Yeah you were all waiting for this, weren’t you! 😛

Personally, I didn’t think I went completely overboard with makeup shopping. For one thing, I was supremely worried about wandering around Tokyo at night by myself to go shopping. Why I had to go shopping in the evenings was because my days were filled with sightseeing! And then, by the evening, I was so tired from walking around all day, I didn’t spend too much time shopping.  Also, I was shopping rather critically: lots of Japanese makeup is super sparkly and sheer. If it wasn’t something I’d truly use, I passed on it – so that left me with a more narrow band of items I’d spend my money on (not to mention, haul home).  Here’s what I got:

CANMAKE

• Marshmallow Finish Powder in MO Matte Ochre and MB Matte Beige Ochre
• Cream Cheek in #05 Sweet Apricot and #14 Apple Cream Red (I swear I had another shade in my basket but it didn’t make it home with me!)
• Gokubuto mascara (volumizing)
• Gokunobi mascara (lengthening)
• Colourful Nails polish in #33 Pink Glitter
• Lasting Multi Eyebase WP (eye shadow primer)
I had some ideas of brands I’d want to look at when I was in Japan. I originally glossed over Canmake as being too girly for me. But it turns out their products are quite well reviewed and very reasonably priced! I ended up researching a lot on @cosme awards (which seems to be the Japanese makeup Bible) to find out which items to try and several of these were award winners. I do wish I’d gotten more cheek products – they have so many cute ones to choose from.

Cezanne

• Silk Touch Cheek in 02 Coral
• Toneup Eye Shadow in 02 Rose-brown
Another cheap and cheerful brand, I’d never heard of it but the products felt so buttery and decently pigmented, I had to pick up a couple of items to try out.

KATE

• Lash Maximizer Eyelash Plus (mascara base)
• Brown Shade eyes palette in BR-3 Sepia
• Rouge HG lipstick in BE-33
This brand is an old favourite of mine – I’d bought some stuff in Hong Kong before and continued to ordered items online. This time I was a bit more choosy and only picked up 3 things based on good reviews online.

InteGrate

• Cat Look Liquid Liner in BR660 brown and BK999 black
• Lash Real Glamour Mascara + free lash curler
• Pure Big Eyes palette in OR334
• Designing Veil palette in Bronze
One of my new favourite Japanese brands! So many great items in the line, I could hardly decide. It’s the perfect mix of whimsy while still being classy.  It’s a sub-brand of Shiseido and the quality reflects it.

Excel

• Skinny Rich Shadow palette in SR04 Smoky Brown
• Gradation Cheek N in GC05 Apple Red
• Powder and Pencil Eyebrow in PD01 Natural Brown
I’d never heard of this brand and I was completely enamoured by their wearable eye shadow quads – they were the least shimmery of the ones I encountered (but I limited myself to just one to try out first). The brow pencil won an @cosme award. I’ve since learned that is a sub-brand of Sana. I’m interested in exploring more from this brand.

Majolica Majorca

• Shadow Customize in BE286 and GD822
• Puff de Cheek in PK 302 Strawberry Mix
• Lash King mascara in BK999
Another sub-brand of Shiseido that I love. I’ve had exposure to this brand when I bought some items in Hong Kong. picked up a few items including the cutest little blush!

MUJI

• 4 Color Eye palette in Plum
• Highlight Color in Lavender
• Cheek Color in Rose, Pink, and Orange
• Lip liner in Rose
• Loose Powder refill in Natural
I went to Muji specifically to check out their makeup since we do have a Muji store here, but they don’t carry cosmetics. The products are very reasonably priced, if not a little basic. But I guess it fits in with Muji’s image quite well! I found the concept of the loose powder refill in a pouch really neat, so I had to pick it up – plus, the powder felt so silky when I tested it in the store.

Heroine Make

• Long and Curl Super Waterproof mascara
• Volume and Curl Super Waterproof mascara
I’ve only ever used their liquid liners (which I love) but I’ve heard their mascaras are great too so I picked up both kinds to try.

