Kosé Cosmeport Kitanohitou Bath Essence (Aomori Bath Powder)

I usually find some nice pieces of weird/cute/funny/whatever stuff when browsing Adambeauty. Recently I found this box (which looks like instant Macha or so hehe) of Kitanohitou Bath Essence from Kosé Cosmeport and since I am admittedly totally crazy for all kinds of Japanese bath powders I ordered 3 boxes right away (they were also cheap at US$5.50/box - each box contains 5 sachets) knowing I would enjoy them.
I got suckered in by Adam´s description, too, (well, it was in Chinese so I used Google to translate for me) which says this is inspired by the Aomori onsen in Japan, turning your water deep green, making your skin smooth and relieving all kinds of gastrointestinal problems etc. etc.


The onsen thing was what intrigued me most because my favorite bathing powders of all time are the ones from Kanebo Kracie (Tabinoyado) as they smells tooooooooo good and turn the water in all sorts of funny colors (while making my skin soft and nicely scented). The Tabinoyado bath powders resemble Japanese hot springs, too! =D

Anyway, so I got my new Kitanohitou bath powders and popped one into my bath tub. First off, this Bath Essence smells really nice. Very different from Tabinoyado but still fresh, slightly minty with a little of anise and some earthy note, too.


Secondly the color this stuff gives to the water is really cool/gross lol! It´s like a blackened green or greenish black (like a deep muddy moss color) which really gives me the impression of bathing in some muddy water found in a small pond in a forest or so lol. The scent is soft and doesn´t linger long on my skin but that´s fine with me.
Skincare-wise the Kitanohitou Bath Essence is good, too. My skin doesn´t feel dry at all.

Overall I am very happy with this product and will happily continue using this. I don´t think it will reach the status of my beloved Tabinoyado powders (of which I used up like 5 or 6 boxes already?).
Each sachet is to be used for one bath and contains 25g, the box contains 5 sachets and costs HK$23/US$5.50 on Adambeauty.

Kao Megurizumu Relaxing Steam Eye Masks & Hot Steam Sheet

I´ve been enjoying the Relaxing Steam Eye Masks from Kao very much in the previous months and I ordered them several times so I think I should review them at this point.


Adambeauty lists the brand as "Nekurizumu" whereas Alphabeautyuk has these as "Megurism". Since I don´t know Japanese I don´t know which is correct or if any of those 2 is correct at all but I thought Nekurizumu sounds more Japanese so I listed the item under this name hehe =D
Update: According to the comments below the name should be Megurizumu. Thank you!!


Anyway, the Steam Eye Masks are an interesting invention as these are disposable eye masks that heat themselves to 40°C calming tension around your eyes and making you feel very relaxed. These are not eye care sheet masks as they are dry (well, they get a little wet from the steam produced) so they are solely for relaxing your tired eyes. I love putting one on when I am extremely tired at night and falling asleep with a mask on. These would also be great to be used on a plane ot in a train and I am sure to pack couple of these in my handbaggage next time I am traveling.


There are 3 types available: lavender, chamomile and unscented. I got the 2 scented versions and love them both as the scent of both is extremely lightweight, soothing and calming.


You can get a pack of 5 pieces for about US$8 or a pack of 14 pieces for about US$19. Adambeauty only sells the 5 piece packs whereas Alphabeautyuk has both sizes and all types available.

I use a mask about 1-2x per week.


I also got a box of the Hot Steam Pads for body use. You can stick one of these on your neck, back or your tummy or wherever you would feel comfortable wearing these. I don´t like these so much though as I don´t feel the heat really and the pads don´t stick that well. I only got one box back in August and still haven´t used it up.


All in all I will continue buying the Relaxing Steam Masks as they are really nice.

Kanebo Kracie Lotion Mask 28 piece box

I like the idea of boxed masks as this means that I get more masks for my money (those boxes usually contain a lot of masks for quite a little price) and can use them daily without feeling guilty about all those empty packages I throw away.


Anways, so far I had no luck with the mask boxes from Kose nor did the 30piece bag from Purederm work for me (not work = red bumps on my cheeks and a burning sensation).

