Japan’s Luxury Cosmetics: A Compendium of Japanese Cosmetics Brands Vol. 2

In the decades since DECORTÉ was launched in 1970, it has approached its development with advanced technology and a strong conviction about the importance of caring for mature skin. This commitment shows through in the way their directions for use and formulas are designed to allow the beauty ingredients to work most effectively.

For example, all of their products, from skincare to base makeup and point makeup, is formulated with biomimetic ingredients, particularly phospholipids. These help their skincare products to spread easily and be absorbed by the skin, and enable their base makeup and point makeup products to meld snugly to the skin for a beautiful, even finish. DECORTÉ also carefully designs the relaxing fragrances of their products so that caring for your skin and putting on makeup is a joyful part of users’ day.

It’s important that cosmetics boost users’ mood when they put them on each day, that they engage all of the senses and provide true satisfaction and pleasure. Users’ experience is of paramount importance to DECORTÉ, and they continue to pursue the essence of luxury cosmetics, placing value on the experience of using their products as expressed through the concept of senses. It's this sensitivity that is carefully shared from person to person, and will always be carefully protected by the brand.

ADDICTION is a makeup brand launched in 2009 by a makeup artist in New York’s fashion scene. With an urban style and the dignified vibe of an independent woman, this brand creates sophisticated styles through simple use of dramatic colors.

Creative director KANAKO, who came on board in 2020, blends fashion-forward aesthetics with street culture in edgy, playful creations. ADDICTION is a brand for everyone who is looking for their own style, providing unique products in a variety of colors and textures like nothing before.

KANAKO’s message to the world is “No one wants anything forced upon them, and no one wants to just copy someone else. Achieving these goals starts with knowing yourself. Going beyond gender, age, and race. We want all people to shine out with beauty that's just their own.” True to her word, ADDICTION’s appeal lies not only in its amazingly innovative stylishness but in its emphasis on ease of use in people’s everyday lives and exquisite aesthetics. By subtly tweaking the colors and following the tips, you can create a style that is true to you, something unlike anyone else. ADDICTION teaches users how much fun that can be.

In the mid-20th century, there was no real concept of luxury goods. Enter ALBION. Launched in March 1956 with the dream of being the world’s first luxury cosmetics company, ALBION started out selling five skincare products on the first floor of a small building in the affluent Ginza area in Tokyo.

“Albion” is an old name for Britain, and means “white land”. The name was reportedly inspired by the view of the beautiful white cliffs on the British mainland from across the Strait of Dover. ALBION chose this name to express the brilliant radiance their products seek to achieve.

From its earliest days, ALBION has placed particular emphasis on selecting high-quality materials, creating environmentally friendly packaging, innovating to develop technology that achieves unmistakable effects and the utmost comfort, and providing service that touches customers’ hearts and makes a difference to their skin.

The standout products in ALBION’s long history are innumerable, but particularly memorable accomplishments include Skin Conditioner, a medicated lotion that has reached its 50th anniversary this year, along with an emulsion to be used at the beginning of your skincare routine and a chiffon-soft powder foundation. Recent additions include serum ECLAFUTUR T and concentrated lotion FLORA DRIP, the result of extensive proprietary development utilizing the company’s farm and research institute. These are just a few of ALBION’s elegant, luxurious products that leave the skin clear and smooth.

This prestige brand started out as the Advanced Research Institute of ROHTO Pharmaceutical before branching off as a brand 15 years ago. episteme’s name means “true knowledge” in Greek, expressing the brand’s ambition to look beyond the skin’s surface to the whole body’s mechanisms, to think beyond the concept of age and help users feel positive as they face each day.

episteme's solutions to skin issues are backed by 120 years of research. The technology, experience, advanced research theories and knowledge gained from ROHTO Pharmaceutical are poured into episteme’s earnest research on the skin and the body as a whole, so that they can find solutions that work. The result is a range encompassing skincare products, base makeup, targeted care products and beauty drinks. Star products include STEM SCIENCE, a series of undeniably effective anti-aging products that leave the skin firm and full of elasticity, and the CLINI SCIENCE series, which embodies new concepts from the brand’s advanced beauty institute.

