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.

This was a stocking stuffer for me, a great set of STILA mini lip glazes. These are so sweet and portable and have yummy flavors too. My faves are the pearly and sparkly colors.

This great beauty kit is from POPBeauty and is much more vibrant than it looks in this photo. This is a treasure trove of festive colors ready made for parties and the winter months. You get five eye shadow/liners, two shades of bronzer, two shades of face powder, a multi-hued shimmer palette and eight lip colors, all in a velvet covered box.  It is called Cabaret Bouquet and was on sale at ULTA.

Another great make-up kit this one is from Pixi Beauty. I mean it has a little twee fairy on the box! All the colors are shimmery and sweet. You can get this right in Target and it was on sale to boot. You can also get it online at pixibeauty.com.

My sister-in-law was kind enough to get me this adorable Bare Minerals Sweet Obsession mineral powder eye kit. The smaller size jars come in a little foil candy cups. Arrragghhh – cute overload! So yummy I want to eat them!

Since I get cold tootsies in the winter (yes, even in Florida, what can I say, I am a big baby!) I looked for a pair of faux fur lined boots online and came up with these which were sent overnight from endless.com and arrived on my doorstep on the 24th. I’ve barely taken them off since. Except to put on these:

These are called Chastity Sweater Slippers and were $18 at Target. They are completely faux fur lined and delicious on cold toesies.

Hope your Christmas was loaded with kawaii goodies and joyful happiness. Remember to hit all the After Christmas sales too!

I’ve been away from the kawaii a bit so I have lots to catch up on. You’ll be seeing me more regular-like from now on.

Happy Kawaii New Year!

In essence the dark gothic Lolita feel to everything Twilight seems somewhat kawaii to me (there it is again my very broad interpretation of kawaii) so imagine my excitement to find a very classy new cosmetics line debut called Twlight Beauty.

Twilight Beauty has two options – Luna and Volturi. Kind of the light and the dark side if you will. The products are high quality, innovative and unique as well as packaged beautifully.

Take a gander:

These gorgeous palettes contain 2 eyeshadows, 2 lip colors and a blush and are named for the female characters in Twilight (from top to bottom: Rosalie, Bella, Alice and Victoria). These are portable in a classic black imprinted case, reasonably priced ($28) and really do ring true with the characters they are named after. At least in what has been shown in the films thus far that is. The Alice kit is my fave and the most kawaii in my opinion.

The Luna  Moonshadow eyeshadow compact comes in a variety of pairings each with a cream shadow and a glimmery powder. I love double duty cosmetics!

My favorite product that I purchased is the Mortal Glow blushing creme. This is a new product for me in that I have never used a creme blush that has such an unusual texture. It is a creme but also a mousse and dries to a powder finish. Absolutely gorgeous on but takes a little getting used to. Make sure you glaze your fingers over the product and don’t dig into it (oops!) because you’ll get too much product on your fingers. A foundation brush might be a good way to work with this but I love the tactile feel of it.

These two Volturi lipglosses are bolder than they go on. They are perfectly sheer so you will not end up with black lips. The pink shade is raspberry flavored and the black is licorice. They are yummy and non-sticky and give an interesting tint to lips.

This is a tie-in with DuWop’s Lip Venom, they’ve made a Just Bitten shade that looks like drops of blood in a vial. Very cool looking. This is a blood red lipstain, so be careful when applying. Once it sinks in the color stays for quite a while. You need to shake the venom up to get the best color for your lips. It is spicy and gives you a bit of a bee-stung pout but it’s not a painful tingling. And really it is a conversation starter too when you take it out to re-apply!

The Volturi Reign Body Mist comes in four great scents and has a gorgeous shimmer suspended in the gel like spray. I got the Bella scent – a pure, yummy vanilla. It comes in three other scents too: Forbidden Fruit– woodsy fresh and fruity, Wicked – Spicy cinnamon delight and Romance – Fresh flowers.

There are a few other products that I haven’t tried yet that you can discover for yourself on the website. Considering there are two more films to go I believe the line will be around for a while. The products aren’t cheap but they are of superb quality. They are quite different from other cosmetics I have and I love the direction the line is going in. I am excited to see the evolution.

You might be thinking – what? Do they even have anything kawaii?

Well, listen up and listen good kawaii lovers – you will be surprised to find that in HSN’s CLEARANCE section  you can not only find adorable and fun things to satisfy your kawaii-loving self but for CHEAP too!

