I was watching a special episode of a TV show called Monomane Star Tanjou or ものまねスター誕生 (which roughly translates to 'birth of impression star' erm, or star who can do impression/imitation may be a better way of expressing that!), which is a show where people who can do some type of impersonation or imitation perform. They usually can sing in a style like a certain pop star, or can do voices like famous actors, or even imitate every day objects.
Seriously, there was a guy who did an imitation of a face cloth hanging out to dry.
Random doesn't even touch the surface!
Anyway, I really like this 'mane' type of show. Particularly for singing. Probably because I love karaoke so much, but back to the point.
There was a group of 5 young girls who were impersonating a Korean pop group that have had some success in Japan called Kara. In fact, they did a medley of Kara's songs and danced to it.
At first, I thought, 'ugh, Kara, but that's sweet that they have these girls who were ages 10-12 years old on the show'. Yeah, they were wearing typical pop star outfits, which I didn't find odd, but I did find part of their performance... well... inappropriate.
If you know anything about Kara, then you probably know their hit 'Mister', if you don't, well, here's a link to a video, but basically they do this dance which can only be described as the 'butt dance'. The girls just shake their bums in the camera. When I saw Kara doing this I was surprised, but I was kinda disturbed to see young girls imitating it. Sorry no pic of this, on purpose!
But then, the show's presenters came out and made it worse. So much worse.
Yep, he told the girls that it was sexy!
Seriously?!
Telling 10-12 year old girls it was sexy!
UGH.
Seriously gross and made me feel so horrible.
Caption: Wasn't it sexy!
This really made me sad. I know that sometimes things can get 'lost in translation', but I've never heard 'sexy' used in Japanese in any other sense than well, kinda, how we mean it in English. I get that the girls innocently imitate their favourite pop group, but to put it on TV and then call it sexy. That's just too far. Call it adorable, but just not sexy, ok? *sigh* Even better if the camera could have cut away and not shown them shaking their bottoms... but maybe that's just me? >_<
So this weekend the Eurovision Song Final was on. Sadly, I missed watching it live, so caught up thanks to modern technology. I love love love Eurovision. As a non-Euro native myself, I think it's awesome to compete nationally with cheesy pop songs. I can only dream of a world-wide-vision song contest one day...
Anyway, I thought I'd share my thoughts on some of the songs this year. They are of course only my opinions, and I'd love to hear what you think too! Did you watch this year?
In catching-up I have to say I didn't watch the entire show. So I missed out on the little snipets from Sweden between acts. These are usually pretty entertaining and I'm gutted I missed out on these. But catching up also meant I missed out on whatever hilarious voice over comments they aired in the UK. I don't even know if it was Graham Norton again this year, but as long as it wasn't Terry Wogan, I'd be fine with it. I know that most people loved Terry's commentary, but I found it kind of insulting and rude. Yeah, I know it's just a laugh, but I kinda would rather hear the songs and save the commentary for after the song. Just me, maybe :P
If you missed out on the songs, you can catch-up quickly with all the songs here on YouTube.
First the ones worth commenting on, then the pretty good (all lumped together), and then the wtf category.
(In alphabetical order)
Belgium
Oh, nice one. Not a winner I think, but I'd listen to this.
Bulgaria
Really kinda weird, but I strangely like it. Not sure why, but it kinda gives me a Bollywood vibe... think it might be the pitch of the woman's voice.
Denmark
This one won this year, and I think it was a pretty good song. I really like it, but I don't think I'm in love with it or anything. Congrats!
Finland
OMG, this is hilarious! I loved this. Shame it didn't do better.
Germany
Cascada! Woo hoo! I love her... erm or I used to. This kinda sounds like every other song she's done. Not surprised this didn't do so well.
Greece
Amazing! Upbeat and fun sounding. Not sure about the only English I heard 'Alcohol is free' (also the song title), but hey!
Ireland
This actually placed last! Dead last! Talk about playing favourites, guys. I liked this a lot. I'd dance to this in a club.
Montenegro
This didn't even make it to the finals, it looks like. I thought it was awesome! A weird mix of rap and pop power. Respect for trying something very different.
