So it’s now time for Stage 2 of the Aqualabel “Unravel your blogging power” contest – Attend the Aqualabel Workshop!

Shiseido’s office isn’t a foreign place to me as I often pass by it and have been to the past 3 sales they held. : x. Sales = Love!

Lemme first tell you about my cheap thrill today. I escaped paying for parking in the open air carpark by sitting in it and hoping that the parking warden wouldn’t check on my car. And at 5pm sharp… Hello, $3.60 per entry carpark (Orchard Building, where Shiseido’s located on the 12th floor)! So do take note! After 5pm, parking at Orchard Building’s only $3.60! Else, you can park at ION Orchard ($2 per entry) and walk like 1 mrt stop over. Or take the mrt lah. : D

Anyhoos. I’ve digressed!

Was there a little early, and we had to wait a bit for everyone to arrive… not much of a problem. Thankfully they had refreshments to tide us by. Sandwiches and drinks (Pokka Green Tea!)… Yums! Thanks Shiseido team!

We were seated, and I believe specially arranged (I overheard that If we’ve tried the Red series, we’ll be seated at the blue products side and vice versa). Anyway, doesn’t really matter, the products were like a hand’s reach across, and the girls were really friendly to pass the products around enthusiastically! It was serious business too – big guns were brought out – Canon DSLRs and Nikon DSLRs. O__O! (squeaks around with her LX3)

Spot the DSLR? Canon love!

Anyway, after a while, lovely Yanny (her hair is so jap and nicely curled/styled lah!) began give her speech and started the powerpoint presentation about Aqualabel’s EXTENSIVE range of products. No kidding. There were so many products, I had to take notes and listen hard! [Note to Shiseido staff:I was taking notes with my BB since I didn’t bring my laptop, and I hope no one (Especially Yanny the speaker) found me rude! >__<

Aqualabel is a promise to keep skin moist, is made, and was launched in Japan in Feb 2006. It is a masstiage brand by whitening pioneer Shiseido, which boasts 100 years of whitening experience on it's belt focused on Asian women. The Aqualabel range is specifically focused on the quality and price conscious working women in their late 20s - 40s who likes products with high moisturising powers and are likely to have pigmentation/aging issues.

Aqualabel's technology and steps are pretty simple, consisting of 3 S - SSS. Sink, Saturate, and Seal.

The products are specially infused with 2 key ingredients which you will be reading and seeing a lot of soon, namely:

Aqua Synergy

and

Moist Aqua Keeping Base.

You will read more about them in a while!

I've decided to break down the products into 2 different posts since there were so many of them.

Let's start with my favorite, the Moisturising (red) series of Aqualabel!

We had to remove all our make up since we were trying out the products - The thoughtful girls from Shiseido even offered to give us free make overs using Majorlica products if we were going out to party - It's a Wed night lah! Sweet!

Aqualabel Moisturising Range

First of all, Shiseido's tagline to go by: "The lack of moisture, is the root of all skin evils".

Dry skin secretes sebum to compensate and create balance on your skin surface, and that leads to having dehydrated but oily skin, which can be commonly mistreated as oily skin instead of the actual cause. Cell turn over is slower as well when your skin is dry, and it leads to fine lines... and as you can see, it's like a build up of problems all caused by dehydrated skin.

Hence, the key ingredients in Aqualabel Moisturising Range replenishes skin with sufficient amounts of moisture to achieve youthful and supple skin.

1. Collagen Gylcerin
   Collagen plumps up the skin to keep it looking young and supple, while Glycerin maintains the balance of water level in skin.
2. Apricot Extract
   Promotes the production of natural moisturising factors which keeps our skin moisturised!
3. Aqua Synergy
   It is an exclusive ingredient, which blends water and oil so that they can sink + force moisture and effective ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin layers.
4. Moist Aqua Keeping Base
   This ingredient itself is a mixture of 4 ingredients:
   a. Moisture Membrane, which locks moisture in skin
   b. Double Hyaluronic Acid, which was patented by Shiseido (it just ended) which is highly moisturising and enhances skin's elasticity
   c. Biocompatible Hydrating Liquid; it repleneishes skin, and lastly,
   d. more Aqua Synergy goodness to help ingredients penetrate into skin more effectively!

All Aqualabel products are infused with a lovely rose scent, as the Japanese believes that smells are very important and the rose scent is therapeutic for calming down your skin.

#1 - Creamy Oil Cleansing

It's a gentle make up remove which transforms into fluid to dissolve away make up effortlessly, and contains Collagen Glycerin & Moist Aqua Keeping Base.

Spread an appropriate amount on your face, and massage face in spiral motions to remove make up.

Size: 110g
Retails for: SGD $17.50

Review: I didn't really use this the proper way, but I think this has a fairly good removing power.

#2 - Moisture Lotion R

The japanese believe in using softeners, and not toners which act as a pre-step for moisturisers as it helps to absorb the moisturiser more effectively.

The Moisture Lotion comes in S/R forms (Supple / Rich) which also appears in some of their other products as well, so it'll be good to explain that:
S - Supple, for normal to oily/combi skin.
R - Rich, more moisturising and for normal to dry / dehydrated skin. It's also richer and more moisturising.

Size: 200ml
Price: SGD $24.90

Review: I quite liked this, the lovely rose scent was a pleasing smell. It was announced that their products contains only approved levels of alcohol, and it didn't sting my skin nor did i react to it. Pass!

#3 - Moisture Emulsion R

This product has Moist Aqua Keeping base, which infuses skin with moisture, and Collagen GL which keeps skin plump and youthful. Also has apricot extract and is extremely lightweight!

