I’ve been a huge Tarina Tarantino fan for well over a decade (remember she used to make those adorable little bejeweled barrettes?), purchasing her jewelry (lots of fun Hello Kitty stuff) and accessories. I was thrilled to see that she’s come out with a new cosmetics line exclusively for SEPHORA. Well done!

I haven’t gotten my products yet but I can tell you what I am most excited about:

Sparklicity Shimmer Dust  $39 – this sprays on to give a sheen of glittery goodness to your skin and hair. I just love the bottle and truly cannot get enough glitter in my life.

Kapinki: Face Brush $38 - I have a thing for kabuki brushes.  I have five of them. Maybe more. But a HOT PINK one? Oh my heavens – this is a must have. The kabuki brush is my go-to brush. I have ones that I use for blush, for powder, for pearlessence, for minerals. You can always use another.

Pearl Glow Primer $32 - I am as into pearlessence as I am to glitter and shimmer. That this is a primer is even better because it will give a subtle glow. I use a good primer from Smashbox that has a pearly glow to it but it is a little overpowering so I hope this works.

Sparklicity Luminizer $19 - Hey who doesn’t want to be illuminated? Or luminized? Whatever – if it means I will be glowy, I am there. Unlike most “refractive” powder finishes this is supposed to give glow but not glitter. We shall see!

Once everything comes in, I will road test and let you know how they work out.

One teeny-tiny grumble, I expected a little more from the packaging – a bit more sparkle. Also the price points are really high for a debut cosmetic line. And for a SEPHORA exclusive as well considering that SEPHORA’s own brands (and I am sure they are making Tarina Tarnatino’s too) are priced very reasonably.

From CyberAgent in Japan comes a new Facebook application (game) called Ameba Pico (or Pico for short). You can play outside of Facebook too but the real fun is to play within Facebook so you can get all your kawaii loving friends to play with you.

The game was originally called Ameba Pigg in Japan and racked up a couple million users in less than a year. You know how much they love all that is cute and childlike in Japan so I imagine the populairty is due to location and that it appealed to young women in the tween and up age range.

What is most fascinating about this essential glorified chat space (with adorable twee little characters that you can dress-up and play with) is that it is truly an International social actvity. Most people playing the game are Japanese but other countries I have seen represented include the Phillipines, Macau, China, Chile, Spain, France, the UK, Singapore, New Zealand, Russia and of course the USA.

You meet people by giving them “props” and then earn “gummies” for this which you can use to buy things. The more robust form of currency however is Ameba Gold which you can purchase for real money or complete offers (joining a book club, getting your credit report, taking surveys and many others) to earn Ameba Gold.

You have your own room and can hold parties in it to earn “stars” (which give you more gummies) and you can decorate it with the limited items available around the virtual world (which is basically a NYC street, the Statue of Liberty, a couple of parks, a high school and a Stone age location with a volcano) as well as shop for clothes and expression (smiling, laughing, dancing) that you can purchase from various vendors.

It takes a whole lot of giving and getting props to generate gummies and the only way to get “tokens”(which can be used in place of Ameba Gold) is to play Gatcha which gives you a random prize out of an animated vending robot (essentially gashopon). I’ve played it quite a bit and all I get are filing cabinets, food and balloons. No tokens yet.

There are only two games to play (a memory card game and reversi) and the specific themed chat rooms don’t seem very active. You can have private chats (called whisper) and send each other letters within the system, plus send each other gifts and share food. Other than that there is no much to explore and not much to do except give props, go to your “buddies” rooms (you may friends within the world and they become your buddies), visit different locales, shop (though this is limited) and change your clothes. The chatting is very minimal since there are many languages spoken. Many Japanese speak no English whatsoever and they tell you right on their character profile.

I’ve been enjoying the game however because it is super kawaii and love meeting all the Japanese people. There are quite a few who do speak some English and would love to practice it with you which is seriously fun.

The people are VERY YOUNG however, though it seems to vary at times. Later at night I run into many people from the US in their teens and twenties. I have only runa cross a few people my age (old as the hills in the world of Kawaii) but that is to be expected. I think it would be a fun hang-out for girls in their teens and twenties if they are Japanophiles and love to talk about similar things.

I am on usually as “girliewhirlie”. Please come find me! I will give you props, I promise!

Here are a few fun things you can do: