Oh man, can you believe it’s been more than a year since we got to know the women behind Juara, the US-made range of skin and body care products based in traditional jamu recipes? Here’s an exciting new update since they splashed down on our fine shores a year ago: Juara products will now be available for purchase online and at department stores.
If you’ve been keen to try out these products but didn’t know where to start, you can now head to a department store and ask the beauty advisor to determine what’s best for your skin. More info on where you can find Juara products at the end of the post!
I wanted to review one of the brand’s star products — and I had plenty to choose from after I won a lucky prize-drawing giveaway at the Juara launch party in mid October. The prize was a little bag filled with travel-sized versions of Juara’ skin and body products, but the one I wanted to talk about today was the Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner.
The Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner works is applied after an exfoliating toner and before serum (read more about double toning in this article). This is exactly what I did: I followed the instructions and poured a nickel-sized amount of the product onto my palm before letting it soak all over my face.
The product has the same viscosity of water but is a transparent yellowish-brown in color. It smells faintly of traditional Indonesian jamu and took about 2-3 minutes before being fully absorbed, which I realized was a pretty long time in terms of daily skin care routines! But I went with it anyway because who doesn’t like the idea of a hydrating toner?
The results were just okay, almost unremarkable even: I noticed that the redness in my cheeks subsided, but felt that it didn’t do much to improve my dehydrated skin. Unless I layered a hydrating serum or booster after using the toner, my skin felt tight and under-moisturized. On particularly dry days, my skin would feel parched even after applying a hydrating booster.
While an excellent product to help immediately calm irritated skin, I didn’t think it significantly helped with my skin’s hydration needs. If you have the good fortune of having well-hydrated skin, you’re going to love this; otherwise, I recommend applying a hydrating lotion/serum/booster on top to seal the deal. But it’s really great to keep around if you have an unexpected onset of redness or sensitivity, as its antioxidant properties have proven. Here’s an example where I found it particularly handy: to soothe the reddened skin under my eyebrows after spending ten minutes pruning my unruly brows!
Pros
– Oil, fragrance, and paraben-free
– Rich in antioxidants to reduce redness and irritation
Cons
– Waiting 2-3 minutes to let the product absorb fully into skn
– Not that effective for skin that’s already dehydrated
A 4.75 oz bottle of Tamaring Tea Hydrating Toner retailsat IDR 400,000. Juara skin and body care products can be found online at JuaraBeauty.com, Zalora, Bobobobo, and Vanity Trove. They are available at the following department stores and locations:
Jakarta
– Glow Living Beauty, Plaza Indonesia
– Seibu, Grand Indonesia
– Sogo Kota Kasablanka
– Sogo Central Park
– Sogo Alam Sutera
– Tugu Kunstring Paleis
– Showroom Ardistia New York, The CapitalSurabaya
– Majapahit Hotel Retail Shop
Bali
– Khayangan Spa, The Seminyak Beach Resort & Spa
