In the pursuit of eternal beauty, what could rival the plastic surgeon’s reassuringly artificial touch? Ask any Japanese woman and she’ll likely tell you there’s a less drastic way to achieve flawless skin. And if the clear, alabaster skin of many Japanese women is anything to go by, there must be a grain of truth in the Far Eastern approach to skin care.

Eager to capitalize on powerful Japanese beauty secrets, the Western world is catching on. This season, a generous lineup of new products with Japanese associations has surfaced. Fresh‘s new line, Memoirs of a Geisha, is perhaps the most obvious nod to the rich Japanese beauty heritage. The range offers everything from sake bath to simple but effective make-up palettes. These new additions nicely complement Fresh’s established range of Japanese-inspired products. A trusted favorite is the Rice Face Wash, a formula that draws on the ancient discovery that elderly Japanese women working in rice farms were blessed with unbelievable soft and wrinkle-free hands. Origins, another brand always at the forefront of new beauty trends, has come up with A Perfect World — a range of products with white tea as the core ingredient. Promising to detox your skin while you sleep, the night mask is notable; also claiming to work minor miracles is the White Tea Skin Guardian. The Eastern trend continues with Evisu Spa’s selection of beautifully packaged items — including the Rock Body Wash Deluxe — and Red Flower Japan‘s new, intoxicatingly fragrant soaps.

RMK is a Japanese beauty leader currently breaking through in the European market. One of the brand’s signature products, the Skin Tuner, is a moisturizer that resembles fine olive oil rather than conventional face cream. The prospect of covering your skin in an oil-like liquid might be off-putting, but the result is actually refreshing.

It takes more than ingredients to achieve optimal results from these products. How they are applied is just as important — if not more so. A quick slathering-on before going to bed wouldn’t enter a Japanese woman’s mind. She’s more likely to energize her skin carefully by massaging it according to the ancient gen-ki method. Here, a range of tsubo points is targeted to fight the signs of skin aging. Thanks to the sophisticated beauty brand SK-11, Western women can now get their fair share of some authentic gen-ki pampering. In conjunction with the launch of the new Advanced Signs Treatment line, SK-11 has invented a facial that utilizes the five tsubo points that, when targeted, give tired skin a wake-up call. To get the hang of how to carry out the massage at home, each pot of cream comes with a leaflet offering a step-by-step guide on how to go about the process. It may seem tedious at first, but just like flossing, it pays off once it’s become a habit rather than a burden. Achieving the looks of a geisha might be easier than you think.

-Emma Holmqvist

Photos:
Fresh Memoirs of a Geisha
Origins A Perfect World
RMK Skin Tuner
4-5 SK II