Makeup From Japan to Your Mailbox
by Kayleen Shaefer
YOUNG women in Japan have long used makeup to transform themselves into plastic dolls or anime princesses come to life. Brands homegrown there, like Mellish and Dolly Wink, make the spidery fake eyelashes, doe-eyed contact lenses and eyelid tape that help them with this metamorphosis.
But the many Western women who have recently started seeking out Japanese cosmetics online aren’t trying to turn into Gothic Lolitas. Instead, they’ve been drawn in by what they say is the products’ quality, superior to American or European brands — even when it comes to the cheapest drugstore finds.
“It’s a bit of a stereotype that Japanese makeup is all about the white face and over-the-top mascara,” said Rowena Fan, 28, a Manchester, England-based online marketer who also blogs at cosmetic-candy.com. “If anything it’s about healthy flawless skin, glossy lips and natural eye makeup.”
Katharina Mehilba, 30, a law student in Innsbruck, Austria, who said that 95 percent of her cosmetics are Japanese, agreed that the look was understated. “It’s about light skin, subtle lipstick, and soft shimmery eyeshadow colors that move from light to dark up the lid,” she said.
Ms. Fan has been buying Japanese makeup for about five years and was turned on to it by a trip to a counter of Shu Uemura, a Japanese brand that has been sold in the United States since 1997, but now is available only online at shuuemura-usa.com. “There were so many colors and textures that I became addicted,” she said. Another Japanese brand, Shiseido, is also widely available here (last year the company acquired the popular mineral-based line Bare Escentuals), but Ms. Fan was interested in more elusive quarry. She started researching Japanese brands that were available only in Asia and ordering them online. Koji eyelash curlers, Jill Stuart eyeshadow palettes and Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner (“super thin,” she said) are some of her favorites.
“I love how the brands focus on perfection,” she said, “perfect skin, perfect lips, perfect lashes. There’s such meticulous attention to things like how a mascara brush works or how black a new eyeliner is.”
Many of the Western women hunting for Japanese makeup use Adambeauty.com, a Hong Kong-based site that they say offers the best prices, but sasa.com, ichibankao.com, mihokoshop.com and imomoko.com are also popular. Quite a few also scour the offerings from the eBay seller AlphaBeautyUK. Some send friends who live in or are visiting Asia a shopping list. Gloria Yang, 25, a laboratory technician at Sephora who lives in Los Angeles, had her sister interrupt a vacation in Taiwan to go to Watsons, a drugstore. Ms. Yang wanted to stockpile mascara, both Kiss Me Goodlash Power Beam Eyes, which is smudge- and water-proof, and Fairy Drops, which has an undulating wand. “My sister told me they didn’t have them in the store,” she said, “so the sales associate actually ran over on foot to grab them from another one.”
The sisters’ father lives in Taiwan, but Ms. Yang said she hasn’t asked him to get her anything because “he thinks I spend too much money on makeup already,” she said.
Ms. Yang’s favorite thing about the products is not that they could give her an alabaster face and intensely lined eyes, a look she called “creepy,” but that, she said, they’re incredibly water-resistant — built to withstand the many humid climates in Asia. “Everything else smears on me,” she said.
Fans claim Japanese drugstore makeup such as Lavshuca eyeshadow sets and Kate powders, both made by Kanebo, is the same quality as the department store brands in the United States. “You can get incredible eyeshadow palettes and base makeup for around $5 or $6,” said Isabella, 33, a New York insurance broker and blogger, who asked to be identified only by her first name to retain the mystery of her blog, MusingsofaMuse.com, where she is known as the Muse to readers. “The formula is perfectly pigmented and the packaging is amazing.”
“The Japanese beauty market is tough,” said Ms. Mehilba, the Austrian law student, to explain why drugstore brands there seem to be a cut above some of what’s in the cosmetics aisle at, say, CVS. “They can’t sell low-quality or ugly products.”
The Japanese government regulates the cosmetics industry through its Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and has adopted a list of prohibited and restricted ingredients. (Ingredients are listed in Japanese and sometimes in English.) But other than these restrictions, the cosmetic manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the products are safe, as is the case in the United States.
The packaging can be part of the allure. In November, Isabella and Ms. Mehilba each spent about $150, plus shipping, on a Shiseido Maquillage Powder Celebration set, seven shades of loose powder, plus one pressed powder, in a decorative crystal box. It was made to commemorate the Maquillage line’s fifth anniversary, and when it arrived in December, Isabella blogged, “Lots of squealing, hyperventilating, and screaming occurred.”
“That’s an exception though,” Ms. Mehilba said, referring to the price. She usually prefers products in the $30 range, and counts Kanebo Coffret d’Or DA Mascara, Shiseido Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour, and Kanebo Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge as staples. “I’d prefer to use nothing but Japanese products from head-to-toe,” she said.
Ms. Fan agreed that if she could wear all Japanese makeup, all of the time, she would. “Even if it was placed next to its Western counterparts, I think I’d always jump for the Japanese,” she said. At Sephora, however, Ms. Yang has noticed that Japanese tourists don’t seem to agree. “They like classic brands, like Dior and Lancôme,” she said.
nytimes.com
does anyone else buy cheaper japanese cosmetics?
by Kayleen Shaefer
YOUNG women in Japan have long used makeup to transform themselves into plastic dolls or anime princesses come to life. Brands homegrown there, like Mellish and Dolly Wink, make the spidery fake eyelashes, doe-eyed contact lenses and eyelid tape that help them with this metamorphosis.
