My flirtation with Shu Uemura (ß-G Range & cleansing oi
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free skin care · Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:13 am

Alrighty, time to follow up with my second purchase which brought me to the ß-G Treatments and cleansing oil.

I actually went back to buy another depsea water

for home use (Bergamot) and the half-size for my friend’s 13 year-old for Xmas (gotta start them young! Bad Grin

)... So, I go over to the skincare stand and was thinking of buying the nano-water and the Depsea gel cleanser.. and I was looking at the "green" colored cleansing oil, because I knew they sold it on JAL in-flight duty free and I was thinking of using a shopping coupon to buy it.

So, of course the sales girl cornered me... off she drags me for a hand cleansing with the oil and some moisture treatments. She asked what my skin concerns were and I said that since I was bout to turn 40 I was worried about getting wrinkles Laughing

. So we go through the "no way, you are NOT 39!" sales bull and she says rather than the depsea line I should look at the B-G line. (I was a cross between chuffed at her flattery on my youthfulness Very Happy

and mortified that it had come time to move into an "old fogey" skin range Shock

)

Long story short, I caved and ended up buying the half-size of the cleansing oil and a full size of the B-G Recharging Night Cream. I also walked off with two gift-with-purchase, one of which was a case housing 1/3 size bottles of the B-G Cosmetic Water and B-G Signs Preventing Essence as well as the sample tubes of the B-G Reinforcing Eye Cream and B-G Recharging Gel Cream.

The premise of the B-G range is:

Quote:

[Aging, pollution, environmental changes and irregular lifestyles all take a toll on the skin. Long known as a health supplement, ß-glucan - derived from bread yeast - helps strengthen the skin to defend skin against premature aging and loss of elasticity.]

So what did I think?
First let me say that when the full range was used together my face really did feel like it had a protective mask on (I mean that in a good way); thoroughly hydrated, but not greasy. That being said, I sincerely doubt I could use this range in summer as the whole thing was way too rich. Also, the pricing in Japan is OUTRAGEOUS compared to USA and therefore I would not purchase any of the items again (might reconsider if I was in the US though)

My thoughts:

ß-G Reinforcing Cosmetic Water $30 - I did not like this much... it really is a gel and I felt it put on too much of a barrier (I would not want to use it UNDER a vit. c serum for example - which is what the sales lady said I should do with my vit c). This would be great on very dry, dehydrated or mature skin.

ACE b-G Signs Preventing Essence $60 - a very nice, light and milky serum. If it were not for the horrendous price tag in Japan I might even consider a full size as a moisturizer for summer. I used this over my Cellex-C 17.5% and Hydra serum. Even though it was into winter, I got enough day moisture out of it (but in the super dry office sometimes I needed a bit more)

ß-G Reinforcing Gel Cream $50 - I only had the sample tube of this but it was really nice, very similar texture to the Depsea formula and felt good over the cosmetic water and essence (and more than enough moisture)

ß-G Recharging Night Cream $55 - I am torn on this... it is damned expensive here, and whilst it is not a "wow" cream, it is really very good. My skin is kept moist and hydrated, yet not greasy. It has an odd, but somehow pleasing fragrance. I might come back to this next winter, but I definitely could not use in summer. At night I use it over my L'occitane Immortelle Elixir and for the last week or so I put it over my Vit.C and hydra B5 during the day. According to the Shu Uemura site this cream [contains Advanced Night Lipids for a night-mask effect. Overnight, skin becomes soft, smooth and supple. Day by day, skin is more resilient against premature aging.]

ß-G Reinforcing Eye Cream $40 - again I had the sample tube, but for the size I reckon there is a couple weeks worth in it. I only tried this a couple of times as wanted to keep it for traveling and I had just gotten my Kinerase eye cream. The texture is very nice (reminds me of the kinerase one actually) and did not give any puffiness, even though I tried it at night too.

Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium AO (bloody expensive, green color, not sold in USA) - I have used half this and I swear I think it gave me spots. I had a hard time with my skin from end of DEC to mid Jan with red spots (kinda half pimples.. LOL) - I was just more spotty than usual and I put it down to Aussie humidity at Xmas but I am sure it is the oil. I stopped using it because when I checked the ingredients (went back tot he store to read the box of the big size) I found it contained Myristrate (I forget how to spell that) but that is the ONE ingredient I avoid like the plague because it is a well documented pore clogger. The mineral oil content did not bother me so much, just the myristate.

