But I was shopping around the beauty section at Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku while my family was visiting back in October and spotted this…

It says, “W Collagen — as rich as silk; snoring and condensation” (this is a very rough translation) and the words above the brand say, “Moisturizing and beautifying spa bath” (I can’t make out the first few characters as my dictionary doesn’t seem to have those words). I’m probably interpreting this wrong but I think the gist of it is that this is a moisturizing treatment to be used in a bath.

The instructions say you can use this as is in the bath or you can chill it for two hours in the fridge and then use it in the bath. I read and re-read the instructions and I gather that you are supposed to spread it all over your body and then soak in a hot bath. It also describes this product as パック, which means mask in Japanese. You can often see these characters on sheet mask boxes. By the way, this mask smelled just like caramel which was quite decadent…I thought it was hilarious that the container says, “Don’t eat!”

So I chose the first option and I must say this product completely baffled me as I think the hot bath washed away all the collagen cream/mask from my skin.

I soaked in a hot bath filled with the same brand of collagen bath salts. The scent was quite lovely — a bit of floral mixed with a hint of soap — and it turned the water a pretty light blue…

After soaking in this bath for 20 minutes, my skin certainly felt quite smooth but I don’t know if it was due to these products as my skin always tends to feel pretty smooth after a long hot soak. I think it has something to do with the dead skin cells being removed…

But you know, it was fun and as an expat in Japan, I think the only way to get to know Japanese products is to just use them!

Do you dare to try products that are weird and out there? What’s the strangest thing you have tried all in the name of vanity?

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Let’s start with the Japanese brands first…

Lunasol’s Tender Glow Collection has got to be one of the most value-for-money sets amongst the Japanese brands out there. For 6,825JPY, you get an eyeshadow palette (Party Eyes TG EX01), a cream blush (Cream Cheeks EX04), a lipgloss (Full Glamour Gloss N EX 19), a loose powder (Skin Contrast Face Powder 01). Lunasol fans will know that one eyeshadow palette is 5250JPY so you are getting quite a few products for just a bit more.

I would love to get this but I already have many neutral palettes so do I really need one more? And I’m wondering if the loose powder shade can be swapped out as the one in the picture is definitely too light for me.

At first glance, Jill Stuart’s Fairy Collection looks like a lovely treat for 7,875JPY which is not too bad but I wouldn’t say it’s very “worth it” on closer inspection. In the set, there is a Jewel Crystal Eyes 104, one Loose Powder N 101, a Jelly Lipgloss 103, and two fragrance satchets in peach and lavender — all of which are encased in a frilly cosmetics case which is frankly way too girly even for me.

Personally, I would like the eyeshadow palette and the lip gloss but I’m really not sure if I should get yet another face powder of which I have several already (not Jill Stuart ones but in general).

Now the star of all the Japanese brands is definitely Addiction’s Sleepless Nights Collection. It looks the most exciting and it’s a kit meant to prep you for a glamorous night out. Priced at 9,765JPY, it is on the pricey side but you do get enough goodies that make it an honestly good buy. Another draw is that this whole set is limited edition and I’m not sure if they would eventually include these items in their permanent collection.

The compact has an eyeshadow duo with a shimmery charcoal grey and a glittery silver, plus a very light cool-toned baby pink blush. The blush is not as light as it looks when swatched and warms up a bit on my slightly tanned skin tone and the SA had similar colouring to me and it looked very pretty on her. The other items are a plum nail polish, a mini sheer pink lip gloss, a black eyeliner with multi-coloured shimmer specks (very very cool in person!) and a tiny pot of body/face shimmer. The one downside to this collection is the bag which kind of looks cheap and nasty in person. The sequins were a bit sad and ragged to put it bluntly.

Now onto non-Japanese brands…

I had been thinking about MAC’s Festive Frost Face Kit since I’d been spying them on US and UK blogs (Jamilla has a great post on this). But I don’t think there would be the exact same set available in Japan because in the Dec issue of Biteki, it says you can get a Make It Perfect Brush Kit/Mineral Eyes set for 8,400JPY or you can get the six eyeshadow palette, called 6 Snow Globe Eye Shadow in Warm, Sultry, and Cool for 5,775JPY. The info is not yet up on the MAC Japan website though the Glitter & Ice collection is on sale at counters right now.

