tsubaki Archive | Berries in the Snow

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Review: SanDaWha Camellia Shampoo and Conditioner

21. September 2017

/ PR SAMPLE / HAIR / AFFILIATE LINKS /

I love to try out hair care from other countries. Sometimes you find true gems, which you would never have found in the range of your regular drugstore haul. When I heard that the Korean brand SanDaWha also has a shampoo and conditioner containing Camellia Flower I was sure that I needed to try it. Thankfully, I was provided a set of the SanDaWha Camellia Shampoo and Conditioner from W2Beauty.

SanDaWha is a natural cosmetics brand from Korea. Its products are free from mineral oils, free from alcohol, free from animal based ingredients, synthetic perfume and fragrance free, and free from artificial pigments and artificial preservatives. From the high quality plant-based ingredients Camellia flower is their key ingredient. Camellia japonica is a member of the tea family and grows naturally in Korea and Japan, where it is also known by the name “Dongbaek” (Korean) or “Tsubaki” (Japanese). This flower is also the ingredient of the Shiseido Tsubaki hair care. The oil from the Camellia flower is widely used in asian cosmetics and has moisturizing properties.

My hair is frizzy and has natural waves and curls. I don’t have thick hair though, but rather fine one. My hair is also quite long (at the moment down to my waist) and therefore the ends are pretty damaged (time to visit the hair saloon…). When I look for hair care I usually look for straightening and hydrating properties and damage repair. My scalp is dry to normal depending on the season. These products from SanDaWha are directed towards sensitive & dry to normal scalp.

The SanDaWha Camellia Shampoo and Conditioner come in large pump bottles containing 400 g each. I love to have pump bottles for hair care since it makes it much easier to control how much product you need. The white colored bottles are decorated with a single red Camellia flower on the front. I love the design! Below the flower you will find a short text which describes the product.The pump of the bottles has to be unlocked upon the first use. This prevents the product to leak out during the shipping. Also, if you want to take the shampoo somewhere else, you could lock it again.

The ingredients of the SanDaWha Camellia Clear Moisturizing Shampoo are listed below. The shampoo contains almost 50% Camellia Japonica Flower Extract. Apart from that you will also find a bunch of other plant-based ingredients, like rosemary, lavender, rosewood, chamomile, licorice etc. The shampoo is supposed to cleanse your hair from impurities and yet act moisturizing on the hair. Also, the herbs should have a calming effect on the scalp. The conditioner also contains a bunch of plant-based ingredients. In contrast to the shampoo it contains 5 different oils to deeply moisturize and nourish the hair. The ingredients list states for example shea butter, olive oil, and of course tsubaki oil...but also essential oils like mint, lavender, rosewood, etc.

The shampoo has a clear, slightly yellowish formulation with an herbal scent, which was actually not what I expected, but I loved the shampoo. It made the hair feel so clean and the scalp especially. The hair was fluffy and lightweight after washing the hair with the SanDaWha Camellia Shampoo. In terms of moisture I still needed to use the conditioner, because the moisturizing effect of the shampoo was not enough. The conditioner does a perfect job in that point. It has a creamy consistency and really makes the hair feel soft and hydrated. I tested these two products very thoroughly and the shampoo is already empty and the conditioner needs only some more days. I can definitely say that this combination doesn’t make your hair ultra sleek like the Tsubaki shampoo and conditioner from Shiseido. It makes them fluffy and light and clean...nevertheless, the conditioner really is a glow-booster for my hair. I see the difference in how the hair shines whether I use the conditioner together with the shampoo or I use the shampoo alone.

My final verdict is that I enjoyed the SanDaWha Camellia Shampoo and Conditioner. I already knew that Camellia really does the trick for my hair, but now I’ve been confirmed again. I love how the brand contains natural and eco certificated ingredients and so many plants and herbs, too. It is, in my eyes, a good alternative to the Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and worth a try, although it is also similarly expensive. At W2Beauty the set of shampoo and conditioner retails for 55 US$ (currently there is a SanDaWha brand sale of 40% and the set retails for only 33US$!).

You can also use these coupon codes until end of 2017 for a discount:

berriesholiday: 30% off of Swanicoco, SanDaWha, Eclado, Cellnco, Romand, Moksha, La Bellona, 107 Oneoseven and Oseque

One coupon can be used per order, and each coupon can be used one time by each customer.

