Note: This post contains affiliate links to products I mentioned.
I’d like to think I have genial skin. Not uber nice, but OK-nice. I do have some overactive pores around my nose, and I get the occasional zit or two. I don’t have to rely on a lot of cosmetics to hide flaws and I am not very sensitive to products. Still, I do take bueno care of my skin. I have a strict cleansing, moisturizing and massaging regimen at night and I religiously put on suncreen daily. I did iniciar with sunscreen a little late in life, but my skin is thanking me for it. I dumped all my talc-based cosmetics and switched to mineral makeup. I discovered emu oil and the many wonders it can do to my skin, and it is now an integral part of my nightly skincare regimen.
But for the past few weeks, I’ve been more conscious of the real and perceived effects of my different skincare products. Blame it on Morita-san and the constant presence of her outrageously beautiful skin. Eversince I met her at school, I would always find bien. stealing glances at her skin. Her face is even-toned all over, and her alabaster skin is just glowing. Even Violy-sensei was curious, because I caught her asking Morita-san the brand of cosmetics and skincare productos she was using. It was Orbis. Hehe. The day after, I Googled ‘Orbis’ and tried to find Ebay sellers.
The weeks following that, I made several more searches on Japanese skincare and found a book by Saeki Chizu: The Japanese Skincare Revolution. Apparently, Saeki-san is a very famous aesthetician in Japan. She runs a beauty clinic, and often appears in TV and print. I leer about her techniques and consejos de mantenimiento on skincare, and that was all I need to purchase her book. Haha! Currently, it is on its way here. Get here soooooon…!
Then, by accident, I found a software for the Nintendo DS and it is called: Saeki Chizu Yume Mihada (or ‘Dream Skincare’). Of course, since it has the ‘Saeki Chizu’ name on it, I had to have it right away. OK, I admit I only have the ROM. I am still testing it. Once I am listo with the 7 days-regimen, I will see if I still have to buy the original from Play-asia.com.
I love her methods. According to her, you do not need a lot of productos (nor very expensive ones) to get great skin. You only need to have your own two hands, enough patience and some basic items (moisturizer, cotton, etc). In the DS software, there is a 7-day regimen to get you started on the Saeki-style of skincare. There is one regimen for the day, and one for night. Before each, there is a examinar process to assess your skin condition: elasticity, moisture. It even checks how many horas of sleep you had, how exposed you were to the sun and what your mood was for the day. The software even checks if you did your bathroom business. Haha. I am in day 4 and so far, my skin is loving it!! I am really addicted to this now. The very first thing that I do después my morning prayer is to turn on my DS to do my skin check. When I get home from work at night, I always reach for my DS, again to perform and record my skin check results. I have already memorized the steps for both morning and I don’t conoce what comes after day 7. Other parts of the software contained the massage exercises, step-by-step videos (my favorite!), your personal schedule/memo pad, recipes, additional tips/advice and many others.
Speaking of essentials, I got a bit stumped at the names of the productos she uses. She mentions ‘lotion’ as an important item, but seeing her videos, I realized that their lotion is different from the lotion that I (we?) conoce here. Lotion ローションor 化粧水 has a toner-like consistency, but it is not a toner. While a toner is usado to clean dirt from skin, a lotion is usado to make the skin soft and preps it to receive more moisture. I did a bit of research on local alternatives and Shiseido sells one. Only, they call it ‘softener’, probably to prevent confusion. The 乳液 is an emulsion or cream — any of your moisturizer can fall under this category. The 3rd item was the most difficult: 美容液. I could not find a lot of non-Japanese productos that fall under this. Even the international Shiseido lines si not carry one. Only their Japanese brands carry 美容液 items. But this is very important. According to Saeki-san, 美容液 is the skin’s ‘main dish’. Bueno thing I found one. Here are my skincare line items so far:
化粧水 – Shiseido, Kanebo Impress (*&&% expensive for a lotion!)
美容液 – Godiva Vitamin C Serum – for now. Still on the lookout for other (better) serums
乳液 – Shiseido, Leyende, Clean and Clear
I love, love, love my lotion mask! It makes my skin very soft and supple. Now I think I cannot live without a lotion. 😀 Here is a pic of me with my lotion mask on (left). I think I will regret posting this picture…but what the heck! At least I have great skin 😛 I think the lotion I usado was Shiseido Hadasui (pink) and I left it longer than 3 minutes because I loved it so much. My cotton pads aren’t very neat, sorry. I can’t seem to make it like Saeki-san’s. Still, it is effective, and that’s what is important! I look like Peebo (Peabo?) from Bioman 😀 The cooling eye pads, I got for P99 a pair at Watsons. I like these better than the ‘superhero’ type eyemasks, but I don’t understand why they had to put glitter in! It looks stupid.