Here are a few of my recent finds from HSN:

This is theBalm Read My Lips Kit in Nude on Clearance at HSN for $10! (from regular price of $40). I don’t know if the company is still in business since I saw some of their cute cosmetics for sale at Sephora too. You cannot beat this price though for 2 lipsticks, a lip pencil and lipstain. Holy Kawaii Clearance!

Along those same lines is this sweet little kit from theBalm for your eyes. It comes with a luggage tag and is portable itself with a wee little mini-brush. You can actually use one of the shades as a blush if you’ve got a teeny tiny blush brush. This was originally $18.50 marked down to $5.00. No mistake there – that’s right – five bucks!

This Barbie Loves Stila Collection (in Jewel Doll)  comes in a paint can (so adorable) and includes a Barbie palette, yummy lipgloss and gorgeous black mascara. The original price was $40 and is on sale for $13.98. You must trust me that you will never find  even one single Stila item for this price let alone, three! These are full-size products too and you get a blush and two eyeshadows in the palette. Worth every penny!

They offer another kit too, so if you can just get both! This is called Foxy Doll kit and comes with a different mascara, palette and lip glaze. The kits mimic the make-up on the dolls to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of your favorite girly-girl Barbie.

I know it’s not Easter but since when do kawaii bunnies have anything to do with holidays? To be fair these are more retro kawaii. These are perfect for springtime or just to put out something cute. The plates are unfortunately sold out but the bowl is on clearance for $19.00 from $49.00. Great value. This comes from the catalog company Grandin Road on HSN.

This is the Garden Party ring from Hot in Hollywood, a costume jewelry designer brand on HSN. The enamel flowers are so sweet and the crystal stone looks like a piece of candy. This is on sale in two colors for only $29.95.

Also by Hot in Hollywood is this saints crystal bracelet. So completely funky and cool I just had to have it. It is on sale for only$19.95 and comes in four crystal colors.

Next time I will focus on finds from QVC, Sephora and whomever strikes my fancy. And has CLEARANCE! Polish up your credit cards girlies!

Yay the winner of the Eyeko Beauty contest is: KawaiiKrazy! Congrats my dear – I have sent you an email and I will just need your mailing address.

Bonus winner: Gaby Montero! Eyeko was kind enough to send me an extra tote, an extra Eyeko Tinted Cream and Minty Fat Balm, so these are all yours!

While I did purchase the prizes myself it was very kind of Eyeko to send the extras. They are a wonderful company to work with!

A new update to follow!

I just got my shipment of Lime Crime make-up from Shana Logic and I thought I’d share the colors and my thoughts on them. Overall I am very impressed and can absolutely see collecting all of the vivid colors since you really control how vibrant they go on. Next up to try: Candyfuture lipstick!

Here’s what I got:

Lime Crime Sheer Magic Pixie Dust: this has been discontinued according to Doe Deere colorful Unicorn Girl creator of Lime Crime. I used it as it was intended (a matte, sheer, lightweight finishing powder) and it really didn’t wow me. I don’t like matte anything and even though this was lightweight I had to put some shimmer over it. Also it is a pretty small jar of powder and will go fast. Doe Deere has said she will be focusing the line more on color in the future so I can see why she bagged this one.

Lime Criminal Magic Eye Dust: This is a pure punch of pigmented color. All natural talc-free and vibrant is kind of a lackluster word for it. This particular shade is punched up lime green with tiny yellow speckles. What is genius about these products is you have such control over the color depositing. I played around with a variety of brushes to get subtle color-washes and then tried them as eyeliners (using a wet brush) which was perfect. They turn metallic and have superb staying power. It doesn’t take much either from the sifter jar. These will last you a while because you only need a scant bit and it really goes on silky smooth too. Stays on and on. Won’t disappear since it is mostly all mica. This looks amazing with Empress.

Empress Magick Dust: This is a pure purple with a sheen to it that works great with other colors. I put this on my lid and then dusted Lime Criminal on the brow bone for a stunning combination. It was vivid but yet didn’t look garish which is really one of the best features of these products. Go dramatic or go subtle. But even when it is as dramatic as pictured it doesn’t look like clown make-up, it just glitters, glows and looks gorgeous!

Twilight Magic Dust: I was the least impressed with this shade. Billed as “a complex blue with violet highlights, making the color purple in appearance. It’s the exact color of the sky at twilight.” Actually on me it was the exact color of a black eye. Not good. I tried it wet as a liner and it was much better but I don’t see myself wearing this as a base color for my lids. BTW I have the palest pale ivory skin, so it is not like the color didn’t work with my skintone. My skin is a perfect canvas for color. This one just did not work.

