Soft as Petals: shu uemura Tsuya Skin
I attribute it to maturity --- this higher than usual emotional quotient. After all, after one whole day of devouring the contents of this blog from the beginning, in hopes of knowing where I had come from, understanding the changes I had gone through and deciding the tone of voice and its direction, I could see it had been different. Whereas I was a crazy person jumping on one skin care trend to one in the blink of an eye, I believe I've been more discerning over the last five years, more careful in what I ingest, what I put into my skin and what I share online.
It has been three weeks since I have been immersed in the promise of skin that's petal-soft, you won't be able to stop touching your skin {which is bad, really}. Aside from shu uemura's cleansing oils, the Tsuya Skin and Underbase is the first of its skincare and its kind that I have ever tried and below is my verdict.
Tsuya in Japanese means 'ideal,' a word that's often mangled according to what one wants to believe. Thankfully, shu uemura conducted research {I am loving research lately, IDK why}, and found that among 5,000 Asian women, these were the parameters that constitute ideal skin: smoothness, porelessness, translucence, an even tone, a fine texture and good skin color.
When I think of all those, I remember my Japanese classmate in yoga, Mariko, and how I would get distracted with her skin, which especially glows when she's upside down on a hand stand. I only know so few Japanese women but every single one of them has amazing skin {show me a Japanese, Chinese or Korean woman who has blemishes or acne and I'll let you pinch me} so Mr. Uemura must've been right when he started his brand after all. Not that I ever doubted him, ever.
It was imperative I try it. What makes it different, this Tsuya skin? Branded as youth switch activator, Tsuya skin boasts of a receptor called Rhamnose receptor which taps into skin to signal its self-regeneration and metabolism. Being almost 27, I am beginning to see why women are becoming vainer and vainer --- the skin gets drier and duller over time.
Rhamnose Receptor, according to shu uemura's dossier {a pile of documents I studied very carefully before posting this}, is said to be inspired by a Japanese flower called Enju.
How was the experience?
shu uemura's Nadia and Karen explained that to use Tsuya skin was like applying a booster to your daily skincare. In my case, I had been religiously using Obagi's Clenziderm line for a month now. You can tell I am breaking out and on medication and haven't been really moisturizing because my skin is too oily. They say that Tsuya boosts whatever product it is that is in your face and the first time I slathered a little bit of the iridescent concoction, I was affirmed yet again that it is such a joy to be experiencing luxury skincare products like Tsuya skin and that no matter how long I've been doing all these,it doesn't really get old.
The bottle, the milky, iridescent substance spelled luxe.
The Good:
- Instant effect. And when I say instant, I slept with this on, on top of my Clenziderm Therapy Lotion and Celeteque Gel Moisturizer and I was amazed at the glowing effect the next morning I didn't want to take shower immediately.
- The scent and the feel is simply divine. One can tell this is not your run of the mill serums in the market. It smells of perfection, like rose petals crushed with peaches. In my head, this is a Japanese woman walking down the Tokyo district with a cup of green tea in hand.
- You only need a pinch. The first time I used it, I was too squeeze-happy I ended up having more in my fingers than I needed so I spread it onto my neck and collarbone. As it turns out, the serum is potent and very little is needed even for a big-square-area like my face.
- Three weeks and counting and my face is still affected by its awesomeness.A softer glow and porelessness is what I achieved, however this is most visible only on my forehead. The rest of my face is still experiencing acne from my messed up hormones but my forehead is darn perfection.
- Comparable to two serums I have tried in the past, Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate and L'oreal White Perfect Radiance Boosting Essence, and one I've yet to use, L'oreal Youth Code Essence, Tsuya skin delivered a boosting performance every day that I've injected it onto my skincare routine, making it a viable competition to the serums I've mentioned above.
- No allergies, no rashes, no tightness.
- The glass bottle is a nice touch --- I really hate it when things come in plastic.
The Not so good:
- The Tsuya skin youth generator is not meant to eradicate acne marks or pimple scars so if you have all these, expect them to still be there if you aren't doing anything else. Then again, it didn't promise that.
- No SPF whatsoever.
- Luxury priced at Php 3,250 a bottle. As always, remember that you get what you pay for.
- At the risk of being called biased, I would like to say that is a perfect little bottle of beauty. I'd gladly skip a few massages to be able to afford this.
Overall Recommendation:
Tsuya Skin youth generator is an add on, a fairy dust, if you may --- it means it's not a basic necessity to your skincare. Heck, if you're oily-skinned, my derma says to just skip the moisturizer. I know most women has very little skin problems, some of the women I know and interact with on a daily basis are blessed to have done nothing special on their skin and yet glow like crazy. You don't need to get it if you glow already but if you think you've been having dry, dull skin, this just might be able to salvage that. Remember to do a little testing first before indulging but as I've known shu uemura for a while, and nothing among their line is allergy-inducing at all.
That's my skin after two weeks of religious usage. Good luck!
Here's an awkward, oily me for my outfit of the night:
Dress: Forever 21 Bag: H&M Accessories: Apostrophe Shoes: SM Parisian Shoes
Have you experienced Tsuya skin? What's ideal skin for you? Share with me on the comments section!
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xx