Who I Am:

This is me — Ratzilla — writer, beauty trend forecaster, and beauty junkie… and no, Ratzilla is not my real name (you will be surprised at how many emails I get daily asking me that)!

I’m known to scrutinize the ingredient lists of anything I buy — from cosmetics to food, and everything in between. I luckily do not suffer from allergies but I personally will not use anything without seeing the official complete ingredient list first.

I firmly believe that people should be aware and knowledgeable about what they’re choosing to put in and on themselves. If you are going to invest the money and time in something, isn’t it wise to be as educated about it as possible?

I freelance as a beauty trend forecaster, specializing on Japan and greater China region. My clients includes some of the most influential trend-forecasting agencies in Asia,  including Tokyo-based, Five by Fifty. My portfolio is viewable by my invitation only (sorry) due to the nature of my work. Flipping through hundreds of media releases every year, gives me a pretty unique perspective on beauty products.

About RatzillaCosme:

On this website, you will find Japanese cosmetics information and a sprinkle of unbiased beauty reviews.

I wrote my first post in June 2009, established my own domain in March 2011, and launched the site in its present form in October 2011 as an answer to the lack of accurate information in English on Japanese cosmetics. I strictly use official information provided to me in Japanese by the manufacturers and my sources are always provided for your reference. It started as a personal archive of information I have provided to friends and it quickly grew into a large comprehensive database, and as regular readership grew, reviews were added due to numerous requests.

I get given products, not only because of my website, but because what I do for a living.  I rarely feel compelled to write reviews but when I do, the products featured are mish-mash of purchases, samples, and gifts. The way I have obtained the product does not influence my opinion or the way the review is featured.

I don’t get paid to write posts. All the work you see — including CSS and HTML — is my own. I provide this site for free and I try to answer reader requests for help in as much depth and as I can. Maintaining this site is an unpaid job so some of the links you see are affiliate links. This does not affect what I what I write about them and you are not obligated to click on or buy from any of these links.

I hope you find RatzillaCosme helpful! If you have any questions related to the site in general, it may already been answered in FAQ. If not, contact me and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can!

Happy reading!