Ai Cawaii

Albion Moisture Milk I & Ski-Con Essential in box

Wanted to post my review about these two wonderful products quite sometime ago but um, I procrastinated… ^^;;

Anyway, Albion is one of the top brands in Japan and I read somewhere that even the royalties of Japan are using this brand. I got to know about Albion from malaysianbabes.net. There are many good reviews about Albion skincare products, especially for its Moisture Milk and Skin Conditioner (or Ski-Con). In Cosme.net, these products are easily among the highest ranking on its related categories. (These rankings are based on the amount  of reviews + the stars rating given by users on each review.)

I started using both products since June or July this year. I am on my second bottle of Albion Moisture Milk, but for this time I am trying its Exage White so I will review on it this time too. :3

I have always have problems with blackheads, and VERY oily t-zone.  Usually around noon, my t-zone area is SHINY and I hate that greasy surface on my face. I have tried and tested quite a number of different brands, but none were able to improve the condition much. Actually there is one exception, there is something that helps clear all the oil secretion away- Isotretinoin. The results were marvelous! I had oil-free skin that, unfortunately, lasted not more than four months and the oiliness returned. ; ; But this medication is not something I will recommend to everyone especially women who are planning to have children soon because it can cause birth defects. Doctors will have you sign a paper that you are aware of the side effects and that you are not planning to have children at least within a year’s time.

On a trip to Taipei this year, I had a consultation at an Albion counter at Sogo. The consultant asked what were my main concerns about my skin and I mentioned blackheads and oiliness, and was looking for products with whitening effects too (well, who don’t want translucent and fair skin?). The beauty consultant checked my skin condition with a pen-like object attached to a small machine. I think Lancome is using something similar too to help analyse customers’ skin condition. Since my mandarin is not very good, but with the help of my sister who can speak mandarin fairly well, I managed to understand that my skin was very dehydrated despite the few layers of Shiseido White Lucent moisturizers I had applied earlier to confront with the cold weather. The consultant also explained that for dehydrated and oily skin types like mine, it is not recommended to use whitening range of products as they are tend to be drying.

She let us tested Albion Moisture Milk I on the back of our hands; it was applied with a cotton pad. The consultant explained to us that our fingers have fine lines and are not the best means to apply products on our face (or in this case,Albion’s products). We are recommended to apply Albion Moisture Milk with their special cotton pads to maximise absorption. Maybe some of you may think that this is a marketing gimmick to increase sales. But Albion’s cotton pads are different than normal ones. Besides the larger size, its fibres are much longer than regular cotton pads, and you can easily tear out thinner sheets (I can tear out about 6 to 8 sheets ) and saturate the cotton sheets with Ski-Con and leave on your face.  It feels very soft and smooth too on the skin but I believe not many are ready to fork out NTD220 in Taiwan or 399 yen  in Japan for 120 pieces of Albion Facial Cotton-L.

Albion Facial Cotton-L

Regular cotton pads & Albion cotton pads

Not sure if the photos below are clear enough to see but as what the Albion consultant mentioned, the fibres on Albion Facial Cotton is longer than regular cotton pads which are usually made from broken fibres.

Regular cotton pad

Regular cotton pad up close

Albion Facial Cotton pad

Up close. I set higher contrast in this pic so that the fibres can be seen easily.

Can you see the fibres which are longer and there is not much strayed broken fibres when you separate it?

Moisture Milk & Skin Conditioner

Albion has a Four-Step Skincare System which consists of Cleansing –> Milk Lotion –>  Lotion/ Toner –> Serum & Cream. The second step- Milk Lotion basically refers to Albion milk lotions. Unlike most other milk lotions which are used to cleanse your face before washing, Albion Milk Lotions are very much like our moisturisers. The difference is Albion milk lotions are used BEFORE toner.

