Shiseido Anessa Perfect Hair Sunscreen

If you see this post on a site other than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I will only permit reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!

I´ve wanted a sun protection for my hair for the longest time (sounds like a weird product but it would help protect hair dye from fading etc.).
I finally settled on the one from Shiseido Anessa which I ordered from Adambeauty for US$21 (quite steep but anyways...)...

This product comes in a white 100ml spray bottle which dispenses the sunscreen as a very fine mist (which is a must in my opinion..). It offers UVA and UVB protection however no SPF or PA level seems to be listed on the package.
The Perfect Hair Sunscreen has a light creamy scent which is quite pleasant. What I love about this product is that it makes my hair super soft and smooth for an overall very nice feel.

To be very honest I have no idea how well this is protecting my hair from the sun? I dye my hair every 4-6 weeks anyway due to some stupid white hair so.... hmmmm....don´t know if this actually protects!

I just spray this on my dry hair and comb it through. This product is waterproof so it will only remove with shampoo which is a great thing!

Anyways, I love this product as it makes my hair so soft and lovely so would repurchase for that result alone.

Rating 4/5

Yanagiya Prexceed X Sanrio Little Twin Stars Hair Moisture Essence

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!
Today I am reviewing the pretty much cutest hair care item I own =) I don´t know how about you but the Little Twin Stars were some of my most favorite characters when I was a little kid. I liked them much more than Hello Kitty and even My Melody as Kiki & Lala were just too cute! I had all sorts of stationery and other goodies from the Little Twin Stars and I am so happy that Sanrio is finally doing a collaboration with a beauty brand for something that is NOT from Hello Kitty!

Yanagiya is a famous Japanese haircare brand and they did a collaboration with Hello Kitty some time ago. I am generally fond of the Yanagiya hair creams and the Little Twin Stars version was a sure must-get for me!


The tube is really pretty and typically Sanrio. The hair cream is a rich white cream with a slightly oily feel. It has a sweet scent which reminds me of those grape-scented fineliner pens Sanrio used to sell.

The Hair Moisture Essence should be used on either wet or dry hair though on dry hair it could get a bit greasy in my opinion.

Anyway, this stuff makes my hair soft and shiny and nicely fragranced so I definitely will use up my cute tube of hair cream (though I haven´t even used up my Hello Kitty one).

Rating 4/5

Skinlite Intensive Recovery Hair Treatment & Hair Cap VS Lucky Hair Treatment & Hair Cap (Rose)

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!
There seems to be a new kind of product coming from Korea: intensive hair treatment and special hair cap for intense hair nourishment. The Koreans really come up with "masks" for everything =D

I found 2 of these new hair treatments on Sasa so I ordered a few packs of each and will do a comparsion respectively VS post comparing them.

Products:
-Skinlite Intensive Recovery Hair Treatment & Hair Cap - Made in Korea

-Lucky (Japan) Hair Treatment & Hair Cap Rose (name is written in Japanese so I don´t know the proper name) - Made in Korea

Where to buy/price:
-Skinlite: Sasa (click here), US$2.10 for a single treatment
-Lucky: Sasa (click here), US$6.30 for a single treatment

Contents:
-Skinlite: 20ml treatment and cap (contains some liquid inside, too)
-Lucky: 20ml treatment and cap (contains 7ml liquid)

How to use:
Both treatments work the same way: Wash hair, apply treatment, cover with cap for 10-15 mins and massage hair and scalp, rinse off



Texture/scent:
-Skinlite: A thick dense cream with a sweet honey scent
-Lucky: Medium thick slick cream, much like conditioner, unobtrusive floral scent (but not a rose smell like you might expect)

Cap:
-Skinlite: The cap is made of a plastic and a soft layer (I guess) and is covered with liquid inside. The fit is good, the elastic isn´t too tight nor too loose so all hair stays inside well

-Lucky: The cap is very wet, inside and outside and is made of a soft material (I guess some sort of soft paper cloth similar to the other cap). The fit is poor, the elastic is much too loose so my hair starts to slip out at the back if I don´t keep it up with a clasp.


