I’ve just risked life and limb careering up the stairs to get this review out to you; such is my dedication to the beauty cause that as soon as I saw the Japanfusion Supreme Cream back in stock, I dropped my knitting (aka browsing the Rightmove app) and scurried to my laptop like a rat to a discarded chip bag.
(I appreciate that’s not the most delightful image, but it’s at least an accurate one.)
I’ve been holding off posting this review because Supreme Cream always seemed to be unavailable when I checked, but it’s there online right now and it’s amazing and – if you can get your head around the unique shopping experience they offer at Beauty Pie – it’s one of the best value-for-money luxury creams that money can buy.
Shop the Japanfusion range at Beauty Pie*
Beauty Pie’s Supreme Cream is part of the Japanfusion range*, which is their potent line-up of intensely moisturising skincare products. Actually a very short line-up, because there’s just a cleanser (£5.75 here*, absolutely excellent) a Hydra-Prep Lotion (one step too many for me, but it does actually hydrate in quite a startling manner), a Deep-Treatment Serum (£8.11 here*, and again, startling in its effectiveness) and the Supreme Cream moisturiser (£9.83 here*).
The fact that each of the steps used alone (the lotion is step one, serum is two, cream is step three) gives noticeable results means that I could have really focussed this post on any one of them. Layered together they are almost too much for my face to handle, turning it into a kind of turgid, heaving waterbed. But alive. Products used alone give my face a dense plumpness that’s the polar opposite of the tight, thin feeling you can get if your skin is very dry or dehydrated.
I’m singling out the Supreme Cream for a write-up because a) everyone is obsessed with retinol and this has proved itself to be the perfect after-retinol cream and b) it has that interesting bounciness that I enjoy in a moisturiser. A gel-cream-oil hybrid that feels light and refreshing but at the same time robust, as though you could massage it in for five years and it’d still have something to give. (You can’t, that’s a silly statement, but you catch my drift.)
Supreme Cream full details and ingredients list here*
All of the Japanfusion products contain antioxidants and ingredients to help repair and protect the skin’s barrier, but it’s the cream that provides that final layer and locks in moisture. It almost glazes the skin so that – even without the other layers beneath – it’s almost absurdly plump and dewy. Layer at your own peril! (I jest – how can skin ever be too healthy-looking?)
I use the Supreme Cream over the top of retinol or AHA products, depending on how they’ve been formulated, and definitely on my “night off” when I just want to work on hydration. A great combo, currently, is Japanfusion Pure Transforming Cleanser (here*) which is lighter than a balm but just as deep-cleansing, the Murad Retinol Serum (find that here*) for a bit of heavy-duty skin-renewing and then Supreme Cream to give me that final hydration boost.
I’d say that this cream is far more suited to dry skin than oily or combination – though it’s not a buttery rich texture, it still moisturises in the most full-on way possible, like it’s on some sort of moisturising megadrive mission, and I think it’d be too much if you were even remotely oily. All other skin types, including sensitive (so long as you’re not sensitive to fragrance in small amounts) and dry as boot leather, you’re good to go.
So onto the pricing and buying structure, which is pretty simple when you get to grips with it, but at the same time gives me a minor headache when I try to explain. Beauty Pie works on a membership basis (all good so far) but also on a sort of “comparative RRP” basis, where they find a similar luxury product on the market and use that as the benchmark from which they discount. The whole idea of Beauty Pie is that the products you get are made in the same labs and factories as some incredibly high-end and well-known brands, but you don’t pay the mark-up that traditionally is piled on as a result of fancy packaging and expensive ads starring megastars. You pay cost plus handling and postage.
Except you don’t really, because you also have to factor in a membership fee and this is where it can get slightly confusing if you’re the kind of person who just likes to put the bloody product in your bloody basket and pay for the bloody thing.
So there’s a membership fee and you need to choose your level of membership according to how much you want to spend per month, but the spend isn’t based on the cost of the product to members (so for the Supreme Cream, £9.83) it’s based on the RRP of a comparable product on the market (so, they say, £100.)
If you wanted to buy this cream, then, you’d need the membership level that lets you spend £100 per month, which costs £10 per month in fees. In a way, they could cut out a bit of confusion by just working out the allowance on the members’ price – so £10 a month lets you buy £10 worth of products at the members’ price. It’s pretty much the same thing anyway, I think…
Anyway, if you were to buy a Supreme Cream every month (and might well you!) then it would cost you £10 membership + the £9.83 product cost plus your postage. Still miles cheaper than any cream I can think of that’s this good, and if you didn’t want the cream every month then the next month you might buy tinted moisturiser, or serum, or retinol products. Personally, I don’t think I would run out of things to stay stocked up on, and I certainly wouldn’t get bored.
