[Review] The (mostly) Albion Routine
The products I'm reviewing below are old and are now either discontinued or reformulated. But my experience with Albion thus far has piqued my interest enough to want to document my continuing journey with them.
Brand & Product Introduction
Headquartered in Ginza, Albion, under the Kosé Corporation, is a Japanese luxe cosmetics manufacturer and distributor that's been around since 1956. Their mission is to celebrate natural beauty by combining high-quality raw ingredients (including growing and harvesting their own plants from their organic field, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at the base of Shirakami-Sanchi mountain in the northern tip of Japan's main island) with innovative technology. They have five R&D labs in some dreamy places, including Sri Lanka, with many office locations worldwide outside of Japan, including in Europe and the US.
Screenshot of Albion's labs page (L-R): Tokyo, Yokohama, Okinawa, Shirakami, Sri Lanka
A brief introduction to the Albion lines/products I will be reviewing:
- EXAGE - the line came out in 1997 but was ended in 2022 with Flarune's launch replacing it, so I can't find much about what this line was supposed to do other than it's meant to promote "baby-like skin". The Singaporean and Malaysian Albion leftover pages basically say "EXAGE addresses intercellular communication in the epidermis, promoting cell renewal to reborn the skin with rich, moisturised cells". I know I'm running close to the expiration of the products, but I'm also the type not to mind too much about that, especially with a more trusted brand/company.
- Flora Drip - one of their "must have" Albion items and named after Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring (Chloris is the Greek counterpart). Released in 2019, the star ingredient is MYURAT complex (a combination of artemisia montana, cornflower, thyme, lemon balm, artemisa capillaris) fermented with pure white koji fungus, all grown and processed in their above mentioned Shirakami-Sanchi field and lab. I am reviewing their older version, as the newer Flora Drip S was released just this spring and includes Sauvignon grape seed extract.
- eclafutur d - another "must have". eclafutur was launched in 2013, the version I'm reviewing was launched in 2018, and they released eclafutur t in 2023 which includes extracts from naturally dried yumesaika peony flower petals* picked at peak bloom. The star ingredient is their trademarked Nanocesta ET complex which features a micelle structure (~50 nanometers) - smaller than human capillaries - to directly penetrate cells and increase absorption. The active botanical extracts include wild grape leaves from Okinawa (vitis ficifolia var. ganebu hatus) and Cupuaçu butter, both of which help "restore and renew the look of skin" (from Albion Garden).
*link has a promo video that's so beautiful and relaxing
Me + PM Routine
Skin profile: NW25, well-aging, dehydrated normal to dry
Season & Type of Climate: spring, coastal desert
1st Cleanser: [WNRP] EXAGE Softening Cleansing Cream
2nd Cleanser (as needed): [HG] Biore the Face Foaming Facial Wash High Moist
1st Serum: [WRP] Eclafutur d (yes, this step is supposed to be here, more on this below)
Lotion: [WRP] EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk I (also yes, it's supposed to be here)
1st Toner: [WNRP] EXAGE Moist Full Lotion I
2nd Serum/2nd Toner: [WRP] Albion Flora Drip
Hydrating Toner (as needed): [WNRP] momopuri Moist Barrier Lotion
Light Moisturizer: [HG] Stratia Liquid Gold
Cream (as needed): [WRP] Hada Labo Gokujyun Alpha Cream
Key: [HG] Holy Grail, [WRP] Would Repurchase, [WNRP] Will Not Repurchase
Length of Use Before Review: Flora Drip ~2 months, all others ~5 weeks
Review TL;DR: it's mostly good, you just have to throw out a lot of what you thought you knew about a skincare routine. At the moment I would only confidently say I'll repurchase the Flora Drip and the EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk (or the equivalent of it in the INFINESSE line since EXAGE is discontinued). eclafutur is a hard maybe because it's pricier. I'm not sure how much the renewals affect what I like about them, but I'll probably go to Albion Garden to try the testers before fully committing.
