Monthly Skincare Snippets: shu uemura Depsea Hydrability for May 2014!

Monthly Skincare Snippets is a year-long project of mine using one skincare set consistently for a month. I only have two rules: use it at night and don't allow more than seven days of non-usage. I wanted to set a period of usage for products (one month) instead of waiting for them to get emptied. This is my way of making a dent on the various skincare samples I've accumulated.  

You may read more Snippets here.

A teensy boo-boo happened. I published my July Snippets last October 13 not noticing that my May and June Snippets were still unpublished drafts. Oopth. I'll go chronological from hereon out.

Shu Depsea Hydrability set. Photo archived from TasteCentral.com

For May, I picked up this awesome deal care of Taste Central. I got a trial kit of the shu uemura Depsea Hydrability line (6pcs) for only Php 2000. I say 'only' with a bit of bitterness in my mouth because I belatedly realized that the Laneige Essential Care Trial (6pcs) cost Php 1950 for 20-50ml bottles while the Shu testers are significantly smaller bits at 7-20ml without a pouch.

Well whatever. I just go back to how happy I felt when I bought this kit. I should really just stop dwelling and stressing about my shu binge. Sure, I maxed my card out on trial kits, but I only got 6 kits and it's not like I have a gold card. But shit, that's still too much for an impulse buy :)) I got burned and it's never gonna happen again! (yeah right!)

Price:

Php 2000 for a 6-pc trial kit from TasteCentral.com. I tried calling around shu uemura boutiques to price-check this deal vis-a-vis store prices but apparently, shu uemura does not sell trial kits.

shu uemura is available in Rustan's Makati, Rustan's Tower, Powerplant Mall and Alabang Town Center.

Click here to browse Depsea Hydrability pieces and here for information on the line.

Product Description:

Between this and the Red Juvenus line, I chose Depsea Hydrability first because it's meant for dry skin. It has a "3-actions" approach which delivers moisture and assists your skin in producing more of its natural moisture. Moisture is locked in for 24 hours and at the same time, enhances skin translucency. I'm not too wowed by the vague promises so I just held back for the results.

With the exception of the Cream smelling a bit like agar, everything has a sporty citrus scent. The Lotion smells strongest, while the rest are barely noticeable.

The set contains:

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability Lotion

• Depsea Hydrability Lotion (20ml)

A moisturizing "lotion" that's in water form. This is how Asians do toner, which is completely different from astringent-type toner.

Moisturizing lotions are used more liberally than astringents. Around a half-soaked cotton round would do, as opposed to 1-3 tiny dots of astringent.

shu uemura Tsuya Essence

• Tsuya Essence (7ml)*

shu uemura's standout product. If you're getting anything from them, might as well get the Tsuya essence. The key action is supposedly cell regeneration but cosmetically, the iridescence pulls light from the heavens and focuses it on your face, blurring scars, unevenness in tone and even pores. You can see how radiant it is in the photo where I let the product dry up before taking a shot. Even the dispensed blob of product looks like elvin fairy blood.

Use 1-2 drops only on your whole face.

*Tsuya is not technically part of the Hydrability line but it was included in this kit. shu uemura encourages the inclusion of Tsuya in all makeup and skincare routines.

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability Concentrate

• Depsea Hydrability Concentrate (10ml)

The Concentrate is a penetrative formula that carries the highest concentration of actives in the line. Also known as: serum. It's very runny even though it's in gel form and you can see how quickly it pools around my hand. This is very easily and quickly absorbed through the skin.

I drop around 75% of the stem to use on my whole face. That's less than three light squeezes.

And P.S. Yes, I enjoy using that dropper. If you don't know by now the things I find cute and entertaining then you suck!

• Depsea Hydrability Emulsion (10ml)

The Emulsion is a very watery and runny opaque moisturizer.

This is the daytime moisturizer of the line. I use it alone, before makeup. I take around a 1.5 pea sized amount for my whole face so it dries up faster. I didn't focus a lot of energy reviewing it as I'm all about the nighttime skincare.

