I am not one of those beauty girls that would go crazy about MAC and Nars, because and simply I am a student and no matter how you try to justify these purchases, I cannot. I believe the products are of a high quality and honestly, I would love to try them, but since it is just not happening #crieshereyesout, I challenge myself in looking to different sources of fashion/beauty products. Lately, I got trully fascinated and immensely intrigued by Asian cosmetic brands (read Korean, Japanese, Chinese etc) 


I have basically no experience (yet!) with these brands, but they seriously caught my attention, hence I have done some research around which I would like to share with you.
So far, I will talk about a few brands that I came across and I am considering purchasing some of their products. If any of you are familiar with these or with any other Asian brands, please share them with me, because I can feel that this quest will be all about 'hit & miss', as there is just limited information on these brands and their products in English.



Shiseido is probably one of the most profound Asian cosmetic brands. According to their official UK website, the company was created in 1872 by a pharmacist for a Japanese navy and Shiseido became the first western style pharmacy in Japan. 19th century was a century of modernisation of Japanese culture, and because the culture was originally created on strong traditional values, the final outcome could be seen as quality of tradition with a bit of western twist. And this is what I would say that Shiseido represents. Shiseido for instance came up with first generation of powders, and because of the high quality of technology and developement and knowledge gained overseas, they continued to reach perfection. The products range from skincare to make-up, but Shiseido also offers fragrances and suncare.


My only experience with Shiseido is their Naturgo face masks, which are honestly the best face masks in the world, I cannot praise them enough. I will soon pop up a review on them, because they have become an essential part of my skin routine (even my boy keeps stealing them from me! #notevenjokinghaha). I have never seen such a quality face mask and I am intrigued what the rest of products would be like #highhopes. Not even mentioning the sophisticated design and packaging, just breathtaking. However, Shiseido is on the pricey side of the Asian family and unless you get your products off cheaper e-shops (try to search via e-bay), you can get them from a counter in a House of Fraser or a number of Debenhams branches, where the prices are well, pretty steep (a lipstick around £20).  




Another very appealing brand is the Korean Etude House. Their official website is only accessible in Korean and Japanese, therefore it is very hard to find information about this company. Nevertheless, the Etude House became known in Europe/US mainly because of their BB creams. Probably the main differentiating factor of this brand is its promotion and packaging. Here is a commercial to illustrate what I just said:  

      

The range of cosmetics is as usual, skin care and make up, however the packaging is like no other one. Everything is packed with attention to the smallest detail, just to make it all cute and girly. My eye personally got intrigued by the following beauties: 


You can spot a hand cream looking like a panda bear, pink lash serum with dogwood berry extract, black head oil off ex cleanser and lip perfume! How adorable are they? And the idea of a lip perfume? Or an oil that gets rid of your black heads? Genius! Haven't got any experience so far, but mite get some of these pretties soon! Plus, the prices are not that bad in the e-shop (up to £10 each)



The first time I heard about Majolica Majorca was in one of the make-up videos of Missglamorazzi. I could not find much information (again!) but I have a feeling that it is a sub-line of Japanese Shiseido targeting younger age group. Their website is available for a few Asian countries (Malaysia, Hong Kong etc) and it is just beautiful! Apparently, the themes are inspired by fairy tailes (which would explain all the star dust and sparkle floating around the website) and absolutely amazing packaging! Look for yourself! Me, personally, is eyeing the mascara #yummi. 




   

The last brand I would like to mention is Korean Tony Moly. According to their official website, the company was established only in 2006, but it has become widely known for its stylish and creative design in skin care. And by creative, I mean CREATIVE! Look at these:


Arent't they just adorable? Have been eyeing these on e-bay for ages as well. As I said, they offer skin care, so face masks and lotions, creams, etc and they all have this cute cute packaging. Have no idea about the quality, but as soon as I get my hand on some products, I make a detailed review #pinkiepromise.


There are of course more brands which look totally amazing and I would love to try them. These are for instance Skin Food, The Face Shop or Skin79 (again, everyone surely knows Skin79 BB cream). Most of them I would get online off e-bay e-shops (you have to be careful, because there are loads and loads of non-genuine products from China etc, so try to select only top e-bayers with positive reviews!), otherwise it is really hard to get your hands on them (I am sure though that some beauty e-shops sell a few products as well).  

To sum up it, Asian brands seem extremely appealing to me, not only regarding cosmetics, but also fashion. But that will be another post some time later. Has any of you any experience with these brands? Anyone knows about other fascinating brands? Please comment below!