial Cleansing Foam in Aloe would finish sooner so I can start using the Peach one, but it lasted all the way through December, so I got impatient and started using the Peach one anyway :P



And what do you know - I like the Peach one much better! It actually smells better! It still has a little bit of that generic soap smell, but mix in with a bit of peach and powder. During washing, it actually reminds me of the soft powdery fragrance of the original Olay beauty bar (couldn't find a good picture - I guess they don't make those anymore!), before they added all sorts of different scents, formulas, and whatnot. So yeah, I guess I really like the scent of this Facial Cleansing Foam in Peach.

For comparison sake, the Peach one actually gentler and less stripping than the Aloe one. I use the same amount to wash my face, but the Peach hasn't dry out my face yet and I've been using it daily for more than 2 weeks now. And given how dry it is in my apartment right, that's pretty darn good! We'll see if it will keep up though. It's not my perfect face wash, so the search's still on. I enjoy trying different stuff anyway, so it's not like the search will end anytime soon :)

See my previous Naive Facial Cleansing Foam post.

Naive Facial Cleansing Foam

Good grief, how long has it been since my last post?!? My apologies. I won't make excuses. Life just got in the way, that's all.

Plus I haven't been wearing any makeup these past several weeks -gasps!- Dunno why but I just haven't been feeling the pretties recently. Is it even possible for me to get lazier? Shoot!!!

This is going to be a review for Naive Facial Cleansing Foam in Aloe. I have another one in Peach too, but I decided to try this one out first. The description on Sasa.com says it's made out of "100% botanical soap base" and aloe extract "deeply moisturizes" the skin. Errm...I don't know about the 100% botanical soap base, but it definite does not deeply moisturize my skin, that's for sure. In fact, if I accidentally use too much, it will dry my face out a bit.



Both hubby and I have been using it for weeks now, and it's an effective cleanser that gets my skin squeaky clean. It is scented, but doesn't really smell anything like "aloe". I found this soapy scent common among a lot of Naive products, like the Naive Aloe Body Wash, for example. They all have this "freshly showered" kind of fragrance, which sometimes can be a bit ugly as in the case of the Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam. Another similar characteristic among Naive products (actually, most Japanese face and body foaming washes) is that they foam really well, and this face is no exclusion!

With all that said, I probably will not buy this Naive Facial Cleansing Foam - Aloe again. It's just too generic for me to stick with. There is such a wide range of possibilities out there for face washes that it just doesn't make sense for me to be loyal to one when it's nothing special.

See my previous Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam post.

Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam

I'd been using Shiseido Benefiance Creamy Cleansing Foam off and on since last year and finally finally finished the tube recently. You know what means, right? I got to go shopping for a new face wash, of course! :D

And then in my excited stupor I grabbed this Naive White Facial Cleansing Foam at my local Asian store without even looking. So needless to say, I'm not exactly happy with my purchase, especially since I'm not into anything "whitening." You can imagine what it was like when I got home, "What the...? White Facial Cleansing Foam?!? Damn it!!!" Despite that, I decided I to give it a try anyway. I'm just too lazy to bring it back.



This face wash is okay. It foams like crazy but the foam is thick and creamy, along the lines of the Shiseido Benefiance. It's actually more gentle than the Shiseido Benefiance, with the exception that it stings a little whenever there's a cut on my skin. Yeah, so much for gentle, huh? But, my face did feel very clean afterwards, and absolutely no tightness or dryness whatsoever.

So why do I think it's just okay? Well, aside from the stinging, it was the scent that bugged the heck out of me. For the first several uses, I could have sworn it smelled like a rosy Scrubbing Bubbles. I mean, it just felt wrong to be scrubbing my face with this stuff instead of the sink or bath tub or something. I know, not exactly appetizing descriptions. And then I guess after that, my nose must have gotten used to the smell or something, so the scrubbing bubbles scent wasn't as strong and in my face anymore. But still, it still smelled too chemically, the bad kind. I guess this means it's a no go.

Naive Grapefruit Body Wash

Oops, I finished this Naive Grapefruit Body Wash a while back but forgot to review. Just like the Naive Aloe Body Wash, I bought this Grapefruit one a set with the 650 mL pump bottle, a 450 mL refill bag, and samples of Naive Shampoo and Conditioner, for $9 at my local Asian grocery store.


