Saturday, October 20, 2018 Inside of Japan Must Gift Items

6 Best Natural but Budget Cosmetics at MUJI

Have you ever heard of MUJI?  Probably, yes! if you happen to live in big cities like London or New York, or if you visit Japan.  

MUJI is the name of a Japanese retail brand targeting oversea markets, while Mujirushi Ryohin "無印良品" (as in a picture shown below) is for retail business in Japan, under the umbrella of Ryohin Keikaku Co.,Ltd.  Contrary to the meanings of  the company's name "No Brand" for MUJI and "No Brand Quality Goods" for Mujirushi Ryohin,  MUJI (and Mujirushi Ryohin) is already one of the popular "brands" in not only Japan and some areas of the world, and should be known more worldwide.     

The company sells quality goods, starting from office supplies to food, household essentials, and cosmetics, for a reasonable price.  They are reasonably priced, but more than satisfactory for the price.  In our opinion, for just a little more expensive price, their merchandise is better than that of Uniqlo, which is a globally well-known retailer to sell good quality clothes.  

We would like to briefly introduce this wonderful retailer by focusing on some items we "MUJIラー" (MUJIers; Muji lovers) are so proud of.   

a shop at Nagoya Station

First of all, some items are sold at the shop inside MoMA, Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  They are small and unique items, such art making goods as colored pencil sets and memo pads.  Other MUJI shops in New York sell a wide variety of goods, almost all of which we can buy at stores in Japan, for a little more expensive than Japan.

This shop at Nagoya Station is pretty spacious (as shown in the above picture) and sells clothes of all ages, food and kitchen and household essentials.  Their packaged sweets are popular among youngsters.  Also, their display layout seems like a loft accompanied by a natural tint of wood.

This section of the shop features room fragrance items, diffusers and essential oil, for higher quality of daily life.

Their clothes are comfortable but high quality to wear.  We like their sweat shirts, and
especially cotton and heat-tech (their name suggests Uniqlo, right?) socks, which last long or usually longer than those of Uniqlo.

compressed one-piece dress for 1990 yen

These one-piece clothes compressed into the small package are good as presents and for travel.  They are made from organic cotton.

Travel items

MUJI has a variety of travel items available.  Small portable bags are for keeping grooming items and can be hung in the hotel bathroom of your stay (the light blue hanging one in the picture).

For very popular office supplies, different shades of color pens and pencils, different writing touches of pencils and mechanical pencils, along with various sizes of notebooks and memo pads, are available.

Among the pen selections are so-called "Frixion Pens" or erasable pens, whose ink can be erased (or actually got invisible) with the rubber tailcap (where a small eraser is attached) with the help of the heat and friction.  These pens and pencils are good for small souvenirs (each costs around 100 yen, less than 1 US dollar.)  Even "magic" "Frixion Pens" each costs around 150 yen.  Isn't that neat?

Here are natural but budget cosmetics as one of the best gift items by MUJI.  

 This is their cosmetic section.  Their lotion and cream are organic and very suitable even for sensitive skins.  They are also friendly for our wallets (explained below).  You can try it out and buy the very best for you among these displayed items. 

This small section is specifically for make-up goods, BB cream, foundations, lip sticks and others.  Their cosmetics are skin sensitive that your skins would not get irritated or rashes.  You can boost and/or retain your skins in soft and moist conditions, even after several hours of make-up.   

The two pictures below are the Booster Essence Lotion and BB cream, THE MUST items we highly recommend.  

Booster Essence Lotion

BB Cream 

This BB cream can protect your skin from the suntan, but does not irritate your skin at all, as other kinds of "strong and protective" suntan lotion and cream do.  Your skin would feel as if nothing were applied because it is soooo natural.

Here are 6 cosmetic items you should buy from MUJI stores to keep your skin moist and attractive.  

From the left to the right at the back, Gel Cleansing (yellowish; 600 yen), Booster Essence Lotion (1290 yen), Moist Essence Lotion (green; 2800 yen), and All In One Gel (brown; 1490 yen).  The white one in front is BB Cream (1290 yen) and the green one is Moisturizing Cream (1800 yen).

Here is how to give a quick but appropriate care to your skin:

1. Apply a small amount of Gel Cleansing to your face.   Gently massage your face to let the gel absorb the make-up for A FEW MINUTES (this is a key!! NOT so super quick!, OK?) and wash out all the gel mixture.  Then, wipe your face with a soft towel.   
2. Apply Booster Essence Lotion to  your face A FEW TIMES.  Make sure that you SHOULD NOT skip this Booster Lotion process.  Now, our face skin gets ready for other types of lotion.  
3. You should use Moist Essence Lotion, but if you are super busy, you can use All In One Gel instead (meaning you can skip that green lotion), although we would definitely use both.  
4. Finish with Moisturizing Cream.  This Cream is important to keep all the moisture given to your face for it applies a thin oil layer to the surface of the skin.  
5. The BB cream is of course not for skin care after removing make-up, but as explained above, it is another MUST item for making your skin soft and attractive.  Unfortunately in Japan, only pinkish color and beige color are available, but a tint of pink color before powder or powder foundation makes your face glorious for sure.  

Good luck with your skin care!  If you have any questions, please give us a short note at tuneinnagoya@gmail.com.