I’m a bit torn up about the Holiday Style Collection by Estee Lauder but this must be the best value kit amongst all the holiday offerings at the moment. For 12,600JPY, you get a 15 eyeshadow palette, a 4 blush palette, three lipsticks, two mascaras, two lip glosses, one eye pencil, two lip pencils, a cleanser, a mirror, a clutch, and a makeup bag. Estee Lauder makes stellar, high quality products but their branding and packaging are just too oba-san (old lady) for me — just look at the red bags/mirror (!!!). However, I’m very tempted because the matte eyeshadows look incredible!

What are you drooling over this holiday season? Have you already got one or two holiday sets already? If you have, do share what you like about them!

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One of the strangest things for me in Japan beauty-wise is understanding haircare products here. It’s quite a departure from how things are in Singapore where you can easily find a solution to your scalp/hair type. Here, there is “shiny” （さらさら）and “moisturizing” （しっとり）which confounds me no end but I usually choose “shiny” for shampoos and “moisturizing” for conditioners, thinking that “shiny” is not as moisturizing as “moisturizing” and thus by deduction not for those with dry hair.

But to be honest, shampoos for “shiny” hair types are still pretty rich for my tropical scalp which needs heavy-duty action most days. Though in non-summer weather, it’s not so bad.

Then my fave magazine, Biteki, came to the rescue with this AWESOME article on non-silicone shampoos in its November issue, that gave the low down on what silicone does to your hair and a list of non-silicone haircare products on the market.

What does it have to do with my oily scalp, pray tell? Well, to my own logic, using a non-silicone shampoo can prevent build up and thus leaves the scalp/hair less bogged down and shinier as a result. And it opened my eyes up to brands I wouldn’t even have looked at twice.

Actually, non-silicone shampoo has made an appearance on drugstore shelves last year with Nudy Aura which I wrote about here. I loved it when I started using it and have been loving it ever since — it is truly a great brand. But, I still sort of didn’t believe it was that great (the shampoo is non-silicone but the conditioner still has silicones like dimethicone etc.) because it didn’t make sense that the conditioner has a chock-full of silicones so it felt like a bit gimmicky and I stopped purchasing the conditioner and continued with the shampoo (but I didn’t know much about this so on hindsight this was unnecessary; more on this later in the post).

Since then there has been a slew of non-silicone haircare products filling up the shelves in Japanese drugstores.

The advice given by some hair and beauty experts in the article is pretty much the same as what I’ve read elsewhere — you can only have healthy hair if you have a healthy scalp, i.e. unclogged, well-hydrated, and clean; silicones leave a coating on your hair which prevents much-needed moisture from being absorbed even if you use a moisturizing shampoo/conditioner to subsequently combat dull-looking hair.

Other tips I gleaned from the article: if your scalp has redness, it also means your hair is damaged, so ideally your scalp should be white, which means it’s healthy; you should rinse your hair for three minutes (that’s a really long time!) before you shampoo your hair and you should also take the time to massage the shampoo into your scalp; thus non-silicone shampoos will promote healthy hair and scalp.

So let me list the non-silicone haircare brands and I’ll link them to their official websites here (starting clockwise from left):

+ Gift
+ Nudy Aura
+ Playback
+ Difresca
+ Playback Mineral Moist (same site as Playback above)
+ La Pudeur
+ Salon Deaprès

In the end, I bought the green Playback set because it is the cheapest among all these brands but only by 300JPY per product. Generally, most of these non-silicone shampoos are around the 1900JPY price range which is really not bad though higher than the below 1,000JPY range for silicone shampoos.

I didn’t like the scent of La Pudeur because it had a really sickly sweet fragrance though the packaging looks quite pretty. I haven’t seen Gift or Difresca in my part of town. I’ve tried Nudy Aura and it smells amazing so this would remain a repeat in my shower stall. For the rest, I am curious about Salon Deaprès (which is also around the 1600-1700JPY price point) and especially the Playback Mineral Moist as it has 32 types of herbs and sea minerals like coral, pearl, collagen, keratin, amino acids etc.

As part of my non-silicone obsession, I also bought the non-silicone Honeysuckle Rose conditioner from Aubrey Organics for dry hair. I just want to try it out to see if it really makes a difference to my hair.

I have read that water-soluble silicones in conditioners are better than insoluble ones and I do spy silicones in the conditioners from the Japanese brands above. From my limited understanding, I would assume the ones they put in these products are water soluble silicones and though you can see insoluble silicones like dimethicone, they become soluble if tagged together with a soluble silicone or PEGs (comprehensive list on the Beauty Brains here). And I found a great list of non-silicone conditioners here if you are interested to try one.

