Beauty - ASIENCE

These days it is getting harder to tell if a product is China-made or Japanese unless you scrutinize the brand or the tiny formulation list and country of origin which is usually hidden amidst the fancy product packaging. Take MEIJI, a brand of milk and snacks for children that I always thought was a Japanese brand till the China milk scare brought to light that this was in fact a China-made brand cleverly branded to sound Japanese. Japanese being equal to superior product and impeccable quality. 

So living in Hong Kong, where consumers are heavily influenced by the superiority of Japanese and Korean made products but still carries China made products because it is after all part of the ROC and resides at the doorway to China, it was hard to decide what ASIENCE was all about when I first saw it debut at Watsons. Could this be bad copy, faulty spelling or the Japanese style of combining Asian and Scientific in one product benefit? I was finally enlightened when the press release from Kao arrived in my inbox to announce that this was a new brand of hair products launching now in Singapore, on the shelves at Watsons. 

Offering three treatment ranges each with a Shampoo, Conditioner and Treatment product, Asience is a premium range of hair care first launched in Japan to rave reviews and awards. Popular Japanese magazine VoCE named it "Pick of the Year" in the Haircare category and Nikkei Trendy voted it as one of the "Best 40 products"

Made to suit Asian hair and infused with Asian-inspired super nourishing ingredients like Aloe, Pearl protein, Camellia Oil, Ginger and Korean Ginseng, each of the ranges work to soften, repair and moisturise. The Inner Rich range works to tame dry and fizzy hair (with Royal Jelly as a key ingredient), the Nature Smooth range to smoothen out tangles and control oily scalps (with rockweed minerals) whilst  the Shine Therapy range with Soya bean as a key ingredient to prevent split ends and add shine and gloss to your finish. 

I guess the moral of this one is to not judge a book by its cover. Minus the dull product packaging and not so imaginative name, it may yet be the next sensation in hair care so at S$6.95 for a 220ml Shampoo, S$12.90 for a 530ml Conditioner and S$11.90 for a Treatment tube, I would say .. it would be a value-for-money try. Although I do wonder what Rockweed, Soya Beans and Royal Jelly smell like. Available at all Watsons stores in Hong Kong and Singapore. 


- Elaine