Russia
Dina Garipova was such an improvement on last year's Babushki group. I know they were kooky, but I just couldn't get behind it.
Serbia
I shouldn't admit to liking this, but I honestly do. >_<
Slovenia
Another great dance song. Would love to hear this in a club.
Spain
Ah, I wanted to hate this song, but I can't. I love it. Amazing. (I wanted to hate it because Spain and I have issues with each other :P)
The Netherlands
I'm not sure how I feel. I wanted to love this, but I just thought it was okay.
Ukraine
Loved this. Another great dance song. Not really a surprise tho, I expect to see a babe singing a pop song for Ukraine.
Other entries that I liked, but have nothing especially to say: Austria, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, and Norway.
And lastly, a couple of WTF's go out to:
FYROM (Macedonia)
Conflicted on this one... maybe a WTF is too harsh. Just ... well weird.
Romania
What?!? O_o
United Kingdom
Bonnie Tyler? Sorry, but who? Don't think you're really trying. I mean, last year's bombing with Engelbert Humperdinck wasn't enough? Who thought it'd be a good idea to drag these old celebs out of the closet. By 'old celebs' I mean people no one under 30 has heard of and most people over 30 are embarrassed to admit they know who they are. Serious cringe. >_<
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Did you watch? What did you think?
I can't believe I've been so outta the loop that I only just discovered this a few days ago! The latest celeb to be treated to a inspired nail polish collection from Nicole by OPI is Selena Gomez!
Selena at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012
I couldn't think of a better celebrity! Honestly, the girl has a heart of gold. Not only is she the youngest ambassador for Unicef and a complete sweetheart, she's also a popstar and actress and has a large following of young girls that she actively encourages to be themselves.
I also really like her style. She always looks very well put-together and I've been meaning to blog about how much I love her style. Girl is busy, she even has her own line at Kmart! Ah well.
Interesting that it wasn't that long ago that her famous ex/on-off boyfriend, Justin Bieber got a collection from Nicole, which had quite a few treasures in it, so I have high hopes for the Selena Gomez collection. After all, and no offence to Biebs, but I'd much rather look like Selena.
It's also perfect timing for a Selena collection as we're awaiting the Disney original Wizards of Waverly Place Reunion that is due to grace the Disney channel in early 2013. I'm hoping Disney will cash in and release it on DVD here in the UK, as sadly, I do not have the Disney channel!
But you wanna hear more about the nail polishes, so let's move on.
Nicole by OPI describe this collection as:
These 14 shades inspired by actress & singer Selena Gomez capture her sweet yet spunky personality, from soft pink and peach hues to bright glitter and confetti lacquers. This diverse palette offers the perfect color for any occasion!
Wow, look at all those glitters! Very young and bright. A perfect collection for this spring when we're really seeing these bright vibrant colours on the runways. It also looks like a perfect collection for Selena's core fanbase of adolescent to teenage girls, and also us older gals who are still young at heart.
I can't decide what my favourite of the collection is. Sadly I can't offer you swatches, but the Lacquered Lover has swatched and reviewed all 14 shades for our viewing pleasure.
I think I may have to get my hands on Scarlett. How about you?
On the 18th January this year, Lunasol will release its Spring makeup. Here are some of the highlights from the website:
I'm going to start with the eyeshadow palettes since they are always my favourite! This spring we're being treated to a total of 5 palettes, which is nice since we got 3 very similar looking releases for Spring 2012 with the Pure Petal Eyes.
Vivid Clear Eyes (5 shades) 5,250 yen
01 Blue Green Collection
02 Pink Collection
03 Orange Collection
04 Khaki Beige Collection
05 Pink Beige Collection
I can't really tell from the pics whether these are shimmery, but I suspect they are. Curious to see how dark the bright splashes of colour are for the Blue Green, Pink, and Orange collections. Most of these shades don't really surprise me. Very typical OL (office lady) friendly Lunasol. I like the Blue Green and Pink Collection as they're a bit more out there. You can definitely see how the neon and bright 80s colours have influenced this release.
High Stylized Mascara SV (2 shades) 3,150 yen
01 Clear Black
EX01 Natural Brown
Nice to see a mascara release with brown! Yay! I love brown mascara however I have been struggling to find a decent one. Sadly EX01 Natural Brown is only a special rather than a permanent addition but I may have to give it a try anyway.