The brand’s commitment to “thinking beyond age and helping people to shine” also shows through in its consultations provided by skin consultants with specialist training. episteme is constantly tackling the issues that everyone experiences with their skin and bringing an elegant, dignified beauty to people of all ages.

The inspiration of this cosmetics brand was purely and simply to create products that they themselves would want to use every day. SHIRO handles every stage themselves, from development to production and sales. Ingredients shaped by the harsh conditions of nature are individually sourced both from within Japan and overseas and used to maximum effect in SHIRO’s skincare, makeup and fragrance products.

Most of the ingredients in SHIRO’s products are materials that have excellent functions but are usually overlooked. Some are by-products from the creation of other materials; others are thrown out simply because attributes such as their appearance are nonstandard. The roots of kombu kelp that are too hard to eat. The lees left over from brewing sake. Japanese butterbur that cannot be sold because of insect bites. This repurposing is part of a commitment to ethical practices that SHIRO has adhered to throughout its years in business.

This is year 15 for SHIRO, and it aims to refine its production practices and stores to become an even more ethical brand. This includes a pledge for ongoing action to achieve zero waste, including making new products with fragrances and containers left over after redesigns and building stores and fixtures from offcuts and waste materials instead of virgin materials.

Launched in 2016, Celvoke is a total beauty brand for women with depth. With a dream team of natural ingredients and biotechnology, the brand unveiled premium skincare products formulated with swiftlet nest ferment filtrate*. Celvoke focuses on the bounties and effects of nature, “listening” to cells and learning how the skin “thinks” to enable the skin to glow from within with a sophisticated radiance.

Since 2017, Celvoke has sold a sophisticated line of makeup products with the same focus on natural products. They got their big break with products that bring a touch of class within easy reach, with colors and sparkles that have a translucent look and an air of deliberate imperfection. With a depth that comes from quiet confidence and grace, the beauty achieved by Celvoke’s makeup has no imitation.

* Skin conditioning ingredient (Saccharomyces/swiftlet nest ferment filtrate)

COVERMARK’s roots date all the way back to the cosmetics developed by Lydia O’Leary in New York in 1928 to provide natural-looking coverage for birthmarks, scars and discoloration. These products not only transformed people’s appearance but eased their emotional pain.

O’Leary’s spirit and outstanding methods live on today through COVERMARK, which was founded in Japan. The company dedicates itself to developing foundations with highly effective coverage and corrective effects, providing a helping hand to people who are self-conscious about their skin.

As people today reckon with a variety of environmental factors that harm their skin, COVERMARK is working on products that won’t irritate the skin and have the quality necessary to maintain a beautiful finish. They’ve also expanded their range to include products that make base makeup enjoyable, including TREATMENT CLEANSING MILK, which is designed to be gentle on the skin while removing foundation easily, and SKINCARE JELLY FOUNDATION, which leaves the skin firm and radiant.

ACSEINE began with a joint study between experts on a theory that would prevent allergies caused by cosmetics from reoccurring.

In 1973, those experts established the ACS Research Society together with nine companies, with the team that would later become ACSEINE working as the cosmetics department. “ACS” stands for “allergen control system,” a system based on their theory that seeks to identify the causes of allergies and then remove them from sufferers’ daily lives to prevent reoccurrence.

Since then, ACSEINE has pursued solutions based on the latest skin physiology, developing gentle cosmetics that get results without triggering allergies. ACSEINE is not swayed by trends, instead considering what customers’ skin really needs and figuring out how to provide it. The utmost care is taken from the development stage to the sale stage to ensure that users can enjoy comfortable cosmetics, and all of those little measures add up to total confidence in the quality of ACSEINE’s products.

This evocative, world-class unisex fragrance brand made its debut at the MAISON & OBJET trade show in Paris in 2018. It was launched by the sixth leader of Nikko Jirushi, a company founded in 1905 that produces stamp pads used for official Japanese seals. The brand has a unique mood, mixing inspirations from the creator’s experiences from his career as a music director and promotor and the time he spent backpacking around the world with the generations-old craftsmanship this long-standing stamp pad brand developed. All of EDIT(h)’s fragrances are formulated with the Asian fragrance ingredients that have been used in Nikko Jirushi’s stamp pad for all these years.