Albion's Lotion-First Routine
Screenshot of Albion Garden (US website) principle & approach page
Including eclafutur expands Albion's 4-step routine into a 5-step routine and they want you to use it after cleansing, before their lotion-y balance milk. So now it's:
cleanse --> serum --> lotion-y balancer/softener/moisture milk --> toner-y lotion --> cream
Look at how heinous that routine order is. It's so wrong that it still makes me want to throw things, even though it works.
For skincare enthusiasts who grew up with, or have been influenced by people who take the r/AsianBeauty routine order of thinnest to thickest (after actives) as gospel, throwing a lotion on a cotton pad before toner is a really strange concept.
I thought it might have been a Jbeauty luxe thing, but zzoom_zoom noted that other than a couple of Decorte lines with a thicker conditioner, it's pretty unique. SUQQU has a line consisting of an optional gel mask first, then serum, then toner, but outside of that, I haven't found any Jbeauty luxe brands doing this. Furthermore, this is Albion's entire approach to skincare.
The idea is they've optimized each step, with the lotion-y balancer/softener/moisture milk crafted to penetrate the epidermis and balance hydration and moisturization after cleansing, softening the skin and allowing for better absorption of the following products. I have a theory on what specifically this may be working on in the Tangent on Skin Barrier section.
And like many other balancers/softeners, using a cotton pad with it serves an additional purpose of removing leftover makeup/sebum/dirt from the cleansing step.
Note: I don't have the final cream step, so I can't speak to it.
Overall Review of this Method
This routine involves a mental hurdle. Truly. I've been trained to think and feel a certain way for over a dozen years, so my immediate reaction was, and in many ways still is, horror. I also hate using cotton pads with skincare so it's doubly horrific. But Image gave me a bunch of the cotton pads with my purchases, so I've tried their recommended method quite a few times. I'm about a third of the way through my Moisture Milk I, and I can finally say that I don't mind doing my skincare in this order. I'm not saying I love it yet, but I don't mind it.
As someone with mature skin who doesn't love to regularly use actives/acids, I can feel the concept of this working.
There's plenty of research documenting the difference skin's absorption of products as we age (eg: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38740664), but frankly, as a skincare enthusiast with maturing skin who started AB in her late 20s, I can easily feel how differently my skin now reacts to products, even once beloved HG ones. Using Albion's method, I can feel everything sinking in much better. Especially since I only used the EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk in the PM for a long while, I had a direct comparison of how the momopuri toner felt on my skin with or without this step before it.
First benefit: there's no wait time! I no longer waste time hanging around between steps. It's awesome to just continually slap things on my face, especially as I've lost interest in spending so much time and energy maximizing my skincare results.
Yet I still get mochi skin. My skin pre-late-30s with the r/AB routine order was very lovingly glassy and plump (I was also younger, with more fat and collagen in my face). On this system I am not as plump from hydration, but my skin is...well it's mochi-like: bouncy with a bit of resistance. I'm back to constantly poking my face because I can't believe how bouncy and soft it is 😂
I'm little more matte instead of glass skin shine, but frankly I'm at an age where I shouldn't be shinning like that anyway. But the feeling of my mochi skin feels as healthy as glass skin, albeit a bit different, and frankly that matters more to me than looks.
Note: I have tried multiple layers of my momopuri toner and Kiku glossy moist with this method and I do get more hydrated, but neither are ideal toner for the 7-skin method since it starts getting too tacky. I have one more Nacific Fresh Herb Origin Toner in my backup that might fair better, but I have quite a few toners to get through before that happens.
There's been a lot of change in my skin this past year and my attitude toward skincare was resigned to "good enough". Between not wanting a long routine anymore, the quality of skincare going down as prices continue to go up, and disappointing marketing practices...I wasn't having fun. Also, glass skin just isn't easy to achieve with mature skin, especially without something like tretinoin, which I avoid for fear of messing up my eyes. So it just felt...empty.
Albion's upped the quality of my skin since that dip, but I'm still pretty uninterested in "trying harder". Perhaps mochi skin will be the next evolution of my skincare journey. I've always preferred mochi-skin makeup anyway, so maybe all this frustration of unlearning will be worth it.
