There’s a vast collection of beauty products, including makeup products, in Japan’s drugstores. With so many choices, and me being a noob, I needed to research and find the gems that everyone’s grabbing. I also armed myself with local prices to compare when in Japan, just in case it’s cheaper locally. You never know!

Read on to get an idea of what you can get at the drugstores in Japan. Also, find out if the beauty products I’ve bought are really good and as raved about. Before you read on, you might want to know that www.cosme.net is Japan’s largest and highly influential beauty community site. The website has many reviews and holds a grand ranking annually. And if beauty products are ranked #1 on Cosme, the products will usually state it on their packaging to show how recommended they are.

*Prices stated in this post are the prices (including tax) at the time I bought from the respective drugstore in Japan. The prices might have changed since then, or vary from drugstore to drugstore. 

Related Posts:

• Newest Post in 2025: Medicine and Beauty Products in Japanese Drugstore (Prices in 2025)
• About the different drugstores in Japan: Drugstores in Japan (Part 1)
• Review of Products in Japan’s Drugstores:
  • OTC Medicine (Part 2)
  • Facial Care (Part 3A)
  • Make Up Products (Part 3B)
  • Hair and body products (Part 4)

Make Up and Remover

Blusher

I am not into make-up because a dermatologist once told me that my breakout was due to layers of sunblock and make-up blocking my pores. So, I try not to put on makeup (except eyeliner and eye concealer). Why am I telling you this? I’m not a fan of makeup and prefer breathable mineral makeup, but I totally fell in love with Canmake Cream Cheek! I was still contemplating whether to get it. Turns out there’s a good reason it’s highly raved, in Cosme’s top ranks for a few years and paraben-free. Most importantly, it’s affordable (¥580, S$7.30).

I didn’t know how to use it for the first time. It’s a cake in gel form. I tried using a brush, but it didn’t work. So I swiped some of the gel and dabbed it on my cheek. I was shocked by the chunk of red. I hurriedly used my finger to rub and spread the redness around my cheek. Then there it was, a beautiful glow! The gel became silky-soft and powdery when I applied it to my cheeks. It was like magic! I love it because it’s really compact to bring out in my carry-on. Also, when I’m outside, I can do a quick touch-up without the hassle of a brush. It’s like whipping out a lipstick, swiping and being out of the toilet in no time.

Correct Technique: Simply dot and press the colour onto your cheeks a few times, and subsequently stroke the colour to blend it, as though joining up the dots.

www.canmake.com/en/item/detail/69

Eyelash Curler

I find it troublesome to use an eyelash curler, and hence it was definitely not under my shopping radar. However, I came across this Shiseido Eyelash Curler as one of Japan’s Must-Buys. It has good reviews everywhere I looked online. It’s purported to achieve long-lasting results and is a great fit to curl every single strand of lashes perfectly. Most importantly, you can get it for ¥580 (S$7.30) in a Japanese drugstore as compared to S$16-18 in Singapore. With such a good deal, I decided I must buy and give it to my mum! :)

Concealer

If you use concealer, you might want to consider Shiseido Spotscover Foundation. I bought it for my mother after a 30% discount at ¥840 (S$10.55). It’s a highly raved concealer, but it might be too thick for the undereye. I usually only put concealer for undereye, so I didn’t get this for myself.

Make Up Remover

For makeup remover, I bought Softymo Super Point Make Up Remover and Bifesta BRIGHTUP Cleansing Lotion. I started using Softymo first because prior to this, I was using an oil-based makeup remover and didn’t really like the texture. Hence, I decided to switch to a more milky, gel-based product (Softymo) before using the oil type (Bifesta).

Softymo Super Point Make Up Remover is an eye and lip makeup remover that claims not to irritate or dry delicate skin and is moisturising and gentle to the eye area. Since I only use eye and lip makeup regularly, this is good enough for me. Also, it removes my eyeliner, eye concealer and lipstick relatively well. However, I read reviews that it has trouble removing makeup with waterproof mascara, eyeliner and eye shadow.

I bought this at ¥495 (S$6.20), and Qoo10 is selling it at S$14. Unlike Bifesta, this is not commonly seen in Watsons and Guardian. I guess it’s not as popular. I tried to research every product I bought from the drugstore at www.ratzillacosme.com to ensure the ingredient list doesn’t contain parabens. Sadly, I missed out on this product– it contains parabens. :(

Bifesta BRIGHTUP Cleansing Lotion is a Japanese micellar cleanser that’s water-based but with the cleansing power of an oil. This paraben-free product is popular and purported to be a must-buy at Japan’s drugstores. I bought it at ¥695 (S$8.80), and Watson’s is selling it at S$19.

Simply soak the cotton pad with about 3 pumps and wipe the makeup away. You wouldn’t need to rinse off after that. I haven’t used it yet, but it claims to remove heavy makeup easily and also dead skin cells and blackheads at the same time. But if you have heavy eye makeup, you may want to consider their eye makeup remover instead. There are four types:

• Red Bottle – Enrich for dry skin (Co-enzyme Q10 for rich moisture),
• Green Bottle – Sebum for oily skin (green tea extract to reduce pore size),
• Blue Bottle – Brightup for combination skin (removes dead skin cells and dirt from pores),
• White bottle – Moist for dry and sensitive skin (with double moisturising ingredients to provide high moisture effect)

What other makeup products in Japan’s Drugstore would you recommend? :) Let me know in the comment box below. For more tips for your Japan trip, bookmark this page: Overview Itinerary – Hokkaido and Tokyo (Winter/Spring 2016).

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