I've always loved manga (Japanese comics) and anime. Many summer nights were spent watching various series and reading illustrated books with my younger brothers. It’s no wonder that I’ve always been biased to anything that’s Japanese-made, and I’ve never outgrown my love for anything cute.

It’s been a while since Shu Uemura came up with a delightful, limited collection of cleansing oils—last time was a few years back with artist Ai Yamaguchi. I still have the bottles and the boxes to prove how much of a fan I am: they’re truly limited-edition works-of-art. So you can imagine the look on my face when I found out about this new collaboration with manga artist Moyoco Anno. To those who don’t know her, she is quite famous for her comics and most of them were adapted into TV series: both popular among men and women in Japan. 

This month marks the arrival of this special collection, with five, lovely adorable ladies named the Kamon Girls imprinted on each of the five cleansing oils.  These Kamon Girls represent a kamon crest; a thousand-year-old design tradition that Anno successfully translated and preserved in these bottles with a cute twist!

There’s a story behind every bottle and Kamon girl to make things even more endearing and enticing!  A floral bouquet of chrysanthemum and cherry blossoms adorned the pink “fresh” oil, while the orange “enriched” bottle comes in an orange and black combination of tiles that’s reminiscent of traditional Kimono textiles. The yellow “classic” oils are designed with leaves and vines to show the soft and graceful feel of a Kabuki; whereas the green “premium” one is designed with a contrasting shade of red with illustrations of pine trees, inspired from the beautiful Japanese greenery. And, lastly, the purple “EX+ brightening” pump stood for longevity and fertility with the leaves of Purple Wisteria. 

These cleansing oils are only available for a limited time, so do hurry and visit Shu Uemura kiosks at Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La malls or Rockwell Powerplant mall. Another good reason to purchase them, other than the cuteness of the bottle, is that their cleansing oils are a cult favorite all over the world. So, if you haven’t tried them yet, now is the time to do so.