Japanese Brands
Dontcha love when celebs pimp themselves out to Japanese couture, cosmetics, and other adverts?
Now by far the best commercial I’ve had the pleasure of seeing is freaking Orlando Bloom acting all secret agent like in a hair gel commercial for Shiseido. My dear, dear friends please do have a tissue ready as drooling may occur!
Head on over to Eru’s blog Cuteness Junkie Girl to see this heart pounding, drool worthy, yummmmmmmmie commercial! I guarantee it’s worth five minutes of your time to view!
Maybe we should all write to Hollywood and beg them to make Orlando the next Bond…….Hmmmm Jeeves bring me some paper and a pen! Oh wait…isn’t it the Queen that decides who the next Bond will be? Hmmm best write to them both!
And by the way Orlando can whisper “Fiber Neo” in my ear as he strokes my arm, kisses my neck, and….oh excuse me…I was fantasizing aloud!
I’ve been very busy lately and updating my blog normally happens either really, really, really late at night, during brief pauses at work if I am even remotely lucky to have any, or in spurts here and there. Basically what you see written on any one entry takes me a day or more to complete because I’m so nuts with work and life in general lately 
Reason I am telling you all this is I’m quite late displaying my latest Japanese Cosmetic Fall Haul! I got it ages ago and never had a chance to really take it out of the box and truly enjoy it aside from taking some pictures and doing a video of it AGES and AGES ago.
I know MANY of you have already been exposed to the new Jill Stuart palettes, pressed blushes, etc…but I like to keep my blog updated with all my latest hauls so here goes anyway Hopefully it isn’t too much of a snore!
Kose Airy Whip (The new love of my life! This could replace Purity for washing my make-up off in the evenings! It’s so light and lovely and removes all traces of my foundation, blusher, and eye makeup too!)
Crystal Lash Pearls (These are great! An inexpensive way to enjoy lash pearls! Work just as well as Givenchy’s Lash Pearls!)
Esprique Precious Gift Set (A real value! Tons of goodies for under $50)
Esprique Precious Gift Set Illuminate Nuancer (Could possibly be better than Meteorites! Oops did I say that out loud?
)
Canmake Goodies (Canmake is the one of the few inexpensive cosmetics that the Muse has room in her heart for!)
Canmake Glitter Eyeliner Pencils (These are a bit to rough and hard in texture so hey may need to have a go under the hairdryer to soften them up prior to application)
Canmake Lipgloss (Pretty brilliant! First Japanese brand that actually made a flavored gloss hehe)
Canmake Glitter Shadow Trios
Canmake Metallic Eyes Shadow
Jill Stuart Brilliance Eyeshadow Palettes Fall 2007 (Both are gorgeous as you can see and the colors are surprisingly really nice! I was worried I’d never make any use out of these palettes but I’ve fallen in love)
Jill Stuart Pressed Blush Compact (Bit sheer but haven’t tried them on my face as of yet)
Jill Stuart Loose Powder Blush
Majolica Majorca Single Eyeshadows
Majolica Majorca Majex (This is going to work great during chapped lip season!)
Tiffa Goodies (In love with Tiffa! This is my first haul from Tiffa and I’m loving the gloss and shadow)
Tiffa Eyeshadow Duo
Gransenbon Blushes
Gransenbon Eyeshadow Palettes
RMK Shadows
RMK Cases
Excel Single Shadows (LOVE these! So much sparkle and shimmer!
Excel Mini Glitter Mascara
Sofina Compact Case Fall 2007 (Best compact introduced yet in my humble opinion!)
KATE Mascara Primer (Not entirely impressed with this yet! The fibers get caught in my lashes and are visible a bit which means I have to struggle to catch every fiber while applying mascara! Not sure I’m in love with this as much as I’d like to be!)
KATE Lipgloss
KATE and Lavshuca Super Sharp Eyeliner (Never seen a liquid liner with such a slim applicator!)
Some presents from my angel!
MuseMedia Presents: A Japanese Haul That’s Better Late Than Never!
As you read in my prior blog one of my packages was lost for a few days! A majority of what was in the package wasn’t of much importance however these little gems were in that package and had me crying tears of joy when it finally popped back to me!
Avast Ye! Behold! This be the treasure that was lost at sea!
Beaute de Kose Star Twinkle Collection
Star Twinkle Powder
Umm..nothing to get too excited about here! Where’s the sparkle? The shimmer? The glitter? The shine? Did they make some sort of mistake? Was it lost with the package? The powder, as far as I can see and feel, has absolutely no sparkle to it at all! The twinkle has left the building. I’m seeing nothing in the way of glitter here! I’ve only swiped it very lightly but I can say confidently this may very well be a waste of money but it sure is pretty to look at isn’t it? Did I just contradict myself? Oops! This is a first impression but so far I’m a bit disappointed!
The collection isn’t a total lost because I also got the Twinkle Cream shadows and these are fantastic! Bloody brilliant! Tons of shimmer, sparkle, and glittery bits are to be had! As I said before I don’t do cream shadows! But these come with my highest recommendation! The Muse loves ‘em! She not only loves what’s inside but she’s loving the outside as well! The packaging is as sweet as candy!
Personally if you’re a collector I’d go for the entire lot but if you’re just wanting to get one or two I’d go with the cream shadows and skip the powder! The purple and peach are nice colors but the real pudding is the gold, pink, and silver colors!
A little story behind this haul!
I ordered these items about two weeks ago and they were shipped via EMS. Express shipping takes about 3-4 days to get from Asia to North America this translates as I blink and I have my items safely with me hehe!
Sadly these little goodies got lost in the mail and I was beyond upset! After much dismay and thoughts that they’d never get to me I’m happy to say I have them in my hands!
PHEW!
Quite a nice few goodies to be had in this haul!
Sana Shiny Mascara in Gold and Silver
Comb Glitter Mascara that encrusts your lashes with sparkles! Yum! The Muse likey sparkles!
Heroine Glitter Mascara
God I love Kiss’s Heroine cosmetic line! How freaking cute is the advert on these? This is a heavy duty glitter mascara in pink! Encrusts your lashes with tons of glitter and sparkle! Oh la la!
Sony Blackhead Oil Stick
Hey Sony isn’t only good for electronics they also create a line of cosmetics in Japan! Cool right? This handy dandy little gadget is for rubbing on your nose! It promises that with a few strokes your blackheads will be erased! It works not so bad for a cheapie gimmicky product
Pola Deep Cleaning Nose Mask, Cleansing Hot Gel, Deep Nose Wash
Deep Cleaning Nose Mask works quite like the Body Shop’s Tea Tree Oil Mask. Apply a thin layer, wait till it drys, and rub off! I’ve been using it the past few days and haven’t noticed much difference in my blackheads! If possible the Sony Stick works better! Th Cleansing Hot Gel and Nose Wash I haven’t tried yet but very curious about both and somewhat worried since the Nose Mask was rubbish I have a funny feeling these will be too! Oh well!
Comments? Questions? Got these items? Tell me what you think of ‘em!
A package from my angel arrived a few days ago which contained the new Lunasol Geminate Eye palettes!
SQUEAL!
The colors are amazingly pigmented, full of sparkle and shimmer, and really solid colors for the cooler months! I’ve never purchased a Lunasol palette prior to these but I can see these are quite possibly Kanebo’s best line of product and may even beat out T’estimo for quality! These are a higher end cosmetic compared to Kanebo’s other color lines and the cost of each proves that these are indeed a luxurious item to purchase!
This is only a first impression, I haven’t tried them yet as I am too busy stroking them and telling them how pretty they are BUT I can tell you they are possibly better than Visee’s Jewel Crush Eyes!
Many of you, like myself have purchased T’estimo’s newest palettes plus Visee’s Jewel Crush Eyes. These beat out both in the department of high shimmer, sparkle, and glitter! If you’re pressed for cash and in debates what you should purchase I’d go with one of these and skip the T’estimo and Visee palettes! Overall I’m mighty pleased with these and quite excited to begin creating a new look with ‘em!
These have to be the best Fall collection I’ve seen this season! The colors just remind me of a cool autumn night! I was in high debate about which palettes to choose and in the end I decided on all five! And am I ever glad I did!
Ruby
Alexandrite
Diamond
Sapphire
Cat’s Eye
The Muse was completely spoiled in this package as not only were the Lunasol palettes tucked into it but some gorgeous little pressies that the angel included for me!
Now this angel knows me a little too well and she included some much lusted after Sweet Sweets palettes for me!
Sweet Sweets is an amazingly cute and inexpensive Japanese drugstore brand! These are just too terrific for words! I’m utterly in love with ‘em! They are on the sheer side but if you want to do a real simple makeup look these are perfection! I’m loving these!
And if that wasn’t enough something else was tucked into my box!
I love the little fairy drawing the eye liner on!