Brow Styling Compact (2 shades) 3,990 yen
GB03 Grayish Brown
BR03 Natural Brown
Coloring Cheeks N (3 shades) 2,625 yen
01 Light Pink
02 Light Coral
03 Soft Beige Red
Three new shades of blush based on the Colouring Cheeks range. Very girly. I like it.
Now onto the lips!
Full Glamour Lips (5 new shades) 3,150 yen
12 Light Coral Pink
13 Light Pink
14 Beige Coral
15 Soft Beige
16 Beige Pink
Full Glamour Liquid Lips (5 shades) 2,940 yen
EX08 Shining Clear Pink
EX09 Shiny Pink
EX10 Pure Coral
EX11 Red Beige
EX12 Shiny Coral Pink
Treatment Gloss (1 shade) 2,310 yen
01 Pure Pink
And last, but not least 5 special edition nail polishes!
Nail Finish N (5 shades) 1,575 yen
EX09 Vivid Blue Green
EX10 Vivid Pink
EX11 Vivid Orange
EX12 Vivid Yellow
EX13 Vivid Red
And we're ending it with a pop of colour like we saw in the eyeshadows! The 80s really are back. What a collection. I guess it was acceptable in the 80s <cheesy grin>
I've used a few of TRESemmé's haircare products over the years, so when they realeased a new line called Split Remedy, I thought it was worth checking out.
Split Remedy (US site/UK site) claims to reduce the number of split ends and fix 80% of split ends after 3 uses!
For someone with long locks, that's a serious claim.
So I've given these babies a spin and see if they deliever on their claims:
Less split ends - Yes, a definite reduction in split ends just cut look - definitely not for me! My hair does not feel smooth or silky, but kind of easily knotted... frizz-proof - uhm, my hair is pretty frizzy, and I'm not prone to frizzy hair at all
So I found that while it did improve the number of split ends I can see, my hair has been left feeling heavy and greasy. Ya know that feeling you get when you've either over-conditioned or forgot to rinse all the conditioner out? Yep, that one.
It might react differently to different hair. I have thin and fine hair that's usually pretty healthy and shiny. I do colour my hair, but at a salon about 3-4 times a year. My hair is also long, so yes, prone to split ends, but honestly, it's never really bothered me and I haven't had a problem with frizz before. It's usually shiny and sleek with no products other than just a good shampoo and conditioner.
Since my faith in TRESemmé is so high, I did think maybe I was doing something wrong. I've been trying everything with this shampoo and conditioner - including shampoo only, less conditioner, more conditioner, but all coming up with a similiar result.
This is the first time I can honestly say that I'm not sure I want even finish out the bottle on these. What a disappointment.
My hair and Split Remedy just don't seem to have a happy ending.
I've had this colour for ages, but only just now had the chance to use it.
It's a dark, sparkly warm brown however I found it a bit too runny and thin. I used two coats, but still found some patches where the colour had thinned so much so that I could see my nail underneath. :/ Not ideal. Excuse my messy application... I was feeling lazy.
Finally had a chance to try this polish - China Glaze's Westside Warrior which is a lovely dark green. I really love China Glaze nail polishes. They are such great value and have such a selection of colours.
More beauty blogging to come, but in the mean time, I'm going to share another fav song. This time it's Hong Dou (Red Bean/Longing) by Wong Faye.
On 11th April, I went to see L'Arc~en~Ciel in London. It was a dream come true. I love love loved them during my teenage years and early 20s, and always dreamed of seeing them live. Of course, I dreamed that would happen someday in an arena in Japan... never thought it would be a club in London!
They were so close it was amazing. After the performance, I was tempted to follow them to Paris for their next concert, but my credit card bill arrived at that very moment and brought me back to a different reality. But it was when I saw some pics from their live in Paris that I discovered this photo (not mine btw) and much to my joy I found that I have the same hat as Hyde. :D Epic fangirl moment.
Yep, that's the hat in all it's glory on Hyde's head.
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I've been unbelievably busy, but I will be back soon.