K-Palette

• Real Lasting Eyeliner 24hr WP in Deep Brown and Brown Black
• 1-Day Magic 3D Palette 01
I could not resist the limited edition Alice in Wonderland packaging on the liners! I’ve used K-Palette liners before and I really like them (in fact, I have one open now, in Deep Brown, but in the regular packaging). The blush / contour palette was not a cheap item so I’m hoping it delivers on its promise of “smaller and defined face” 😆

Esprique

• Customizable eye shadow palette with free refill in PU 100 Misty Purple
• Select Eye Color refills in: BE 303 Mauve Brown and PU 102 Royal Purple
I feared I’d not get my hands on anything from this brand even though I vowed to try at least one thing from it when I was preparing my Japan shopping list. When I finally spotted this brand, I was so impressed with the swatches of these shadows I had to buy them – the purple is a stunner.

MAQuillAGE

• Dramatic Powdery UV Foundation SPF 25 PA++ in OC 10 and corresponding Compact Case DM
• Glossy Nail Colour in RD 747

• Dramatic Mood Veil blush in RD 100 Coral Red
• Dramatic Mood Eyes palette in BE 352 Invisible Wink
• Dramatic Melting Rouge lipstick in BE 322
I had my makeup done at this counter – I’ll write about my experience in more depth in another post. Needless to say, the visit was a fruitful one judging by how many items I picked up! 😛 Oh, and you wouldn’t be surprised to learn this is yet another Shiseido sub-brand.

Daiso

• Sponge cleanser
• Brow pencils – these are made in Korea
• Reusable Silicone Sheet Masks
My favourite dollar store! I hit up a couple of Daisos but I restrained myself.  That silicone face mask won an @cosme award and it’s been raved about online. And I had to pick up another of my favourite sponge cleanser!

mfc (my featuring colors)

• W Color Eyes PK-1
• Blend Color Blush in PK-1
Toward the end of the trip, I was desperate to pick up more makeup that were completely unknown to me. And what better place to buy makeup than at a convenient store? 😆 I got these from FamilyMart which is similar to 7-Eleven and Lawson. Convenient stores in Japan are so awesome. Anyway, back to this brand, it’s apparently a sub-brand of Kanebo. I hope it’s decent quality – there were no testers at the store and I bought purely based on cuteness factor.

Yojiya

• Facial cleansing sponge
• Oil-blotting Facial Paper
• Hand cream
• Facial cotton

• Ebony handle round squirrel eye shadow brush
• Ebony handle “Chikuresu” squirrel blush brush
• Mini mirror
I’ll devote an entry on this brand so I won’t say much except that this was a surprise find in Kyoto and I’m so happy to have discovered it. 🙂

ADDICTION

• Eye shadow palette with refills in: 21 Love Affair (P), 81 Londolozi (M), 69 Flash Back (P), 94 Shangri-La (ME)
• Nail polish in #038 Complex
I was so thrilled to finally come face to face with this brand! I’d call it the Japanese equivalent to Nars – the all black minimalist packaging and the quality / pricing all remind me of Nars. I had to really restrain myself from buying more stuff there. It was bad enough that I didn’t just buy the one eye shadow as I’d planned. What can I say, I’m a sucker for customizable palettes and nail polishes. 😉

Lunasol

• Three-dimensional Eyes palette in #01 Neutral Beige
I’d been wanting to visit a Lunasol counter during my Tokyo stay but never got a chance (I still suspect my SO kept me so busy during the day that I’d be too tired to shop at night!) I finally got a chance at the duty-free shop at the airport, just before I boarded my flight home. I was in a rush and their selection of eye shadow palettes is vast (I’m not kidding, I count 17 types of palettes that Lunasol offers, never mind the colour selections within each). I’m still unsure if I chose well.

THREE

• Balancing Cleansing Oil
I wasn’t planning on getting anything at the THREE counter but I was curious about the oil since it’s their #1 product. It’s about $50 for this bottle! It better make me look like a Japanese soap opera star!

Oshima Tsubaki Camellia Oil

I’ve seen this product recommended as something to try from Japan and I saw it at the airport duty-free, so I decided to try it for a face and / or hair oil.

Sunscreens:

• Allie UV Mineral Moist NEO SPF 50+ PA++++
• Anessa Perfect UV Aqua Booster SPF 50+ PA++++
Despite the abundant selection of sunscreens, I restrained myself to just 2, since I’d recently opened one up, I didn’t want these to expire before I get to use them.

Misc. Skincare:

• Kose Clear Turn Babyish sheet mask (7 in resealable pack)
• random blotting papers
I wasn’t going to get any but I was quite amused at the idea of ¥300 ($3.60 CAD) for 7 sheet masks so I got a pack. I went a bit nuts and picked up blotting sheets everywhere I saw them at a reasonable price.

