[Reviews] Kikumasamune High Moist Lotion & Emulsion
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[dry/dehydrated/acne/aging, Montana]
Dear Kikumasamune,
We had a rough start, you and I. At first, you made me break out and I thought this fling was going nowhere, and put you on a shelf with the rest of my patch test failures.
But then my forehead and eyes felt dry and I came slinking back to you, hoping that you'd be good to the upper half of my face, and you were.
You've slowly won the rest of my face and neck over, darling, with no breakouts at all, and now I realize that in some strange way, you were purging my pores out. This love is for real, Kikumasamune, despite how you smell like an overripe banana smushed with unfiltered sake-- this is a forever love.
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I had pretty much the exact same reaction-- breakouts on jaw and cheek. I was uber cautious, and tried it on areas where I normally don't break out before extending downward, but I've been using it AM & PM for a couple of weeks now without any fresh breakouts. It's weird, because it's not an acid, or something I would expect to cause purging, and generally non-exfoliating products that break me out just keep on breaking me out, but ????
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sake filtrate. similar to SKII which cause some people purging too. It is like good bacteria working on your face so there will be some reaction with other bacteria on your face.
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But why would anyone even think of using an alcoholic beverage to form the basis of a skincare product then, I hear you ask? Well, legend has it, that SK-II was developed by Japanese scientists investigating why it was that elderly workers on the production line at a sake brewery had smooth, youthful looking hands. It turns out, that submerging their hands in fermented yeast over the years was the secret.
Obviously, after reading this I scoured the internet looking for SK-II-esque products because this bitch doesn't want to age. And that's when I came across Kikumasamune on a Reddit forum where the lotion (essentially a watery toner) and the emulsion (a light moisturiser) were highly rated. From my research, I learned three main things about their two beauty products - 1) they're supposed to be amazing; 2) they also allegedly smell strongly of Sake; and 3) the bottles are big, with the lotion coming in at 500ml and the Emulsion at 380ml.
3 is irrefutable, the bottles are fucking massive, and look like they would literally never run out. Almost as if you could stand over the sink, pumping it direct in to the plughole for half an hour and it'd last for decades still. As for the smell, I mean, I honestly don't really know what all the fuss is about. Yeah, you get that initial whiff of sake, but it isn't that bad, and it's not like the smell hangs around on you for long.
As for them being amazing, well in my opinion, that's a yes almost as big as the bottles. Both the lotion (the white one) and the emulsion (the pink one) are intended for the face, but given the size of the bottles, and the sheer volume of K-Beauty products I have left over from my trip to Seoul earlier in the year, I started to use these on my body, and haven't looked back,
The lotion is essentially a toner, and I've found that with Japanese beauty products like this, and with Korean ones too, people don't necessarily use a cotton pad to apply them. The reason being, is that if you've already cleansed thoroughly, you won't need the cotton pad to remove any residue, so instead they simply pat them in. This one has a very watery texture, smells fairly strongly of sake, but after application this disappears.
I apply the lotion all over my body, straight after showering before drying myself off, so I'm tapping in to wet skin. I find that doing this means I don't use quite so much product. I've also used this on my face on occasion, straight after doing a double cleanse, and it instantly hydrated my skin, which looks clarified and gives that lit-from-within glow. I've also found that if I soak this on a cotton pad, and place on an area of particularly dry skin, such as my knees or elbows, my skin just laps it up.
Even though it's a toner, I find that it's quite hydrating, but not quite enough to go about my day, so I then layer on the emulsion after.
The consistency of the emulsion is like a moisturiser, only much, much lighter and milky in texture. Just like the lotion, it does have a quirky little whiff of sake, but after a few moments, it's gone. Having tapped in the lotion all over my body, I'll then apply the lotion on top, whilst my skin is still damp, and let it settle in before towel-drying. The lightness of the emulsion makes it perfect for summer, as it feels so light, unrestrictive and isn't greasy at all. It also gives a really nice brightening effect, and having used this for a couple of weeks now, I've noticed that my skin has this sheen to it, that I only ever used to get when applying oil to my skin.
I absolutely love using this on my body, because let's be honest, body moisturisers in the UK are traditionally thick dollops of creamy crap that smell like overly sweet pretty flowers or fruit. I want hydration, and in that sense, I think our bodies, in particular the legs, arms and feet get a little neglected. Cream just doesn't cut it, at all.
I can't yet say that my skin is as smooth and youthful looking as the hands of the elderly ladies on the sake production line, as I'm not quite at the age where wrinkles become an issue, but prevention is far better than cure, and this product feels like quite the opposite of a chore to apply. So whilst the true benefits may well be long term, it gives more than enough in the short term to make me want to keep using it until the bottles run out in 2062.
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