***Picture from TrueRenu.

Similar to the Aloe Body Wash, this Grapefruit one foamed like crazy and washed off squeaky clean. It smelled just like generic soap too, with may be a very light note of citrus. Sadly, this Grapefruit one was much harsher on my skin than the Aloe, and I often got dry and itchy arms and legs while using this. Not my favorite body wash, I'm afraid. Will not buy again because it was just like the Aloe, only worse. Bleh.

Naive Olive Deep Cleansing Oil

My affair with cleansing oils goes like this: I started venturing beyond Shiseido Ultimate Cleansing Oil because, well, I got bored of it. Then it was DHC Deep Cleansing Oil for the next couple of years and got bored of it too, plus it was a tad drying. Tried the FANCL Mild Cleansing Oil next and liked it, but eventually went back to DHC for a while because not only the FANCL cleansing oil is expensive, it goes bad within a couple of months because it has no preservatives. This put pressure on me to use it up quickly, and I found that pretty ridiculous and just stop using it altogether :)

Now, in between my OCM days, I use this Naive Olive Deep Cleansing Oil. I spotted this at my local Asian grocery and thought I might give it a try. It's pretty cheap in comparison to all the other cleansing oils I've used, retailing for about $10 for 170 mL. And the bottle comes with a flip top cap that expends the oil surprisingly well, which was neat. They have a bunch of other cleansing oils too though, more from this Naive line, Kose, etc., so my guess is that I'm not going to be very loyal to this one either :P



This Naive Olive Deep Cleansing Oil is decent. The texture is very runny and silicon-y like the Shiseido Ultimate Cleansing Oil, but the main ingredient is mineral oil. It is scented with a strong citrusy fragrance, I would say pretty perfumy, just like the Shiseido one too. I like that it is quite mild despite the mineral oil content and is not as drying as the DHC cleansing oil. The down side is that it leaves a slight film on the skin, which is fine by me since I'm pretty used this by now, thanks to OCM every 2 nights. So if your skin can't tolerate mineral oil, is sensitive to fragrance, or you would rather having your cleanser rinses of squeaky clean, I would suggest skipping this one.

Naive Aloe Body Wash

I've seen the Naive brand from Kracie (ex-Kanebo, the older packaging will say Kanebo, and the newer packaging will say Kracie) since my days in Japan but was never curious enough to try. I was using Dove Aloe Body Wash at the time, (not the American Dove, the Japanese Dove) and the Aloe scent smelled so amazing nothing could tempt me away from it. I did have a tiny little rounded container of the Naive Peach Hand Cream, and that was it for my Naive experience. Now I really wish I had tried everything (okay, may be not everything, but close) in that darn drug store because Japanese-made anything is just so expensive here!

So you know where I'm going with this, right? Of course, when I spotted the Naive Aloe Body Wash in a set, which includes the 650 mL pump bottle, a 450 mL refill bag, plus samples of Naive Shampoo and Conditioner, for only $9, I immediately snatched 2 sets to try. They had the Grapefruit scent in the same set, which I also bought but will review later. If you are interested in trying these, I really recommend checking out your local Asian stores first as they might have these for much cheaper than online. Be especially keen for the sets, which are almost always super nice deals! For this Naive Aloe Body Wash, the 650 mL bottle by itself is usually $9.50 at least!


***Picture from TrueRenu.com.

My first impression of this body wash is...foamy. Yep, the stuff is runny, extremely light, and very foamy, so totally completely typical of a Japanese body wash (my beloved Dove Aloe Body Wash was like this too). It's hot and humid over there, can you blame them? I guess I'm so used to using the thick, heavier and much less foamy American-made body washes, which is better in the dry and harsh winter. Now that it is getting warmer, I just can't stand the thick film of grease these body washes leave behind on my skin, so I opted for something lighter, and this Naive Aloe Body Wash fits the bill perfectly.

Scent wise, it smells like generic soap. Nothing aloe-y about it, unlike my Dove Aloe Body Wash (I told you I was obsessed with it!), but generic soap is fine by me :D Hubby didn't like the smell at first, but then he likes the bubbles factor so much he got over his dislike of the scent. Oh yes, one pump and you'll get a very bubbly wash from head to toe. It rinses off completely clean by the way, so if you use too much of the stuff it might dry out your skin. Now I'm totally curious to try all the other scents! Why, to see if they all smell like generic soap, of course. Ha, just kidding!

