Japanese Skincare and body care: My essentials

After doing a couple of posts on Japanese makeup, here are a few beauty and skincare products that I've enjoyed this year. I'm a student, so there's nothing high end or luxury in here, just a few basic necessities and 'maintenance' type products which worked best out of the stuff I tried. Most of them you can pick up in any cosmetic store or pharmacy, and the Muji ones can even be bought at the Combini!

Shinsou Bihaku Face masks

These sheet masks were fairly inexpensive, at 6-700 yen for a pack of 5. but unlike some other masks and moisturisers I've tried here, they didn't leave my face feeling super sticky. The Lulu ones I tried (which are super cheap and popular) made my face feel sooo sticky, I couldn't deal with them. Anyway, I don't know if these masks actually helped remove imperfections on my skin or made it 'beautiful white' but they moisturised it nicely and it was such a nice treat to put them on. I'm going to bring a pack of these back home with me, as imported Asian cosmetics are so expensive in the UK.

Biore nose pore strips

We have these back home, although they're much cheaper here- around 400 yen for 5 instead of £5 for five. I think if you're blackhead-prone like me, you should definitely give these a try! I'm sure you've seen them before, you stick the nose strip on your face for 15 minutes, and when you remove it it gets rid of some of your blackheads. I'd steer clear of the black coloured ones though, as the black dye does run. It doesn't stain your face or anything, but it was a little annoying.

Cure Natural Aqua Gel

This exfoliator was a little more pricy at 2700 yen, but it lasts a long time- I only got through half a bottle in 8 months- and really exfoliates your skin. I'm not normally one for a chemical exfoliator, but this one did the trick- you could really see the skin coming off your face/ body, which is slightly grim, but a little satisfying. I think it's really popular over here,

Kosé Factor 50 suncream

The Bioré suncream is realy good as well (I had a free sample a while back) but I picked up the Kosé one (because of the adorable packaging) and I haven't got sunburned at all this summer. It's a really good sunscreen guys. It didn't break me out or make my skin greasy, was pretty cheap at 800yen ish, was a good base for makeup and did it's job protecting my poor English rose skin. You also really do need a suncream in Japan, and a high factor one at that- Summer is disgustingly hot here (think 36 degrees) and really strong sun. A lot of people even use parasols here! 

Muji Moisturising milk and light facial toner

I ran out of my facial toner and moisturiser when I was here, so I got these cute little travel sized Muji ones from Familymart. (Yes, they sell Muji at the combini). They're unfragranced and unfussy, weren't too expensive at 260 yen each (because they're teeny) and the moisturiser wasn't as sticky as others I tried here. 

Johnson Body care and Nivea Skin Milk

Both of these were pretty cheap and cheerful, (about 500 yen each) but they sank into the skin pretty quickly and made my skin really smooth. 

Lastly, shout out to the Bioderma micellar water, which tried while I was here. I love it but I used it up and chucked away the packaging... whoops. This one needs no explanation though, everyone and their cat loves it and I'm no exception. I do wanna try some cheaper alternatives like the Garnier one when I get back to the UK though.

Thanks for reading! Have you ever tried Japanese or Asian beauty products? Any recomendations?

-Amy xoxo

Mini Japanese and Korean beauty haul// Korean beauty/ makeup haul and mini review// Japanese makeup: Kate Tokyo Mini review