While there is a unique cohesion and nostalgia to EDIT(h), by no means does it fit neatly under the labels of “modern Japanese” or “traditional Japanese”; it has a contemporary style all its own. Its philosophy of “fragrances and seals are both marks of our identity” has earned global acclaim and won fans from prestigious stores, fashion brands and other industry players with a sharp eye for trends. There are currently 11 fragrances. The brand’s second eau de parfum collection, featuring five fragrances, has been fully released in Europe with further overseas releases in the pipeline.

Launched in 2009, ReFa’s passion is helping people around the world become beautiful and have fun doing it. This, and the wide range of approaches and techniques ReFa takes to achieve that goal, have seen the brand grow in leaps and bounds. What sets ReFa’s style apart is the way it combines beauty devices and cosmetics with innovative ideas. Its debut products, facial and body rollers, took the world by storm. Its range has since expanded to include shower heads, hair dryers, brushes, straightening irons, epilators, skincare, hair care and inner care. With a string of new beauty products that break existing molds, ReFa’s brand image is constantly evolving.

ReFa’s products have a sense of urban luxury that makes them instantly recognizable, and have been carefully designed to feel comfortable in your hand, making the user experience such a pleasure that you’ll want to use it again.

ReFa’s brand concept is “BEAUTY ENTERTAINMENT”: they want their users to see beauty not as a duty but a way to liberate themselves and find enjoyment in their lives. In ReFa’s mind, beauty is something that makes our hearts sing, something that puts a heartfelt smile on our faces, something that is, without exaggeration, one of the joys of being alive. It is with this mindset that ReFa brings moments of excitement to everyone, regardless of gender or age.

YA-MAN began as a manufacturer of precision electronics in 1978, and has conducted research and development of industrial beauty devices that are favored by beauty salons. To get the most out of the advanced technology and knowledge it amassed through this work, YA-MAN has also dedicated itself to development of home beauty devices and created entire beauty techniques that users can do at home. The quality of these techniques has made YA-MAN a hit both in Japan and around the world.

YA-MAN focuses on the fact that there is more than one way for people to be beautiful. Through constant evolutions in its technology, YA-MAN has sought to invent products like nothing the world has seen before to achieve new ways of being beautiful and bring joy and positivity to users’ lives. When it comes to YA-MAN’s status as an industry pioneer, the proof is in the numbers: 320 patents and 777 intellectual properties*.

And its vision for the future? To start a revolution that will be a part of people’s beauty for the rest of their lives. If every person comes alive, society is bound to change for the better. In that case, the next generation of beauty is a noble endeavor to give people the courage and confidence they need to enrich their own lives. YA-MAN is creating a new beautiful to usher in a positive society like that. They’ve grown and grown without ever resting on their laurels, and that won’t change any time soon.

*As of the end of April 2023

This Japanese electric device juggernaut’s first contribution to the beauty devices market was a home hair dryer released in 1937. In 1962, its new pistol-shaped hair dryer received a seal of approval for its functional design, which was used in successive models for the next 20 years. In 2010, it updated its Japanese slogan to Isogashii hito o, utsukushii hito e (Turning busy people into beautiful people), launching the concept of “beauty on the go” as a form of beauty to aspire to and providing products that enabled efficient beauty routines for women navigating busy lives in today’s society.

Further changes in social climate saw Panasonic’s concept change again in 2021 to Utsukushisa wa, watashi no naka ni aru (Beauty is inside me). The message here is that how you feel is more important than how you look, that beauty is not a set of rules about the ideal way to look and that people should therefore figure out what makes them most comfortable. Even if they’re not busy, even if they’re not a woman. Panasonic champions the beauty of being yourself, bringing vitality to the daily lives of a diverse range of people.

Panasonic knows all too well how those little changes created by the right hairstyle and healthy skin can lift your mood, and seeks to bring those moments to people’s daily lives through its products, using its knowledge as an electric device manufacturer to provide great hair care, facial care and body care technology. Its hairdryers and steamers with nanoe ions have made a particularly big contribution to the quality of self-care that people can enjoy at home.

*All prices include tax.   

*Please be aware that some products may run out.   

*Prices are correct as of July 24, 2024, and may change later.