Yep, yet another trip to Japan. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind making them almost annual!
After this trip, I now have to retract on my previous statement about Don Qujiote being the cheapest. This time, it was simply not true. Just by shopping around in various pharmacies, I was able to find much cheaper pricing. I guess, this can be attributed to timing. I remember when I was there last, the basic HadaLabo Gokujyun toner was on sale at Donki for around 200 yen cheaper than anywhere else. Now that I think about, it could be that I got clearance stock, as HadaLabo soon reformulated and repackaged afterwards. This time, all standard HadaLabo toners were 880 yen everywhere.
However, due to new year sales, which I wasn’t able to fully take advantage, some pharmacies had like 10% to 40% off some brands!
Anyway, this is what I grabbed this time!
As you can see, I was a bit more Daiso crazy than previous excursions. The most expensive product I bought were some apparently slimming leg sleeping socks at under 1,500 yen (approximately AUD15).
Listing clockwise from top-left.
- Kai 119 nailclipper (425 yen) Back in the family house, we used to have this nailclipper that lasted its sharpness for around twenty years. Amazing! I remembered the brand engraved “kaicut” on it. I think kaicut is now just Kai. I’m hoping for another twenty year nailclipper again…
- Kate Mat Black Gel Eyeliner with brush (1,029 yen) I don’t use eyeliner at all. I bought only because of various internet raves and that this pack appears to comes with the brush, when I had read that Kate stopped doing this.
- Hada Labo Skin Conditioner toner with bonus(?) cotton pads (1380 yen) Was looking to try out a more medicated type of toner.
- Daiso Water Jelly Pack (105 yen) Apparently a cheap dupe for Cure. I’ll have to try and see! I use Cure at the moment and it’s much better than a manual scrub. It does a good job in getting rid of most (not all) of my constantly dehydrated flakies. However, Cure retails for 2,625 yen, which is what I consider expensive.
- Johnson’s Body Care Extra Care Dry Skin Body Lotion with ribbon bow barrette (299 yen) You think I totally bought it because there was a freebie, right? That was only part of the reason, hehe 😛 I was running out of body moisturiser and the dry air in the hotels was killing my skin. I had first bought a cheapy Daiso body lotion, but I suspect the strong fragrance in that made my whole body itch.
- Daiso sponge and puff cleaner (105 yen) Apparently amazing online reviews on its thorough cleansing power. For 105 yen, it’s hard to go wrong!
- HadaLabo Whitening Shirojyun toner – Shittori Type (880 yen)
- Mentholatum UV Skin Aqua SPF50+PA+++ (498 yen) This is usually around 700 yen, but for some weird reason, in a quiet Mini Stop in Tokyo, this and a few other skincare products seemed to have lower pricing than usual. Maybe because the store was quiet and had low traffic? Japan has now introduced PA++++, so PA+++ is not the greatest any more. Picked this up because apparently it’s one of the good and cheap alcohol-free Japanese sunscreens
- Shiseido Collagen 40th Hello Kitty Tin (999 yen) I mostly bought this for the tin. I’m a little curious about these collagen drinks, but that was secondary.
- Slimwalk tights (1480 yen) Oops, only just realised I bought S-M size. These could be a bit too tight for me! They are supposed to slim your legs during sleep! :O
- Dr Scholl MediOtto tights (1380 yen) Same idea, but can wear these during day. They are basically just compression stockings…
- Shiseido Eyelash Curler (672 yen) A beauty item I don’t really use, but it’s considered a classic. I got slightly annoyed when I saw it at Matsumoto Kiyoshi (large pharmacy franchise) was selling it for 588 yen!
- Canmake Eye Lash Essence (609 yen)
- Canmake Marshmallow Powder (987 yen) Canmake is so cheap and with some highly rated items, it’s hard to resist. The packaging helps in this case too!
- Daiso Cotton Puff container (210 yen) A little bit vintage style and kawaii. Had good reviews on @cosme, so I picked it up. I think most of the good reviews are due to price of cutely designed product, rather than the cotton inside. Some just totally discard them!
- Rohto Lycee eye drops (493 yen) Don’t ask me why. I had a read few blogs that raved about these eye drops for their taste and cute pink packaging. I know Rohto eyedrops all have menthol, so they probably won’t be pleasant to use. It stings, man!
- Shiseido Foundation Brush 131 (1,890 yen) Oops, I just checked my receipts and realised I did not get this on special. I must have misread and not saw the 1 in front of the 890 yen. *stupid* I thought this was totally on special (>50%). I don’t even use a foundation brush! Just got it because it’s got cult status and I thought the price was originally too good to pass up! Oops, this product now wins the most expensive product for me! Man, I should have not checked the receipt and lived in ignorant bliss. Ah well, it’s only a $11 mistake!
If you clicked on all the links and notice the prices on the websites, you’ll notice I bought most items lower. I guess with so much competition, the recommended retail price doesn’t really mean much, but some items, I definitely got lucky by buying at right place.
tanoshii.ki 
The slimming sleeping socks use to cost $40 bucks here. A friend of mine bought it at the time. I then bought a few from Rakuten hehe…it’s kinda mixed bag whether it’s healthy wearing them to sleep.
It depends mostly on exchange rate. There are also different types. It’s probably okay to sleep with them, as long as you don’t have a sleep-in (haha, like on a work night :P)
I’m not sure when I will actually try them!
may i know where can i buy the Kai nail clipper?
Kai is a common Japanese brand, so you can find it in convenience stores, e.g. 7-Eleven, Family Mart, etc to larger department stores like Tokyu Hands.