The Muse’s angel sure knows how to enable because Cineora is not a brand that the Muse has every heard of! The loose powder is not only adorable but perfect for tucking into my purse for touch ups! It does wonders on under eye circles! And the liner is sheer perfection! One stroke will do it! No having to go back and repeat myself this is nice and dark! The Muse is in love with Cineroa’s brand of cosmetics now
Friends are special people and when they go out of their way to do something lovely for me I can’t help but feel thankful that I am lucky enough to have my life touched by them!
Lavshuca introduced several colors of it’s newest gloss, Color Conc Rogue, for it’s Fall 2007 Collection (I googled pictures of the newest collection but all I get are some weird model advertising Lavshuca who is this girl and where’s Puffy damnit!)
I purchased four of the ten colors. When I first got wind of these I was over the moon because hey I love gloss! Gloss is good. Gloss is nice. Gloss makes me (and my lips) happy! Um..ya..anyway….At the time I was seriously going to go ahead and purchase all ten of the colors because we established already I’m that kinda diseased about cosmetics
I’m glad I went with four because I have to give Color Conc Rouge a bit of a bad review! Sad sighs all around!
I’ve tried to love this, I’ve tried to even like it. I’ve used two of the four colors so far and they just don’t do anything for me! It’s sadly lacking any “wow”!
The general idea of the gloss is it’s supposed to act as a lipstick and a gloss all in one but that sadly doesn’t really work. The texture is like any gloss you might have about. It’s pretty thick, pretty slick but it doesn’t glide. The glide is non existent (if you know gloss you know what I mean). I’m trying to firgure out exactly why it has no glide, I’m not entirely sure if it’s the actual gloss or the applicator! The applicator is just a hard plastic piece with no sponge at the end so you are basically trying to apply gloss using the end of a tiny, hard piece of plastic! The gloss it self feels ok on, not tacky and not too sticky but just about right. However, it has no lasting power. Application may last you 30 minutes if you’re lucky! Again, as almost all Japanese brands, it’s unflavored! Overall it’s just sadly lacking!
On the plus side the packaging is adorable which is cause for some excitement but the actual product inside leaves much to be desired! The colors are quite gorgeous but what’s color if it doesn’t apply correctly.
Lavshuca has some hit or miss products and this is sadly a miss for me! Of course I’m happy to have these in my collection but I can only offer it an ok rating.
Save your pennies, buy something else!
BR1, RD2, RD1, and PK1
‘ello girlies (and guys)!
I had quite a few questions in regards to “OH MY GOD WHERE CAN I GET JAPANESE COSMETICS!!!!!!!?”
The Muse has some gorgeous friends in her life that do her shopping for her! Without these lovely people in her life she’d be quite remiss of Japanese goodies in her train case! My god the HORROR! *insert scared, terrified looking face here*
Sometimes busy schedules also means that they are unable to get me my little bits and ship them over 
(I say “little bits” so it makes me appear less obsessed than I actually I am teehee!)
When these horrible things occur the Muse must search, search, search for alternative ways of locating her Japanese crack…errr…I mean Japanese cosmetics!
Our very own, gorgeous Fleck has some great hints, tips, and general tricks for obtaining what she wants! She’s passed some great ideas off to the Muse about where to locate good cosmetics to satisfy her lemmings! Do visit her reviews on MUA! They are my bible when purchasing!
The Muse also has her own toolbox of locating interesting little bits and pieces to appease the insatiable hunger for Japanese cosmetics!
Finding decently priced Japanese cosmetics is a difficult job my friends but with a little hard work you can find somewhat good priced deals here and there
This will entry will be in several parts which will also include a video blog to go along with it! I hope it helps satisfy your lemmings for great cosmetics!
The last few weeks I’ve been hooked on using Opera My Lash Mascara. This was recommended to me by Haru from Rogue Deluxe and I absolutely fell in love with it!
This morning I decided to spice it up a little so I cracked open my Excel Mascara and boy oh boy life is good my dear friends! This is the mascara of the gods! I hate to say this….but….I think….it might…be better than MJ Mascara! Holy cow did those words just leave this mouth??!!! Damn this is some good stuff! I’m impressed! This is some killer mascara folks! Look out MJ I see a replacement on the horizon!
On American shores the curved mascara brush is sorta kinda popping up in some of our brands but it’s pretty standard in Europe and Asia at the moment! The curved brush picks up quite a big lump of mascara, so much mascara in fact that you may be slightly panicky upon seeing that big o’ clot of it on the brush! But it goes on flawlessly and smoothly. One quick swipe will have your lashes extended to the ceiling (ok, ok maybe not the ceiling!), another swipe will even your look out and create the illusion of falsies, and finally by flipping the brush over and swiping a final time, you’ll separate your lashes and complete your look! Texture is really good on this and it applies very well and evenly. This does remind me of a cheaper version of Beaute de Kose Mascara and could possibly be better!
