Editor's 3 Picks: Natural and Organic J-Beauty Brands
Posted on May 06 2020
Hello friends! I hope you’ve been finding ways to stay safe and enjoy yourself this spring. I’m happy to be finishing my first month writing for Cosme Hunt, it’s been lots of fun getting to know all the talented writers who work so hard on this blog! In celebration of our vision, I’m here today to bring you some exciting J-Beauty brands that come right from nature!
Light, Simple, Natural
Spring is almost over, the birds are chirping and all I want to do is run outside and enjoy nature. To get all my springtime energy out, I did a deep dive into the heart of the natural J-beauty brand world.
J-Beauty is all about getting the absolute best results out of the absolute best ingredients. Where better to get those than right out of nature! From lush mountainsides to beautiful shorelines, Japan is lush with unique and special plants and ingredients full of hidden benefits waiting to be enjoyed. One could grab a wildlife book and head out into the forest, or just buy some brilliant products from a super high-quality J-Beauty brand!
Today I brought together three of my favorite brands focused on organic and natural products that tap into the goodness of nature for you. There’s a whole world out there, and here’s a fast glance at three J-Beauty gems who are just waiting to fill your cabinet with lush natural products!
Floral fun and prickly pears - to/one
"Special colors that allow your individuality to bloom."
The first brand I have to share today is a special company called to/one. Nature is written right into their mission, and they can stretch a whole lot out of a little: check out their huge selection of products that feature flower extract and prickly pear oil.
Pears and flowers?
Peeking around to/one’s selection made one thing abundantly clear to me: almost all the products I read about included prickly pear juice and flower extract! Seriously - mascara, cleansers, and even lipstick all found ways to use this genius blend of light and natural ingredients. How cool? Getting lots of use out of a few ingredients is a seriously impressive feat to pull off.
I want to spotlight a lipstick specifically! Using prickly pear juice for your lip’s health and moisture and a huge array of floral colors, the beauticians here made a seriously pretty product. I’ve found over two dozen colors of to/one Petal Essence Lipsticks, and each one looks more fresh and vibrant than the last.
A little gift from Okinawa - Ruhaku
For these next two brands, it’s time to take a little tour of Japan! These two J-Beauty stories are tied deeply to the land where they came from, and can only be told with a little background about these special regions! First up- a vacation to the southern islands of Okinawa!
Ruhaku is a brand born from the rich nature in the islands of Okinawa. Way out in the southernmost reaches of Japan, Okinawa has international fame as an incredibly pretty tourist spot, culturally rich part of Japanese history and, wildly, home of some of the longest living people in the world! Seriously - people in Okinawa are known to live longer than almost anyone in the world.
What’s their secret? Nature! These famous island ways of life all center around nature, and making the absolute most of fruits, veggies and wild plants. One of those special plants has been used for ages to promote longevity, and today Ruhaku brings us some wonderful products featuring that very leaf!
Gettou leaf!
The Gettou leaf is the antioxidant rich, naturally sourced and useful super plant that helped give this J-Beauty brand their cause! It can be used in all sorts of ways, but the most popular and effective products offered are all about cleansing, purifying, and fortifying your skin.
This Reset Cleansing Oil uses Gettou leaf to strip your skin of impurities, from dead skin up to waterproof makeup. It is a strong cleanser, but it will only help heal your skin: the strengthening properties of the Gettou leaf will help to build up strength!
Winter’s natural majesty - the story of Shiro
Topping off this tour is one of the most powerful names in J-Beauty- Shiro! Featured as a trend to watch out for in 2020, Shiro has been a long time figure in the industry. But where did it grow from? To find the answer, we take our little north - all the way north, to the snowy countryside region of Hokkaido.
A snowy island story
As written on their UK website, Shiro began as a humble souvenir shop up in the chilly region of Hokkaido. Their foray into the world of beauty actually began as suppliers of natural ingredients to other companies who would make products with the lovingly grown and harvested ingredients. As time carried on, Shiro continued to grow and expand, eventually making beauty products and entering the world of J-Beauty themselves!
Today, ingredient sourcing remains at the core of Shiro’s brand. A fun fact is that the ingredients Shiro grows the most are also turned into alternative kinds of products- everything from cute kid cookies to groceries to high-class dishes at their two cafe locations! However, one ingredient reigns supreme as the most popular of them all - Kombu!
The power of Kombu kelp
Kombu kelp is a staple household cooking ingredient, but that doesn’t mean it can’t have other uses! In fact, Kombu is Shiro’s most popular ingredient for its powerful moisture retention attributes. To finish off our tour of natural J-Beauty, I picked out a beautiful white lily hair mist!
This mist blends Kombu with Yuzu fruit extract to create a beautiful aroma of White Lily while providing moisture retention power to your hair. It’s light, natural and comes with the extremely high-quality guarantee of the Shiro brand!
Natural and Organic
I hope you enjoyed learning about these three brands, and a bit about Japan too! The stories of J-Beauty and Japan itself are rich, full of connections back to nature and so so interesting to me. I really liked all three of these products too, I have a very soft spot in my heart for Yuzu & Lillies!
Comment down below and let us know what you think about this article!
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Arya Arsenault
Studies Japanese language and culture at the University of Massachusetts. Loves Japan’s pop culture and learning about its trends!