Diva Magic Dust: This is absolutely my favorite because it is a multi-tasker. You can use this as eyeshadow, a bronzer, mixed with lipgloss or wet as an eyeliner. Truly awesome! Diva is a gorgeous bronze heated up by reds and golds. Super shimmery! It is drop dead stunning and blends like a dream. Looks good with everything. You should probably pick up two since you will use this one every day.

Nymph Magic Dust: This is one I purchased to use as a highlighter on my eyes and face. It is a white with brilliant sparks of gold; more gold than white. It can be layered over other eyeshadows to add gold sparkles or used by itself as a highlighter color. I didn’t really see much white, just gorgeous gold. How this looks in the sunlight is exactly what I expect a golden veil to be. You can also use this for a variety of different make-up tasks. I would love this in red lipgloss for instance.

Fairy Wings Magic Dust: This is super gorgeous and can be used also as a multi-tasker. You will absolutely want to use this with lipstick or gloss and it can be used as a highlighter and you can mix it with any of the colorful dusts to create a unique shade of your own. I should have gotten two of these also! The color is exactly what fairy wings would look like in the sunlight – a white with brilliant sparks of violet.

As I purchase more colors I will make updates to this collection.

I am really impressed with Lime Crime and expect it to become one of my all time kawaii cosmetic faves!

I just discovered Lime Crime and I am desperately in love! This unicorn festooned make-up line is the brainchild of wild Russian born babe Doe Deere (who also has a nifty blogazine) who is a gal who is so unafraid of color that she has dedicated her line to the most outrageous colors in cosmetics you have ever seen.

You want blue lipstick? Check. Black? She has it. The most color rich highly pigmented eye shadows ever in 23 shocking colors. I found them for sale at Shana Logic (yeah I know I go there at least once a week!), so I loaded up (no crazee colors for me though I might have gone slightly overboard with Empress and Lime Criminal but I love these colors from long ago when I used to have a Lancome set that had them). Don’t put limits on yourself  – wear whatever colors you want. Check out the make-up tutorials on Doe Deere’s blogazine. The photos are AMAZING and she walks you through the color-story step by step. Well done my little pirogi.

I just want everyone to have fun with make-up and clearly Doe Deere feels the same way. This was what Hard Candy and Urban Decay used to be like (though not as bold truthfully) and the old punk brand Manic Panic. I have a tip from my favorite goth lolita chickadee La Carmina on a brand of make-up she uses that I will review in the future. I love that other girlies out there are looking for the grooviest stuff like I am. More glitter! More gloss! More sparkle! Get rid of the matte – matte should only be if you plan on laying in a casket. Seriously.

I’ll give my update once I get my goodies and tell you all about them. If you are interested, the colors I got are the following: Empress, Lime Criminal, Diva, Fairy Wings and Twilight.

NOTE: Tomorrow is the day I choose the winner, so this is the last day to post your comments!

I wanted to have some fun and have a teeny-tiny little contest so you all can enjoy the kawaii cosmetics that I have been using lately. My favorite new brand is Eyeko and I have to tell you that their 3 in 1 Cream has changed my make-up life!

I reviewed it previously but now since I’ve been using it daily for about a month I really can tell you the benefits of using it. It is billed as a moisturizer, highlighter and eye cream but it is so much more. It could really be a 4 in 1 truth be told, or a 5 in 1 cream!

I don’t use base so this acts as my moisturizer and primer. That is what it is most brilliant as truly – this cream goes on super silky, leaves a subtle glow but more than that primes your skin for the next steps in your regimen. It is lightweight and I can safely say it does not cause blemishes. It is also superb for your skin with vitamins A, E and a special vitamin C boost. I really have no idea what that means but whatever it is it really gives my skin a lovely glow.

I have often had difficulty with face creams being too heavy for my skin but this one is perfect. It is whipped like marshmallow fluff and your skin just drinks it up without leaving a trace of greasiness.

Since this is such a great product (the fifth use is as a neck cream and for your decolletage!) I am having a little contest and here are the prizes:

Eyeko 3 in 1 Cream ( see above).

Eyeko 3 in 1 Tinted Cream (gives you a subtle bronzey glow).

All three flavors of Fat Balm lip balm (Strawberry is my personal fave).

It will all come packed into the cutest silver shopper tote.