Result:
-Skinlite: My hair gets soft but honestly most of my Japanese conditioners do a better job and it needs quite some time to rinse off the treatment.
-Lucky: It´s easy to rinse off the treatment and I get soft hair though still nothing so exciting, most Japanese hair masks and/or conditioners do a better job

Does the cap really have any use?
To be honest..I don´t know! To me the overall result isn´t that exciting and the wet cap probably doesn´t add much to the effect of the treatment.
So all in all for me this is a gimmick.

Overall result:
I don´t think either of these treatments is worth it. They are relatively expensive for a single time use and quite wasteful considering the cap and packaging etc.
I recommend getting a tub of Kao Essential hair mask for better results/as a way more economical choice.

Rating:
Skinlite: 2.5/5
Lucky: 2.5/5

My first order from Bonjour HK

If you see this post on another site than lotuspalace.blogspot.com it has been stolen and used without my permission. I only allow reposts with proper credits for my work (please contact me first!)!I visited Bonjour shops in Hong Kong quite a lot as it´s one of the big drugstore chains there but when it came to ordering (mainly Japanese/Korean/Taiwanese skincare, hair stuff and body stuff) online I was sticking with Sasa as they have a great selection of products, really cheap prices (partly up to 70% off of Japanese retail prices, generally at least 10-20% cheaper) and shipping is free if I order products worth a certain amount. Also I have the VIP card so I am getting an extra 5% off and can redeem products with the points I am collecting with every purchase.
But since Bonjour has its own website I decided to place an order there, especially since they have a relatively good variety of bath powders for really cheap and free shipping (so important for such heavy items!) if you order over a certain value so I purchased some items there.

What I noticed negatively there was the amount of products that showed out of stock...really, the majority of products was OOS actually! But I found a good bunch of goodies anyway so was looking forward to receiving my order. I also upgraded my free shipping to EMS shipping for a mere HK$80 (and my box weighed close to 8 kg!)

A day after placing my order I received an email telling me one item was out of stock so I had to cancel it to proceed with my order. I emailed them to cancel it and 3 days later got the same email again. I called the customer service in Hong Kong (the lady was really friendly) and she told me they had not received my reply =(
A few days later I got the information that my order was being packed but they had to cancel another item as it´s a compressed gas can (it was a deodorant)...quite annoying actually. Why could I order it then in the first place?
Anyway, it took around 8 days for my order to be shipped after placing it so that was quite a bit longer than I had expected!

Things came well packed and padded and the value on the parcel was declared correctly so I paid customs fees, too (which I had expected and included in my order value calculations).

These are the items I ordered (I also ordered a 2nd of that orange body oil and couple more Tsubaki shampoo/conditioner bottles but gave them to my mum right after I received the order and before taking the pic below):

That anti-wrinkle serum is a freebie and seems quite nice!

Overall not the best online shopping experience and all in all their order processing is a bit unprofessional for such a famous and big drugstore chain like Bonjour.
For items I can get on Sasa I would always prefer this site over Bonjour but I am happy with the items I ordered so all in all it was a good thing to order there.

Rating for Bonjour:
Site (layout, navigation etc.): 4/5
Item selection: 2.5/5 as so much was OOS!
Telephone customer service: 5/5
Email customer service: 1/5 as my email didn´t even arrive!
Processing time: 2/5
Shipping costs: 5/5 (free shipping and cheap EMS upgrade!)
Packing: 5/5
Item condition upon arrival: 5/5 (nothing old/expired/leaked etc.)

Somang Redflo Camellia Hair Shampoo, Conditioner & Treatment

I wanted to try the Redflo haircare from Somang since last summer when I discovered the products in an Egyptian Seif Pharmacy store (a chain of nicely modern and clean drugstores)... but for around US$25/bottle that was a bit too expensive for my taste though I would shell out that much money if I knew it´s a great haircare and I am out of other Asian products when I am in Egypt...it´s always good to have options!
 
The products looked so much like a Shiseido Tsubaki knock-off and the generous bottles (750ml for shampoo or conditioner and 500ml for the treatment) were really seductive to pick up back in summer...
Anyway, I was sure I could get the Redflo products for a fraction of the price on Gmarket....I know that Somang is not an expensive brand overall.
I did my search but didn´t find anything on Gmarket and then somehow forgot about that brand...
Anyway, recently I remembered it and I was searching on Google and found the Somang website where all the product names were printed in Korean so I could do my search with that and found lots of results on Gmarket! Most sellers (and those with the best offers) unfortunately didn´t send overseas but after some searching I found just what I wanted and the price was right, too (around US$7/each product) so I ordered a bottle each of the Hair Shampoo, Hair Conditioner and Hair Treatment.

