Juju Aquamoist Hyaluronic Acid Essence

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I actually don´t understand why I haven´t reviewed this stuff yet, especially since it´s part of my daily evening skincare ritual for about half year now...but finally it´s time to write about this wonderful stuff! =X

I am really fond of the Aquamoist range from Juju. Their skincare is really excellent (I wrote about their bubble face wash and the cleansing oil but I should review the other stuff like lotion, emulsion etc. soon, too!) and very compatible with my sensitive skin =D


I ordered the Hyaluronic Acid Essence in December last year from either Sasa or Adambeauty (don´t remember, both sell it but it´s OOS on AB right now). Alphabeautyuk on eBay has it, too, so it´s not hard to get it. 
My Hyaluronic Acid Essence came with a free HA mask sheet (love these sheets, been buying the full packs several times already!) and cost me around US$20.

The essence comes packaged inside a blue plastic bottle with a hygienic pump dispenser which contains 30ml.
When I had a look at the ingredients list I was totally thrilled! There are 4 ingredients in this stuff. That´s all! The less ingredients the milder in my experience =) Water, Sodium Hyaluronate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben.
So there is no fragrance, mineral oil, colorings, animal-derived ingredients etc. in the formula.

The Hyaluronic Acid Essence is a clear, slightly oily gel which should be applied at night after toner and before milk/cream. I use 1-2 pumps when my skin is still damp from the toner so it spreads like silk. Then I follow with my face milk.
This stuff absolutely rocks! It makes my skin look plump, soft and moisturized in the morning, definitely like wearing an overnight face mask. Since I started using this I can´t live without it anymore hehe =D

I am not alone with this opinion btw, the reviews on Sasa, MUA etc. are almost all raves!

Definitely recommend this to anyone who wants some extra hydration and plumping for the skin overnight, also suitable for sensitive skin like mine since there are so few ingredients!

Rating 5/5

Juju Aquamoist Moisture Cleansing Oil & Syrian dinner

I think the Moisture Cleansing Oil from Juju´s popular range Aquamoist is a rather new addition to the product lineup. At least I didn´t see it in any shops until recently (June or so?). I picked up a bottle as I just love trying new cleansing oils and have nearly finished it as I like it quite a lot!

Like the other products from the Aquamoist series this comes in a simple clear packaging and contains hyaluronic acid. I like the design with Japanese writings all over for some reason though it´s not cute or so hehe :D

The Moisture Cleansing Oil is a rather liquid oil with a light yellow color like say sunflower oil. It has a nice slick feel to it and applies well, emulsifies perfectly into a milky liquid and washes off without leaving any greasy residues. 
  

For those who are new to cleansing oil here is a tip how to use it: Squirt about 2 pumps of oil on your dry hands and spread it on your made-up dry face. Cleansing Oil is a great makeup remover for the face but I personally like to use it as a face cleanser in the morning from time to time, too. 
Massage a bit till makeup starts to dissolve, then wet your hands an massage further. Then start to slowly wash it off. Good cleansing oils should start to emulsify and turn into a milky liquid. If used as a makeup remover at night I recommend following up with a mild foaming face cleanser.


My skin gets really soft and clean and not dry or tight at all when using this oil. This oil has a light citrus scent which is alright but not really needed in my opinion.
  

Overall a nice product and a rather economical choice since the 150ml bottle retails for somewhere around US$10-12 online.

We went to eat at a Syrian restaurant yesterday though honestly I can´t tell much of a difference between the local Egyptian and the Syrian cuisine. 
We ordered like half of the menu haha (the waiters had problems to place all that food on our table) =D We were 5 (hubby, the 3 kids and I) and we still took a lot of the food home as the portions were so huge we couldn´t even eat half of that! Still we didn´t pay really more than like 30 EUR for everything!

The food was really yummy though I am not used to some of the spices (like that the rice had a sweetish clove-ish taste), I had half of a boneless (aka boanless on the menu hehe) chicken with rice and other goodies. Other dishes are those rice-stuffed sausages, stuffed grapeleaves etc. etc.

My son loved the restaurant because it is called "Abou Fares" (= father of Fares) and my son´s name is Fares =)

Bubble face wash showdown... who´s the winner?

I have accumulated quite a bunch of bubble face washes (those that come out of the pump as foam) and found them all quite different so I thought of doing a little comparison between them. I haven´t done a product comparison for long time now (except for mentioning similar products in general reviews and comparing them with each other) and I thought it would be fun to compare the foam face washes.


