A few useful terms and my own regimen

When talking about japanese skin care, there are a lot of different names for things. Lotion, milk, cream, massage, sheet masks, gel masks, cream masks, all of these crazy things! Well, have no fear, Nik is here.

A few terms that may be a good addition to your dictionary:

Lotion - Toner

Massage - A serum, cream, or oil used in facial massage, which is popular in asia. I don't do it personally, but I'll probably learn someday.

Milk - A light moisturizing lotion.

Cream - a heavier moisturizer, used to seal in everything else you've got on your face.

Cleansing oil/cream - An oil or cream used to remove makeup. It can be used as the only cleanser, but is more often used with another, foaming cleanser afterwards.

Sheet mask - Usually a liquid or gel soaked paper or cloth shaped like a face. Unlike most american or european masks, the liquid is NOT washed off after. These are my FAVORITE types of masks, they absorb quickly, feel awesome, and have instant results as far as the look and feel of your skin goes.

Essence - A serum. It's usually paired with the words "brightening" or "whitening", but not always.


It isn't unheard of to use a cleansing oil, foaming cleanser, lotion, massage, serum, milk, and cream every night, plus a mask a couple of times a week. In fact, some skin care lines encourage it!

This is my personal skin care army as of right now:

Cleansing oil: I'm using DHC's oil right now, but I want to try the Fancl mild cleansing oil.
Cleanser: Shiseido Pure Whip
Lotion/Toner- this changes: I REALLY want to try Albion's Essential Skin Conditioner, but right now I'm using Fancl Lotion
Essence/Serum - I would give my left arm to try Shiseido's Haku2 melanofocus, but it's SUPER expensive. I use Estee Lauder Idealist or Olay Regenerist serum.
Milk - Fancl milky lotion
Cream - At the moment, it's Neutrogena. But soon, I'm going to try some DHC creams, see how they work for me!
Mask - I go through various Kanebo Hadabisei varieties - most often the whitening with vitamin C or the hydrating.
Scrub - When I need one (which is rare, but it happens) I'll use the olay microdermabrasion system.

Those are the things I use now, and I really love most of them!

DHC is available at DHC.com, Fancl at fancl.com (although I get it at my local store), and most other brands at bobodave.com, gooddealer.com, or adambeauty.com.