I haven’t really used these products I bought and wouldn’t be fair to write a review now so will report back if these really are the bomb or not. But I will leave you with one last nugget: Reveur (offical site here) is also an excellent non-silicone haircare brand. Last year, I bought a bunch of their products in sample packs because I was off travelling as they are much easier to pack than even travel-sized bottles. Little did I know they were going to be so good. I remember thinking I had to get a full-sized set when I got back to Japan but I forgot about this brand. Biteki also has a short write-up on their website here — and it smells even better than Nudy Aura!

Do you care if your shampoo and conditioner have silicones? If you do, what brand are you using?

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I’m a big fan of Japanese beauty magazines, Biteki and Voce (plus I got one from Elle because I’m a Seibu department store member), and they came with inserts that are their autumn beauty “lookbooks”. I say that in quotations because they are obviously advertorials but they have models sporting looks for this autumn — I don’t mind these booklets at all, in fact, I love them!

It’s so easy to peruse what new items are coming out brand by brand…Unfortunately my efforts to photograph the pages I liked didn’t turn out well due to the rainy weather. So I plucked the images off their official websites…

I’m really eyeing the new Esprique eyeshadow palettes because the colours look chic and wearable. I have one grey Esprique Precious eyeshadow palette and the texture is buttery soft and highly pigmented. I’m always surprised by the quality considering that Esprique is a very affordable drugstore brand.

Ooooo, Addiction’s Emotional blush is calling my name (on the right; it’s a shimmery golden coral). I love the whole aesthetic of Addiction but have not got a single thing. Would you believe that I’ve gone to the counter twice and all five SAs were super busy on a weekday night? It’s definitely becoming an extremely popular brand.

The name of Addiction’s fall collection is Aurora Reflection — how gorgeous does that sound? I really love the green shades, Deep Forest and Silent Scream. It’s about 9,500JPY for an eyeshadow quad but you can of course purchase the eyeshadows individually. But I think if you are going to start with one or two, you might as well get four at a go.

I adore the names of Addiction shades — whoever does the naming sure has a sense of humour. I like Fall In Love (can see this to be a shimmery nude on to add dimension to the lips) and Platonic.

But the one that really purrs in person is Miss You More, a bright fuchsia that will slap on some glam on a night out.

I got a bunch of Paul & Joe base makeup and eye glosses so I won’t be purchasing any more from this brand in the near future but I just like looking at their products. I actually tried the lipstick 074 Lower East Side (lipstick on the extreme left) which is a dusty rosy red and was surprisingly flattering on my skin tone (I tend to avoid reds but now will be open to the idea of them), but I have many lipsticks so I’m “KIV-ing” this (keep in view).

These Lunasol blushes are gorgeous….! I prefer to buy Lunasol at duty free as they are quite pricey.. They consistently produce attractive, sophisticated palettes every single season so I never get sick of looking at them…

The triple panel thing in one square of a quad is curious…I wonder if it would make a difference to your eyeshadow look — it’s something I’m waiting for the beauty gurus on Youtube to experiment with!

I’m considering getting a Jill Stuart nail polish just because of the packaging. It’s so shallow but I’m sort of thinking I would like a princessy addition to my travel makeup (for my weddings; both are not in Tokyo so I need to pack stuff to last me for about three weeks) — there’s no logic, only desire!! I’m hesitant to get a gel manicure because my nails are really in poor condition as it is.

I’m considering 50 Layered Petal which is a lovely nude pink that would match anything (I hope)…

I’m trying not to wear any nail polish from now till mid-Sept when I get my nails done for the big day. Since my second big day is deep in the Hokkaido boonies, I’ll probably do my own nails (I doubt my manicure would last for seven days from the first wedding) though I’m sure many of you are gasping in horror. Wasn’t Kim Kardashian’s wedding over-the-top or what?

Doesn’t this just scream “wedding”? Jill Stuart always reminds me of Vera Wang for women who like this type of look but have an excuse to indulge without needing to get married…

Is it possible to die from too much prettiness? This pressed powder compact won the number four position in Voce’s Spring/Summer 2011 Beauty Awards. I know this is a mainstay in their range so not exactly a fall item…

I was also thinking this golden nude shade P 24 by RMK would be fantastic for my wedding as well….

