Playing dress up with nails: Gothic Lolita or Gyaru?

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!

Lunasol Glowing Powder Cheeks EX01 Pure Coral Review

I picked up a few items from Lunasol's Spring release. The first I'm going to share with you is a limited edition blush: Glowing Powder Cheeks EX01 Pure Coral.

This was my first Lunasol blush experience, but when I saw that a coral colour was coming out, I decided to treat myself. 

The packaging is a bit unusual for Lunasol. Usually everything is dark bronze, metallic, and very shiny. Very hefty feeling as well. The Glowing Powder Cheeks come in a cardboard packaging. The lid of the blush is held in place by a stretch-band. Although it's all paper, it feels pretty sturdy and it looks like there is a metal pan supporting the blush itself. This packaging reminds me of Benefit's blushes.

When you lift the lid, there's a brush and a little plastic tray that separates the blush from the brush. The brush is useful, but I wouldn't say it's amazing or life-changing. 

I do want to comment on the quality of the formula; it's amazing. There is a slight shimmer to the colour, but it's not strong, and there's no scent, but the powder is so soft. It feels like touching a very high quality velvet, but lighter. I think that's the best I can do. It's definitely a powder, but it's so smooth, it's incredible. 

さすがね、ルナソル。

I swatched it on my arm above. It was hard to really capture this colour. It's pretty light, but really lovely. A little bit goes a long way. When I applied to my arm with the brush, it was almost impossible to capture with my camera (apologies for my lack of camera skills -_-;;) 

Such a lovely colour for Spring, I'm very pleased with it.

Spring has sprung, time for some new clothes!

It's really spring here! We have warm and sunny weather. I really hope it stays around.

With it comes a tide of new spring clothes!

Yes, I know, I need more clothes like I need a hole in my head, but I couldn't *not* share this!

J. Crew is currently offering free *international* shipping, free returns, and duty-free shopping!! By *international* they mean anyone outside the US. So I've just ordered a few things... looking forward to it! Unfortunately taxes were not included but added at checkout. I didn't really get this, in the UK taxes are included in the price, and when I shop duty-free here, that means there's no tax, so it's 20% less...  oh well. It's still an amazing offer. It's available from now until the end of April 2012. If you're a fan of their clothes, check it out!

I also got an email from Abercrombie & Fitch with some gorgeous lace dresses that I have to share as well. Aren't they lovely?!

 

I really don't need any... but oh, how I want one or two. ^.^

Have you made any spring purchases?

Dior Addict Ultra Gloss 732 Orange Bolero

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

Fasio gives us some eye candy with Moon Brilliance Eyes Spring release

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:

PK-1 tutorial
BE-2 tutorial
BL-3 tutorial
PK-4 tutorial
BR-5 tutorial

 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.

3.11 Anniversary

Today marks the one year anniversary of the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan.

I don't have anything to say that hasn't been said before. Obviously this was a very sad event, and I wanted to share with you a documentary of the children victims of the tsunami that aired on the BBC.  It's very much worth watching, although it's both sad and uplifting, either way, these children are amazing.

I wish peace and recovery for all those affected, and may we remember those who were lost. Nature is both beautiful and terrifying.

I also can't help noticing that sakura or cherry blossoms in Oxford are starting to bloom, which reminds us of the ephemeral nature of life.

Burgundy Patent Leather Satchel

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!

Sparkling Rings from Dreamy Rings

Nothing makes a girl sparkle like a gem on her finger!

Yeah, okay, I don't totally mean that, but I do love a pretty and simple ring, which is why I'm sharing my latest purchase from Dreamy Rings on Etsy.

I got this lovely sapphire heart stone set in silver ring made in my size and I love it!

I have to admit that I'm really partial to heart-rings. My most cherished ring is a heart-cut of my birth stone set in gold, which I've had since I was 14 years old! Dreamy Rings has such a selection, it made my choice difficult! I would love to have tons, but realistically I'll only wear one at a time, so dangerous. But I've already ordered a second ring from here and can't wait for it to arrive.

Prices range from $30 to $770 USD, so there should be something for any budget. I really appreciate the sizing option as no one ever stocks my size, so anytime I've ever bought a ring I've always had to get it resized.

Here is a small selection of some of the gorgeous offerings at Dreamy Rings. Aren't they lovely?

White Day Giveaway!

So Valentine's Day has gone by and barely a peep out of me! But I will pipe up to tell you about White Day and my White Day giveaway! 

For those of you who haven't heard of White Day, it's related to Valentine's Day and falls on the 14th of March, one month after V-day. It can be observed in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China and is a day for women to receive back some for what they've done on Valentine's Day. 

Huh?

Let's go back to Valentine's Day! 

In Japan, Valentine's Day is not celebrated the same as it is in the US or UK or maybe where you are. It's a day for women to give chocolate to men only. That's it! That's right, men get spoiled with chocolate and women do all the hard work. 

There's several types of chocolates given, but they are generally of the milk or dark varieties of chocolate. It's common to give 'giri choco' or 'obligation chocolate' to male friends and coworkers on Vday and is not sign of any romantic interest. While 'honmei choco' or 'real feelings chocolate' will be given to a man that a woman has romantic feelings for. The more homemade the honmei choco the better. 

White Day was created for men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day to return the favour to women. Because the traditional gift was white chocolate, the day is called White Day, but it can be common to give the women any manner of gifts, although it's often wrapped in white. 

So I imagine you're probably not expecting a White Day gift, so I wanted to give you one! And it's all the way from Japan with love. 

That's right, I've got a Visée meets blondy Glam Nude Eyes limited edition eyeshadow palette to giveaway!


Please use the rafflecopter entry widget below! 


Want more info about the prize? 

Visée meets blondy Glam Nude Eyes Part 1

Visée meets blondy Glam Nude Eyes Part 2