But the many Western women who have recently started seeking out Japanese cosmetics online aren’t trying to turn into Gothic Lolitas. Instead, they’ve been drawn in by what they say is the products’ quality, superior to American or European brands — even when it comes to the cheapest drugstore finds.
“It’s a bit of a stereotype that Japanese makeup is all about the white face and over-the-top mascara,” said Rowena Fan, 28, a Manchester, England-based online marketer who also blogs at cosmetic-candy.com. “If anything it’s about healthy flawless skin, glossy lips and natural eye makeup.”
Katharina Mehilba, 30, a law student in Innsbruck, Austria, who said that 95 percent of her cosmetics are Japanese, agreed that the look was understated. “It’s about light skin, subtle lipstick, and soft shimmery eyeshadow colors that move from light to dark up the lid,” she said.
Ms. Fan has been buying Japanese makeup for about five years and was turned on to it by a trip to a counter of Shu Uemura, a Japanese brand that has been sold in the United States since 1997, but now is available only online at shuuemura-usa.com. “There were so many colors and textures that I became addicted,” she said. Another Japanese brand, Shiseido, is also widely available here (last year the company acquired the popular mineral-based line Bare Escentuals), but Ms. Fan was interested in more elusive quarry. She started researching Japanese brands that were available only in Asia and ordering them online. Koji eyelash curlers, Jill Stuart eyeshadow palettes and Kiss Me Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner (“super thin,” she said) are some of her favorites.
“I love how the brands focus on perfection,” she said, “perfect skin, perfect lips, perfect lashes. There’s such meticulous attention to things like how a mascara brush works or how black a new eyeliner is.”
Many of the Western women hunting for Japanese makeup use Adambeauty.com, a Hong Kong-based site that they say offers the best prices, but sasa.com, ichibankao.com, mihokoshop.com and imomoko.com are also popular. Quite a few also scour the offerings from the eBay seller AlphaBeautyUK. Some send friends who live in or are visiting Asia a shopping list. Gloria Yang, 25, a laboratory technician at Sephora who lives in Los Angeles, had her sister interrupt a vacation in Taiwan to go to Watsons, a drugstore. Ms. Yang wanted to stockpile mascara, both Kiss Me Goodlash Power Beam Eyes, which is smudge- and water-proof, and Fairy Drops, which has an undulating wand. “My sister told me they didn’t have them in the store,” she said, “so the sales associate actually ran over on foot to grab them from another one.”
The sisters’ father lives in Taiwan, but Ms. Yang said she hasn’t asked him to get her anything because “he thinks I spend too much money on makeup already,” she said.
Ms. Yang’s favorite thing about the products is not that they could give her an alabaster face and intensely lined eyes, a look she called “creepy,” but that, she said, they’re incredibly water-resistant — built to withstand the many humid climates in Asia. “Everything else smears on me,” she said.
Fans claim Japanese drugstore makeup such as Lavshuca eyeshadow sets and Kate powders, both made by Kanebo, is the same quality as the department store brands in the United States. “You can get incredible eyeshadow palettes and base makeup for around $5 or $6,” said Isabella, 33, a New York insurance broker and blogger, who asked to be identified only by her first name to retain the mystery of her blog, MusingsofaMuse.com, where she is known as the Muse to readers. “The formula is perfectly pigmented and the packaging is amazing.”
“The Japanese beauty market is tough,” said Ms. Mehilba, the Austrian law student, to explain why drugstore brands there seem to be a cut above some of what’s in the cosmetics aisle at, say, CVS. “They can’t sell low-quality or ugly products.”
The Japanese government regulates the cosmetics industry through its Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and has adopted a list of prohibited and restricted ingredients. (Ingredients are listed in Japanese and sometimes in English.) But other than these restrictions, the cosmetic manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the products are safe, as is the case in the United States.
The packaging can be part of the allure. In November, Isabella and Ms. Mehilba each spent about $150, plus shipping, on a Shiseido Maquillage Powder Celebration set, seven shades of loose powder, plus one pressed powder, in a decorative crystal box. It was made to commemorate the Maquillage line’s fifth anniversary, and when it arrived in December, Isabella blogged, “Lots of squealing, hyperventilating, and screaming occurred.”
“That’s an exception though,” Ms. Mehilba said, referring to the price. She usually prefers products in the $30 range, and counts Kanebo Coffret d’Or DA Mascara, Shiseido Majolica Majorca Lash Enamel Glamour, and Kanebo Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge as staples. “I’d prefer to use nothing but Japanese products from head-to-toe,” she said.
Ms. Fan agreed that if she could wear all Japanese makeup, all of the time, she would. “Even if it was placed next to its Western counterparts, I think I’d always jump for the Japanese,” she said. At Sephora, however, Ms. Yang has noticed that Japanese tourists don’t seem to agree. “They like classic brands, like Dior and Lancôme,” she said.
nytimes.com
does anyone else buy cheaper japanese cosmetics?
