I'm alive!

This blogging thing is much more time consuming and hard work than I had imagined! I am going to eventually go back to my China-Japan story but for now, I wanted to at least review the products that I have been trying for the past couple of months.

I'll start off with my favorite Japanese beauty product so far. The anti-aging face lotion Astablanc by Kose is a higher-end drugstore product commonly found in Japan. Not only does it claim to help minimize the appearance of fine lines, it also promises to brighten dark spots caused by sun damage.

I must say that in the past few months that I have been using this lotion, I have seen a slight but noticeable difference in my most pronounced fine lines, especially a small line on my forehead and my smile lines around my mouth. I didn't take any before pictures that clearly show my skin before but here's the best I can come up with from my camera roll.

This was taken literally the day I bought the lotion in Namba (Osaka, Japan) drug store.

June 18, 2016

This next photo was taken today, granted the distance between the camera and my face and the facial expression are much different, I think you can still tell how much less noticeable that forehead line is today.

August 24, 2016

Overall, I plan on using this product in the morning and before I go to bed and will report my findings in a few months. 

To recap, the anti-aging brightening facial lotion Astablanc by Kose gets 4 out of 5 minis so far! You can find it on www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com for around $60 or if you have the pleasure of visiting, you can find it for about JPY 4350 or $43 USD. 

Next is the 2nd best beauty product I bought in the same Japanese drugstore, the Kiss Me Heroine Make Long Mascara. I got the waterproof one by total chance since I had no idea what the packaging said. Speaking of the packaging, at 34 years old I never go for what I consider "infantile" looking products but I had read great reviews from English-language bloggers living in Japan. Against my better judgment, I went ahead and threw it in the bag! 

Photo credit www.amazon.com/kiss-me-hereoine-mascara-01-black

Since it's a waterproof mascara I have mostly used it for my bottom lashes. In the past couple of months, I have used it maybe six times and can't say I have anything to complain about. It did not flake and it really separated my lashes. Now, I must say that I have naturally very curly lashes but I do feel like this mascara does a great job adding some volume and definition to each lash.

Here are the best photos I can find where I am actually wearing this mascara on both top and bottom lashes.

June 22, 2016

At the Namba drugstore, I found this mascara for around JPY 1200 or around $12 USD, which is pretty expensive for the drugstore. I must say that for the most part drugstore products anywhere outside of the U.S. are quite expensive so the $12 doesn't surprise me much. 

Next post I will review a couple of the face washes and sheet masks that I have yet to try!

Lululun Face Masks

Photo credit: www.takasaki.com

Kose Powder Face Wash

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