I will leave you with another L'arc clip - Ophelia, where Hyde plays the sax as well as sings :) because I think music is another form of beauty. Enjoy!
When I clean my brushes, I use shampoo to wash the bristles. This may or may not be obvious, but think of the bristles like hair, and your brushes will love you back.
Well,,, not exactly like hair. I don't condition or style my brushes. I just use a shampoo to clean them in luke warm to cool water and then let them air dry.
My favourite shampoo to use for washing my brushes is Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo. It's gentile as can be.
Do you clean your brushes regularly?
Totally not related...
I'm sharing this song from S.H.E. today, it was in Bullfighting, a Taiwanese drama with Mike He, and I adore him, but anyway, really been feeling this song lately, and look, complete with English subs Sorry, it's a bit bittersweet and kind of sad. Hope you enjoy!
Okay, for my American visitors this may not be too exciting, but for everyone else, hold on to yer hats.
J. Crew is currently offering free international shipping, free international returns, duty-free shopping now through 30th April 2012. Plus, you can shop in your local currency.
Amazing. Just what I needed. To spend some money at J. Crew!
Well, one thing I did need was some new swimwear. My last few swimwear purchases have been £6 bikini sets from Primark, which I have to say I have been pretty impressed with, but I have been a even longer fan of the swimwear at J. Crew.
The more I swim, the more I can induldge in treats, like my favourite biscuits/cookies - double chocolat au lait from YokuMoku.
Actually I'm off to London today to see L'Arc~en~Ciel at the O2! I am so excited. I have always wanted to see laruku, and never imagined in a million years that I would *in London*! I thought I *might* see them one day in Japan... but wow. Anyone else going to see them?
It was hard to find a good clip of my favourite Laruku song from its release - Niji (Rainbow), the clip quality isn't brilliant, but hopefully the beauty of the music still comes through.
And cos I love them so much, here's another song - Anemone with English subtitles. Enjoy!
Did you ever play with press on nails when you were a kid?
Well, I did, and when I saw these beautiful nails at an anime & scifi con in Paris (yep, I'm that cool) for only 5 euro, I decided I couldn't pass them up.
The pack came with 24 nails, but only 8 were completely decorated (i.e. had gems and other doo-dads) - they all were decorated with the white and pink flower motif and in a variety of sizes.
Luckily, all the super bling decorated ones fit my thumb, index, middle, and ring finger on both hands. So I used 'plain' for my pinky fingers.
I glued them on and, tada!
Okay, so I'd never used nail glue before and I was a bit hesitant. My nails are really short and not in the best shape at the moment, so I thought this was the best time to give it a go.
They look pretty gothic lolita/gosurori, don't they? Okay... maybe more gyaru... >_<
Actually applying the nails wasn't too difficult, but for some of the nails, they felt like they were shaped or shaped differently than my natural nails, so when gluing them on, I did feel a slight amount of pressure.
The glue did not hold up for me. At. All.
I put these on around 9pm and by the time I was getting ready for bed at 11pm, my first nail popped off. Then in bed, I lost a few more. By the morning, I only had 4 left - 2 on each hand! After my shower, where I did not wash my hair, I only had 2 left. Then on my way out the door on the way to work, one of the final 2 fell off and I was left with only one. So in about 12 hours only 1 nail survived my ruthless routine of lounging around my house and sleeping...
So, I wasn't impressed. It was fun while it lasted, but perhaps I needed to use more glue? It's been a couple of days now and I still have remnants of the glue on my nails. So I'd say these were pretty much an epic fail for me.
Pretty they are, but I think I'll stick to decorating my own nails.
Have you had any experience with glue-on or press-on nails? Good, bad, ugly?
I'm going to leave you with a clip from L'Arc~en~Ciel because I am so excited about finally seeing them in concert next month in London. I can't wait! I also picked a live video that someone has kindly subtitled in English, so enjoy! For those who don't know, L'arc are an amazing Japanese rock band that are currently celebrating 20 years of amazing music with a world tour. They also are the first Japanese band to headline at New York's Madison Square Gardens!
I've been coveting this baby for awhile now. Okay, I actually caved and bought it awhile ago, but haven't got around to blogging about it.
I'm a big fan of Dior's lipglosses, and I've been intrigued by orange of late, so orange bolero was on my list.
Here's a swatch!
Yes, it's very orange! I love the sparkles too. Dior lip glosses love the sparkles too. This is actually super pigmented and shows up really bright on my lips. Sometimes it's a bit too bold for me, but I'm really digging it.
As always, Dior lip glosses aren't cheap, but when you find a colour you love, they're worth it!
Are you a Dior addict?
Here's a song by a Russian pop group Краски (Kraski) called Оранжевое солнце which means 'orange sun.' I thought it might be appropriate!
Especially the chorus:
Оранжевое солнце в облаках
Оранжевое небо на руках
Оранжевые песни над землёй
Оранжевое счастье нам с тобой
Orange sun in the clouds
Orange sky in our hands
Orange songs off the ground
Orange luck for you and me
Silly title, I know. But I really needed to get back into blogging and I've been listening and watching a lot of the Japanese boy group, Arashi. So since I wanted to blog about beauty and still mention Arashi I thought I'd have a look at another Japanese cosmetic brand, Fasio.
Okay, maybe you don't know why Fasio was an obvious choice, but it's because MatsuJun is featured in many of their commercials and he's a member of Arashi.
Fasio is a Japanese drugstore brand of makeup that's part of the Kose empire and you can see one of their latest commercials (CM) below.
I have actually wanted to share these eye shadow palettes from Fasio's Spring 2012 release called Moon Brilliance Eyes (ムーンブリリアンス アイズ) since I first saw them online.
Okay, so if you've been following my blog, you'll know I'm a sucker for moons, so I can't ignore this collection. I love the crescent moon shape. Otherwise the 5 palettes are pretty standard releases with two pinks (PK-1 and PK-4), one beige (BE-2), one brown (BR-5), and one blue (BL-3).
Close ups from Fasio's website:
I really want to check these out, but I'm still trying to decide which palette I need the most. Honestly I have a lot of eye shadows at the moment, and none of these really stand out as something I don't have or can't create already with my existing supplies. I was most tempted by the beige BE-2, but it didn't look as exciting on the model as I thought it would. So I'm leaning towards PK-1, which generally speaking is the easiest shade of *any* Japanese release - usually the first pink shade (or only pink shade) works reasonably well for me. I love the blue one BL-3, but often find the blue shades looks better on the Asian models with dark eyes than on my lighter skin and eyes, so am often disappointed. Any ideas? Which one do you think I should try?
Don't get me wrong, these look amazing and I can't wait to try them, a part of me just wishes there was a purple or a green, or something more eye catching in this collection.
Another thing I really like about the Fasio website is the video tutorials! Yes, they are in Japanese, but you can see them all here on youtube and honestly I think you could follow along without understanding anything that's being said.
Here are some direct links to the tutorials involving some of the Moon Brilliance Eyes palettes:
These retail for 1400 yen in Japan and are available from Ichibankao.
Back to Arashi...
I have been catching up on my Japanese TV watching this week and weekend so far, and one of the shows I've watched was Ongaku no Chikara 2012 (音楽の力２０１２), it was an almost 3-hour special from NTV that aired just before the one-year anniversary of the Great Tohoku Earthquake. The message was that music has the power to heal and many of the artists gathered were involved in relief efforts. If you want to know more about Ongaku no Chikara, please check out this blog (it's in English).
It was such a captivating and moving show, I wanted to share some of it with you. Thankfully someone has kindly put up Arashi's free mini concert that they gave to suffers of the disaster in order to boast their spirits. Unfortunately this clip doesn't contain the full story, so I do recommend you watch this if you're interested.
Sorry, I've been having major blogger block! I'm going to get back on it, I promise!
So I finally got a Cambridge Satchel! I got this patent leather one from Asos.com (it's an exclusive to Asos). It was more expensive than some of the others, but I had it in my bookmarks for a few weeks and then on Leap Day there was 10% off, so I decided I would treat myself.
Asos.com describe the colour as 'oxblood' and I have to say it's a gorgeous rich dark red. I have a weakness for patent leather, especially in rich colours like burgundy, dark purple, dark green, and navy. I wear a lot of navy, so I think this bag will go nicely with most of my clothes!
