How far will you go in terms of caring for your skin? Interesting question, actually. It’s one of the more important beauty questions one should ask herself (or some cases, himself). Will using a facial wash and toner combo for cleansing enough to remove heavy makeup? Do you schedule facials and peelings as part of your regular skincare regimen? Do buy loads of beauty products — day creams, night creams, facial scrubs, etc — just to be certain that your skin is properly taken care of?

Personally, though I’m no facial or peeling junkie, my skincare regimen do involve numerous beauty products. I do, however, stick to the fundamentals and use products best for cleansing, toning and moisturising. So, we’re talking about regularly using facial wash and toner for everyday cleansing and toning, cleansing oil for removing makeup, facial scrub once a week, day creams and moisturiser before putting on makeup, and night creams at, well, night.

But, there are times when I do wonder if there’s anything I can do in between. Or something more I can do to take better care of my (ouch) aging skin. Enters the Depsea Water Facial Mist from Shu Uemura.

Shu Uemura
Depsea Water
Facial Mist in Sage

Eight herbal aromas formulated with depsea water provide a refreshing, relaxing feel with a fine mist that gently wraps the skin. new pump update achieves a finer mist for enhanced comfort. suitable for all skin types. (Source)

It contains sea water, methylparaben, linalool, parfum/fragrance. And to be quite honest, holding the bottle in my hand, I don’t bloody well know what to do with it. Do I simply take it out on a hot, humid day and spray it on over my makeup to keep my skin refreshed without washing all my makeup off and that’s it? That’s all it can do? Hardly something I’d spend my hard-earned money on, to tell you the truth.

Gifted by folks from Shu Uemura, the opportunity had me reading up on the product further. I learned that one of the uses is to spray the mist liberally on skin prior to moisturizer application to help facilitate moisture absorption. Interesting. Telling me that this baby can actually help moisturise my skin more certainly made me more receptive to the idea of actually using it. I also found out that I can use it whenever skin needs immediate thirst quenching relief, i.e. like I said earlier. So I reckon you can say that it acts like the skin’s gatorade, yes?

Why do you need a facial mist anyway?

Shu Uemura believes that skin quality is determined by the quality of water applied to the skin. Thus giving good water to the skin is the very first step for beautiful skin.

Deep-sea water
Deep-sea water is taken from the depth of the ocean where sunlight does not reach, at 200 meters. Completely free of artificial color, natural aromatic extracts are then added to become lightly scented mists that rejuvenate and hydrate the skin, hair and body. Eight herbal aromas provide refreshing feel to energize the skin.

Sage
Fresh and stimulating. Aromatic herbaceous fresh note. The name arouses from the latin salvere, meaning to “save”. For thousands of years Sage has been used for a variety of culinary and medicinal purposes. (Source)

Washing with regular tap water is fine. No immediate danger involved. Women have survived centuries of using it. But minerals found in the water can (and will) cause whatever damage it could over time (and esp in frequency of use). I am not aware of the full benefits of deep-sea water but if scientific studies say that it is more potent in nutrients that will help hydrate the skin then, who am I to dispute that? But I guess we can go back to the gatorade metaphor, why drink Gatorade when you can simply drink water when thristy?

I’ve only used it a few times and am seeing the positive points. What I haven’t noticed are visible signs of what else it can do for the skin. My skin does feel refreshed whenever I use it and I’m not scared to do so even with makeup on. Gentle patting with facial tissues or towel to remove excess moisture (or I’d let it dry on its own if I’ve got time) will do. My skin feels a bit tight after toning and using it prior applying the moisturiser helps loosen the skin up and I did notice that absorption came more easily.

Inhaling the Sage scent had me thinking of Rosemary. This reminds me of roast meals and it’s delightfully fresh and familiar. It’s a great picker-upper plus it smells clean. I reckon this will be useful for folks with day jobs. It’ll help you shake off that need to spend siesta during working hours. Perhaps it can even help perk you up and push you to be more productive!

With all the positive points and how good it is in doing what it said it would do, I still really can’t see myself incorporating it into my regimen at present. I’m already using too many products as it is. Though adding more ways to take better care of my skin will lead me to reap the benefits in the future (ah, aging can be such a pain in one’s arse, gah), I have to draw the line at keeping to my current prep time. I’m already spending too much time getting ready! But since I do own a bottle now, I guess it couldn’t hurt using it in-between. I already saw how useful it is whenever I hit the gym or during my weekly Badminton games. I can be confident that though my moisturiser will not stay on during these times, I have the facial mist to hydrate my skin instead.

Shu Uemura Depsea Water Facial Mist, $24 (roughly around Php 1,150.00).

Other available scents: Bergamot, Chamomile, Hamamelis, Lavander, Mint, Rose, Rosemary, and Fragrance-free.

So, ladies, your turn to take a shot at an answer. How far will you go in terms of taking care of your skin? What composes your skincare regimen? Do you think it will make room for the Depsea Water Facial Mist? Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Photo © 2009 Sasha Manuel