It's Election Day and I'm coping by putting 24K gold on my face
Today’s been a long time coming—four years to be precise. I’ve been especially anxious over the past few weeks simply because of the overwhelming level of uncertainty about what tonight and even the days, weeks or next four years of our lives may look like. I did my part and dropped my ballot off at the Supervisor of Elections’ office two weeks ago—and now I’m just doing everything I can to keep busy and avoid putting on the TV.
I actually made a mental agenda for myself today, and it included a nice, long walk (since it’s finally in the 70s!) and treating my face to the full Makanai skincare ritual. I was introduced to this authentic (and clean) Japanese beauty brand on a webinar last week, and as hard as it was to hold off on trying the products, I knew it was worth waiting for when I needed a good distraction.
The Makanai story really began in the 16th century in Kanazawa, a seaside city on the West coast of Japan known for meticulously-crafted gold leaf. At some point, the older artisans who were responsible for using a special fermented paste to make the paper the gold leaf was pressed onto began to notice that their hands looked decades younger, so they started using it on their faces—and a family recipe for this paste of persimmon leaf, eggshell membrane and soybean sterol was passed down from generation to generation. When the Yoshitaka Gold Leaf Foundry was opened 120 years ago by a descendant of Kanazawa’s original gold-leaf artisans, they decided to make the skin-rejuvenating power of this paste—called KaESS—available to all. Today, Makanai is has become a well-known beauty name in Japan, and it’s finally available in the U.S.
Similar to other countries in Asia, traditional Japanese skincare is regarded as a ritual, which translates to several steps. Makanai is no exception, and here’s the breakdown.
Step 1: Remove makeup, dirt and impurities with the Clean Cleansing milk (which can be used on wet or dry skin).
Step 2: Wash (again) with the Hand-Crafted Face Soap. It’s been so long since I actually washed my face with a bar of soap that it felt somewhat odd—but my skin most definitely felt clean as could be afterwards.
Step 3: Exfoliate with the Pure Konjac Sponge. The pearl-infused sponge is so soft that you wouldn’t even know you were exfoliating, at least until you see how fresh your skin looks afterwards. Fun fact: Once you wet the sponge, you’re supposed to store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator to preserve its freshness. (It is a natural vegetable-based material, after all.) This was news to me, and I’ve used konjac sponges countless times over the years.
Step 4: Gently press the Lotion Toner into your skin. (Makanai offers two scents, one that is energizing and one that is relaxing.)
Step 5: Apply a strip of Goldays 24K Gold Perfector Sheet under each eye and leave on for one minute. (Now this was the really fun part!)
Step 6: Apply the Skin Jewel Oil Serum, which dissolves the gold and helps spread it all over your face. (The serum itself also has gold flakes, making it by far the prettiest product on my vanity.)
Step 7: Finish with the Kanazawa Beauty Face Cream.
Yes, this may sound like quite an undertaking, but it was well worth the effort. (How do you think Japanese women have such unbelievably beautiful skin?) In my case, it kept my mind off the election for more than 20 minutes, and the act of following the ritual was noticeably relaxing—and my skin looks pretty amazing, too. Considering it’s now 2pm and I feel more Zen than I have in weeks, I might try to take a little nap to get me to happy hour. Then I’ll turn on the TV and brace myself for a long night.