I’ve been looking into pressed powder compacts more lately and these new RMK ones look so sophiscated. I recently discovered that RMK is under the same company as SUQQU so it has great quality cosmetics at a fraction of SUQQU’s price…

Last but not least, Maquillage’s Essence Glamorous Rouge for this fall. Japanese cosmetics have this curious addition of liquid lipsticks that give the coverage of a high sheen lipstick topped with gloss. It’s not as light as a lip stain but of course not as opaque as a matte lippie, if you get what I mean.

PK393 is “recommended” which is something I find unique to Japanese marketing — they would tell you this is their best colour and usually more often than not, I would find it the most wearable in the collection.

Alright, that’s it for my wish list this season. What are you eyeing this fall?

P.S.: FIVE MORE DAYS till our 3rd Anniversary Giveaway closes. Lots of Japanese drugstore faves to be won, so get your tush there now!

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How was your weekend? Mine was relaxing but productive. I needed the downtime to focus on my wedding preparation for a bit and to just recharge my batteries. That also meant lounging on my futon with a pile of Japanese magazines I hadn’t read. I’m awful like that — I buy a ton of mags and let them collect dust in a corner for when I “make time” for them; so I did and I loved flipping through those glossies.

While I sometimes miss English language mags, Japanese ones have definitely filled the void for me. Japanese fashion magazines are quite different from Western ones like Allure, Marie Claire, and Elle…How so, you may ask? I don’t just love their freebies, okay….

#1 They always have step-by-step makeup tutorials

These are great for someone like me who is not uber-confident about wearing makeup. I do wear it everyday but I tend to take a minimalist approach, but ever since I’ve started exploring the beauty scene here, I’ve been trying new types of products and shades.

#2 They have “strong” storylines in their fashion spreads

For Western magazines, I mostly just see a spread of photos with a theme and that’s it — which is fine because it’s all about the clothes. Japanese mags do have such spreads but they do include more “real women” type pages, for example, the “how to wear XX clothes and accessories for 30 days” approach pops up very often in most of the magazines I have read. I couldn’t find an autumn-inspired one, so this late-summer one would have to do…

From having coffee with a gal pal to vacuuming the floor, there is an outfit for every occasion made from the seemingly small wardrobe selection — all inspired by the latest trends. They don’t use women who look too “modelly” either so the real touch is quite refreshing.

#3 They are all about showing “whole” looks

I learned that if Japanese are into a certain hobby or sport in Japan, they would go all the way to kit themselves out. For example, if you are into snowboarding, you would get everything from your board, to boots, to windbreaker — all matching, too! I guess this attitude stems from wanting to be 100% ready so you can milk the experience and gain the most amount of fun possible.

This spread on various women who have different sports interests, from golf to pilates to running, shows what they like to wear when they work out; what related beauty essentials they use before, after, or during the sport; accessories etc.

Kawaii yo ne? (Cute, isn’t it?)

#4 They always have innovative ways to make Japanese food

Well, this is actually similar to some Western magazines that have a section on food/entertaining and health but for Japanese magazines….it’s all about Japanese food! It’s kind of “obvious” but this is great for me because I’m not so familiar with whipping up Japanese food and some instruction is definitely welcome from time to time. I always believe in making do with what you have and that means creating new dishes in my adopted country.

This year’s food trend is ra-yu (chilli oil) that is made of meat or vegetables doused in garlic, onion, vinegar, sugar, and chilli oil.

Here’s a spread that talks about how to infuse ra-yu into various dishes — even pasta! That avocado rice bowl looks super yummy…I’m so going to try that recipe…

Are you a fan of Japanese magazines? What do you like about them?

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Happy Monday, my lovelies, I just ran a half-marathon (21 km) yesterday so am aching all over. Feeling upbeat and satisfied, though! I was one of 29 women (versus 300 men) who took part in Ogano’s 40th Road Race half-marathon — it was a tiny town next to Chichibu in Saitama Prefecture which is north of Tokyo. Check out my number tag: 429 and the women’s segment started from number 401! LOL!

It was a very fun weekend in the Japanese countryside and managed to dip, not once, but twice into an onsen (hot spring bath). My skin always feels smoother after such sessions — I think hot springs contain lots of minerals and salts so a good soak in them could be the reason.

Today, I guest blogged over at fellow expat, Ashley Thompson’s Surviving in Japan, but I’m re-posting it here so you guys can read what I wrote….