Another hurdle this method faces is that some of the products don't stand out well in the "normal" routine order. The Moist Full Lotion isn't hydrating on its own at all and the eclafutur in the serum step just gets lost; it becomes expensive, wasted step. The Flora Drip does okay, you feel some of the benefits, but it doesn't shine as well it could.
If you're curious about Albion in general and won't accidentally over-commit like I have, I would recommend getting the 2nd-step lotion first. That way you can play with using the lotion before whatever toners you may have. And if, understandably, can't get over the mental hurdle, the 2nd-step lotion works really well in the "normal" lotion step too. Just give it a decent try. A real one, at least a month, maybe even two, because the mental hurdle is real.
A Tangent on Skin Barrier
I was curious as to how this method works and went down a skin barrier hole.
Oftentimes when we skincare enthusiasts talk about the importance of skin barrier health, I think we end up mainly talking about the lipid matrix of the stratum corneum (where cholesterol, free fatty acids and ceramides play vital roles), or the microbiome of the epidermis (eg: the benefits of fermented products). I wasn't aware that the skin barrier was inclusive of tight junctions.
"Tight Junctions – The Under-Appreciated Epidermal Barrier Structure Tight junctions (TJs) seal the intercellular spaces between epithelial cells and the ‘tightness’ of this structure is dynamically regulated by environmental factors and addresses physiologic needs. This dynamic regulation is important as it determines the trafficking patterns of ions, proteins and even the penetration of the dendrites of Langerhans or dendritic cells."
Source: The role of tight junctions in skin barrier function and dermal absorption. K. Bäsler et al. Tissue Barriers. 2014 Nov 11. (I am not scientifically experienced at all, so please excuse poor formatting.)
I really didn't know tight junctions existed, but these protein interactions are all over our organs, internally and externally. Particularly with skin, I just had a vague notion of the layers under the stratum corneum where the cells made it difficult for skincare to penetrate. They're obviously all connected, but I didn't think about various proteins or how all these interactions influence one another as all a part of "skin barrier". Which now that I've read a little more on it...duh.
are affected by what I used to only associate as "skin barrier" .
"Especially the two mechanical barriers, i.e. stratum corneum and tight junctions, are of great interest for drug delivery, because they are the first interaction partners of drug delivery systems and play the major role in skin absorption. Tight junctions are of special interest, as they are centrally localized in this complex barrier system in the outermost viable layer - the stratum granulosum of the interfollicular epidermis and the companion cell layer of the hair follicle - and because they can react very quickly to stimuli."
Source (I do think this is a fun read if you're interested): Epidermal tight junctions in health and disease. JM Brandner et al. Journal of Controlled Release. 2016.
Are the tight junctions what's getting affected here?! Perhaps the nano-sized penetrative properties of these products, especially the eclafutur, are somehow strengthening the integrity of the tight junctions which then helps with the absorption of the products that follow after it.
The normal r/AB or even r/SCA routine is a very outside-in approach (eg: bacterial flora, ceramides, increasing skin cell turnover rate, etc.). As someone too into skincare, I can recognize my skin now feels healthy, just in a different way than before. So I wonder if Albion's method is strengthening from a slightly more inside-out (and also in) approach. The EXAGE blurb did say "EXAGE addresses intercellular communication in the epidermis..." So...maybe? It's fun to wonder about.
Note: I haven't tried other Jbeauty-luxe brands in a routine as complete to this extent, so I can't say this potential TJ influence is Albion-specific.
Product Reviews
EXAGE Softening Cleansing Cream (Step 1)
The back of the EXAGE Softening Cleansing Cream box.
Ingredients listed below
Ingredients: mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum), water (aqua), butylene glycol, petrolatum, glycerin, cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate, chrysanthellum indicum extract, crataegus cuneata fruit extract, endomyces/bitter cherry juice ferment filtrate, glycogen, prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, saponaria officinalis leaf extract, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, tocopherol, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, behenyl alcohol, carbomer, dimethicone, glycine soja (soybean) sterols, lactic acid, PEG-10 hydrogenated castor oil, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, polyglyceryl-10 laurate, sodium hydroxide, sodium methyl stearoyl taurate, methylparaben, phenoxyethanol, fragrance (parfum)
Scent: a very gentle, lovely, fresh, clean scent + an ambiguous floral scent
Texture: gel-cream
Comparison of the SEKKISEI Cleansing Oil (top) vs Albion EXAGE's Cleansing Cream (bottom).