The contestants are:
(1) Kosé Softymo Airy Whip


(2) Juju Aquamoist HA Bubble Face Wash


(3) Kao Bioré Marshmallow Face Wash


(4) DHC Moisture Fruit Foaming Wash


(5) Sana Konuka Bubble Face Wash


1. Packaging/Size/Price (what I paid):

(1) Cute Pink metal can, 180g, US$7.60 (Sasa)
(2) White/blue plastic pump bottle with lots of Japanese writings, 150g, US$9.70 (Sasa)
(3) Pretty white/pink bottle, 160ml, US$13.50 (Adambeauty)
(4) Cute pink bottle, 100ml, US$15.40 (Sasa)
(5) Very large white bottle with Japanese writings (looks nice and somehow traditional), 150ml, US$7.50 (Sasa)
Please note that some of the washes might have a lower or higher Japanese retail price.
Best packaging: DHC, because it´s the cutest bottle =)
Best size: Airy Whip and Kao Bioré offer the largest quantities
Price: The best value for money is definitely Airy Whip, Sana Konuka is 2nd!

2. Scent/Texture:

(1) Very light floral scent with a hint of hair-mousse smell (I think the gas they use for the can). Actually it´s not really fair to compare this to the other washes as this is a mousse and not really a normal foaming wash. The mousse is super soft and dense!


(2) Unscented (slight no-scent-smell though, you know this slightly chemical one). Nice fluffy and rich texture


(3) Light floral scent, very dense and fluffy foam.


(4) Light grapefruit scent (in my opinion yucky), the foam is dense but not as fine as the other ones as you see some larger air bubbles


(5) Unscented (slight chemical smell) and nice fluffy dense texture.


Best scent: Airy Whip, then Bioré. I also like the unfragranced ones (Juju and Sana Konuka)
Best texture: Airy Whip by far, then Bioré and Juju.

3. Cleansing Power/Result:

I should add that I didn´t use any of these to remove makeup, I always use a cleansing oil, then the face wash and I use the face wash alone in the morning. So cleansing power means cleansing my face without makeup.
(1) Leaves my face very clean but nicely soft and doesn´t dry my skin out at all!
(2) This leaves my skin skin very clean, too. This is also mild and not too drying but not as mild as Airy Whip and Bioré.
(3) Again very good cleansing power and not drying at all.
(4) I only used this once and it left my face clean however I reacted to it so the result was a desaster.
(5) Leaves my face very clean however this is quite drying as my skin feels tight and uncomfortable after rinsing this off.
Best cleansing power: I can´t really notice a difference, all cleanse well
Best result: Airy Whip followed by Bioré and Juju.

Overall result:

1. Kosé Softymo Airy Whip is my winner!
2. Kao Bioré Marshmallow Face Wash is 2nd, I really love this one a lot!
3. Juju Aquamoist HA Bubble Face Wash is a great pick, too!
4. Sana Konuka Bubble Face Wash is just too drying for me so I set this aside, will mostly use it up as a body or hand wash
5. DHC Moisture Fruit Foaming Wash just didn´t work for me despite the cute bottle! A real pity! Also this is very espensive considering it only contains 100ml but costs about twice as much as Airy Whip!

I hope you liked my little showdown =) At least it was a colorful post =P

JUJU Aquamoist Moisture HA Bubble Facial Wash

JUJU is one of those brands I have noticed but hadn´t tried (except for one free face mask I received a year or so ago) until December 2009. While their products always received praises I just didn´t really have the interest to try anything.


When I ordered my big Sasa hauls couple of months ago I included couple of JUJU products in the order, one of them being the Aquamoist HA Bubble Facial Wash which is a cleanser that is dispensed in bubble form through a pump so you don´t need to later it up with water.
I generally enjoy bubble face washes as they are usually milder than regular foaming cleansers and the bubbles are dense and fluffy and just fun to use. The Aquamoist HA Bubble Facial Wash is not a mousse cleanser like Kose Softymo Airy Whip which is one of my absolute favorite facial cleansers but I enjoy the Aquamoist cleanser very much!
The smells this face wash carries isn´t the best as it´s a slight chemical one but that doesn´t bother me as I wash it off immediately anyway. The bubbles are dense and soft and look and feel like steamed milk =)


I think this is not the strongest cleanser so I don´t know how this would perform with seriously oily skin and surely any skin type needs a makeup remover like a cleansing oil or milk (or whatever makeup remover you use) beforehand but this is a gentle and nice face cleanser to follow your makeup remover or to use as your first skincare step in the morning.

I got my bottle in December and I almost finished it because I use it daily, in the morning usually. At night I currently use my Happy Bath Day Essence Oil Cleanser and Essence Wash.


I usually use about 3 pumps to cleanse my face, sometimes 4 if I feel generous =P
The pump bottle contains 150ml and retails for 900 Yen. I got this from Sasa.com for US$9.70.

I have several foaming cleansers in my stash i.e. Sana Konuka Bubble Face Wash (with rice ceramides) and DHC Moisture Fruit Foaming Wash.