Hadabisei Under Eye Gel Masks

So I finally got to trying these nifty looking Hadabisei Under Eye Gel Masks! I held out for the longest time because they were a bit expensive for my taste, $16 for 4 pairs. But then recently I found them on Ebay for only around $8 (half price!) so I nabbed, like, 3 boxes :D


***Picture from Hadabisei Japan.

I was taken aback by their texture at first, but I guess when they say gel masks, they really mean gel masks! These felt like thin sheets of jello with tiny little holes! Because they are thin and so gel like, they adhere easily to the skin and to themselves, and I fumbled around quite a bit with them before I got them exactly where I want them to stay. Once they were on though, they stay put. No sliping or sliding around like the paper sheet masks! Also, I had refrigerated them before hand, so they went on cool and refreshing. I imagine these would be totally awesome on a hot and humid day, so here's my excuse to go back to the same Ebay vendor to buy more :D



Just like the Hadabisei Moisturizing Masks with Collagen, these Under Eye Gel Masks did not disappoint. Actually, they are rather impressive! I LOVE them! It was really neat to watch how these gel sheets work. While applying them, I was doubting whether such thin gel sheets would adequately moisturize my dry under eye areas. Little did I know that there were TONS of liquid packed in them! I guess that was why these sheets had tiny little holes. I squeezed the rest of the liquid essence left over from the packaging onto the sheets, and the drops just disappeared into them! A few minutes into the application, I felt the essence running down my cheeks because the gel sheets were just so saturated!

My under eye areas felt sooooooo nice and comfortable afterwards. After massaging in the left over essence into my skin and let it dry, there was no stickiness, no heaviness, and my skin just felt soft and supple and cool to the touch (probably the after effect of the gel sheets having been chilled). The next morning, my eyes were awake and fresh even though I was exhausted and could have dropped any moment. I'm so getting more of these!

View my post on Hadabisei Moisturizing Masks with Collagen.

Hadabisei Moisturizing Masks with Collagen

Hadabisei is a Kracie brand, and Kracie Holdings is what's left of Kanebo Trinity Holdings after July 2007.

Complicated, huh? In short:
- Kanebo struggled to stay competitive in the 90's and wanted to sell its high-end cosmetic brands to Kao in 2004. However, this deal didn't come through and instead, all Kanebo cosmetic brands were clumped into one operation and became a separate business, Kanebo Cosmetics.
- In 2005, Kao bought Kanebo Cosmetics anyway.
- The rest of Kanebo changed its name to Kracie in 2007.

So yeah, all the Kanebo cosmetic brands (Coffret D'Or, Lunasol, Kate, Revue, Lavshuca, etc.) are actually owned by Kao (which owns Sofina, etc.). Although, it seems Kao has left the name Kanebo alone, perhaps for competition's sake associated with these cosmetics brands?

Sources:
- Answers.com: Kanebo Trinity Holdings
- Adbrands company profiles: Kracie Holdings
- Adbrands company profiles: Kao Corporation
- For a list of Kracie products, visit Kracie's products listing (in Japanese)

Anyways, back to Hadabisei Moisturizing Masks with Collagen.

There are actually several kinds of Hadabisei sheet masks, excluding its "prestige" line, and each has a separate function differentiated by the color of the box.

- Pink box: Moisturizing Masks with Collagen.


- Red box: Extra Moisturizing Masks with Hyaluronic Acid.


- Orange box: Firming Masks with Q10


- Blue box: Deep Whitening Masks


- Newest addition, black box: Lifting Masks


- There's also a smaller pink box: Under Eye Gel Masks (Izzy, try this one!!!)

***Pictures from Hadabisei Japan.

The one I'm reviewing today is the Moisturizing Masks with Collagen. I think the pink box must be the newer and revamped packaging, because mine doesn't look anything like pink at all but rather a reddish orange, not to be confused with the Firming Masks with Q10 in the orange box. I guess I see why they changed the packaging to pink...


Three words for this mask: I. LOVE. it. It's the best sheet mask I've tried so far! I don't quite like the design of the sheet mask itself because, again, its cut doesn't fit my face and is rather difficult to apply evenly. But the essence it's soaked in is pure gold. No stinging sensation, which I take to mean little to no alcohol in its ingredients. After application, I massaged the left over essence into my skin and let it dry thoroughly and wow, no stickiness, to greasiness, no heavy feeling, just very light and comfortable skin. I went to bed just like that, with no extra moisturizing needed! The next morning was even more amazing - I've never felt my skin so soft before, I couldn't stop touching my face!

Thanks to this Moisturizing Masks with Collagen, I'm totally going to try the other masks out too, especially the Extra Moisturizing Masks with Hyaluronic Acid, the Firming Masks with Q10, and I'm most excited about the Under Eye Gel Masks since the Lifecella Essence Eye Contour Mask didn't impress me much.