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How To Buy Skincare Products In Japan

One of the things that concerned me about moving to Japan was, “Would I be able to continue using my favorite beauty products?” Shallow, I know – but like many women, I stick with what works for me for eternity so the thought of parting with my trusty beauty products made me cringe.

In preparation for the move, I stocked up on my can’t-live-without essentials and loaded my suitcase, and subsequently would beg visiting friends from Singapore to bring them over or overstuff my bags on my twice-a-year pilgrimage home. But these were just not feasible solutions and frankly, occupied more time (and concern) than I would care to admit.

So I dove into the colourful world of Japanese beauty products. If they are good enough for the millions of women here, they should be good enough for me, too. I mean, Japanese women look fabulous so there must be some merit in their beauty products, right?

Here are some tips for those confused by the multitude of offerings at cosmetic counters and in kusuriyas (pharmacies/daily goods stores).

Learn to read labels
For basic skincare, there are two basic categories: しっとり(shittori – means moist; for dry skin) and さっぱり(sappari – means fresh; for normal skin). Though some other types exist, e.g., combination skin, they can be more difficult to locate.

Furthermore, if you are used to a particular kind of regimen that includes serums and toners, Japan could be quite confusing or disappointing in the sense that these same products are used differently or have alternate names.

For one, the Japanese don’t really use toners (i.e. astringent residue removers after using a facial wash) and typically prefer “lotions” (ローション). To me, a lotion is just a light-weight moisturizer, but here, it has the consistency of a toner.

The other thing that bewildered me was trying to find serums and realizing they are actually　called “essence” (エセンス).　And by the way, ミルク, (milk), is a lighter lotion-type moisturizer and クリーム, or “cream”, refers to heavier moisturizers.

Now you may even find stuff that are completely foreign like, 乳液 (にゅうえき; nyuu-eki) which is actually another　kind of serum that has an oil or lanolin base and is meant to be applied after your moisturizer as it seals the moisture so it won’t evaporate from your skin. Strange, but kind of cool if you think about it.

Try new products
I know, you feel stuck. The brands you know and trust available in Japan may not be the same as in your home country (I found that to be true of Dove) or the type of products that you are used to somehow don’t translate well in Japanese brands. So, it’s time to find something different!

For example, I couldn’t find the equivalent of a gentle facial wash so switched to Fancl’s Washing Powder. Fancl is a preservative and chemical free brand and is fairly reliable and affordable. It felt weird to use powder but it soaped up like a regular liquid cleanser and works well.

Yet another wonderful discovery I made: cleansing oils. Outside Japan and most Asian countries, the concept of cleansing oil may not sound very appealing because you are basically using oil to clean off your makeup. But trust me, this is a fantastic alternative and with the right brand, you can avoid breakouts. One advantage is that you don’t need to swipe your face with cotton pads — less friction on your skin means less stress; and with the dry winters in Japan, your skin is not stripped of its natural oils.

Find the right brands
The universal rule of beauty products — more expensive = better quality— does apply more or less in Japan. But I’m not saying there aren’t good, affordable brands – many hidden gems can be unearthed by trial and error like anywhere else in the world.

I find that cheaper products here tend to have alcohol and mineral oil in them so I avoid these, except Fancl and DHC, which have reliable products that are gentle on the skin mainly because of their no-preservative, no-chemical ethos.

Also, while Western pharmacies usually only stock cheap drugstore brands, pharmacies in Japan often sell expensive labels like SKII and Sekkisei. You may notice two main cosmetic brands in the pharmacies, Kose and Shiseido, which have a multitude of lines — note that not all are made equal. For example, I like Shisedo’s Elixir but am wary of their cheaper Aqualabel products. Similarly, Kose’s Sekkisei brand is stellar but I wouldn’t go near their cheaper Sekkisui line.

If familiar brands like Clinique and Chanel don’t do it for you, there are places to search for lesser-known foreign products by Korres, Burt’s Bees, and Trilogy. Look out for standalone stores that specialize in stocking skincare as they are likely to carry natural or organic products, such as Cosme Kitchen. Some department stores, like Seibu and OIOI, may also stock a mix of local and foreign brands.