I haven't worn it yet, but I can't wait! It looks beautiful!
And for something totally random...
Well, maybe not. Has the solar storm affected you? Yeah, apparently there's a solar storm going on out there which means it should be even easier to see the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis than usual!
Has anyone seen any aurora?!?
I haven't, but I have listened to Planetarium by Otsuka Ai (大塚 愛) recently. Maybe you know it too, it was an insert song in the Japanese drama Hana Yori Dango (花より男子) which was pretty popular!
Visée Meets Blondy is Visée's Glam Nude Eyes Limited Edition eyeshadow release this 'spring'. (I say 'spring' cos they actually came out in January 2012). I did a preview here.
It's worth reading my first post about these as it doesn't really make sense to repeat info too much, so have a look if you're interested!
However, I said I was going to get one of these 3 releases... but yep, I got all 3. I actually bought N-9 Classical Bitter Chocolate and loved it so much, decided to get the other two. Since they are limited editions as well, I was worried that I would love these shades so much and it would haunt me on missing out on the other 2 in the collection.
So here they are, all three in their glory.
They all come in an extra big packaging which is mostly just empty cardboard. I guess this is to make this product appear more special. As a drugstore brand Visée eyeshadows usually come in a small plastic clear/black case that just fits the product.
But what matters most of course is what's on the inside of the packages!
N-8 Nudish Peach (peach beige with a hint of pink)
N-9 Classical Bitter Chocolate (nude brown reminiscent of bittersweet chocolate)
N-10 Foxy Midnight (smooth smokey beige reminiscent of fur - I assume they mean fox fur here?!)
The palest shadow is actually a cream formula, but the rest are regular pressed shadows. I'm not really a fan of this kind of cream shadow, but the other 4 colours in the palette more than make-up for it! (oh, the puns...¬_¬;;)
I love all these palettes and to be honest, they are all wearable and natural looking. I had trouble telling the difference between them. I'd say it's slight in some cases. Yes, it's hard to see online, but just as hard to see in person. It really seems it's the 3rd colour that differs between these palettes.
All three together for comparison. From left to right: N-8, N-9, N-10
Do you love these colours or what? Well, I'd like to announce that my next *giveaway* will be for a brand new Visée Meets Blondy: Glam Nude Eyes Limited Edition Eyeshadow in N-9 Classical Bitter Chocolate! Are you excited or what?
Now to share a song from Rainie Yang (楊丞琳), a Chinese singer from Taiwan who I utterly adore. Mike He is also in this video, and well, he's just dreamy, isn't he?
I can't listen to this song and not feel happy! Enjoy.
Kiss is a Japanese drugstore cosmetics brand which has released some lovely blushes and highlighters to celebrate their 10th anniversary!
The model looks pretty excited! Actually, she kinda reminds me of Leah Dizon, but maybe that's just me?
Mix Heart Cheeks blush is on the left and Mix Moon Highlight is on the left. They look amazing. I know it's terribly girly of me, but I'm loving it! And yes, there's a little girl inside my head jumping up and down thinking Sailor Moon would love this makeup.
Chibi Usa and Usagi would be all over these compacts
The theme for this make up is a cute and happy face. Usagi-chan would approve whole-heartedly!
The Mix Heart Cheeks blushes are adorable! There are two colours in each compact and there's a heart with the brighter shade. There are 4 colours available:
01 Dolly Pink
02 Apricot Pink
03 Fruity Orange
04 Little Rose
Kiss suggests mixing the two colours and applying in two different ways:
Cute: in a circle on the cheek Lady-like: in a heart-shape on the cheek
The Mix Moon Highlight powder is available in two shades arranged like a crescent moon:
01 Pink Sherbet
02 Pure Beige
The picture speaks for itself, but here's where Kiss recommends you apply the highlighter powder.
I can't be the only one thinking of holding one of these compacts and shouting 'Moon Prism Power, Make-up!' Okay, maybe I am! ¬_¬
Both retail for 1,200 yen (before tax) in Japan, and are available from Ichibankao now.
I'm going to have order some of these, but I'm still deciding which ones. How about you?
