Okoii: Made to Order Natural Skincare

Want some freshly home-made natural skincare but don’t want to get into the whole messy DIY scene?

How you ask? Easy – you outsource the job to someone else! Now you can have the best of natural ingredients made up especially for you every time you place an order.

Pioneered by the concept that nature provides the finest skincare ingredients possible and we only have to harvest it, niche online skincare company Okoii brings the idea to life with its line of luxury handmade natural skincare products.

Since moving to Australia from Japan, Founder Yoko has always wanted to bring the benefits that these ingredients have been providing women of the orient centuries of skincare benefits to the wider community.

This dream is realised with the creation of Okoii and by using the finest quality traditional ingredients found in many Japanese and East-Asian skincare products including green tea, rice bran, azuki bean, the selected products are designed to give the full potentials of these nutrient rich ingredients to look after skin naturally.

Each product only comes to life after you place your order – Yoko hand makes each product to exacting traditional Japanese recipes to ensure you get the freshest and finest natural products possible. Nothing is mass produced here. Each batch uniquely for you.

Okoii’s range include facial scrub, toners, masques, moisturisers and beauty oil and there is a body soap and body moisturiser to complement the facial products. There's even a product for our friendly four-legged friend.

Intrigued about this make-to-order concept in skincare, I was thrilled when offered an opportunity to try some of Okoii’s handmade skincare products a while back.

When asked which products I was interested in, I selected the rice bran whitening masque and camellia rose floral facial cream but was overwhelmed by Okoii’s generousity as she also included sample sizes of her other popular products the rice bran body lotion, seaweed revitalizing masque and rice bran soap.

Each item comes with a product sheet to give more information about its ingredients and benefits to skin. There is also a unique best before date to indicate the best before period for each product to get the most effectiveness from the natural ingredients.

So after trialling the product a over the space of the past month here’s my verdict on some of the products:

Ultimate rice bran whitening skin masque – 50g  RRP A$46.90

This feel just like a homemade masque with a gritty texture from the rice bran. There is a slight scent of sake and an overall distinctive aromatherapy fragrance from the essential oils such as the and rosewood oil which helps to sooth and increase blood circulation when in contact with skin.

After applying for 15 minutes, the gritty texture help the product to stay on skin and also give an exfoliating effect during the rinse off phase. Afterwards, I do feel a film of residue left behind by the masque that keeps skin moisturised (not an issue for me personally) but it may be too sticky for those who prefer the squeaky clean feel.

As for results, skin tone is more even and there is definitely a temporary brightening effect for the rest of the evening (which is when I usually apply my masks). Perhaps long term use will yield a more lasting effects.

Seaweed revitalising beauty masque - 50g RRP A$45.90

This clay-based masque with sea kelp powder (which has this sea smell that I’m not quite a fan of), I find it great at drawing out excess oil and impurities from my face. The sea kelp and ginseng mix also helps to restore vitality back to skin.

15 minutes later my skin is soft, smooth and silky to touch without feeling too dry. If I could get over the scent I’d use this every week.

Camellia & rose floral cream – 30ml A$43.90

You would not believe this was handmade with this light luxurious cream is as silky in texture as high end products. There is a light distinct green fresh scent to this rich cream that needs some extra time to properly absorb into skin. But the extra effort is handsomely paid off with nourished skin that stays hydrated all the time. Skin is soft supple and dry lines around the eye area a thing of the past.

I would highly recommend this cream for dry and hydrated cream and use this on evenings or winters as it may be too rich for the Australian summer or day use.

Luxury rice bran face soap - 80g RRP A$16.90

This translucent rice bran soap is a favourite of mine and gives a smooth full lather for a creamy face wash experience. In fact, it’s the only soap product I’ve used to wash my face in many years! lathering the soap on wet hands and then using the foam to wash my face, this gives more of a cream cleansing wash than a soap. My face is soft, hydrated without any tight feeling with this coconut oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil and palm oil and glycerine rich formula. Another

Rice bran aromatic body lotion - 110ml A$49.90

This is another favourite product I’ve tried from Okoii. It smells divine with sandalwood, ylang ylang, lavender and patchouli oil and the rice bran coconut, macadamia oil and aloe vera gel nourishes skin without any sticky or greasy feeling at all.

Scaly skin was no longer an issue after using this lotion for 3 days and love it as a hand cream to hydrate and protect my dry hands. 

Things of Note: 
As Okoii products contains only natural preservatives with no fragrance, animal fats, synthetic or chemical ingredients, they are best kept fresh as you would your vegetables, in the fridge. Even then, the products will oxidise over time. I did notice the colour of the products darkening over the month I've had the products for, particularly the face masques.

Rest assured though, as long as we keep within the best before period (3 -6 months from production date for the masques depending on product), the effectiveness of the product is not compromised.

If you are after ingredients listings, head over to their product pages where full listings are available and star ingredients are explained in more detailed. 

Final thoughts
I love the idea that the skincare is all natural and freshly made to order for me. I also love the principles of Okoii to source the best ingredients that are used for centuries to enhance the nurture and care for skin naturally. Now if I wasn’t a DIY fanatic, but want fresh natural derived ingredients in your skincare and body products, this would definitely be the path I’d be take and would recommend you trying their facial, body moisturiser  and facial soap to experience their products for yourself!

Be sure to check out their health and beauty tips too as beauty starts from within!

Do you make your own skincare and masques? Which are your favourite recipes? Would you outsource this job to Okoii?
Samples of products were provided to consideration.