If you have fragile lashes I would avoid this because it is pretty difficult to remove. After many swipes with Oil Based Eye Makeup Remover plus my regular facial cleaner and lots of water later I was finally able to get a majority of it off but my lashes do still feel a bit stiff even after all that! I don’t mind so much as in the shower tonight I’m sure it’ll wash away and my lashes are full and strong so a bit of tugging to remove won’t make a difference to me! However, I can’t fully recommend this product to anyone who has tiny lashes or ones that break off easy!
Now Excel also offers a remover which I am now disappointed I didn’t order as that appears interesting enough and might very well do the job in getting this off once it’s on!
All in all a fine product by Excel! Brilliant Mascara! If it’s the illusion of falsies you seek this be the mascara for you! The Muse highly recommends it and dubs it her new favorite mascara of choice!
Showing off my fine lashes thanks to Excel Mascara!
I get many fine questions about MJ or MM (short for Majolica Majorca) from many a fine person that wanders onto my youTube page or happens upon my blog! I went ahead and did a little spotlight video on some fantastic MJ products I love!
Enjoy!
MuseTV Presents: A Spotlight on Majolica Majorca
‘ello there!
I was lucky enough to get a delightful little package in the mail of which contained the Fall Japanese goodies!
I did a video blog of ‘em for you guys! I’ve added in pics as well and will be doing reviews and Face of the Days pics very soon!
MuseTV Presents: Fall Collection Haul:
Please excuse the poor quality of the pictures I normally take photos with my trusty Kodak DX6490. I decided that I’d go with cute and super portable so I purchased a Sony Cyber Shot T20 this past week! I was excited to have a smaller cam to use for taking pics for my blog and just generally toting around for small shots here and there!
My DX6490 is only 4MP’s has a virtually no ISO so the T20 was quite appealing at 8MP with an obscene ISO, HD output, onscreen editing, and a tons of other bells and whistles.
Upon getting it in the mail I flipped out at how cute it was. I proceeded to try some Face of the Day pics plus some additional variety, random shots and………it’s crap. I strongly suggest not bothering! I’ve just now finished wrapping it up and it’s going right back for a full return! I am astounded at the crap quality of the pics! Everything had a weird orange tinge too it plus the ISO had a setting of 300 because anything more would cause some mega crap quality photos!
Do tell me whatcha think of these pics taken with the cybershot as compared to my older pics in my blog taken with my trusty kodak!
I’ve been sorely tempted to purchase a Nikon D40 but can’t justify the cost for a hobbyist like myself. It’d be far different if I had a family with children and such but just to purchase the D40 for hobby shots of cosmetics, some vacation photos, and random shots seems just a silly purchase really! I adore photography but the general idea of the D40 seems a spoiled indulgence on my part!
Anyway!
On to the pics 
New Lavashuca Palettes
Older Lavshuca Palette, New Color!
New Lavshuca Glosses
Lavshuca Glitter Mascara
MJ Honey Plump Glosses
MJ Fall Eyeshadows
New MJ Mascara and Neo Lash Expander
MJ Fall Collection Glosses
MJ Fall Collection Eyeliners
KATE Fall Shadow Collection
KATE Gel Eyeliners
KATE Dual Carat Eyeshadow
Kiss Lipgloss
Maqulliage Pressed Powder
Visee Eyeshadow Palette
When life brings you lemons, I say squeeze a blog out of ‘em and make lemonade!
It’s a LONGGGGGGGG night my friends and sleep has taken another holiday on me! Indeed, it has! I’m serious! It’s gone off to some island and is taking in the sun! It might even be scoring with hot chicks (I’m making that part up)!
Hell, the last time sleep took off on me I started blogging to Jonny’s mum! Whom, hasn’t replied to me yet! Hint Hint! Nudge Nudge! It’s ok. I’ll be over shortly and you can make me a nice cuppa and tell me all his embarressing moments! My ears are open!
When sleep is on holiday it’s a darn good time to blog about my favorite topic…..go on now…..you know what it is dontcha?
That’s right! Make-up!!!!!!! Before I carry on with my blog of great importance I will say that I am sorry I’ve been remiss in the couture department! Summer fashions aren’t as appealing to me as Winter ones so you’ll see me blogging way more about couture in the Fall and Winter months than you will in the Summer!
That said…let’s move on to the good stuff!
