The rise of Asian skin-care products and rituals has fueled a resurgence in what had been an overlooked area of the beauty industry. Now the companies at the forefront of the skin-care turnaround are trying to maintain their following . . . shoppers have begun protecting their skin at a younger age. U.S. skin-care sales rose about 15% over the past year, led by Japanese and Korean-inspired products, while makeup increased by 3%, according to NPD Group Inc.
WSJ @_jaewonkang
There was a girl, a lovely girl, who wanted perfect skin.
And so she made a bargain with the father of all sin.
In return for skin so fine twould granite stones cajole,
she promised to old Lucifer her own unblemished soul.
Her name was Lucy, and she came from modest parents who
hoped she'd spurn the lure of fancy lip gloss and shampoo.
That crafty villain sealed the deal by taking her away
to Eastern shores where dirty pores were cured in Mandalay.
They wrapped her face in tea leaves, with a touch of betel nut.
They bathed her feet in palm wine that was boiled with ripe corn smut.
While temple bells were plinking in the moist and tropic breeze,
those acolytes of beauty put raw jackfruit on her knees.
Her arms all wrapped in brahmi, Lucy had some second thoughts;
and they were not dispelled when she had to drink some noni shots.
At last they did unloose her from her herbage wrapping case
and gave to her a mirror to gaze on her glowing face.
Imagine her dismay when what she saw was rather horrid;
her cheeks bedecked with pimples and her chin a purple florid!
"You lied to me!" she wailed to that old serpent who stood by.
"Now, now" he soothed, "we'll have to give your face a second try."
In a trice he took her to the city of Chengdu
where specialists began to brush her face with soft bamboo.
They had her soaking in a tub of water chestnut broth
and beat in galangal until the whole thing was a froth.
They steamed her like a dumpling in a sling of pandan shoots
then laid her on a bed of pickled mashed up ginger roots.
And finally they washed her face with butter from a yak,
then rubbed in salted duck eggs that were smelly, cold, and black.
Seated on a throne of jade, she gazed into a mirror;
and this time gave an anguished howl of horror and of fear.
For now her eyebrows were all gone; her lips a ghastly white.
Green blotches on her forehead made her lose her appetite.
"If at first you don't succeed, and your face still is pocky"
said the devil, "then perchance we'll go to Nagasaki!"
So saying, on his velvet wings he lifted her aloft
and took her to a winsome place where people all talked soft.
And there they sprayed her face with soy sauce and liquid sushi,
and made her eat of radish cake until she felt quite slooshy.
They beat her cheeks with hollyhocks and rubbed her with tofu.
They sprinkled her with essence from the glands of kinkajou.
Enveloped in a cloud of powdered kudzu root, her face
at last took on the glow of beauty, virtue, and full grace.
And so her skin was perfect in all sight and many parts,
and thus she started breaking all the Japanese male hearts.
The devil, with ferocious grin, then took her home again.
He rubbed his hands together like the best of businessmen.
"Your skin is such perfection that I doubt" he said with joy,
that you would have to worry about Helen, her of Troy!"
"So now I'll take your lovely soul, as we agreed upon."
But Lucy stopped him cold by saying "Halt, you evil spawn!
I am a stout Republican and you're an Asian tout.
I've called the Immigration and they're gonna throw you out!"
"You cannot peddle Eastern wares -- the tariff still holds true.
Your bargain is illegal and it isn't worth a sou."
The devil was deported to the island of Taiwan.
And Lucy used her golden skin to happily get on.
They wrapped her face in tea leaves, with a touch of betel nut.
They bathed her feet in palm wine that was boiled with ripe corn smut.
While temple bells were plinking in the moist and tropic breeze,
those acolytes of beauty put raw jackfruit on her knees.
Her arms all wrapped in brahmi, Lucy had some second thoughts;
and they were not dispelled when she had to drink some noni shots.
At last they did unloose her from her herbage wrapping case
and gave to her a mirror to gaze on her glowing face.
Imagine her dismay when what she saw was rather horrid;
her cheeks bedecked with pimples and her chin a purple florid!
"You lied to me!" she wailed to that old serpent who stood by.
"Now, now" he soothed, "we'll have to give your face a second try."
In a trice he took her to the city of Chengdu
where specialists began to brush her face with soft bamboo.
They had her soaking in a tub of water chestnut broth
and beat in galangal until the whole thing was a froth.
They steamed her like a dumpling in a sling of pandan shoots
then laid her on a bed of pickled mashed up ginger roots.
And finally they washed her face with butter from a yak,
then rubbed in salted duck eggs that were smelly, cold, and black.
Seated on a throne of jade, she gazed into a mirror;
and this time gave an anguished howl of horror and of fear.
For now her eyebrows were all gone; her lips a ghastly white.
Green blotches on her forehead made her lose her appetite.
"If at first you don't succeed, and your face still is pocky"
said the devil, "then perchance we'll go to Nagasaki!"
So saying, on his velvet wings he lifted her aloft
and took her to a winsome place where people all talked soft.
And there they sprayed her face with soy sauce and liquid sushi,
and made her eat of radish cake until she felt quite slooshy.
They beat her cheeks with hollyhocks and rubbed her with tofu.
They sprinkled her with essence from the glands of kinkajou.
Enveloped in a cloud of powdered kudzu root, her face
at last took on the glow of beauty, virtue, and full grace.
And so her skin was perfect in all sight and many parts,
and thus she started breaking all the Japanese male hearts.
The devil, with ferocious grin, then took her home again.
He rubbed his hands together like the best of businessmen.
"Your skin is such perfection that I doubt" he said with joy,
that you would have to worry about Helen, her of Troy!"
"So now I'll take your lovely soul, as we agreed upon."
But Lucy stopped him cold by saying "Halt, you evil spawn!
I am a stout Republican and you're an Asian tout.
I've called the Immigration and they're gonna throw you out!"
"You cannot peddle Eastern wares -- the tariff still holds true.
Your bargain is illegal and it isn't worth a sou."
The devil was deported to the island of Taiwan.
And Lucy used her golden skin to happily get on.
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