Japanese Vocabularies You Should Know When You Buy Skincare Products in Japan

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Japanese Vocabularies You Should Know When You Buy Skincare Products in Japan

If you are planning on purchasing beauty products in Japan, it's a good idea to learn some basic Japanese vocabularies related to beauty products in advance. Japanese products usually have descriptions in Japanese only. Even though you can find English on packages of a few Japanese products, sometimes it's just Japanese English, which is called wasei eigo (和製英語), so it might confuse you even more. For instance, in Japanese, lip stick (リップスティック) is lip balm. Essence (エッセンス) in Japanese is beauty serum.
Let's say you are going to buy Japanese lotion, but you find that there are small Japanese words (しっとり and さっぱり) written on the two similar bottles. If you know these meaning, you can purchase the right one for your skin type. By the way, if you are oily skin, you can choose さっぱり one. :)

Today, I'm going to share Japanese vocabularies related to skincare products. You can study these before going to Japan, or just check out this entry while you are at drugstores in Japan. I hope this entry will help your shopping there. :)

化粧水 (keshosui, kesho-sui, kesyou-sui) : Japanese Facial Lotion
The texture of keshosui is usually just like water. Keshosui is used to hydrate skin, and then you are supposed to use milky or creamy lotion (nyueki).

Keshosui 化粧水

乳液 (nyueki, nyu-eki) : Japanese Milky or Creamy Lotion
You are supposed to use nyueki after applying keshosui. Nyueki is used to seal your hydrated skin, so it can prevent evaporation of keshosui.

Nyueki 乳液

美容液 (biyoueki, biyoueki) : Beauty Serum
エッセンス (essence) : Beauty Serum

Biyoueki 美容液

クリーム (cream) : Facial Cream
フェイスクリーム (face cream) : Facial Cream
You are supposed to use cream after nyueki.

Face Cream フェイスクリーム

マスク (mask) : Facial Mask
パック (pack) : Facial Mask
フェイスマスク (face mask) : Facial Mask
フェイスパック (face pack) : Facial Mask

シートマスク (sheet mask) : Facial Sheet Mask
シートマスクパック (sheet mask pack) : Facial Sheet Mask

Sheet Mask シートマスク

洗い流すマスク (arai-nagasu-mask) : Facial Mask Required to Rise Off
洗い流すパック (arai-nagasu-pack) : Facial Mask Required to Rise Off
Arai-nagasu (洗い流す) means to rinse off.

Arai-Nagasu Pack (洗い流すパック)

アイクリーム (eye cream) : Eye Cream
目元用クリーム, 目もと用クリーム (memoto-yo-cream) : Eye Cream
目元専用クリーム (memoto-senyo-cream) : Eye Cream

Eye Cream アイクリーム

目元美容液, 目もと美容液(memoto-biyoeki) : Eye Serum

Memoto-Biyoueki 目もと美容液

まつげ美容液 (matsuge-biyoeki) : Beauty Serum for Eyelashes

Matsuge Biyoueki まつげ美容液

リップクリーム (lip cream) : Lip Balm (Stick Type)
リップケアクリーム (lip care cream) : Lip Balm (Stick Type)
リップスティック (lip stick) : Lip Balm (Stick Type)
リップバーム (lip balm) : Lip Balm (Jar Type)
色付きリップクリーム (iro-tsuki lip cream) : Tinted Lip Balm (Stick Type)
色付きリップスティック (iro-tsuki lip stick) : Tinted Lip Balm (Stick Type)
Lip stick means lip balm in Japan. Lip stick in English is called Kuchibeni (口紅) in Japanese.

Lip Care Cream リップケアクリーム

洗顔料 (sengan- ryo) : Facial Cleansing Products
洗顔フォーム (sengan-foam) : Facial Cleansing
泡洗顔フォーム (awa-sengan-foam) : Facial Cleansing Foam
洗顔せっけん, 洗顔石鹸, 洗顔石けん (sengan-sekken) : Facial Cleansing Soap
洗顔ソープ (sengan soap) : Facial Cleansing Soap
洗顔パウダー (sengan powder) : Facial Cleansing Powder
　Sengan (洗顔) means to wash your face.

Sengan Foam 洗顔フォーム

クレンジング (cleansing) : Makeup Remover
メイク落とし (make otoshi) : Makeup Remover
オイルクレンジング (oil cleansing) : Makeup Remover Cleansing Oil
ミルククレンジング (milk cleansing) : Makeup Remover Cleansing Milk
クレンジングジェル (cleansing gel) : Makeup Remover Cleansing Gel
クリームクレンジング (cream cleansing) : Makeup Remover Cleansing Cream
クレンジングシート (cleansing sheet) : Makeup Remover Cleansing Wipes
リキッドクレンジング (liquid cleansing) : Liquid Makeup Remover
Cleansing (クレンジング) means makeup remover in Japan.

Gel Make Otoshi ジェルメイク落とし

アイメイクアップリムーバー (eye makeup remover) : Eye Makeup Remover
ポイントメイクリムーバー (point make remover) : Makeup Remover for Eyes and Lips
マスカラリムーバー (mascara remover) : Mascara Makeup Remover

Eye Makeup Remover アイメイクアップリムーバー

コットン (cotton) : Facial Cotton Pads
カットコットン (cut cotton) : Facial Cotton Pads
コットンパフ (cotton puff) : Facial Cotton Pads
Oban (大判) means large, so oban cotton (大判コットン) means an extra large size cotton pad.

Cotton コットン

圧縮タイプローションシート (asyuku type lotion sheet) : Compressed Facial Sheet Mask
ローションシート (lotion sheet) : Compressed Facial Sheet Mask
Ashuku (圧縮) means compressed. You can put your favorite kesho-sui into a compressed facial sheet mask. It turns out to be your customized facial sheet mask.

Asyuku Type Lotion Sheet 圧縮タイプローションシート

しっとり (shittori) : Moist
保湿 (hoshitsu) : Moist
高保湿 (ko-hoshitu) : Extra moist
潤い, うるおい (uruoi) : Moist
    Skin care products with shittori (しっとり), hoshitsu (保湿) , ko-hoshitsu (高保湿) and uruoi (うるおい) are perfect for dry skin.

さっぱり (sappari) : Light Moist
    Skin care products with sappari (さっぱり) are perfect for oily skin.

敏感肌用 (binkan-hada-yo) : For Sensitive Skin
デリケートな肌用 (delicate-na-hada-yo) : For Sensitive Skin

美白 (bihaku) : Whitening
ホワイトニング (whitening) : Whitening
      Skin care products with bihaku (美白) or whitening (ホワイトニング) have whitening effect. Many of them contain whitening agents such as vitamin C.

アンチエイジング (anti-aging) : Anti-Aging
エイジングケア (aging care) : Anti-Aging

オールインワン (all-in-one) : All-In-One

All-In-One オールインワン

詰替用, 詰替え用, つめかえ用　(tsumekae-yo) : Refill
つめかえ (tsumekae) : Refill
詰替えパック, つめかえパック (tsumekae pack) : Refill
省資源パック (shoshigen pack) : Refill
There are many refill products in Japan such as shampoo, keshosui and nyueki. Refill is usually a little cheaper.