Sekkisei White Powder Face Powder

Sekkisei is another brand that falls under the Kose name, along with the Awake skincare line that I adore so much. Awake is based on Japanese skincare theories, Sekkisei is based on Chinese herbs and botanicals. Both lines are used for facial brightening and contains high amounts of botanicals to accomplish its purpose. The first product that I have tried from Sekkisei is the White Powder Face Wash. So far, I must say that I prefer Awake to Sekkisei but I have only used one product from this line versus all the products I have tried from Awake. Also, as a sidenote to Kose, having most of the descriptions and usage instructions in Chinese on this package is not only unhelpful, it put me off buying this product for a very long time.

This line used to be part of the expanded skincare available at Bath and Body Works which has been eliminated from their stores. I bought this face was when it was on sale last summer right before it was to be exited from the stores. During the sale in which they were getting rid of the clinical skincare and color products, I bought piles of product and stumbled across some great items that I might never have tried. But now, I can barely find them at all in order to repurchase. But I digress away from this purpose of this column...

Sekkisei White Powder is face wash is among the most unique of skincare products. This product starts out as a powder then when a bit of warm water is added to it and mixed in then it forms a thick, white foam. "A foaming powder wash that effectively brightens the complexion with each use, while restoring skin's natural moisture barrier and preventing inflammation. On a wet palm, place powder about the size of a quarter. Using lukewarm water, work into a lather. Wash face and rinse well." I followed the instructions on the website exactly with the exception of the recommended amount. I can get away with using a nickel sized blob of this product. This foam that it creates is rich and thick and gets all of my facial makeup off. I don't use it to remove eye makeup but I love how it gets everything else off my face. The biggest challenge that I have with this product is that I wash my face in the shower and I have to be careful that I get no water in the container when I am pouring the powder out. I haven't had problems so far so I doubt that it will turn into a big issue.

As I stated earlier, Kose uses botanicals in every line of skicare that they make. This product contains botanicals to whiten and brighten the complexion. The following ingredients are found in this product: Peony Root Extract, Perilla Root, Coix Seed Extract, and Angelica Extract.

So far I am happy with this product but I don't know that I will be purchasing any other products from this line for two major reasons. The first is that this line is getting harder and harder to find in brick and mottar stores and so I can't play with the different products. The second is that I hate how so much of the packaging is written in Chinese and I will not be totally sure what I am purchasing unless someone can help me out with it. One example is that in English, a lotion is a hydrator however in Asia, a lotion is a toner and an emulsion is a lightweight hydrator. I'm sure that's not the only difference between the cultures and products.

photo courtesy of Kose