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability Cream

• Depsea Hydrability Cream (13ml)

The Cream has medium thickness. It's not really heavy but it sits half absorbed, half on top of my skin.

This is the nighttime moisturizer of the line.

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability Alnight Quench

• Depsea Hydrability Alnight Quench (10ml)

This is a transparent liquid, almost as thick as oil though I believe it's still water-based. It's a nighttime "mask" to seal all the previous products into your skin overnight. Think: Too Cool For School Pumpkin Pack. It's very easy to spread and does in fact cast a wet, mask-like sealant over the other layers.

I use around four drops of this, just enough to cover my face. This is meant for overnight use only.

How to Use:

The trial kit starts with a lotion so I'm missing a cleanser and makeup remover. I pilfered a Cleansing Oil (50ml bottle of Fresh, the pink one) from another trial set. I use about a palmful of the Cleansing Oil. Massage it gently over my makeup and rinse off with water. It emulsifies or turns white when rinsed so you can easily tell if you're getting it all off.

shu uemura Skin Purifier - Fresh

Now normally, when a kit has pieces that greatly vary in volumes, I let that be a guide for usage. It serves me really well! The Cleansing Oil (50ml) is huge, and you're generally advised to use a palmful of it. The Tsuya is the tiniest bottle here, and you're only advised to use 1-2 drops on your face. I sort of eyeball the rest, trying to get to a uniform percentage of usage. If you're OC, this should be very easy :)) I personally hate the struggle of trying to finish everything at the same time.

Below is my PM routine. I didn't do the whole AM equivalent but I did use the Emulsion (moisturizer) by itself on mornings.

1. Cleansing Oil
2. Lotion
3. Tsuya
4. Concentrate
5. Cream
6. Mask

Performance:

It got about 98% of my flakes out, which is usually as good as it gets for me. The complete routine truly gave me 24 hour moisture, even with just a PM routine. My skin didn't look as dry and I think the whole translucency bit is true. Flakes create a layer of a chalky and opaque white surface. We want to have translucent skin because it is a sign of moisture.

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability Routine

Sadly, I got imbalanced from the mask. I didn't fully break out with multiple zits on the Alnight Quench but I constantly had burgeoning cystic acne that would ripen one at a time with another one waiting in the wings. When the showstopper zit went away, the next one would just pop out while a new one gurgled someplace else.

I tried skipping the Mask a handful of days and my skin would calm down, but then I'd suffer midday dryness and a noticeable decrease in translucency.

I was not using enough Lotion during the first half of the month and my result was kinda blah. The Concentrate and Cream weren't doing well during the first couple of weeks but I guess they simply weren't layering well due to insufficient Lotion. I forgot that hydrating toners are used much more liberally than astringent type toners. Once I got that sorted out, the whole line performed so much better.

Edge:

Tsuya essence, hands down. Though if we're strictly going with the Depsea Hydrability line, I would have to say it's the Lotion. Using it correctly made a huge difference for the rest of the routine.

Shiseido Benefiance Softener is still not toppled from my top spot, but this Lotion altogether with the Depsea line works really, really well.


Rebuy:

No. It was really good, but there's still a whole world of skincare to try. It lacks just one smidge of something special to make me stick to it, but I guess I'm too adventurous that I won't stick to something I know to be good :))


Beauty by Tellie score: 4 / 5 - Effective for parched skin!

shu uemura Depsea Hydrability is a very good line. Rarely am I ever satisfied with skincare because it seems like the market definition for dry is way too safe, bordering on normal or combination skin. If you have dry up to parched skin, this line will give you noticeable improvements.

It could very well be a 5 had the Alnight Quench worked out for me. My skin looked really great but it was another case of 100% beautiful skin with gurgling pus sacks vs. 75% beautiful skin without gurgling pus sacks.

75% is good, but 75% is not 100%.


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