My lovely, sweet, gorgeous, amazing, beautiful, and loving friend Mai is coming from Japan to stay with me shortly. Hi Mai! I know you read this lovie!
I got a package from Mai this pass week! Mai is my asian cosmetic crack dealer. She is, it’s true. Don’t worry her english sucks so right now she’s scratching her head and possibly her arse and wondering what a crack dealer is (don’t worry she can take a joke and loves when I tease her)! Love you Mai!
Anyway…
Within this gorgeous, amazing, bright, shiny, huge package, there be treasure maties! Oh my was it ever the package of all packages! I had asked Mai to pick me up some bits, bobs, and a little of this and that! By the time I was done I had raked up a bill with Mai that could put my first born child through college for the next four years of his life. Somehow, I convinced myself that it was ok to spend that much money on cosmetics because…because….I dunno how I convinced myself it was ok! Let’s not dwell on that right now!
Mai is now happily sitting on a Paypal payment from me that’ll fund her morgage for a year!
Yes yes I know I know! You want to see the amazing items I got don’t you? Greedy little buggers aren’t you?
Behold:
Aube Sofina Limited Edition Fruitina Lipgloss
These are awesome! I’m well chuffed and disappointed I didn’t order 10 more! Super duper glossy and shimmering! I just didn’t like the fact that they weren’t flavored. That was somewhat crummy! They taste sorta yuk! But I guess I can deal with it! Those are real Swarvoski crystals embedded in the top! Pretty neat right?
Lavshuca Jewel Lipstick
Really pleased with these as well! I was shocked that it turned out these are NOT full size lipsticks! They are mini ones! Very cute and very portable! I was under the impression they were larger! Aside from that they are great! I picked the color selections from my mate PJ’s blog and I’m glad I went with them because they are both great colors! Can’t go wrong with PJ! I want more of these as well! They go on quite sheer and are just a blush of color for your lips! Nice product!
T’estimo Eyeshadow Singles
I’m a T’estimo whore! But my entire time purchasing T’estimo cosmetics I’ve never once purchased an eyeshadow single! These are my first! Not much to say really! They are just as wonderful as anything you find in the palettes! Possibly even nicer to have a single color outside the palette theme! Really enjoy how sparkling and shimmery they go on!
Lavshuca Blush
These were introduced as part of the summer lineup! Rubbish. I purchased the mosiac blushes prior to these and was disappointed! I should have known better! Not even a sheer wash of color from these! Barely pigmented! Absolute garbage! Up on E-bay tomorrow! Was kinda hoping for a better product! Oh well! Win some, lose some!
Shiseido Maquillage Glossy Gloss
There are certain brands of cosmetics that are like bread! You go to the store, you buy bread, you eat the bread and it’s good! It’s rare that you buy bread that you hate (hell take it from a round girl, carbs are GOOD)! Shiseido is like bread! Anything you buy from Shiseido is an absolute winner! You can’t really go wrong. It’s a solid cosmetic brand that makes outstanding products. These glosses are just what they say “glossy gloss”! Intense shine and gloss! Really just perfect!
Lavshuca Loose Face Powder
This is an interesting little find! I use a unique little product, that I won’t reveal since I have to have some secrets, to lighten my face. I purchased this as a possible replacement! And I’m quite delighted to say it can’t be used in the same manner as I use the other shhhh secret product! I’m delighted because this is actually a shimmering powder that makes my cheeks and face look all sparkle like and lovely! Really like this one!
Jill Stuart Blush
Some Jill Stuart Blushes I didn’t have! I have almost all the colors now! These were just as great as all my others
Jill Stuart Brilliance Eyes Summer 2007 Eyeshadow Palette
This is the 5th palette they introduced for the Brilliance Eyes collection! I own them all and I love them! This one however was…mmm slightly disappointing! I was not loving the black color! Why they felt the need to put in black is beyond me! But hey the rest are cool
Jill Stuart Loose Powder
Gorgeous shimmering powder! I already have this in the Shine and Natural colors and this is by far my favorite! Sparkle! Weeeeeee!
The Pretty Boxes Jill Stuart Arrived In!
Lavashuca Lipstick
Not much to say about these! I have a zillion already and these are just some extra colors I wanted! Sheer, glossy and wonderful as always!
T’estimo Lipstick
Again, not much to say! I have a ton already but wanted a few more Great colors! Shimmering, glossy, and sheer! These are what MAC slimshines hope to be like when they grow up!
So that pretty much concludes our tour of my latest purchases! Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed posting it! Drop me an e-mail if you have questions about where to purchase these items or what countries they are available in! My ear is yours! I’m always pleased to help!
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