5 JAPANESE BEAUTY SECRETS

As you might know if you're a reader for a little while, I visited Japan five times. For a beauty addict like I am, this country is the bomb.com. In Japan, taking care of your skin is sacred. When you visit cosmetics stores, you'll be litteraly amazed by the number of creams, sheet masks and other weird gadgets dedicated to skin care. Not talking about all the super cute make up. Like, Two Faced isn't even a little cute comparing to some japanese and korean products. Here are a few skincare and makeup tips that japanese girls use on a daily basis. And believe me, women there just don't age. 

1. Sheet masks queens! When I was in Japan last time, I was living in the Korean neighborhood of Tokyo which means... Korean cosmetics shops EVERYWHERE. Korean cosmetics are well known for the cute designed products but also for the incredible number of sheet masks they create! I remember walking through a store where a whole wall was full of these. I tried some eye masks and got a few faces one too. You can chose among so many different scents, and they all have different properties. That kind of masks are really handy. You apply them and them just rince off quickly. And let's say they kinda save my life after a few wild clubbing nights. 

2. Don't go out without SPF - Oh god no. Japanese women love to keep their skin as white as possible. Basically it's a symbol of purity and beauty in Japan that most of the women still follow. Also, as you might now, exposing you skin to the sun with no protection will make you skin aged much quicker. You'll find many whitening creams in asian shops, but something that almost every japanese women do is applying SPF! And not a foundation with SPF, the real SPF. No matter the season, you'll find some in stores. 

3. Facial Yoga - I was quite surprised when a japanese friend talked me about ... facial sports. Mmmm ... It basically consist in kinda massaging your skin in a specific way that will exercice your face and kinda tonify your skin and jaw line. I tried it myself but since I am a lazy kind of thing, I stopped very quickly. But well ... I guess it works?

4. Remove your make up, clean your face remoisturize. The process of removing make up in Japan is so important. The little make up remover wipe and moisturizer are enough for you? Not in Japan. Some japanese women will apply up to 15 creams on their skin before going to bed and this ritual is really important. Oil based products are still quite popular in Asia when it's about removing makeup.

5. Makeup take time, a lot of time - So this one is not exactly a tip. More of a funny story. Last time I went to Tokyo, I got the opportunity to be model for a student in a very good makeup school. We were talking while she was doing my makeup and she asked me how long it took me to do my makeup. Can't imagine her surprise when I said twenty minutes. She was telling all of the students in her class like, oh my god she needs 20 minutes to do that, showing everyone a selfie of mine. It was a basic smockey eye + liner look. Just everyday makeup for me. She then told me that in Japan, makeup was taking a good 40 minutes, up to 2 hours (mostly for gyaru girls, they are japanese fashionistas, young women in their twenties who wear quite a lot of makeup ...) on a daily basis ... I mean who has 2 hours for makeup on the morning?