Texture shot of the cleansing cream in is the far left picture, that white blob.
Second left is both cleansers rubbed in.
Third left is after the cleansers have been emulsified.
Right picture is after the rinse.
Products used: Fenty Beauty Shadowstix, Etude Dear Darling Tint, Uzu Mote Mascara,
Hourglass Gel Eyeliner, Love Liner, Lancome Teint Idole Concealer
Review: The last time I used a cream as a first cleanser was Chifure's Washable Cold Cream yearss ago. I do prefer cream to oils as a first cleanser because it's easier to manage, and better than cleansing balms because I find the texture of a cleansing cream much more fun and luscious. But when I started to oil cleanse my hair, I moved to SEKKISEI's oil cleanser as it could serve both purposes.
It's not quite right of me to compare this cleansing cream to Chifure's because it'd be based on fuzzy memory and I'm not sure if Chifure has gone through any reformulations, but I do remember Chifure's not being a powerhouse at removing makeup either. It did fine, much like this. It's also not completely fair to compare the EXAGE cleansing cream solely to SEKKISEI's oil cleanser either, since Albion's cleansing step 1.5 is the cotton pad with the Moisture Milk. But one-to-one, the EXAGE cleansing cream doesn't remove makeup as well as SEKKISEI's cleansing oil.
I do still tend to reach for my Biore the Face to second-cleanse my face. I'm makeup-free most days, and often won't use a second cleanser if all I've put on my face for the day is sunscreen. But it still feels wrong not to, both in the moisturization it leaves behind and just the idea of it. The physical feeling of it isn't a bad feeling at all, it's actually a very properly moisturized skin without being too heavy; it's not an outer-layer of film like I've experienced with some first cleansers*. But because I know it doesn't remove makeup as well as the SEKKISEI cleansing oil, I can't get over the feeling that maybe it's not fully removed some of the sebum/dirt off my face, especially since my skin just feels more moisturized, you know?
*In the comparison picture above, the farthest right one (after the rinse) actually shows some beaded water from Albion's cleansing cream compared to none in SEKKISEI's.
I wouldn't have tried this if it wasn't on sale and I'm probably just going to stick to oils for my first cleanser for a while at least. If you only prefer cleansing creams, I would say Albion's cleansing creams are worth a try.
eclafutur d (Optional Step)
The back of the eclafutur d box. Ingredients listed below.
Ingredients: water (aqua), butylene glycol, glycerin, propylene glycol, alcohol, dimethicone, hyrogenated lecithin, acetyl glutamic acid, arginine, ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbyl palmitate, ascorbyl tetraisopalimate, ceramide 2, ceramide 3, citculline, histidine, pyridoxine HCI, serine, sodium hyaluronate, sodium pca, theobroma grandiflorum seed butter, tocopherol, vitis ficifolia leaf extract, carbomer, cholesterol, disodium EDTA, lecithin, oleic acid, oligopeptide-56 amido PEG-75 methyl ehter, palmitic acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium lactate, xanthan gum, methlparaben, fragrance (parfum).
Scent: it's so light it's basically a fresh pleasant nothing
Texture: thick toner/watery serum
Texture shot of the eclafutur d.
Review: Its penetrative properties are very evident and has helped prolong the feeling of my skin being moisturized, well-through the next day even.
It's also extra evident to me since this spent many weeks in the normal serum step doing nothing. I was upset I had spent so much money on a thin serum with little to no effect, and no pleasant smell or texture to lend itself to the enjoyment of use. But then I actually read up on this (because why wouldn't you assume a serum goes in the serum step???) aaand...
From first application, I could immediately feel it sink in and change how the Moisture Milk sank in after it. Applying toner (any toner, not just theirs) helped make everything of Albion's crazy routine order make sense. And that's when I went on that crazy pubmed dive I've summarized in the "Tangent on Skin Barrier" section above.