Get online
If in doubt, there are websites that rank and reflect a product’s true popularity — Cosme (based on voting and reviews) and Ranking Ranqueen (based on sales). Although these sites are only in Japanese, there are loads of pictures to help you, and lists and categories are fairly easy to figure out as most are typically in katakana or hiragana (you can also use your mouse to hover over the links and the URLs will appear in English).

By the way, there are Ranking Ranqueen stores in Tokyo (one in Shibuya station) where you can browse the most popular products in Japan. Also look out for Cosme ranking labels on products that indicate they won rave reviews.

Makeup Alley, an English, review-driven site, also has a number of Japanese products listed.

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Though I know there are online number generators, I thought doing it the old-fashioned way was more fun:

….and the winner is…

Ren! I’ll be emailing you shortly so sit tight.

Thank you very much for taking part in our blog giveaway. It was fun and will be sure to do another one soon.

In terms of beauty schtuff, I stumbled upon a dessert counter right in front of the subway station near my apartment and it had a sign that said, “Beauty Cakes” in Japanese.

I went up closer and the secret ingredient is kefir! Just when I thought Japan was orbiting in its own universe, I’m surprised to find this health trend that is rocking the Western world in Asia.

Well, why am I so excited about kefir? Kefir is a fermented milk drink with origins in Russia, Central Asia, and Turkey. Traditional milk kefir is made when kefir grains (the stuff that makes fermentation happen) are added to goat’s or cow’s milk and left outside to ferment for a couple of days. It kind of sounds like an exotic yogurt drink and I guess it pretty much is and it’s good for your gut (you know I’m a fan of that, don’t ya?).

But in the health world today, you can pretty much add kefir grains to any liquid you please — nut milk, coconut milk, coconut juice, apple juice…the list is endless if you work your imagination.

Actually some DIY folks in the blogosphere skip the hassle of buying kefir grains and just pop open a probiotic capsule and empty it into milk or juice to ferment for 24-48 hours. The result is a fizzy health elixir that is full of goodness and nutrition.

The Japanese have certainly jumped on this health trend and used kefir milk in Swiss rolls, plus coined them as a beauty dessert. Sugoyi…!

I just found an online store that sells kefir starter kits for only 1,900JPY (USD20.80) with free shipping. Looks like I gotta try it. It was so cute that the website says kefir is a well-kept beauty secret.

Have you heard about kefir? Will you ever try it?

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Yup, you read that right. When it comes to sanitary pads (or other feminine products), I like sticking to what I know. So when I stepped foot onto the shores of Japan, I opted for Laurier because it was the only brand I knew. The rest were a blur of strange names in Japanese and I wasn’t equipped to read the fine print.

It’s been more than three years of suffering this “mental block” until I got a free sample from Megami at my local kusuriya (pharmacy in Japanese). It was just one sanitary pad and not a whole pack so I thought the commitment level was practically zero. Even if I hated it, at least I didn’t have to throw away 15 pads, I said to myself.

And you know what? Me likey.

Upon further research, Megami was launched last year and its pretty Lolita-Gothic theme even goes beyond the packaging. The wings on the pad have wavy curves but they still hold onto the panty well — no slippin’ and slidin’.

It’s a cottony, ultra thin sanitary napkin that I would highly recommend to anyone who likes non-plastic pads.

Curious about feminine products in Japan, I searched online for more information and it threw up a couple of interesting results:

+ There are colourful pads with cute printed designs that are limited editions of existing brands like Whisper.

+ Reusable pads are called MyNapu (for “my napkin”, I guess) and created quite a stir with its eco message in mid-2008. They actually look really sweet and carries none of the gross factor we may think it has.

+ You can buy Megami products here.

I’ll leave you with the cutesy, girly ad for Megami pads…

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But before I begin, I’ll say this again: fashion mags are an indication of trends and habits and not 100% truth, but the following magazine scans will give you an idea what Japanese women eat.

I do know for a fact that nutritional self-help books are huge among Japanese women and I think there’s a strong link between an abhorrence of cosmetic surgery and their passion for looking their best “the natural way”.

As mentioned before, too, natto is seen as a daily beauty essential. Check this page out — it’s an entire editorial on a natto recipe. I’ve given up on trying to like natto as there’s not a lot of love between us!

It also occurred to me that Western beauty magazines like Allure don’t talk about food very much and in fact focus more on makeovers and such, but there is quite a substantial section on nutrition in Biteki.

Look at this feature on what real female medical professionals have for breakfast. It’s so cute that I had to smile.