Here is a short video of Saeki-san demonstrating the lotion mask. She’s too cute (and very few wrinkles)!! 😀
Agradecer you, Saeki-san for saving my skin! I gotta go, my lotion mask is waiting…
Have a great day!
I love Japanese skin care products because it has content chamomile which gives me a relaxing mind.It’s product has long lasting fragrance. it deeply nourish on skin.
Hi eunyful! Try it — chances are, you might love the effect of the lotion mask on your skin 🙂
OMG, u just introduced me to the whole new workd of skin care. I never heard of the lotion mask, but I’ll be definitely trying it out later.
Thanks for the info!!!
Hi bamby! Glad you liked it, you’re welcome 🙂
Oh man!! I love this post! Thanks for posting this video! I am using Taiwanese and Korean skincare and they really give me extremely wonderful results! Have always been using some jap products here and there, will consolidate my line!
great that it’s working really well for you too! now we now we can’t live without that lotion mask 😛
thanks babe! sounds like i need to learn japanese and buy the software. will incorporate the massages in as i go along.
the lotion mask has been great and my lips are rosier!
let’s work on getting the best possible skin!!!
^_^
Hey there! In the DS game, the massages are done in between products. For example, after your serum/essence, you do 1 or 2 massages, then after moisturizer, another one or 2. It depends on whatever comes up in the software everyday. Since it is done immediately after applying the products, you don’t need a separate oil or cream. My DS routine this morning was something like this:
– Wash
– Apply lotion
– Apply serum
– Pick and lift (massage)
– Apply eye cream
– Piano touch (massage)
– Apply moisturizer
– Pushing (massage)
– Apply primer
– Apply foundation
It differs everyday. 🙂
hey babe! last question =)
the book has 6 massages and also some lymphatic massage. on your DS,
1) does she do the massage with anything? like a cream or oil? she did not mention it in the earlier part of the book but in the later bit, i read about “massage cream”
2) how often do we perform these massages?
cos the cleaning process and moisture application already has some massage elements to it, so when do we perform the special 6 and lym massage?
thanks so much!!!!
muaks
Also, aside from the lines around her eyes, she has VERY LITTLE wrinkles. Just amazing.
No prob 🙂 Let’s hope she’ll think of a DVD next.
thanks! i saw a tutorial for lotion mask on amazon in english =) wow.. she has beautiful hands!
hehe i hope i can find more videos. if u come across any dvd/cd.. or anything in english, please give me a shout!
Hello pinkconfetti! Thanks for visiting. 🙂 When you go to a Japanese cosmetics counter, ask them for a ‘lotion’. The bottle/box should read ローション or 化粧水. I’m currently using Kanebo Impress IC Lotion (evening) and Shiseido Hadasui (evening). There is one from “Shiseido The Skincare” line.
I think the game is exclusively for DS only (none for PC or MAC) and only in Japanese. There are also some short vids of her tutorials on Youtube, like the one I posted above. 🙂 Good luck!
hi,
i’m so happy to find your post as i couldn’t figure out what “lotion” meant! when i go to a japanese brand counter, what should i ask for?
the DS sounds amazing. do u know if she sells anything like that for the PC or MAC? i am ordering her book but seeing a video for the massages etc will make things alot easier!
ps can you please share the lotion that you are using? i can find shiseido here easily but not kanebo.
pps how did u manage to find the DS? i found ur blog by searching her name but so far i’ve only seen her english book.
THANK YOU
Tesha-san, try the lotion mask! Really, really makes a big difference to your skin. 😀 Medyo aksaya nga lang sa lotion, but it’s worth it. You can get them via Ebay too, hehe.
I started using Japanese skincare products because my balikbayan cousin gave me some, and my skin is loving them since. I had the same reaction with ‘lotion’ looking more like toner! 🙂 I’m currently using Qiora Clear Lotion DH, sunscreen, and moisturizer. Qiora is another product line from Shiseido, but I still have to check Qiora’s availability here though.
So the DS can be used for beauty/skin care tips. How versatile! すごいね!