Review: Aqualabel White AC Emulsion

Aqualabel White AC Emulsion

Aqualabel is another one of the many subsidiaries of Shiseido. I’ve had good luck with most of their products before so I was surprised when I tried this product and it really didn’t live up to my standards.

What it claims (from Aqualabel.com.cn translated from Chinese): A whitening emulsion that prevents adult acne, predicts growth of adult acne, eliminates blemishes, and changes the skin’s fatty layer.

Damage: I got this as a sample from when I bought my Aqualabel cleansing oil (which I love and will be reviewing soon). You can buy this at Aqualabel counters in Asia for around $13-20CAD for 130mL.

Instructions: Emulsions in Asia are like a light cream, thick lotion (lotions in Asia are like toners but with additional benefits). You would apply this in the place of your moisturizer, or as an added level of moisture you can apply it underneath your usual moisturizer. Because they are lighter, they might not offer the same level of moisture as your cream so this is probably more suitable for oily skin or as your summer moisturizer.

Aqualabel White AC Emulsion

The good: I feel that this is even lighter than the ZA emulsion that I am using, and absorbs quicker. It does not feel greasy at all, yet very watery. It gives a good amount of moisture that may be enough for summer if you have normal to oily skin.

• Light
• Non-greasy

The bad: Because it is so watery, its not enough for my dehydrated skin. While it does absorb quickly, it makes me feel like I didn’t apply anything even though I applied the entire amount you see in the picture above on my face. I brought this along on my trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen, so needless to say my skin was dry and peeling the entire time even though it was humid outside. Also, one thing I cannot stand is the smell. It smells like a batch of chemicals. I can understand if they are trying to do the “fragrance-free” thing, but I think this is just plain lazy.

• Not enough moisture for my skin (dehydrated combo)
• Smells like chemicals

Overall: If you have very oily skin or have no problem with moisture and don’t mind a little chemical smell, I would recommend this to you. Otherwise, I would suggest you look into the moisture line (red bottles) of Aqualabel.

Product: 2/10

Packaging: 3.5/5

Value: 2/5

Ease of Use: 3/5

Overall: 10.5/25 | 42% | F | ❤

Repurchase? No, I would consider trying the emulsion from the moisture line though.

Tousle me softly ❤ Review of Shiseido Tsubaki Golden Repair

I’m very lazy when it comes to my hair, as long as its clean and healthy, I’m happy. I don’t regularly style my hair, just giving a good brush through before I head out the door, or putting it in a simple ponytail. I do, however, dye my hair a few times a year. This makes my hair very dry, as you can imagine, and if I don’t take proper regular care of it, split ends will usually start popping up pretty quickly.

Because of this, I try not to wash my hair very often. I know some people who wash their hair every day, or even once every other day. I used to wash it once every other day, but then I decided that even every other day was harmful to my hair, especially when it didn’t need to be washed. So now, I wash my hair whenever I feel that it should get a good wash through; usually that is once every 4-5 days. Yes it may sound not very appealing, but I feel that this is the best for my hair and to prevent stripping. Also, I have normal to dry hair. If you have an oily scalp, do NOT try this or else it will get quite messy.

I look for three things in my haircare products:

1. Cleans well
2. No buildup
3. Moisturizing

I’ve been using Pantene for as long as I remember, and then when I started dying my hair from once a year to two to three times a year, I found that the Pantene formula just didn’t do it for me. Also, I found that Pantene creates a LOT of buildup on your hair, making you wash it more often than needed. So this summer, I discovered Shiseido Tsubaki.

Shiseido Tsubaki comes in two different formulas, the red one is for normal, everyday care, and the white one – Golden Repair – is for dried, damaged hair. Tsubaki is basically Japanese for camellia, which is a type of flower (its also one of the symbols for Chanel, but that’s another story). From what I understand, the oil from the camellia flower is in the shampoo and conditioner formulas, which is what makes it so awesome.

Because I wanted to treat my dye-damaged hair, I purchased the Golden Repair version. I bought it in a set that included the 550 mL shampoo, 550 mL conditioner, and a 200 g treatment cream; all of it for $32.99 CAD + tax from T&T. About a few washes into using this, I noticed a few differences from my generic Pantene hair products:

1. It made my hair SUPER soft, like very lightweight, very easy to style
2. There is pretty much no buildup
3. I didn’t have to wash my hair as often because of the no buildup, so I can last up to a week with this stuff without washing

What can I say? I LOVE it. It made both my hair and my scalp super healthy, and I felt like my hair can then withstand a few more dyes. Also because I didn’t have to wash my hair as often, I didn’t go through the bottle as fast. The pump that comes with the bottles dispenses a good amount of product, I use about a pump to a pump and a half for my hair which is super thick and goes down to the middle of my back.

I use the shampoo and conditioner every time I wash, and I use the treatment cream about every other time. I found that because the shampoo and conditioner already did such a good job at keeping my hair healthy, I didn’t need to use the treatment cream as much. Also because I don’t know how to read Japanese anymore, I don’t even know if I’m using the treatment cream correctly, so I don’t want to waste it, haha.

Anyways, I definitely recommend the entire Shiseido Tsubaki line to anyone who is looking for beautiful hair. Fellow bloggers Pink and Eki have both recommended this, and I’ve never actually seen or heard a negative review about it.

Sadly, this is not available at drugstores yet, so you’ll have to make do and buy it from your local Japanese supermarket, or Sasa.com. I don’t recommend buying it off eBay because they are very heavy and so the seller will charge tons for shipping. They costs around $15-20 for the large 550 mL bottles (shampoo and conditioner), and around $20-30 for the treatment creams and masks, unless you are like me and found it in a nice set.