Of course shipping turned out a bit more due to the weight but I ordered more things so the total costs per product came to maybe around US$12-13. Still ok, retail price in the US is US$20/each.

This haircare series smells really good, the typical floral camellia scent, similar to the famous red Tsubaki line but a bit more soapy. All products contain camellia water and camellia oil.

I actually expected to be disappointed by this haircare as after all it seemed quite cheap for the size so i didn´t have high hopes regarding the quality and being spoiled with excellent Japanese hair care.
I´d say that the Redflo haircare is pretty alright. When using all 3 products together my hair gets silky, fragrant and soft with a beautiful glossy shine however the whole series isn´t rich enough for my dyed hair. I´d say the products are good for dry hair but not for very damaged or color-treated/permed hair.



Overall a good haircare and well worth purchasing if you can get the products at a good price.


Rating 3.5/5

Yanagiya Prexceed x Hello Kitty Tsubaki Hair Moisturizing Essence Super Rich

I thought since I just reviewed the Hello Kitty Collagen Wash from Rosette why not review the other Hello Kitty colaboration product I have?
 
Yanagiya has this popular Tsubaki hair moisture cream range out...in various levels of richness... I think I have a few here but haven´t tried any of the Tsubaki creams as I have quite a few other treatments open and in need to be used up first.
I recently picked up the Prexceed Hello Kitty Tsubaki Hair Moisturizing Essence which is a Limited Edition...just couldn´t resist the cute kimono kitty!


This comes in a gorgeous shiny red squeeze tube and contains 120g which will last really long (It took me many many months to use up another 120g tube of a Yanagiya hair cream). This Hair Moisturizing Essence is "super rich" which means it´s for damaged and dry hair and only little should be used or you will get greasy locks.

Use on shampooed damp hair, don´t rinse off as it´s a leave-in treatment. Recommended to use at night to enjoy super soft hair in the morning.
Here you can see a hairy kitty using this stuff (she looks stupid with hair!):

This stuff really smells good! Like fresh sweet apples! it´s indeed a rich white cream treatment and gives me really soft and smooth hair so I think it´s nice stuff. The only thing negative I notice is that my hair isn´t as shiny as I like...no idea why that´s so.

Overall a nice hair care cream worth checking out!
I got mine from alphabeautyuk on eBay.


Rating 4/5

Kai Ultra Absorbent Turban (Perfect Cap)

I tried several of those quick hair-drying caps/towels but none of them was really perfect. Most were good in absorbing the water but the fit was usually my problem e.g. the turban-kind hair-drying towel from Nexcare was too tight around my head.

I purchased the Kai Ultra Absorbent Turban (Perfect Cap) from Sasa around a year ago and like it so much that I got 2 more pieces (one for Egypt, a 2nd one for here).

There are 2 versions, the one in the red box (for short hair, it´s like a head band) and the one in the blue box for longer hair which is the one I purchased. 

This is the description from Sasa:
"Kai Ultra Absorbent Turban (Perfect Cap) is made of micro-fiber textile. With more and denser intervals in between, it absorbs water more quickly and effectively.

Dampened hair is so delicate that it may be damaged as rubbed by towel or under hair dryer, resulting in dull, rough and rigid hair.

Kai Ultra Absorbent Turban not only dries up the wet hair, but also wraps your fringe so that you can put on makeup and dress up more easily."

When you wash this make sure not to use fabric softener, can be washed at 30°C. 
This is shaped like a cap so you just have to put this on your head and make sure all hair is stuffed inside. I usually just tilt my head to the front and quickly wrap it over my head...works perfectly It´s flexible and soft and stays on my head no matter what I am doing. Nice wearing this while doing face masks or makeup, too!

This really speeds up the drying of my hear therefore the cap will be completely drenched after removal so I wash it very often or dry it on the heating.

Overall a must-have beauty tool for me, I don´t want to miss this ever again!