This is such an elaborate breakfast! I do wonder if she makes this everyday or often at all. But maybe she does because her real age is 53 but she looks not a year above 35, I swear. By the way, she is a dentist.

What are her beauty secrets?! Her breakfast is a traditional home-style Japanese spread of stir-fried lotus root, rice, tofu and wakame miso soup, pickled cucumber and radish, natto, avocado salad with tomato and lettuce, and a carrot apple soy milk smoothie. Wow. Where does she find the time to make this, on top of getting to work punctually?

I find this doctor’s brekkie more realistic in terms of preparation time: a protein shake with green powder, soy milk, and pomegranate syrup, along with a bowl of fruit and yogurt.

She’s 40 but looks like she’s in her early 30s! By the way, she has a 3 year old daughter. But again, air brushing does that to you. So, she’s not as impressive as the one above, but I think her regime is definitely more believable.

Next up is a detox breakfast recommended by a dermatologist who is 31.

Let’s see: raw veggies, wholemeal bread, fresh fruit juice (apple, carrot, lemon) and a bowl of diced anchovies fried in olive oil, cream, and soy milk (ew!). Not seen in the picture above, she recommends taking egoma oil capsules which are made from the shiso (Japanese basil) plant and supposedly lowers cholesterol.

Interestingly, her daily routine is also mapped out — she wakes at 6am, jogs from 615 to 645am, has breakfast by seven, finishes work by 730pm, has dinner at 830pm and sleeps by midnight.

There were three more doctors who were featured but I’m not going to go into the details as it was more or less the same in the sense that they all had soy milk, yogurt, rice, fruit juice, veggies as part of their their diet and they woke up early and slept at a decent time. I’ll leave you with the scans, though.

So how do Japanese women remain svelte and youthful? There isn’t quite a “one-size-fits-all” answer but I think they just take on the Japanese ethos of balance where they don’t consume too much of anything, and also like many women around the world, they love consuming dietary supplements and beauty products.

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside a leading Japanese beauty mag — the similarities and differences are all charming and I feel chuffed I can read 50 per cent of the Japanese text in the magazine. If you missed the first two installments, they are here: Part I and Part II.

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What makes Japanese beauty mags different from Western ones is there are always step-by-step features to show you how to put on cosmetics. Be it from eye shadow to foundation and powder, there are pictures to guide you to a flawless result.

This is where the freebie Lunasol DVD comes in. I enjoyed watching how to apply foundation and concealer with your fingers and then with a sponge before using loose powder.

The eye shadow segment was my favourite because it showed how to blend different colours into a natural finish. And the Lunasol eye shadow palette looked just divine…

A thought occurred to me, too: “Why do they go through all this trouble? Maybe these instructional videos are meant for women like me — I don’t know much about makeup!” I am a very basic type of girl who goes for the quickest solution to save time but that means I don’t know little tricks on how to look more fabulous.

Here is another tip I love: use the end of a cotton bud to “clean up” thick eyeliner lines. What a life saver! I used to wonder how some women could have such neat lines on their eye lids, so there you go.

There were also tips on how to apply false eye lashes (and the Japanese do this very well). Tip gleaned: flex your new falsies to make them more pliable and thus easier to stick onto your eye lid.

But what is similar to Western mags are the beauty spreads with a model showcasing a “look” and the list of cosmetics used to achieve it. And oh my, there are a bevy of the newest products to drool over…

Not a very surprising discovery was a whole supplement magazine tucked into the main one that was just about creams and potions to make you look fairer. Whitening products are a Japanese (or Asian) obsession.

The type of cosmetics that seemed popular and all over the mag is very girly, like Coffret D’or and Paul & Joe, but I suppose most beauty magazines tend to target a younger audience. Actually, I find that Japanese women in particular tend to be very self-conscious of the image of the brand they are buying.

If you are more mature, you only use “respectable” brands like SKII, Kose Grandaine, Shiseido Elixir, Guerlain, Chanel etc. I once mentioned I was a fan of Fancl to several middle-aged friends and they all said the same thing, “Oh, that’s for young people.” And you know, it’s a perfectly good brand and it works but the image is just off for them.

But it’s a generalization that only Japanese women are brand conscious. I would imagine that most women over 40 would hesitate to use Urban Decay as their cosmetic mainstay.

I have one more installment for “What’s in a Japanese beauty magazine” and it’s about what Japanese women eat — something we all want to find out. Stay tuned…

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