Happy Friday, Beautiful Blossoms! And no, don’t be alarmed by the title. I did say I was going to post more pictures of my Kiko Milano stash from the Blossom Beautiful Aesthetics Vault, but to save my storage space, I’ve decided to make a Pinterest account to host all pictures I’ve taken with my Pentax. Instagram is more of an on-the-fly snapshots of when I’m on the go, but when I’m home, I prefer to use my Pentax.

Be sure to check out the Pinterest account on the top-right hand corner of the site’s main page!

And now, let’s talk Tatcha!

Tatcha is an American cosmetic and skincare company that sells Japanese-based products. Its founder, Victoria Tsai, founded the company after a “chance encounter with a modern-day geisha” led to the discovery of “Miyakofuzoku Kewaiden,” (“Capital Beauty and Style Handbook”) a centuries-old book that served as the guide for geishas to maintain their timeless complexion.

Tatcha’s products are rooted in simple yet effective Japanese ingredients – camellia, red algae, Japanese indigo, to name a few. The proof? Geishas – not a blemish, pore, or uneven pigmentation on their faces on the young and old. If Americans have “black don’t crack,” Japan’s answer would be the geishas.

Ironically enough, my discovery of Tatcha was purely by chance.

I was at a stand-alone Sephora (not one of those inside JC Penney), waiting on the line to buy the goodies that I wanted that day. The waiting line for the registers would have travel-size (or in this case, it was a full-size product) versions of up-and coming items. I liked to check them out because I might find something that I like or be willing to try out without paying full-price.

The Tatcha product that was stocked along the waiting line was their gold-flecked blotting papers called Aburatorigami. I was looking for an alternative to my Palladio Rice Blotting Paper (I didn’t like the loose powder it was coated in – it would literally stay on my face and be painfully obvious) and I figured I’d give Tatcha a try.

I gave the Aburatorigami a test run when I took a bus ride out of town and my face was starting to sweat and get oily from the ridiculous heat generated by the subway system and me trying to run to the bus station. The Palladio would take my makeup off with each time I blotted the excess oil and sweat, my makeup would come off and I didn’t have the means of retouching it (because I never carried my foundation and the concealer was a shade lighter). Considering I paid $12 for the Aburatorigami for only 30 sheets per packet, I wanted to know if the price tag was worth it.

And it was: I was able to blot away without taking off half my face for the day. Impressed, I decided to see if Tatcha had more products. And that’s when I learned the story behind the company: all I took from it was the possibility that I could get GEISHA BABY SKIN.

No joke: I actually wrote that as a note to myself when I decided to give their Ritual Kit ($59) a try. My main concern was that my skin would react violently to the products – the perils of skin care.

Since the shipping was free, the kit came in fairly fast. The company ships from San Francisco, and being in New York, I was expecting a 5-7 day shipment. Nope. It only took 2 days before my Tatcha purchase arrived. It came in a box with a mini booklet explaining what each product in the kit was supposed to do, as well as a quick-card version to guide the user.

The first step was the Camellia Oil. I couldn’t help but be skeptical – how can an oil be used as a cleanser? Part of my face was oily, so why use oil to clean it away? But because I wanted to have GEISHA BABY SKIN, I went ahead and massaged my face with the stuff as instructed.

20 seconds later, it was time to wash the stuff off. Holy. Shit.

Stay tuned for next Friday to find out what happened next with my Tatcha experience!