After cleansing my face, Moisture Milk I or White Milk I are applied using cotton pad. My Albion products are stored in fridge so it feels more cooling when apply. I love it because the lotion does not leave a sticky feeling after and this is really a plus point for me. Another thing I like is you can apply the milk lotion on your eyes area- just gently spread the lotion from inner eye to outwards. The smell is pleasant too, nothing too over-powering but very mild and soothing scent.

Up close on the back of the box.

Next, the Skin Conditioner. On the box, it says something like, “Soak a cotton ball generously with Skin Conditioner and pat all over face (except eyes area). Let it be absorbed by skin.” But what I do is I pour a few drops of the contents on my hands and pat on my face. The cotton pads and Ski-Con are a bit too precious for me to allow me to use both every night in my beauty regime. I might try cutting the Albion cotton pads into smaller squares and do as per the directions on the box though. After a short while when the products are absorbed, my skin feels smooth and supple.

In the next morning when I wake up, my face does not feel sticky and oily at all and only a bit of sebum start appearing from late afternoon or evening . (Do note that I do not use Albion products in the mornings.) This is a big improvement for my skin as I used to feel the area between my forehead and hairline and nose to be kind of oily (I guess the rest went to my pillow sheet – -”) and sticky when I wake up.

With or without milk lotion comparison

Above is a small comparison test to show that Albion milk lotion (in this case, I am using the White Milk I) does help increase absorption of products applied after. I dropped a droplet of Ski-con on both hands with my back of hand on the right side already applied with Albion White Milk I (using cotton pad). On the left side (the hand with ring) there was nothing applied prior. If you look closely, the droplet on the left side was still in its rounded puddle form but on the right, the lotion has spread out. I tilted both hands a bit but the droplet on the left remained in its circular form. When I looked closer, I can see the droplet is starting to spread out but very slowly indeed.

White Milk I & Moisture Milk I

Moisture Milk I & White Milk I

For those with dehydrated skins, I will recommend you to try Albion milk lotions. Depending on your needs, you can choose from a number of ranges such as Exage, Exage White, Infinesse, Exage Corses White etc. Under Exage and Exage White ranges, you can choose the milk lotion from I, II and III for different skin types:

I for oily skin
II for normal skin
III for dry skin

In Japan, Exage White and Exage milk lotion in II and III are most popular  most likely due to more Japanese women having normal or dry skin types. Is anyone of you using II or III here as the Albion consultant told me that these two may be too rich to be used in hot and humid weather such as in Malaysia. Do let me know what you think of either.

For myself between the two types I have tried, I think I will prefer Moisture Milk I than White Milk I. Moisture Milk I feels lighter in texture and White Milk I feels more slick when applied. I also feel that Exage Moisture Milk I is more moisturising because my face seems to stay oil-free for longer compared with when I am using White Milk I. Perhaps the consultant is right after all about whitening products being less moisturising.

Anyway, I have also tried using normal facial cotton pads to apply my Exage White Milk I. Honestly, the effect after application looks similar to when I am using Albion cotton pads. My face still feel smooth in the mornings. But there IS a difference! The regular cotton pads DOES feel more rough compared with Albion’s. Albion cotton pads feels oh-so-smooth on the skin.♥

Japan No.1 Lotion ^^

Skin Conditioner Essential

Rarely will you find an Albion user who don’t love Ski-Con.  It helps improve skin condition that has acnes, dullness, dryness and is suitable for sensitive skin too. Many users say that Skin-Con helps in healing acnes faster too. Actually I wasn’t aware about dabbing some Ski-Con on acnes until I read one user who swears by this method. I tried it on a really painful acne on my ear (of all places – -”) and it became less inflamed the next day.

I like to use Ski-Con as a pick-me-up mask too. Soak an Albion cotton pad or two and tear off thin sheets and leave on my whole face till all the cotton sheets dry off. My skin will look refreshed and glowy after. ^^

If you like to get more information about Albion products in English, please visit Albion. Its Japanese language site has more details and you can always use Google Translate but it is not that accurate though.