Shu Uemura Ultime8 Sublime Cleansing Oil Review

Dubbed as the creme de la creme of Shu Uemura's beauty cleansing oils, the Ultime8 Sublime promises to target eight skin concerns by combining eight exquisite oils of botanic origins. Eight... botanic! And so I jumped off the edge of my seat to get my hands on this miracle despite the fact that I'm already impressed and satisfied with the Sakura Fresh variant. Oh girrrrrls, *SMH*.

                  Shu Uemura Ultime8 Sublime Beauty Cleansing Oil, 150mL

The Exquisite Eight

• Jojoba Oil: high in Omega-3 essential fatty acids to activate collagen and provide hydration plus improve skin suppleness
• Safflower Oil: rich in Omegas-6 and -9 which help maintain the skin barrier
• Camelia Oil: is regarded as a precious beauty oil in Japan; has restorative and rejuvenating properties due to oleic acids, Omega-3,-6,-9 and Sasanquasaponin, which has anti-oxidative properties
• Soy Oil: a natural emollient that moisturizes and protects the skin
• Olive Squalene: a natural emollient that mimics human sebum and leaves skin soft and moisturized plus provides anti-oxidant effects
• Shea Butter: abundant in triglycerides and fatty acids offering protection from photodamage; reinforces the skin’s barrier function and helps protect it from stressors
• Ginger Root Oil: a medicinal oil in Asian countries which reduces inflammatory and oxidative reactions; helps prevent skin damage, reduces wrinkles, brightens and smooths skin.
• Corn Oil: contains a variety of fatty acids and forms an ultra thin oil layer on the skin surface to protect it from dryness.

Shu Uemura Ultime8 's Physical Properties

The packaging and pump bottle are both impressive and its unique black twist-to-open nozzle (the rest are white) seems to scream "I AM SPECIAL". It smells luxuriously herbal and has a slightly heavier consistency & feel compared to the Shu cleansing oil Fresh variant.

I find that the recommended amount to be used, 3-4 pumps, is too much for my entire face. I use a pump and half (amazing pump system that allows flow control, as with the older variants) and yet I don't feel I skimped on it. I knew the 150mL will last me till the end of its shelf-life (6 months). And it did!

          Opened mid-February 2013. This photo was taken 2 days ago (posted at Instagram too, @the_beautybin)

Claims, Thoughts, Reviewed!

Shu Uemura reports that it tested the Ultime8 Sublime on 49 Asian women who used the cleansing oil twice a day. The test yielded the following results:

94% says skin feels smoother 

92% says skin feels moisturised 

90% says skin looks more radiant 

92% says skin looks refined 

85% says skin looks revitalized 

90% says skin appears more translucent 

92% says skin looks more supple 

90% says skin feels nourished 

I assume these are the eight skin benefits that the product claims to provide the skin. Out of these benefits, I'm surprised to see that:

(1) the least experienced benefit is skin revitalization, which I felt almost instantly after the first few uses; and

(2) the mother of all benefits, skin purification / cleansing, isn't reported. Personally, I'd consider "moisturised" and "nourished" one and the same, making room for "X% cleaner skin" in that report.

Price: P2650 for 150mL

          P6250 for 450mL

Where to buy: Shu Uemura counters

Shelf-Life: 6 months for the 150mL bottle

If I were to enumerate the benefits the Shu Uemura Ultime8 Sublime cleansing oil gave my skin, it has to be: skin purification, revitalization, radiance, and moisturization. That's 50% of the promised results. But hey, I wasn't using it twice a day like the test subjects did.

"Use Ultime8 Sublime once a day and you get half of the entire benefits". Well played Ultime8, well played.

Repurchasing?

While it never caused me pimples nor negative skin reactions, I won't be. I get clean, revitalized, radiant and moisturized skin from the Fresh variant which costs so much cheaper than this! I was also hoping this cleansing oil could help reduce pore size but it didn't. 

Looking at the benefits above, this product seems to have been created for aging (but I am aging!) progressively aging skin, those with age-spots and/or sun-spots, and dehydrated skin. I'm very sure these people would've written a very different review but with a similar recommendation.

If you don't have sun-spots, age-spots, freckles, and dry skin, I encourage you to try Shu Uemura's other (hello, cheaper) cleansing oil variants first. The Ultime8 Sublime may sound like it is and was formulated to be the best cleansing oil among the rest, but it's apparently not so in my case.