It does everything the marketing says it does, but in my opinion, it's because it penetrates so well and helps the other products behind it work better. So any restoration/renewal of skin or glow or radiance or intense hydration (all their marketing words) is not from this product alone, but because it's an excellent copilot. And frankly with mature skin, that in itself is a gift. And I repeat: no waiting time🎉
The reason it's not HG right now is the price. I'm hoping my skin's young enough and the penetrative tech in the one-step-up-INFINESSE line is good enough that I don't need to add this to my routine. But I am happy to know how well this works for me if/when I need the extra help.
EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk I (Step 2)
Note: Apparently I threw away the Moisture Milk I box so the following picture and ingredients list is from the Moisture Milk III box. I have yet to try the III, but I believe they are similar, though III is more moisturizing.
The back of the EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk III box (see note above).
Ingredients listed below
Ingredients: water (aqua), butylene glycol, mineral oil (paraffinum liquidum), glycerin, trimethylolpropane triisosterate, dimethicone, limananthes alba (meadowfoam) seed oil, alcohol, propylene glycol dicaprate, chrysanthellum indicum extract, endomyces/bitter cherry juice ferment filtrate, glycine, glycogen, glycosyl trehalose, hydrolyzed rice extract, laminaria japonica extract, sodium PCA, tocopherol, acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, beeswax (cera alba), behenyl alcohol, carrageenan, cetearyl alcohol, cholesteryl hydroxystearate, dipentaerythrityl hexahydroxystearate/hexastearate/hexarosinate, disodium EDTA, ethyloleate, glyceryl stearate, hydrogenated lecithin, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, isohexadecane, octyldodecanol, polysorbate 60, polysorbate 80, sodium acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, sodium lactate, sorbitan oleate, sorbitan palmitate, stearic acid, triethanolamine, xanthan gum, ethylparaben, methylparaben, phenoxyethanol, fragrance (parfum), caramel.
Scent: similar to the cleansing cream, but even lighter
Texture: lotion
Texture shot of the EXAGE Activation Moisture Milk I.
Review: This is the first Albion product I got as a sample from Image years ago (with a cotton pad) that piqued my interest towards Albion and EXAGE in particular. I was looking for an AM lotion at the time (at the "normal" lotion step in my routine) and this fit the bill really well before I changed sunscreens and it became unnecessary to fill that step, so I never bought it.
If you think of it purely as a lotion and not as Albion's second step lotion, it is very lovely, despite it being meant for oily skin. The finish, texture, and scent are all beautiful, rounded by a balanced combination of hydration and moisturization. Forcing myself to use it as a step before toner somehow takes away some of the shine because I end up begrudgingly using it, often without the suggested cotton pad, even knowing full-well it does what Albion intends for it to do. There's that mental hurdle.
I had been looking for a hydrating milky toner because my old HGs, including the NACIFC Fresh Herb Origin Toner, weren't cutting it for my getting-older-and-dryer-skin anymore. Using this as a step before a toner negates the need to look for that unicorn milky toner.
Of all the Albion products I've been playing with, this is the one I'd call closest to being HG, so I hope the mental hurdle will be fully over by the time I finish the bottle. I have the Moisture Milk III waiting in the wings, but this also makes me really want to try the INFINESSE Pump Matrix Milk.
Bonus Albion Facial Cotton - L [soft] Review:
Review: I'm not a cotton pad person at all. It seems both wasteful to the environment and of the product to me. A pair of these (one meant for the Moisture Milk and one for the Moist Full Lotion) come in one wrapped sample and my god, the waste of it all. If you buy them, they at least come in a 120-pack, so it's not as wasteful. It's currently $6 on Albion Garden (US-based) website for the 120-pack, which I think means it's not terribly priced if you're a cotton pad person.
These bad boys are thiiick. From looks alone in this r/ab post, it can give Shiseido's a run for its money, but it's not as thick as Decorte's. I often just split it in half because I just really don't want to use this much cotton per routine.
