Japanese people like to dress up. Various commentators like to point to social phenomenon like cosplay (literally, “costume play”) as examples of how people seek escape in role-playing and dressing-up. This can be seen in all walks of life, from the sex industry to the unfortunate folk roped into dressing up as mascots at sports games, malls and almost any major public event across the land.
And so when we saw the Animal Face Pack, we weren’t in the least bit surprised. A face pack that turns you into a tiger? Why of course!
These are not just costume pieces and you won’t find them in Don Quijote. They are genuine face packs and we don’t wish to lessen their quality by drawing an analogy to cosplay, though it is tempting to ponder how much influence cosplay has on the Japanese cosmetics industry..
The Animal Face Pack has been created by Isshin Do Honpo, who previously brought the world the Kabuki Face Pack, the mask that improves your skin and turns you into a performer on the traditional Japanese stage.
The Animal Face Pack is similar, a brilliant and visually-arrested concept that takes a face pack, makes it more interesting and in the process turns you into an animal. The creatures in question here are a panda and tiger (it’s a set of two). But this hasn’t been done by halves, the makers have gone to Ueno Zoo, Japan’s most famous zoological garden, and found two popular residents to base their face packs on.
The results then are replicas of the faces of actual Ueno Zoo animals, Sumatran tiger Kunde and giant pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin. But again, it’s not just a gimmick — the face packs contain water, glycerine, BG hyaluronan, hydrolysis collagen, water-soluble collagen, and vitamin C — and the intention is sincere, since part of sales are being donated to the animals’ upkeep at Ueno and also to protecting pandas and tigers in the wild.
Charity. Cosplay. And cosmetics. You can’t argue with that combination!