It seems the Lotion Masks (or Deep Infiltration Lotion Masks as one eBay seller calls them) from Kanebo Kracie are out for quite some time but for some reason I didn´t notice them until a few weeks ago.
Kracie masks are my favorites (especially the black Hadabisei masks) so I had high hopes the 28 piece box might finally work for me.


I like that the box itself is a nice sturdy plastic box with an air-tight flip top opening (whereas the ones from Kose had a sticker seal which might loose its ability to close properly after some time...though it might be Kose changed that meanwhile!)
The white and blue box fits with my Kanebo Freeplus stuff nicely, too =D

Inside the box is a pack of 28 masks sealed with a sticker which you remove before you put it back in the box to dispense the masks comfortably.


The masks themselves feel very thin and a little hard/rough and the cut is not optimal (the nose part is too long, the mask is a bit too short from chin to nose and it´s cut rather wide) and the low amount of lotion (200ml for the whole box of 28 pieces) makes it difficult for the masks to stick properly for the full 10 minutes.
However I still love the masks! The lotion is excellent and makes me forgive the poor fit and adherence problems. The masks should be worn for 5-10 minutes and afterwards (I usually leave them on for 5 minutes) my skin is buttery soft and supple with a soft glow. No itchiness, burning sensation or other problesm occur when wearing these. When I remove the mask I also like to wipe my neck as I always include my neck in my face care skincare regimen!


I feel even though the lotion is rather liquid it is very emollient thus makes an excellent treatment now in the cold weather and for normal and dry skin-types in general. I am not sure how oily skin can pull these masks off though as they feel a quite rich for my taste.

Just like the other Kracie masks these are not scented. These also contain a GABA complex.

I am sure I will always keep a box of these masks in my bathroom as they make a really nice daily treatment =D Or think, if you use 3 masks per week, the box will last you over 2 months which should be very affordable!


I saw the Lotion Masks box for as cheap as a little over US$11 on Sasa (+ shipping depending on your order value). I got mine from Adambeauty for US$17 (shipped...add US$2 per order for registered shipping) which still makes it a steal! On eBay these sell for about US$22 incl. shipping (but I know that terryyuen72 seller and you can expect your order to arrive after 4 weeks minimum!)


I hope to see the masks selling without the box soon, too, as it would be more economical to just refill the box!

Update on my Prettia hair color (after 2 weeks)

So it´s been 2 weeks that I dyed my hair with the Antique Rose color from Kao Prettia so I thought of posting yet another pic (here is the initial review and the result after one week).

I think I washed my hair about 11-12 times since using the hair dye and you see the color is still going strong albeit the tone changes to be a *little* bit lighter (as my hair is underneath the dye.. oh it´s hard to judge with the flash pic but I notice this in natural light). I think the hair dye is really nice and I love the color!
Oh and I got a nice cut which frames my face nicely now =) My hair now only reaches to about 3-4 cm below my collarbones =)


Next time (sometime in February) I am probably trying something a bit louder:


Prettia Berry Cassis which has more lightening ingredients thus will probably be a bit harsher but the color should come out quite intensely (as it also makes black hair look reddish!). I hope I am not going to end up too bright or even orange! But: No risk no fun, right?


But I might instead go for a deeper brown color or that gorgeous blueberry shade on the way to me (which is from Beautylabo, not Prettia). We´ll see what I will come up with! =D

Kosé Happy Bath Day Precious Rose Essence Oil Cleanser & Cream Wash

Happy Bath Day has a very extensive array of products, mainly for the body and hair but they also have a few face care items available or I should correct myself and say they had some nice face care items as most are not listed on their website anymore (but can still be found on eBay). The only 2 skincare items I see right now are oil blotting sheets and cleansing tissues.


Recently I got more interested in Happy Bath Day after I tried their travel pack containing Precious Rose Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Soap and Milky Body Gel. Even though I am sensitive to smells and Happy Bath Day has a rather strong rose-fruit blend smell I liked the products I tried so I ordered a bunch of items, among them 2 items for the face namely the Rose Essence Oil Cleanser & Rose Essence Cream Wash.