What are your hair care recommendations for frizzy/dry hair?

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Just as a short reminder: All products mentioned and reviewed on this blog are of my personal opinions. This product here was sent to me for reviewing purpose by https://w2beauty.com which doesn’t influence me in providing my honest opinion on the products.

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asian cosmetics beauty review

Review: Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner

20. April 2015

// HAIRCARE / AFFILIATE LINKS / BEAUTY //

Finally, after loving the Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner for more than a year I decided to write a review for it. I bought the full size 500 ml pump bottles for both products and recently my refills for both arrived. I’ve used a different shampoo for the last 2 months while waiting for my refills and now that I can finally continue with my beloved Tsubaki shampoo I realized again how much I do love it and how much nicer my hair feels when using it. Actually, I’ve never used one shampoo brand for such a long time and have been so happy with it before!

Shiseido is one of the most famous high-end brands in the world. I think everybody knows this Japanese brand in some way. In Japan, Shiseido has a lot of sub-branches, which also vary in their price range. They have cheaper sub-branches and more expensive ones and also others with very cute designed products. The Shiseido Tsubaki haircare belongs to the more pricey products with a simple and mature design. There are five versions of the Tsubaki haircare products, the Shining range or now called Extra Moist (red), the Damage Care range (white), the Damage Care Rich Premiere range (orange), the Volume Touch range (purple) and the Head Spa range (golden, I don’t know if this is available for the renewed versions). I was quite undecided which line to choose first because my hair is thin, but frizzy and quite damaged and tends to split ends as well…I finally chose the red line because so many reviews were positive.

As I said, I took the risk and bought the full-sized bottles right away. Both the shampoo and the conditioner come in pump bottles, which I love! The cap with the pump attached can be removed and the bottles can be refilled if you want. You can also close and open the pump and so it can be used while traveling, too, if you want to carry 500 ml with you :D…

The two bottles came together as a value set and were packed in a plastic bag, typical packaging for Japanese products. The back side of the plastic bag contained some Japanese description and so does the back side of the bottles. The ingredients are listed on COSDNA >>here<< (shampoo) and >>here<< (conditioner). The key ingredients of the Tsubaki haircare are of course “Tsubaki” or also called Camellia japonica. The oil is used in haircare not only as an emollient but also for smoothening the hair and making it shiny and nice. Camellia japonica oil is rich in oleic and linoleic acid and therefore perfect for hair nourishment.

The design of the two pump bottles is elegant and the color of the bottles is really a pretty red color. And although the bottles look quite similar you can know blindly which is the shampoo and which is the conditioner by touching the top of the pump. Recently, they renewed the design of the bottles and the design of the bottles is less round but looks a bit more modern..I personally like the old design better. Although the material of the bottles is good quality plastic it doesn’t look cheap but really elegant. The shampoo has a semi-see-through bottle, so you know when it is time to buy a new refill.

The Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner have both an amazing scent. It is flowery and lasts while sometime in your hair. The shampoo has a runny consistency. It has a light, shiny and milky/yellowish color and it is very efficient. I only need one to two pumps of the shampoo. When I still had my shorter hair one pump was enough. It creates nice and quite some foam while lathering it in your hair. Some reviews said that the shampoo is a bit drying. Compared to most European shampoos I didn’t have that feeling. In my opinion, my hair feels already detangled while using the shampoo, but the conditioner works even more wonders. After using the creamy conditioner the hair feels super soft and detangled. I can easily comb my hair and it feels so smooth and nice! As I said, the scent is so nice, too, and my hair feels better and less frizzy. I almost don’t have to straighten my bangs anymore ( I have naturally wavy hair usually) and all in all my hair feels so much better than with the European drugstore shampoos. The only downside is that it is not really a cheap product. But at least you can buy refills, which are a bit cheaper. Below you can see the 350 ml refills for both the shampoo and the conditioner. As you can see, the refills are from the new version of the red shampoo. I don’t know if they changed the formula, I didn’t notice any significant differences yet, but if I will do, I will update this post immediately.

All in all, these are great hair products! I can recommend the Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo and Conditioner to everybody with dry and tangled and frizzy hair. The scent is nice, it makes the hair super soft and it nourishes the hair with Tsubaki oil. I bought my refills and the bottles on eBay, but the retailer is no longer available. The products are also available on Amazon.com though, starting from 16 US$ per bottle.

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