It also comes in S/R, and this is R (rich), which is more milky and has a more viscous texture than the S. Both are easily absorbed into the skin regardless of texture!

Size: 200ml
Price: SGD $27.90

Review: I prefer the R version, as I am usually in air conditioned areas (car, shopping malls, home) and im hardly outdoors. Both textures are really lightweight, even for the rich one and I didn't wake up with an oily feel on my face : )

#4 - Moist Essence NET, CL, HA, GG

(From L-R: Net, CL, HA, GG)

Now the most confusing part of the products.. the Essences.

There's 4 different types of essences to further treat your problems.

Moist Essence NET,
Which is a combination of all the other 3 essences if you don't have a targeted area to treat.
It contains a concentrated amount of Double Hyaluronic Acid, high percentage of Moist Aqua Keeping Base, plumps up skin with Double Collagen Glycerin, and also Apricot extract all in an extremely lightweight gel texture.

It uses a Moist Net technology, which remains on the skin's surface, sealing in the effective ingredients and keeping the skin firm, which is also contributed by the addition of apricot juice which promotes the production of natural moisturising factors.

Moist Essence GG,
Which contains high concentrations of Glycyl Glycin to minimise appearance of pores.

Moist Essence CL,
With high concentrations of Collagen to plump up cheeks.

Moist Essence Hyaluronic Acid,
Contains high concentrations of Hyaluronic Acid to minimise appearance of fine lines.

Here's their different textures in the following order:
NET, CL, HA, GG.

CL is the thickest of them all, followed by GG which is more viscous than the other two more lightweight essences.

Sizes: 26g for Net Essence, 30g for CL & GG, 20g for HA.
Prices: All 4 retails at SGD $29.90

Review: I couldn't try this products long enough to know if it works or not, but I think these targeted add on essences are a genius for people with troubled areas and they are also extremely well absorbed into the skin.

At this point of time, if you're going to sleep, you can try out #5 and #6.
If you're headed out, read on for #7 & #8.

#5 - Moisture Cream

#6 - Moist Charge Mask

This is an intensive moisturising mask which contains powerful moisturising ingredients to replenish skin with moisture in just 3 minutes!
It has: Double Hyaluronic Acid, Double Collagen Glycerin, and Moist Aqua Keeping Base in it. The mask has a special S-cut at the side for that lifting effect to keep skin firm.

Remember to smooth out all bubbles, and remove from the bottom up! Massage the remaining essence into your skin to make sure that they are well absorbed.

Size: 23ml each satchet, 4 masks/satchets each box
Price: SGD $22.90

Review: I think this works really well for me, since it sort of treated a dry patch on my face... Drop this in the fridge and use the relaxing mask on your face! I love cold masks. I massage the left over essence onto my neck while masking : ) and I usually leave it on for around 10 minutes though 3 minutes is enough!

#7 - Moist Protect Milk UV

Every one needs sunblock, and Aqualabel's Moist Protect Milk UK does the job with a fair amount of coverage at SPF 28 / PA++.

It is moisturising, containing Double Hyaluronic Acid and Moist Aqua Keeping Base and firms skin with Collagen GL. This product blends easily with a lightweight texture and doesn't leave a white residue behind. It is also extremely affordable.

Size: 50ml
Price: SGD $24.90

The texture of the 3 sun protection products:
(Other 2 products - one with SPF 50! can be viewed at the Aqualabel Blue series page)

This is really affordable and lightweight as well. I didn't get to try this on my face, but on my hand it wasn't hard to blend, nor did it leave a white residue behind as promised! : D

#8 - Moist Coat Essence

The Moist Coat Essence serves as base care, which is a good step before you apply make up. It blends effortlessly into skin to conceal pores, and it keeps skin well moisturised.

Texture:

Size:6g
Price: SGD $27.90

I really, really like this product too. It really conceals my pores and evens out my complexion for my foundation to glide on perfectly. A must try if you have problems with making your foundation/make up glide on your face smoothly!

And here's the link to the Aqualabel Blue series.
Pretty similar steps for application and usage, with the exception of additional Foundation products, and without the 4 different type of essence products which Red series has.

Group shot with all the girls present - I noticed that there were a pair of twins! How cute! And it seemed like they all sort of knew each other. (click to enlarge!)

The girls right across me were very friendly (and young! - damn, I'm feeling old! I think I need the purple series soon!) and our table had a brief introduction of every one.

With the lovely and helpful Shiseido girls:

Goodie bag and press kit!

(Moist charge mask, Perfect Protect Milk (SPF 50), Aqua Enhancer, Moisture Emulsion, Moisture Lotion R)

And oh yes! Guess who's on this month's issue of Seventeen pimping her favorite products? Thanks Nat!!! : D

Me! : x (Everyone seems to think that I look weird in that picture but I really liked it!)
And my top 5 fave products includes Shiseido's White Lucent Softener! : ) Yay!

Giveaway!!! Comment and stand to win a pair of Moist Charge + Whitening Masks from me!

Now that you made it through this long, intensive post..... do you like this post? Please click on the "Like" buttons (either FB or the anonymous heart one) to show your love and help me win this contest!

I'd love to hear what you think about Aqualabel, my post, and if you have any questions, I'll try to find out the answer for you!

(And yes of course, I want to win that trip to JP! :p)

2 lucky winners will be chosen to win a pair of Moist Charge Mask + Whitening Mask each! : ) Good luck!
(1 winner from each color series' posts - please remember to leave valid email addresses!)

*** If you tweet about my giveaway, and leave an extra comment behind with a link to your tweet, it will be counted as an extra entry! ***

Contest ends 1 week from now - 30th August, 2010 (Monday) MN!