What I liked from Japan: Rohto Z!, Lion Cooling Sheet for Legs, Tokyu hands Woodyhouse brush, Lycee Rohto Eyewash reviews

Well it's been ages since my Japan trip, where I bought quite a bit of random beauty gadgets. Some I saw from magazines, some I just saw in stores and was interested in trying.

Firstly, Rohto Z! Refresh you eyes eyedrops. There are a few versions (by box color), like super minty vs mild etc. These are a step up from the pink bottled Rohto Lycee cooling eye drops. They give really great cooling sensation to the eyes and clear any redness. I use it in the morings a few times a week as I get allergies regularly (as with all eye drops, not recommended for prolonged regular long term use).

In Japan these are not prescription products so they are available in most drugstores alongside other eyedrops. I think you shouldn't use this with contacts, but if I recall correctly there might be a special version for contact wearers as well (same with Lycee eyedrops- there's a contact lense version).

I like how it's plastic sealed internally too. the square/ triangular bottle shape is also easy to hold.

Next is Lion Cooling Sheet for Legs. The brand is "Lion". This always received rave reviews in many beauty magazines and are recommended as a holiday treat when you are in Japan after too much shopping and walking. Basically it's a leg mask that's aimed at cooling and refreshing the legs and soothe that tired/ sore feeling. 

I was very sceptical but it really does work- it's like an improved version of those traditional medicinal plasters and pastes.

Each pack contains 3 individually packed sachets (see left of box in pic below). Each sachet contains 6 sheets (each use is 3 sheets per leg).

Basically you stick the masks on your legs like in pictures below.

The sheets are 13cm x 8.5cm, they are a bit like a pink 'gel' look (but it's not runny and doesn't drip). You peel off the separator sheet on top and stick the pink gel patches on the foot, back of leg and ankle. Leave for 15-20min (or longer like 1 hr if you want, they stick on fairly easily so you can still walk about).

You can feel an immediate cooling and soothing sensation on the legs, it's hard to describe, but it's such an "ahhhhhhhh so nice" moment after a long day of walking and shopping. 

They are not reusable. Each box retails for about USD15 so I consider them to be for special occasions only. They don't exactly have skin treatment properties either so it wouldn't leave your skin moisturised etc etc.

I also went to Tokyu Hands (which is like a medium sized department store that really specialises in selling random things, from hairdryer to cosmetics to cute garden tools to calendars etc).  I've always wanted a boar bristled round brush for blow drying my hair (especially doing the slightly curled inward look for the ends of my hair). Having looked at mason pearson then I decided I didn't want to invest that much just yet. 

I bought this one instead, which says it's made with natural boar bristle and the brush is heat resistant and static resistant, sounds perfect for blow drying. 

 (and made in Japan with real wood handle, the actual brand is called "Woodyhouse") 

It was 1470 Yen so about 16USD. Made in Osaka I think.

Personally I thought it's a very nice and reasonably priced brush, I wish I got a slightly bigger diameter size, but it still works quite well with a hairdryer to avoid that messy hair look where the ends sometimes curl at a weird angle. I still haven't quite grasped the technique for a perfect home blowdry with beautiful inward curls though.

The varying length of the bristle (at the base there's more densely packed shorter bristles, then mixed with longer bristles) also meant it was great for smoothing down hair (to avoid that static flyaway finish).

Only thing to complain about is that it's slightly difficult to clean (i guess with any similar hair brushes though).  A lot of fluff and hair gets trapped in the very root of the bristles. Sometimes I spend a good 2-3 minutes with a tweezer to clean it. However a good trick to clean your hairbrush (one that's well made), is after a thorough shampoo and while your hair is still full of foam, use the brush to brush your hair (through the foam) without tangling it, then the shampoo will clean any dirt or oil in the brush as well.

Lastly Rohto Lycee eye wash. I've been meaning to try this for a while. The Lycee line is not as super cooling as the Z! line (I'd actually prefer the Lycee eye drops since they are cooling enough for me and comes in cute pink bottles).

See the plastic strange looking cap on the top of the bottle- that's the holder for the eyewash. You squeeze some eyewash liquid into the holder, then put the holder over your eye, press against the skin, then squeeze the bottom of the holder while your eyes are still open, it then rinses your eyeballs easily.

I know it sounds silly to wash your eyeball with a special product, but this really works especially if you are one of those people who always find you wake up with gluggy eyes or after removing your eye makeup, it still seems a bit foggy or there might be random mascara residue or shimmers that's floating around in your eye. This gets rid of the last bit of it (and is really soothing and cooling when you use it). It really does feel different to using just plain water.

I got the smallest 80ml size which still lasts a good 3 months (used a few times a week). There's also a giant 400ml size but I just prefer to use my eye products within a few months to ensure everything's clean. 80ml retails for like 10-12USD.

This works great with those who suffer from hayfever or slightly bloodshot eyes.

I like most items above and would happily repurchase most of them. Quite a few items are probably available online too like ebay or adambeauty.com etc. Definitely take a look, I love fun Japanese gadgets.