I only use the Activation Moisture Milk with the facial cotton if I've had on more makeup (even after using a second cleanser), or if I just feel my face could use a very light physical exfoliation. It is true to their word and very soft, so it's a very, very gentle physical exfoliation, even for people who are as heavy-handed in their skincare application as I am. The pad doesn't absorb as much product as you think it would, but I do still end up using more of the Moisture Milk than I would without it.
I can begrudgingly admit that there is something synergistic about using the Moisture Milk with the pad because when I use the Moisture Milk without the pad, it can feel a tad bit heavy or unevenly applied, unless I spend more time massaging it in. Using the cotton pad, even half of it, really does give a nice, even base layer, without a sense of being too heavy.
I can see getting them if I was a full convert of Albion's lotion-first system, I'm just not quite there yet. They also suggest using the pad with some very deliberate, spa-like motions and I'm just not the kind of girl who does that for my daily skincare routine.
EXAGE Moist Full Lotion (Step 3)
Note: I threw this box away too, probably in annoyance because I meant to buy the Moisture Milk I.
I can't really find the ingredients online. There's this website that I've never heard of that lists the ingredients of the Moist Full Lotion II, but I don't trust it enough to put it here.
Scent: a very gentle, fresh, clean scent that finishes in alcohol.
Texture: thin and watery. I tried to take a picture of this but it just ran off my hands. It looks and feels like water.
Review: I hate it. I don't want to give it too much attention, not even to futz with it more for a texture shot. I embarrassingly made the rookie mistake of wanting to get the Moisture Milk and thinking "lotion" meant lotion.
It's made for people with normal to oily skin which is very much not my type. I hate how watery it is, I hate how it doesn't hydrate or moisturize me enough on its own, I hate the alcohol finish in the scent. Used after the Moisture Milk definitely changes things - it becomes okay - but not enough for me to feel like it's worth it.
I really enjoy the Flora Drip and its suggested use replaces this step, so I doubt I'll even want to try the INFINESSE version of this. I also have a travel size of Albion's popular Skin Conditioner waiting to be tested, and it also replaces this in the 3rd step, so I just find this pointless.
Albion Flora Drip (Step 3 Replacement)
The back of the Albion Flora Drip box.
Ingredients listed below
Ingredients: aspergillus/(artemisia capillaris/cyanus segetum flower/leaf/stem)/(artemisia montana/melissa officinalis/thyme leaf/stem)ferment filtrate, water (aqua), butylene glycol, alcohol, glycerin, trimethylolpropane triisostearate, alcaligenes polysaccharides, tocopherol, cetearyl alcohol, disodium EDTA, glyceryl stearate, PEG-20 hydrogenated castor oil, PEG-50 hydrogenated caster oil isostearate, phenoxyethanol, fragrance (parfum), caramel.
Scent: gentle clean, bright scent with a licorice finish
Texture: watery milky toner
Texture shot of the Flora Drip.
Review: The Flora Drip caught my attention because it looked like it could be the milky toner I was looking for. It wasn't, it's a little too thin and not moisturizing enough on its own. Used with the Moisture Milk, it's lovely and comes really close to the feel I'd want that unicorn milky toner to have. Days I'm feeling dehydrated I just add a few layers of the momopuri toner after. As mentioned above, it replaces the third-step toner, thankfully. But right now I use the Flora Drip after the third-step toner. If you can't tell, toners are my favorite step (although they call this a serum).
Before its recent reformulation, the Sansim Yang Myung Soo toner was my HG. It did something to my skin that's hard to describe, as if it gave my stratum corneum a shield - a tough, yet permeable-to-the- good-stuff-shield (scientific, I know). Ooh...maybe like a grape! The perfect quality grape skin. The reformulated Sansim toner didn't come close to that sensation and adding the Flora Drip brought that sensation back, a little, maybe by a quarter.
I've tried hundreds of skincare products and the pre-reformulated Sansim toner was the first product I've ever felt that with. No other product has come close, so I'm grateful for even that little bit from the Flora Drip. I know I'll still keep searching for another product that comes closer to that full effect of the Sansim toner, I'm just now in less of a hurry. Plus, maybe the new Flora Drip S could be it? They did add grapes to it😂 Fingers crossed.
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