I’ve been markedly impressed with every skincare product I’ve tried from Beauty Pie but the lazy side of me, the one that hates being tied into things, would still love to be able to buy them with no ties, like any other product.
I suppose that would defeat the object of the whole brand though – and when you think of it, it is quite genius from a marketing point of view. You become a member of a club that gives you access to great formulations at a low cost (even taking the fee into consideration) and they get you hooked in and spending on a regular basis. Good job there’s enough there to keep even the most fickle beauty-lover interested..
What are your thoughts on Beauty Pie? You can read up more on how the system works here* – the entire Japanfusion range is here* and the Retinol is here*. Browse and come back to me with your feedback!
Beauty Pie Supreme Cream, £9.83 + Fees here*
I’m a fan of Beauty Pie – I love the apricot cleansing balm and the QI energy moisturiser and think the quality of products overall is excellent. It is frustrating when things are out of stock, but it does give me chance to try out products that I would normally avoid as too expensive. It’s a winner for me!
Can the products be shipped to America?
Yes–they ship to USA and UK.
The Japanfusion cleanser is incredible–my skin is very reactive (rosacea), and it has nothing but good things to say about that creamy, milky gel. Glad to hear the cream is also amazing. My membership ($5/mo) has been helpful for me to restrain myself and limit my “instant gratification” tendency: Since the dollar amount your membership buys rolls over, it forces you to save up for the higher priced items. Hard to explain the club concept, but it’s great stuff (save one lipstick that broke almost instantly–very disappointing). Hope to see more BP items in your posts!
Yes it’s great that it rolls over! x
I have been on the site about five times to start up a membership and my inner rebel has cringed aghast in the corner. I never bit the bullet because they are always out of the Japanfusion range products and almost always out of other things that grab my interest.
Keep wanting the powder Nadine raves about but just cant seem to catch them at the stocked stage.
Or I am broke and they are stocked.
I also find the membership set up illogical if you are being charged for a full price item but only purchase it for say 15.00 dollars it makes no sense to my brain. If I have 100 bucks to spend I add up what it would cost me at the price they give members and find I am way over.
Very irkworthy.
Yes I keep trying to catch that powder too!!
But seriously, the powder is worth it. I’m on my second one–the first one lasted forever, got me tons of compliments, and has a clever bottom that keeps it from breaking apart when it gets low.
I found the cleanser in this range great.
The moisturisers I tried ( jeju, super healthy skin) were ok but way too heavily fragranced … I don’t think any of their products are fragrance free and that’s what I’m after ( especially now I have a newborn.
I agree the membership is a faff, a pause feature would be an improvement
they do actually have fragrance free moisturizers! from what i have in my stock: overnight skin perfector, super healthy skin daily moisturizer, and the whole super retinol line.
it would be nice if one could easily search through for fragrance-free items instead of going to the ingredients page, i agree!
I’m a member too and have loved most products up to now, though the retinoid hand cream did nothing for me. I do really love the apricot balm cleanser and some of the serums have worked wonders for my skin! Agree with a pause option, especially since some months I really don’t need anything.
The balm cleanser is on my list for next test!!
It’s too much of a faff for me, just add £10 onto items for non members to to buy. Best of both worlds. Defeats the purpose of the concept but I’m just to lazy and don’t like to be tied into something.
lol!
Couldn’t agree more – well said!
I love Beauty Pie products but am also ‘on a break’ as I have a stockpile of the things I use. Agree with Hannah – a pause function would be great. Their eye shadows are lovely, and the new retinol handcream.
Must try the handcream!
I had the £5 a month Beauty Pie subscription for 8 months and loved almost everything I bought. I’ve just cancelled as my teetering stash is threatening to crush the poodle if she ventures into the spare room, but I will definitely rejoin. I wish (and told them) they did a Pause feature.
Yes, that would make so much sense. They would probably retain more customers, too, because having to cancel and rejoin is a massive faff!! x
I was subscribed to Beauty Pie, I ended my subscription because I was buying way too much just because I could, I may rejoin in the future because I loved virtually everything I tried, especially the Japanfusion cleanser (heaven), the Super Retinol range and some of the makeup.
Oh the cleanser is so, so good! x
Whenever I consider signing up to Beauty Pie, the product I want is out of stock, so I don’t end up joining.
Also, the order limit, based on membership fees, is a bit stupid because it restricts how much you order to basically one item a month, plus postage each time.
Love the idea, but I think the process is ridiculous.
I was a skeptic at first, found the whole membership thing really irritating, but have since found so many products I adore and cannot be without. Have you tried the Jeju Overnight Moisture Superinfusion? Obsessed.
No, I need to try that next!! x
It is amazing, I love it!