Japanese brands always manage to make their ads and commercials look so attractive with the use of beautiful celebs. Whether local (Japanese) or international stars, the commercials and ads sell the products so well.
Catherine Zeta Jones, famous Welsh beauty who is also the spokesperson for Elizabeth Arden, became the one of the latest international celebs to grace Lux shampoo commercials in Japan.
Several luxury brands came out with some creams that carry hefty price tags, and the trend is pushing the prices up more and more. But are they worth paying half a month’s salary for that tiny jar?
SKII, La Mer, Shiseido’s high end brand Cle de Peau all have one thing in common – their price tags that average around the low $100s. I used to think they were so unattainable for the average women: how can anyone spend $120 on a 50ml jar of night cream?
That’s until that price tag got pushed up more and more – mostly by Japanese brands such as Kanebo and Pola. As if the $100 cream wasn’t outrageous enough, these creams now average in the $500s(!).
So the question is – are they worth the money?
The benefits of using AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids) are long debated – while some of us can tolerate the tingle, some just feel burned. After coming off a set of rather expensive Lancome whitening products (Blanc Expert) that did not show any visible results at all, I decided that I would give AHAs a try, just to get that glow back on my rather dehydrated, sensitive skin. As I searched for AHA products, I remember a friend of mine told me that Avon’s Anew line is working wonders for her, and after reading glowing reviews from hundreds of reviewers on makeupalley.com, I decided to give Avon a try.
I felt a slight tingle just as described. After a few nights, that tingle went away, and I was happy to see actual results: my skin got a glow, and my skin was so luminous, I no longer needed foundation or any makeup! For $11, I thought, wow, I spent over CAD$249 on that Lancome set and I didn’t even see any difference after 6 months, and I got results after just a few uses!
One thing I love about Laneige is that it constantly reinvents itself – from product packaging to the products themselves, Laneige seems to be always on the forefront of fashion and makeup trends. Korean and Japanese beauty products are leading the world: their beautiful and sleek packaging and high quality products set great examples for their western counterparts.
Late last year, Laneige launched a new makeup series called Snow Crystal. Basically, the products are the same as their ‘Moisture Fitting’ or ‘Clear Fitting’ makeup base and foundations; even the loose powder, now newly packaged as well in the Snow Crystal series, are not that much different from the former ‘Natural Fitting’ powders. A name change and packaging redesign, however, make Laneige that much more attractive to the buyers. And to top it all off, Laneige’s spokesperson is the beautiful and luminous actress Song Hye Kyo, whose flawless skin and exquisite features are widely admired all over Asia.
Have you ever purchased an expensive product based on an attractive commercial or ad? Or because of the spokesperson? Obviously, these marketing strategies of using beautiful celebrities and supermodels are highly successful, because not many of us can deny being attracted to a particular brand or product promoted by a famous beautiful woman. And of course, there is no shortage of these beautiful celebrities either. What we have here, at least in the beauty industry, is almost like a beauty showdown of who’s who, each one just as attractive, if not more beautiful, than the next:
Japan is not only famous for its own beautiful women, but also its obsession of Caucasian beauty. And who exemplifies that Causasian beauty better than Angelina Jolie?
For some reason, mail-order brands often have a certain stigma, perhaps because of the image of certain well known direct selling brands in North America. Unlike brands such as Avon or Yves Rocher, which are known to be cheap brands, the mail-order brands in Asia are actually the opposite: they are known to be quite high quality. For example, Sulwhaoo, the prestigious Korean brand, can only be sold through authorized representatives in Korea in a door-to-door sales fashion; the only other place you could buy it is at the airport. If you have used Sulwhasoo, you would know that its hefty price-tags aren’t exactly Avon like.
In Japan, mail-order brands are big business. Think Pola, Sulwhasoo’s counterpart in Japan. Or Fancl (although it does have chains of retail stores throughout Japan). Orbis and HABA are also direct-selling brands. But my favorite mail-order brand has to be DHC, one of the top selling cosmetics and skin care brands in Japan.
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