Accessories:

• Greenbell Paragon of Shining Girls Eyelash Comb – I had to buy this for the name alone!
• Chasty Natural Type Metallic Mascara Comb 0.74mm – there was another kind that had teeth 1.2mm apart meant for volume type mascaras. Only in Japan you’d get options for mascara comb spacing!
• Chasty Shiny Slide brush – this felt super soft and made of natural hairs which is hard to find in a retractable brush
• MAQuillAGE Edge Free Eyelash Curler – I already own this (was my HG lash curler before the Surratt came along!) but it was ordered off ebay and it came in a different packaging, so I’m curious if this is the same.

• Chasty Make Brush Collection – also natural hair bristles (the Google Translate app keeps showing “mountain wool” which I’m thinking is goat hairs)
• Tesshyu Collection Eye Shadow Brush L – found this at a drugstore although it wasn’t cheap ($28 CAD). I just learned from searching online that it’s a sub-brand of Chikuhodo.
• Shiseido MAKE Chouetools Face Brush (M) for Cheek – I’ve never heard of this but curiosity got the better of me and I bought it. I’m guessing it’s a cheaper brand of Shiseido just for accessories. Again, although I got it at a drugstore, it wasn’t exactly cheap ($36 CAD)

• Shiseido The Makeup Powder Brush – I’d wanted this brush ever since reading about how good the quality is, and I was super sad that Shiseido does not offer its brushes in Canada. This brush is SO soft and silky! And it’s made in Japan. 🙂
• Shiseido The Makeup Eye Shadow Brush (S) – and who just buys ONE brush at the makeup counter? No one, that’s who.
Save for the Shiseido The Makeup brushes, these were all random drugstore pick ups. I noted lots of the less expensive accessories were typically made in China or Taiwan so I focused on only items that were made in Japan.

Random Makeup Items:

• Palgantong Theatrical Powder in OB Original Beige – I spotted the Palgantong powder at Matsumoto KiYoshi drugstore for a decent price – and even though it’s a Korean-made product, it’s something I’d heard great things about so I decided to pick it up on a whim.
• Integrate Gracy White Pact SPF26 PA+++ in OC10 – I’m not entirely sure why there’s an InteGrate and an Integrate Gracy. They’re distinctly different Shiseido sub-brands with completely different packaging and pricing. Gracy is the dull cousin to the flirty InteGrate brand, in my opinion. It is also less expensive. I heard the compact foundation is good, and for less than $20, I was willing to take a chance.
• Media Gradation Color Eyeshadow in BR-03 – to me, the Media and Integrate Gracy line-up look really similar. But Media is a little bit less dull. The swatches of this one is a little sheer but really pretty for a subtle look.  This is a Kanebo sub-brand.

• Chu Lip Balm in Sweet Pink SPF22 – this is the Japanese version of eos! I was impressed with the high SPF, I hope it doesn’t taste like chemicals. Oh and it’s also tinted.
• Ettusais Lash Version Up mascara base – this won an @cosme award and wasn’t too expensive – it features a comb wand rather than the traditional bristles, so we’ll see it works.

Some of the pretties lined up:

Whew… and despite all that, there were a few items I wished I had picked up:

• Visee Glossy Rich Eyes quad in PK3 Burgundy Red – I couldn’t decide on the colour and by the time I was ready to buy, I couldn’t find a Visee display!
• Ettusais Premium Perfect Clear Up Concealer – loved the silky texture of this and the coverage was exceptional, but the store was sold out of it, and I couldn’t find it elsewhere
• MSH Loveliner – this was advertised everywhere as the top selling liquid liner in Japan, I debated about buying it since it was more expensive than other ones – by the time I decided I wanted to buy it, I couldn’t find it!
• Hakuhodo brushes – ugh, this is still a sore subject with me! I had the opportunity to go to either the Kyoto or the Tokyo Hakuhodo stores but I did not manage to get to either of them. I will explain in more detail in my Yojiya post. At least I can order Hakuhodo brushes online… but still, not experiencing the Hakuhodo store in person makes me 😥
I’m planning on buying the Visee and Ettusais items online soon as a treat for myself for my birthday next month. 😉

Next week I’ll show pictures of the stores and makeup displays! And I’ll share some tips about shopping for Japanese makeup. 🙂 You’ll be seeing reviews and swatches of these products in the months to come. Have you tried any of the items I got?