Food for your skin

If you ask someone in Japan, "Who makes the best beauty aids?" the inevitable answer will be "Koreans." I've been hearing that for about 7 years and FINALLY jumped on the bandwagon (and how!) this month.

I'd seen a brand called SKINFOOD available on ebay when I bought my Tony Moly trio of polishes, and the names and packaging were so interesting that I decided to try them.  Luckily, SKINFOOD has several shops in the Tokyo area including east Shinjuku, making it easy for me to buy. They have lots of shops worldwide, too.

The stores are stocked with tons of product. The sheer number of products can be overwhelming. I'm happy the staff were so kind and patiently walked me through all the different series they have and what each one was for. I got to sample everything, which is rare in Japan, and make an informed decision.

I feel like I walked out with half the store! Er, ignore the lush product on the end. =)

This is a picture from shopping trip #1. I got the Peach Sake set, Aloe face wash, Lime body wash Peach Tea BB cream and Gold Kiwi SPF +50 sunscreen.

I have terribly oily skin and I was looking for a product that helps keep the shine and sebum production down. I usually need to use blotting papers at least twice a day and dust my face constantly with loose powder. Lots of products claim to help oily skin, but they never work for me. With SKINFOOD I have found my HG (Holy Grail) of face products!

The Peach Sake line from Skin Food works to reduce sebum production and also helps tighten pores. I figured I'd give it about two weeks to show some results before I took the final plunge and bought the powder, but since you see it in the photo already, you know I got results quickly!

Within two days of using these products, I managed to go almost a whole day without using blotting paper AND my pores showed visible signs of shrinking. Within a week I no longer continued to carry blotting paper in my purse and my pores are about half the size they were. I don't have to keep slathering my face in Benefit's Porefessional!

There's no face wash in the Peach Sake series, so I use the Aloe Vera Bubble Cleanser. It's a foaming cleanser that doesn't dry out my skin. I then use the Peach Sake toner, followed by the serum in the day or emulsion at night. The "Silky Finish Powder" is great to put on after your make up, or at night if you have "trouble areas." 

Since my skin is so oily and prone to break outs, I need a heavy duty cleanser. I'm not sure the Aloe Vera works that well, as I'm still getting the odd break out, so I might change it next time to the Parsley and Mandarin wash or the Seaweed one.

Since everything was working so well, I decided to go back and get more stuff for my face. Don't worry, I didn't break the bank. Skin Food is amazingly reasonable in price for a product that actually delivers on its promises!

I decided to get some of the scrubs and masks to try. Here's a selection of what I walked home with last Saturday.

The coffee one is actually a body scrub, rather than a face product. And I forgot to put the sugar scrub in this group photo. >.<;; It's down below, though. Just scroll down.

The Kiwi Yogurt Mask is one you put on a dry face after cleansing. You can leave it on for anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 or 20. It's supposed to control sebum, minimize pores, and remove dead skin all while keeping your skin moisturized. I've read several articles about how putting plain yogurt on your face is a great way to tighten pores and remove dead skin, so I believe this mask isn't making incredible claims. I've only used it a few times, but I can say it's gentle and my skin does feel moisturized after. Since I'm already using so many products to reduce sebum and my pores, I can't really judge the effectiveness in that regard. The weird fleck thingies are a really dark green and when you massage the mask into your face, they dissolve.

The Black Sugar Mask is awesome! I use it as my facial scrub. It's not too abrasive and kind of melts as you scrub, but not before it buffs your face a bit. My skin responds very well to constant scrubbing and it's the only way I can keep my face free of impacted pores (those nasty white bumps you can get on your skin -- gross). I'm already halfway through this tub and will be going back for more. If your face is super sensitive to scrubbing, I still think you can use this product. Just leave it on for a few minutes until it's half-melted, then gently rub it around your face. The website says to leave this on 10-15 minutes as a face mask after using it as a scrub, but I usually only have it on a maximum of five minutes. 

 

 Next up are the Black Sesame Seed Hot Mask and Rice Mask. Black Sesame is for use on wet skin, while Rice is for use on clean, dry skin like the Kiwi Yogurt mask. I was super excited to try Black Sesame, but found that it didn't really get hot. While rubbing it on I felt it get slightly warm, but that's it. It has an interesting texture and does seem to make my skin feel softer and clean without drying it out, so I'll keep using what I have, but won't buy it again. The rice mask is supposed to make your skin soft, bright and lustrous. It's very gentle and doesn't irritate my skin, but I didn't find it did much. It is moisturizing, so I think maybe if I do purchase it again it should be in winter.

 ZOMG! Calling all coffee lovers! This is the Coffee Body Scrub and it smells AMAZING! It has real coffee grounds in it to help exfoliate your skin and it's not too abrasive. It's supposed to improve the skin's resiliency and make your skin soft. I've read for years that something in coffee also combats cellulite if you apply it to your skin. Even if it does none of those things, the smell alone makes it worth it! I want the Cappuccino one now, too!

 Since the Peach Sake BB cream isn't available in Japan, I chose the Good Afternoon Peach Green Tea BB cream in shade 01 Light Beige. The sales lady said it's very close to the Peak Sake BB and also helps cut down on sebum and that oily look. It certainly does the trick! It blends into my skin so well you can't see it -- unheard of in an Asian cream! I'm extremely fair (Casper the ghost, really) and almost all Asian concealers or foundations look really dark on me. It's not a heavy-duty coverage cream. You only need this to even out skin tone, get rid of red areas, help cover under eye circles and it helps regulate your skin. It passed on all points for me!

Don't worry, this is still a nail polish site! I didn't mention it yet, but Skin Food makes a line of make up as well! Some day when I have several hours to kill, I'll go through their extensive collection! Below is the first polish I bought from Skin Food. I only bought one, because I recently made a very expensive and unwise purchase of some Japanese polishes (I'll post them eventually) and didn't want to get burned again.

This bottle is from the Fruit Drink Nail line. This one is Grapefruit Drink (03). It's a pinky-coral colour. Bonus is, it's a milky jelly! And 3-free! Woo! I couldn't find this line in the Shinjuku store (they carry most of the other nail polishes, though), so I ordered it online. I loved the formula so much after layering it over another colour that I ordered a few more from this series. Once I have them all in the mail, I'll do a post with swatches of them all. The colours are all fruit names (grape, raspberry, lychee, kiwi, apple milk, etc.) and the top coat is called Vodka. LOL Cute bottle, right?

Here's Grapefruit Drink swatched over a chipping Chanel's June. It looks a little more orange here because of the layering, but in real life it pulls more pink than orange. The first coat I did really thin and it was streaky, but by the second coat it looked lovely. It's bit sheer, so you might want to use it as a layering polish or be prepared to put on 3 to 4 coats to reach opacity. Once my other polishes from this collection come in I'll do a huge swatch of them for you all! Can't wait for them to get in!

Overall, I highly recommend trying out SKINFOOD! Not EVERY product was outstanding, but the majority were! Peach Sake is a definite must for anyone suffering from super oily skin like me! 

You can buy SKINFOOD at several locations in Tokyo (click here for locations in Japan) and overseas. It's also available from many sellers on ebay. I recommend rubyruby76.

Stay tuned for more SKINFOOD posts in the future!