Rating 5/5

Kao Essential Nuance Airy Shampoo, Conditioner & Treatment

Kao´s Essential brand is admittedly one of my favorite haircare series but oddly I haven´t reviewed anything from it yet, just referred to this brand in other haircare reviews!
 
I think the Essential range is one of the more affordable but excellent Japanese haircare brands..no wonders as this is from Kao who also makes my favorite Asience haircare range...the Shampoo and Conditioner retail for a bit over US$4 on Sasa whereas the Treatment will set you back around US$6. If you get free shipping that´s quite affordable if you ask me.
The Essential haircare is made for damaged hair but is split into 2 different ranges for giving a different finish to your hair style. That´s quite a new concept as mostly haircare brands offer various lines for oily, damaged, normal, dull etc hair but this time you get 2 different varieties for damaged hair but for a different finish.
The Nuance Airy range comes in pink packaging and should give you a "light & bouncy" hair whereas the Rich Premier products in the orange packaging will give you "smooth & managable" hair.
Both lines contain high purity honey and milk protein, the masks also contain shea butter. The mainly advertised ingredient in Nuance Airy is wild rose essence whereas Rich Premier cointains sunflower oil. 


Each range offers shampoo, conditioner, treatment, mask and a serum, I tried everything from both ranges except for the serums. Shampoo and conditioner come in 2 sizes/each (200ml/550ml in pump bottle, available from alphabeautyuk on eBay). I do believe there is also some "Treatment Water" but haven´t tried this either and it´s not listed on the Kao SG website.
You can check the Singapore website out here. Seems the brand is getting a kawaii revamp in April, can´t wait to see what they´ll release!


So, finally on to the actual review =P. 
The Nuance Airy products feature a pretty (pearly) pink packaging ranging from light (shampoo) over medium (conditioner) to darker pink (treatment).
The items are nicely scented with a fruity floral fragrance so my hair smells really good when using these products.
The Shampoo has a pearly pink color and lathers nicely whereas the Conditioner and Treatment are creamy products. 
The Treatment contains 2x more of the "High Purity Honey and Milk Protein" and it feels even more nourishing than the Conditioner.


The Nuance Airy range is definitely a rich haircare making my dyed hair very soft and smooth. It´s not as heavy as the Rich Premier range but it´s still definitely a very nourishing haircare range. I honestly can´t tell if the Nuance Airy products are better in creating a bouncy and airy hairstyle but anyway, it´s a fantastic haircare brand as my hair gets so soft and shiny and it doesn´t weigh my hair down or make it limp so probably the bounciness-promise is true.
I usually use the Shampoo, follow with the Treatment (3-5 mins), then finish with the Conditioner (1-2 mins) though I think that´s not the correct order however I can achieve the best results using it this way. 
I think the correct order is shampoo -> conditioner OR treatment but rules are there to be broken, right?

I also use the Ultra Honey & Shea Butter Mask in both the Rich Premier and Nuance Airy versions but will review them individually.

Overall a great haircare range, much better and more affordable than e.g. the Ma Chérie Moist range from Shiseido which was quite a disappointment for me.


Rating 5/5

Kanebo Kracie Ichikami Shampoo, Conditioner & Treatment

Kanebo Kracie´s Ichikami hair care line seemed to be Kanebo´s direct answer to the super successful Tsubaki line by Shiseido when it first came out.

I tried the older version of Ichikami some years back but didn´t quite like it. The products were alright but not outstanding and the smell reminded me too much of the red Tsubaki line, very floral and a bit cloying.

The Ichikami hair care line got a revamp not too long ago and I think the bottles look now much prettier and more elegant in their glossy bottles.
The products contain now rice bran extracts, camellia oil, walnut (?) and some other stuff I can´t figure out lol.
The line is for damaged and dry hair as it can help repair damage and give a glossy healthy shine. 

What I noticed first is that now the products smell really good. Much fresher, a bit of a fruity apple note and a grain/rice-smell, too.
All 3 products have a rich and moisturizing texture so they will be too rich for normal-oily hair.

I got the big sizes (550g) of the Shampoo (white bottle), the Conditioner (black bottle) and the 200g tube of the Treatment. I purchased all of them on eBay from kawaiikimono.