My skin has cleared up beautifully since I stopped using it and whilst it was nice to use (thought a runny oil is a bit messy), had no offensive smell, washed off easily and left nice soft skin, I would not use it again as a regular cleanser. I mean I did not have a mass breakout or acne, but enough spots to ruin my complexion. I use it now only before I am about to do a scrub or microdermabrasion. Eve Lom is hands down better for deep cleansing.

free skin care · Wed Feb 08, 2006 8:47 pm

I was interested in the line after Faith Hill said in one of the magazines that her favorite skincare was the Shu BG line. Thanks for the review, the night cream is one of the products she mentioned.

Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:40 pm

The only Shu skincare product I have tried so far is the Massage Refiner. This is actually a very nice light glue scrub with white scrubby particles in it. It reminded me of PTR Botanical Buffing Beads but the scrubby granules feel more harsh (though they are fine, they just feel more "firm" I guess) and you don't get the same feeling of a face massage as you do with the PTR. Still, it was a very good scrub.

I have always wanted to buy the Shu cleansing oil but after reading your review I don't think I'll be going there Smile

Especially not at Australian prices (btw, I thought Japan would be CHEAPER than USA. Very weird!). Besides, I quite like the Babor two-phase cleansing oil so I think that might be the way to go next time, but I still have plenty of my Decleor cleansing oil left (the Babor is better though).

free skin care · Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:53 pm

some of the stuff in Japan is cheaper....

the depsea water sells for US$17.40 on current exchange (compared to $22 in USA)

eye lash curlers are only about $8.50 here ($18 or so in USA?)

BUT other than that you are looking at 30-50% more than US pricing!

The Signs Preventing Essence which is $60 in the US is about $73 here and the night cream, which is only $55 in the US is $78 Shock

here!! Even the $50 BG day one is $74 here!... the BG cosmetic water is $39 here..... Sad

Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:24 pm

tiger_tim wrote:

eye lash curlers are only about $8.50 here ($18 or so in USA?)(

I'm not even going to mention the price of this in Australia. Though you've probably seen them at Mecca and had a mini heart attack...

free skin care · Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:32 pm

no, I haven't actually seem them when back home... go on, give me a laugh ... how much? how much is depsea water for example?.. oh what the heck..tell me the price of everything you know (I need to feel good LOL)

Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:41 pm

Ok, but sit down first. I don't want to be responsible for any fainting-related injuries....

The only one I see on Mecca at the moment is the Shu Uemura Lip Fix - Au$45. The lash curler is around the Au$62 mark here (no, that's not a typo...). The mascara is Au$65 (so, roughly US$48 ). That's all I know. I don't even want to go there and ask about the skincare....

free skin care · Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:00 pm

(why dont we have a fainting emoticon?? why? why?)

Holy guacamole batman!! $62?! SIXTY TWO AUSSIE DOLLARS? that is like.. like... (getting calculator) almost 500% more than the price in Japan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I just double checked the shu site for those 3 things.. the price here includes 5% consumption tax (like GST) and I converted at 80 yen to one aussie dollar (roughly what it is now)

So, Japan price in Aussie dollars...
Eye lash curler A$13
Lip Fix - not sold in Japan (but I see US pric is aboue A$22
Mascara (basic) A$45

Mascara is more expensive in Japan than US too.

I want to get his lash repair that sells for $20 in USA, it is US$27 here - you have used it from memory - is it good?

Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:39 am

Yes, the curler is the worst for some reason. Mecca pretty much has monopoly on Shu products so far so this may be why as well.

I'm quite surprised to see that the mascara is actually quite expensive in Japan as well. I thought we got ripped off here more or less uniformly Laughing

I will actually track down some skincare prices now so we can compare those too Very Happy

I do like the lash repair. It is very runny but the brush for it is teeny tiny and really good. I don't think it's in the same boat as DreamLash etc in that it won't make your eyelashes grow but I do think it conditions the lashes nicely.

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