WHAT I LOVE ABOUT JAPAN

Skin care, make up, nails, body care, bath products, perfumes, hair care .. I'm a big fan of everything that has to do with beauty. And so, drugstores are a little piece of heaven to me. 

If you love me, bring me to a drugstore. 

If you hate me and want to get rid of me, bring me to a drugstore and you won’t see me for the coming hours. 

Sure, I can wander around a Dutch drugstore and have a good time, but choice seems limited and prices are high so I don’t linger around too long. US drugstores are a big step up.. everything you need, want and more is available and for reasonable prices. 

Asian drugstores, and Japanese in particular, are on a whoooole different level. The beauty industry seems to be a lot bigger here and that reflects in the stores. I took a bunch of photos and I don't want to take up all of your bandwidth so just click to read more.

So, Japanese drugstores.. They come in different shapes and sizes. They range from the overwhelming everything-pink-market stall-look-a-likes to the immaculate white luxurious looking stores. Of course, I dig the crazy pink ones the best.

A drugstore in Tokyo

In general the drugstores have a nice assortment ranging from all the popular American brands to well known high end Asian/ Japanese brands to independent small brands with small collections. The thing that I love so much about these drugstores, and what make them different from western ones, is the fact that my most common thoughts when walking around one are (often separate but sometimes even in this particular order):

1. WTF. Is. this….how do you use it?  
2. Huh, okay.. but who actually use that? 
3. Wow I need that!! 

So up next 10 crazy, weird or awesome things I've found in drugstores here. 

1. Bath Salts

Bath salts are awesome! I'm talking about the ones you actually put in your bath and not the ones that make you go crazy. As almost every Japanese bathroom has a bath, there is no shortage of bath products. And I'm loving it. I have a tiny lil' bath myself now, which I use a lot. Bath salts in Europe/the US tend to come in big jars that look fancy but are not only unpractical but also unhygienic. Having the jar in your humid bathroom, and using your wet hands to grab some, makes the chance of the salts going bad pretty high. These one-time-use-only bags are not just a good solution for that, they also look a lot more bad ass in your bathroom. Think I need to pick some of these up.

2. Comedone extractor

Close up

Sure, I've looked at my nose in a magnifying mirror before and hated myself after. Which girl hasn't? Trying to empty out all of the pores and ending up with a red nose for days... I decided to just not look at it again. This method might not work here. The Japanese seem to be obsessed with having a 'clean' nose; that means a nose clear or any impurities like big pores, pimples or blackheads. There are special cleansing gels/foams, pore minimizing creams, nose strips and concealers a-plenty. Tools like the one above are also an answer to this obsession. The medical term for blackheads is comedones, so this would be called a comedone extractor. Sounds like a weapon I would choose in a video game. Even with the close up I'm confused on how to use it. 

3. Nail art stuff

I guess you either hate it, or love it... the crazy shit Japanese chicks pull with their nails. I personally love it. Unpractical, costly and time consuming? Yes. But fabulous, beautiful and super kawaiiiii! There is no such thing as less is more when it comes to Japanese manicures and 3D anything (rhinestones, stickers, candies, animals, hearts, bows) is well represented. A quick google image search will give you a nice impression. I'm keeping it simple with the next manicure.

4. Huge q-tips

Cotton swaps have a lot of purposes.. clean out your ears, apply or remove makeup, remove nail polish... The huge size of these ones leave me clueless. Like, what are you supposed to do with these or where are you supposed to put them in/on? Maybe these are the ones used for saliva swaps for DNA research! Or to clean out animals ears! Or for genital/anal examinations! Or eh.. eh .. yes I guess I really don't know. 

5. Face rollers

Face rollers.. ubiquitous in all Asian beauty stores and so they were not a novelty to me. I guess they have multiple purposes, but the biggest one is to slim your face and shape it into a more desirable thin, oval shape. Just roll those bunny cheeks away! Huh? This should be the effect:

I don't believe an effect this severe could be achieved by using a roller but I do think stimulating/ massaging your skin (whether that is on your face or somewhere else) on a daily basis will get the blood flowing and might result in a tighter and plumber skin. It probably feels pretty nice to use it too. 

Something in the same category is the next thing.

6. Cellulite / Fat squeezer !!

I think the Japanese are under the assumption you can reshape everything as long as you massage or squeeze it hard enough. As I said before... stimulating the blood flow is never a bad thing but don't expect any miracles. This thing looks uncomfortable. I also think the woman on the package has a lovely ass and doesn't need to do anything to change it. Like most women really.. nothing wrong with some cellulite and a nice badonkadonk. 

7. Crease tape

Most of Asia's beauties have so called monolids. These are the opposite of a double eyelid, and are basically eyelids without a crease. I feel like they are not inferior in beauty at all so don't get why you would use this product, but a double eyelid is still what is desired here in Asian women. They are the queens of faking whatever god didn't give them and this product is a great example of that. Crease tape are little pieces of tape you can put on your eyelid to create a fold, the missing crease. Not only do they give you this crease, they also give you bigger eyes as they pull up some skin. There is also eyelid glue available. It doesn't seem too comfortable, but I'm curious to try it out one day. Especially when covered in make up, you can almost not tell it's there.

8. False Eyelashes

I do love me some bigggg lashes and have no problem whatsoever with the huge amount of fake lashes being worn here. Asians tend to have shorter / stubbier lashes,  so no wonder the falsies are so popular here. It's not like you would ever see a celebrity without eyelash extensions or fake lashes so why should they / we keep it down? For myself, I mostly enjoy using just a few single hairs or half a fake lash on the outer corner of my eye to give that extra pop. I also don't really recommend them on a daily basis as they can cause eye irritations or for your natural lashes to fall out. But on certain occasions.. hell yeah. 

9. Nose clip

 "For your beautiful nose!", it says. At first sight, I am not sure what this is. My best bet is that it is, again, a device to shape your nose into a more desired, thinner, shape. It seems awfully uncomfortable to wear. They also remind me of the ones you can use when you go swimming and don't want water up your nose. I don't know man, I haven't seen a lot of big noses around here so they might actually work really good!

10. Sheet masks

Yes!! One of the things I always buy whenever I'm in Asia is their awesome sheet masks. I love using facial masks but I also love being lazy. The ones that are most readily available in Holland are a hassle. You have to get a little bowl to mix your (powdered) mask in and then use a brush or something to apply it, wait for it to dry (and you can't laugh / talk or it will break and spill all over you) and then wash your face again. Sheet masks to the rescue! They are a thin layer of fabric, shaped into a face, drenched in something good. You just stick them to your face, take them off after some time and you're done! 

As there is a LOT more to see in the drugstores.. I think I will upload a part 2 pretty soon :)

Stay tuned!