Meishoku Soft Milk

Now this humble-looking 158mL bottle of Meishoku Soft Milk impresses me upon the first use!

CeraColla Ceramide and Collagen Moisture Milk

This 145mL bottle of CeraColla Ceramide and Collagen Moisture Milk is another item from my Amazon JP order that I'm using right now. CeraColla is a Meishoku brand, and this is my first brush with this brand. So far so good.

Limo Limo Outdoor UV Sunscreen Gel SPF32 PA+++

Just finished with this 50g tube of Limo Limo Outdoor UV Sunscreen Gel SPF32 PA+++ so here's a review for it. I used this as an everyday sunscreen on my little ones, their faces, necks, arms, and legs. Hubby and I applied this on them before school, and once after their afternoon naps their teachers reapply some more sunscreen (Mustela Mineral Sunscreen Spray for their arms and legs, and Stick for their faces) before letting them out to the playground in the afternoon.

Organic Rose Skin Conditioning Gel

Hubby has always favored gels and gel-creams and wouldn't touch anything heavier. He has well-behaved normal skin, so it makes sense. In the past couple of years though, he's also taken an interest in all the skincare layers on my face but can't be bothered with more than one product. That's where the all-in-one stuff comes in ^.^

He's used and liked a few so far, Grace One Perfect Gel Cream, Kokutousei Hakkou E Gel Cream Hydrating Elastic Gel, and for a while he was sharing Hada-Labo Shirojyun Hyaluron Clear Essence Jelly with me until we both agreed it was too moisturizing for the summer. Since then, he's moved on to this 90g jar of Organic Rose Skin Conditioning Gel.

Organic Rose Moisture Emulsion

Been using this 145mL bottle of Organic Rose Moisture Emulsion at night as the very first step of skincare. In effect, I'm using it as a toner/skin conditioner.

The emulsion is mildly scented with rose. It comes out of the bottle an opaque thick lotion, but as soon as I spread it onto my skin it melts to a thin and runny milk. It's much more substantial than your average viscous lotion (toner), which is why I'm using it at night. I do like it a lot! It does exactly what I want it to do, which is to provide me with some much needed moisture. I'm actually feeling confident it will get me through the dry winter okay! If all goes well, I'll get a backup for home ^.^

Organic Rose Skin Conditioner

Organic Rose is a sub-brand from Meishoku (see official website), and I've been curious about it for a while now. So when I ran out of toner, Clarins Toning Lotion with Camomile, I picked up this 200mL bottle of Skin Conditioner as replacement.

These days I'm using toner as they're intended, I soak a face towel (quit using cotton pads a couple of years ago) and wipe my face with it. So when I saw this toner I made sure it was runny watery and not viscous like most other Japanese toners, which they call lotion. The Organic Rose line does have Moisture Lotion indeed, and although it looks watery I think it is somewhat viscous, so I skipped it.

Moist Labo BB Mineral Foundation SPF40 PA++

Moist Labo BB Mineral Foundation SPF40 PA++ is a loose powder foundation that comes in two shades, 01 Natural Beige and 03 Natural Ochre (not sure what happened to #02 ^.^). I bought the 01 Natural Beige with my fingers crossed, and thankfully it works out ^.^

Ever since I waded into loose powder territory, I found that the boundary of their functions blurs a bit. After all, the couple of criteria I had were: 1 - it's a loose powder, and 2 - it has high-ish SPF, although I've broken this rule a couple of times already, picking up powders with meager SPF20+. My current makeup routine calls for 2 rounds of powder, the first dusting to set the bb cream I apply as concealer and highlighter around the nose/mouth area and under the eyes, and the second and last dusting as finishing touch.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

UVLab Mineral Powder SPF50 PA+++

New year, new obsession. Over the holidays sis-in-law showed me her favorite powder, which turns out to be a mineral sun protection powder in a tube brush dispenser, the bareMinerals SPF30 Natural Sunscreen (stock photo below). Apparently this product has been discontinued and she's desperate to find a replacement, as in the powder refill, as she wants to keep the tube brush dispenser for its convenience. The powder she can replace with anything, she said. Her only condition was that it's light enough for her fair skin, and it's a mineral powder. Challenge accepted.

Actually, it's hardly a challenge ^.^ Because Japan and South Korea has been making mineral sun protection powders in both loose and compact forms since, like, the mid 2000's. Check cosme.net for the Japanese ones if you don't believe me, I don't read Korean so I don't know of an equivalent reference. Anyway, when it comes to loose or compact powders, you have a whole spectrum that spans from a base makeup powder with a tiny bit of [pathetic] sun protection to a more serious sunblock powder with or without any color.

This 5g jar of UVLab Mineral Powder SPF50 PA+++ would be the latter, a physical sunblock powder without any color at all.