Besides offering spa packages and selling skin care products, Ikeda Spa also occasionally organises workshops to impart beauty tips or things Japanese to customers. Today, we got to try making our own masks from ingredients that you can easily get from supermarkets!
If you remember one of the comics I drew, *ehem* this miracle poop (Uguisu no Fun) is actually very good for removing traces of dirt and commonly used by Geisha to remove their heavy makeup.
You can read about my review here. Many people thought that the smell would be strong, but it actually smells nice like sesame seeds after mixing with rice bran and water.
The first step is to identify your skin type!
The best time to test which skin type you have is 1 hour after washing your face in the morning before applying any toner or moisturiser. Use a rice paper to put on your T-zone and cheeks. If you have dry skin, the rice paper will fall off immediately or shortly. If you have normal skin, it will stick on a while and then drop off in all areas of the face. If you have combination skin, it will only stick on your T-zone but fall off shortly at the cheeks. Needless to say, if you have oily skin, it will just stick everywhere.
I think I have combination skin?
If you have oily skin, it is important not to scrub or exfoliate because that will make your skin excrete more oil instead. It is best to use products with hyaluronic acid that will add more moisture to your skin. When your skin becomes normal, you can use the scrubs. I personally think Hada Labo's lotion and moisturiser are not bad, and you can get the "light" edition if you think the normal one is too heavy for you. Of course, I will hunt for the Made in Japan ones...
Our table was the first to get all the ingredients correct for the respective skin types!
Camellia oil is actually called "Tsubaki"(椿) in Japanese, and is commonly sold at all pharmaceutical shops in Japan, mainly for hair care. You can get them too in Singapore at Ikeda Spa, Isetan supermarket or Tokyu Hands.
We won ourselves a bottle of Chidoriya massage and cleansing oil :)
Next the manager demonstrated how to mix the ingredients for your own face mask.
You need this much rice bran for making a face mask.
And you add water to make a paste, not too watery nor thick. I mixed this for oily skin with the expensive poop! Hehe (#soAuntie)
So me and my fan next to me put on the mask on our left hands to see how it goes. You can wait for around 10-15min for it to dry then wash and scrub it away at the same time!
Not sure if you can see, but the left hand is actually slightly more moisturised and smoother than the right hand!
Next we tasted some collagen jellies by a Japanese company called Koplina. Their collagen was derived from fish and placenta derived from pigs because they pigs has the closest genetic structure with humans. Don't worry, it's not just any pigs, but specially controlled SPF (specific-pathogen-free) pigs raised for laboratory use.
Here's how you pick the jellies:
- Peach for hydration
- Rose for whitening/anti-pigmentation
- Melon for anti-aging
It is recommended not to intake more than 2 sachets a day.
Now comes the fun part, recipe to add the jelly inside to make it more interesting!
The first one was watermelon, cheese, sausage and jelly.... um ok, maybe too interesting?
It actually tasted quite ok... but not something I will make...
The next one is a dessert made with milk and chia seeds. It's actually quite simple to make by pouring milk, chia seeds and honey into a glass jar, shake it and refrigerate for a night.
It's actually not bad! I can probably replicate this at home... after I clear one of my jam jars~
They introduced another product called Aojiru. It actually tasted pretty good with soy milk.
I bought Aojiru from 2 different brands before when I was studying in Japan but I got lazy to drink them after some time because they were not finely milled and the mixture with water was simply too powdery for me to drink. One of the participants asked if it is similar with fermented drinks and my answer is NO, Aojiru is not fermented drink. Aojiru is young barley grass and you consume mainly for its fibre (they have other nutrients too, but I feel it is secondary benefits). It is useful for people who don't eat a lot of vegetables and have digestive and constipation problems.
Koplina had mixed mulberry leaves and matcha inside, so it actually tasted rather nice.
The last part is lucky draw!!! I didn't think I will be so lucky to walk away with any prize but yeah I did! Today is my lucky day!!!
Our workshop ended at 1pm so Ikeda Spa was nice to serve some delicious sushi too!
These are my loot of the day!
Samples: Jelly x 3 sachets (1 eaten!)
Door gift: Aojiru x 1, Jelly x1 and Chidoriya facial soap x1
Small table prize: Chidoriya massage and cleansing oil
Lucky draw prize: Brand's Royal Superior Bird's Nest with Rock Sugar
I had a great day learning new things about skincare, tasting (exotic?) healthy recipes, making masks with other participants and walking away with my bird's nest. The express 10min scalp massage before the workshop was also very relaxing!
Thank you Ikeda Spa for the invitation!
If you are interested about their spa, do check out
my spa review here.
You can also get a special discount when you order a package through this page for my fans!
(P.S. Couple package is the most popular so far)
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