Kose Skincare

In my opinion all washing powders are more or less alike, Fancl or even those papaya enzyme powders. Kose's Sekkisei Powder Wash is scentless as well, and cleans so well it leaves the skin taut.

Personally, I don't fancy washing powders as I prefer my cleansing routine to be aromatherapeutic. That's why I have more than five different cleansers alone on my vanity top, including John Master's Rose Foaming Face Wash, Perfect Potion's Neroli Face Cleansing Gel, Anna Sui's Cleanser White (artificially rose-scented), Kenzoki's Chilly Foaming Cleanser (muted floral), and Burt's Bees Soap Bark and Camomile Deep Cleansing Cream (minty). I like to have a variety of choices, and what I use that morning depends on the mood I'm in.

I bought the Junkisui Refreshing Lotion, hoping it would clear my skin up. This has the typical scent of most Kose products. A slightly minty herbal scent which is a little plasticky, but maybe that's just me. It contains cnidium officinale root extract which is an antioxidant, sodium hyaluronate and glycerin which are hydrates, poeny extract and menthol. It cleans well when used as a toner and hydrates well as a lotion.


The Sekkisei Herbal Esthetic Mask is the product I like best among the few mentioned here. It does not have the typical Kose scent, but smells like baby powder. It is to be spread onto the skin like a mask, massaged in for a couple of minutes, and then washed off. Despite my doubts, I did notice an immediate whitening effect, though like most products that provide instant whitening, the effect does not last. If adding another minute or two to your daily cleansing routine isn't too much of a trouble, this would be a rather good product to have.

I got the Sekisho Exfoliating Masssge Gel not knowing what it actually was - a scrub, an AHA product, or something similar to Ginvera Marvel Gel. I would have to say it's none of the above. You use it as you would a face scrub, except that there's hardly any scrub particles in it. Whatever particles you do feel are rather similar to jojoba beads, but they dissolve rather quickly as you massage the gel in. In a minute or under, the gel turns from dark blue to grey, and you wash it off. No, it doesn't remove makeup, but I would have to say it leaves my skin feeling smooth, almost as if I had used a cleansing oil, but without the mess! That's probably why even though this has the typical Kose scent which I'm not fond of, I'd probably carry on using it.

The Kose Mask White looks exactly like the Exfoliating Massage Gel- hence I did not include a picture- both in terms of packaging and content. The Mask White has gotten raves for removing blackheads and whiteheads but I personally feel that Biore Pore Pack works much better for me. The Mask White is still great for the contours of the face though, which wouldn't take well to the pore pack, for example the area between the eyes.