Performance-wise these products are really great though not as good as my beloved Asience hair care! The Asience stuff is just a bit richer and makes my hair even softer than the Ichikami but it can be too heavy for daily use so the Ichikami hair care is perfect to alternate with the Asience stuff.
The Treatment is to be used 1-2x per week, apply to shampooed hair, leave for a few minutes and then rinse out.


Overall a great hair care series...I love the bottles, the smell and the soft hair it gives me.

Rating 4/5

Kao Liese Smooth Hair Cocktail

I love trying all sorts of haircare-sprays but honestly many of them don´t do anything in terms of hydration or nourishment... The sprays with 2 phases (to be shaken before usage) usually work better as they have a bit oil/silicones and give smooth results however they can end up being too heavy.

I actually purchased the Liese Smooth Hair Cocktail from eBay a while ago for my daughter as the spray is specifically targeted to smooth frizzy and tangled hair and her curly very heavy and thick hair really gets tangled so quickly so brushing is a pain for her when I don´t use something to smooth her hair.

This spray is definitely a wonderful item for tangled hair and gives shiny smooth hair. It consists of 2 layers, one liquid one like a moisture milk so just shake and spray this onto towel-dry or dry hair (don´t overuse though as it migth make hair limp and a bit sticky). What I love about this fruit-scented spray is that even later on during the day hair stays detangled and smooth so it´s not just a temporary thing just for brushing.
Also good for my dyed hair even though it doesn´t get tangled easily =) 

The cute pink iridescent bottle contains 140ml which lasts a while in my experience.

Sasa started to stock this for US$6.40 a while ago so I got a backup there since the first bottle is nearly empty. Also available on eBay if you do a search. 

Rating: 5/5

Dariya Salon de Pro hair care & Bubble Hair Color Kit 4A

I found haircare from Dariya recently on eBay from a range I never heard before (Salon de Pro) so I guess it might be newly released. They also have hair dye, only in natural brown shades, but I got one to try out as my current favorite hair color is a dark cool ashy brown.


I got the complete haircare series consisting of shampoo, conditioner, treatment and mask. Prices range between 800 and 900 Yen per product. The shampoo and conditioner contain 350ml each, whereas the treatment contains 240g and the mask in the jar 300g.


All of the products contain high polymer silk protein, royal jelly extract, olive oil, plant protein and L-Glutamic Acid.
I took this haircare series to Egypt as the sizes were good for me. Most Japanese shampoos and conditioners come in either huge 500ml or smaller 220ml bottles so 350ml looked perfect for my nearly 6 weeks trip.


All 4 products have a nice light floral fragrance. Otherwise the hair care seems to be good but not outstanding. For dry hair it´s definitely a great set but for colored or permed it will probably be not nourishing enough.
I get soft and shiny hair but I have to use shampoo, conditioner and treatment every time and the mask at least 2x a week.


Overall I would probably not repurchase these products. The most outstanding Japanese hair care for me are still Kosé Asience (pink series) and Kao Essential (orange series) as they make my hair unbelievably soft, silky and shiny.

I also got the new Bubble Hair Color Kit in 4A (Ash Brown) as it looked like a really interesting product.


It´s a mousse-type hair dye which mixes itself. Just shake 20 times, click cap on and push the button to get the foam out. Very easy!
Furthermore this is free of ammonia so it has virtually no odor at all. No pungent or unpleasant one at least. It seems to be quite mild as my hair didn´t feel dry or rough at all after using this.


That´s pretty much where my excitement ends hehe =) The mousse is somehow dense and dryish but doesn´t last so spreading this stuff evenly is next to impossible. I swear I put amounts of foam on the same place on my head just to find that the hair still looked uneven in that spot (while the foam vanishes as soon as you start to distribute it on your head!). I think I would have needed 2-3 boxes of dye but why bother when I can get an even result with 1 box of Prettia for much less money?


Furthermore the color variety is really boring. Just a few browns, among them 4A which looked like a cool dark brown and the color itself turned out alright...just not even so my hair looks somehow strange right now hehe =P

Before:


After:


For comparison: This is Kao Prettia Elegant Ash which I used back in April:


Overall this hair dye might be for you if your hair is not too long (if it is short you can use the product several times so it might be actually worthwhile!), you want a mild hair dye and are searching for just natural brown hues. Otherwise nay from me!