The Rose Essence Oil Cleanser is a cleansing oil used to remove makeup at night. I haven´t had really good experience with Kosé´s cleansing oils but the Rose Essence Oil Cleanser is a pleasant surprise as it´s a rather liquid and slippery oil which emulsifies really nicely thus washes off my makeup easily leaving my skin clean and fresh without and dirty or greasy residues.


The oil is certainly perfumed with the signature Happy Bath Day scent however it seems to be much lighter than in most of the other products so to me it´s a very nice and pleasant light scent.
My skin didn´t react negatively to this product at all, it looks healthy and clean when using this. I think this comes close to my favorite cleansing oil from Kanebo Kracie Naive!
Please note this is based on Mineral Oil (which is better than most people believe actually).
Here are the ingredients as they were printed in English (sorry, no ingredient list for the cream wash available!)


The Rose Essence Cream Wash is a moisturizing foaming wash used to cleanse your face in the morning and to follow up after the cleansing oil at night to make sure every trace of makeup and dirt is removed. I always use a foaming cleanser at night after my cleansing oil, no matter how clean it leaves my face :P


The Cream Wash makes lathers up nicely but not too strongly and is one of the few foaming cleansers that doesn´t leave my skin slightly dry so I really like this a lot!
Like the Oil Cleanser this has a very soft scent that is not overpowering at all so it´s very pleasant to use this!


Rose Essence Oil Cleanser: 1200 Yen for 150ml
Rose Essence Cream Wash: 800 Yen for 130g
I got mine from eBay (alphabeautyuk as usual) and they just cost me a few bucks over retail price.

Beauty DIY Tsubaki Golden Camellia Oil

Sasa´s variety really improved over the past year so I found really lots of nice stuff from Japan and got everything delivered to my door (a very hefty box I should add hehe).


Among my newest acquisitions is a bottle of Beauty DIY Tsubaki Golden Camellia Oil which is used as a hair treatment.
Beauty DIY is a Taiwanese brand and even though the name might suggest otherwise the stuff is surely already mixed and you don't have to do anything yourself (except applying of course =P)


I am fond of anything with Tsubaki Oil so I thought getting the actual oil would be really neat.
The version from Beauty DIY is not pure Tsubaki oil, it's been diluted. It contains Camellia Oil, Vitamin E and Ginger Oil (and probably some other stuff).

I use it as a smoothing treatment, so I just take 2-3 drops, spread them on my palms and then run lightly through my hair. It really gets incredibly soft and smooth when I do this.
This is also the saviour for my daughter´s thick wavy hair which is a pain to comb and gets tangled so easily. A few drops of this oil and combing is a breeze!
The (rather liquid) oil has nearly no scent, just a faint flowery one.


Other ways to use it are described on Sasa, e.g. you can add 2-3 drops to your shampoo or conditioner of you can apply about 5ml of the oil to your dry hair, cover it with cling film and then shampoo it off.

The glass bottle comes with a handy dropper with push button. You get 50ml. Price on Sasa is about US$13 and I would repurchase this without hesitation, alone for my daughter´s stubborn and hard to manage hair (which is, btw, so beautiful and thick!)

Kao Asience Shine Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner

I have been trying quite a few Japanese haircare items recently among them the Shine Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner from Kao Asience as they were some of the few Japanese haircare products available on Sasa.

I tried the Inner Rich series from Asience before and while I liked them the smell was just not nice.

Asience was especially developed for Asian hair but that doesn´t stop me from using their stuff =)


The Shine Therapy range is for permed/dyed/seriously damaged hair and contains 50% more "Repair & Revitalize Essence".
Some key ingredients are soybean and pearl essence, Korean ginseng, Camellia (Tsubaki) oil and Eucalyptus essence.

Now the shampoo and conditioner are of excellent quality and very rich and creamy in texture so they make my hair very shiny and soft. I have to admit I am still not fond of the scent as it´s a very strong unpleasant harsh herbal scent.
After drying my hair just keeps a light herbal scent which smells quite nice so I like the shampoo & conditioner set altogether and would repurchase. However I still prefer my Kose Salon Style set as it delivers the same result (super silky soft hair) but smells sooooo good!

I got both items from Sasa for about US$7/each. You can also get these on eBay.
I got the smaller bottles (220ml/each) but you can also purchase the jumbo bottles (half liter/each?)