2011-07-18

Shiseido Hada-Senka Moisturising Cream Lotion review

Shiseido Hada-Senka line was released in 2010, it's sort of just priced around drugstore brand, if not maybe a mere 10-15% higher, but boosts quality to be very similar to department store brands.  ( RRP is around 1900 yen which is 20-25USD? It's a 200ml pink flip-top bottle, the plastic bottle is not completely hard so you just tip it over and squeeze to get the right quantity.

The English name is non existent on the bottle, both the brand name or the product name- which is fairly rare for Shiseido I thought. However on the back of the bottle it says Shiseido Hada Senka .com so that's how I figured out the English name for this line.

It comes in 2 versions, normal and rich (rich being more moisturising). The pink cap one is the rich version.

A few places also translate it as 'light' version vs 'moist' version. Same thing. I'm reviewing the moist version (aka rich version).

Basically this is a hydrating/ moisturising toner.  Also boasted to be able to be used as a moisturiser on its own.
You can see it is not a runny lotion like how you'd imagine a toner to be- instead it's like a liquid gel that melts slightly on contact with the skin, but it more feels like applying a runny GEL moisturising on the skin.




Massaged in: you can see it leaves a moisturising layer on the skin. It sinks in completely after 30 seconds, despite slight stickyness when still damp.

 Overall I use this as a toner (it does seem to also help remove last trace of makeup, but it's not abrasive). It seems to provide extra moisture for whatever skincare you apply following this. It supplements my other face serums quite well, as I generally cannot use much liquid or cream moisturisers without getting congested skin.

On its own being a moisturiser it's slightly weak. Not enough for Australian dry winter. However underneath other moisturisers it does help to supplement that extra boost of moisture (as the active ingredients are hyaluronic acid and royal jelly).

It readily sinks in after about 30-40 seconds on the skin though. So you can either apply your other moisturiser while this is still a bit damp on the skin, or wait for the dampness to go away before applying other things.

I've tried applying with both cotton wool and just by hand, and both works fine. For extra dry skin days, I apply a layer by hand, massage in, follow with moisturiser, then the next day any peeling skin is gone.

Overall 5/5- This is definitely a very basic- but effective product. I believe in simplistic skincare if you could help it, this feels very non irritating and really does it job on the skin. Don't expect miracles like it will fix up your skin and make it radiant or whatever, it just does the very simple job as a supplemental moisturiser.

If you have any serums that you find is effective, but too drying on the skin on its own, try layering with this.

I understand why it's a Japanese drugstore best seller this year, thumbs up and will repurchase.

Here's the light version (on the left). In Japan they also sell 'refill' packs which you can refill the bottles with, pretty neat.

The moist version is on the right.


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