And what do you have to do? Just answer this one question in the comments below (and make sure you include a way to get in touch with you thru email or your blog):

“What is the cutest cosmetic product you own and why is it so darn cute?”

The contest is for 2 weeks so it begins today (September 27th) and ends on October 11th when I will pick a winner (using a random number generator to be fair).

This contest is only open to those in the US & Canada.

Get commenting!

As a young girl, Mally began experimenting with color and makeup on her mother, an incredible beauty who undoubtedly served as her inspiration. Motivated by her parents, both doctors, Mally pursued a pre-med education, yet she never abandoned her inner passion for art, makeup and fashion. Luckily, with encouragement and inspiration from mentors (including fashion stylist team Mathu and Zaldy, and celebrity hair stylist Danilo, whom she met while designing for Kalinka), Mally soon put aside her pre-med education to pursue her ultimate dream – exploring the power of makeup.

Mally quickly moved to the top of the “it” list of “who’s who” in the beauty industry, quickly becoming one of the industries most dynamic and in demand talents. With her passion for art, color, and design, along with her charm, contagious enthusiasm and magnetic personality, it is no wonder that some of the world’s top celebrities turn to her to prepare for their most important career moments. Mally has also been featured on Oprah, the Today Show, Isaac, the View, and many more.

Mally is mother to twin girls and has another girl on the way! She is of Filipino descent (where she gets her exotic good looks) and has a love of all things girly and sweet. Her appearances on QVC are like beauty how-to shows and worth watching.

What I like best about Mally Beauty are the colors and unique double-duty products she offers. Everything she creates has more than one purpose and all of her colors are truly universally flattering to almost all skintones. She works with pink and coral pink a great deal, the blush colors look like a tinge of actual blushing and that is what you want from your blush. All of her products are like this – they are natural and when I do an entire Mally face I don’t get compliments on my make-up but on my face – as in, Wow, you look really pretty. That’s the kind of compliment a girl likes to get!

Mally knows make-up. As an artist she knows what she wants the colors to look like and how the application of the products should be for the untrained. We don’t spend our entire lives making up faces for photo-shoots so without her expertise you’d think, oh, well I could never do a face the way she does. Wrong! Mally takes this into consideration and creates products for ease of use.

Take her double-sided mascara (genius) for instance. One side is a full-brush that gives lush lashes, the other is scaled down and perfect for lower-lashes. Two in one, baby – it does everything you need plus more. She also offers a lipstick and lipgloss combo. I love this and always wonder why every cosmetic line doesn’t do the same thing? It is perfect for the handbag. I never have to look for my lip gloss once I have my lipstick on (and in my hand bag that could take forever!).

I’ve been using her cosmetics for a couple of years now and was so lucky to get one of her greatest deals from QVC called Mom’s Indulgences. I may not be a mother but man oh man this surely is the MOTHER of ALL beauty buys! I got it for my birthday – it was a total splurge (my birthday is at the end of this month), I usually try to get super bargains as you well know. But ultimately this was a bargain – 14 different items including the cutest pink violet make-up case.

Check it out:

This is the kit and here is what it includes:

• Believable Bronzer in sexy tan
• Perfecting Blush in rosy pink
• Sheer lipstick in Tokyo glow
• Go the Distance lip color lipstick / lip gloss in forever natural
• Lip gloss in love is pink
• Shaping Secret pencil /shadow in charcoal
• Lightwand eye brightener pencil /powder
• Two Lash Illusion lash-filler pencils
• Mally’s patented eyelash curler
• Xtra-Hold maximizing double-end mascara in black
• Eye shadow in natural
• Eye shadow in knockout
• Travel bag

It can be sad when your favorite cosmetics brands bite the dust but then – there is always ebay. Of course that cannot always be the best place to purchase cosmetics. I am sure many people have experienced that same – “Oh crap, this is some old old old stock here.” when buying cosmetics from ebay sellers. For the most part that has put me off purchasing cosmetics on ebay unless they are absolutely brand new products (like the Hello Kitty MAC line) because I had some terrible experiences with spoiled make-up.

I am happy to report that I have found a great seller on ebay who carries many of the kawaii brands that I adore. The stock is limited but the quality is superb. Everything is boxed and sealed and brand new. Oh and the prices are right on too! If you post in the comments I will email you the sellers name but I don’t want to put it out here for just anyone since I intend on purchasing at least one of all the SUGAR cosmetics!

Before I show off my haul I have to tell you why I love SUGAR so much. It’s the lipgloss – it has the most wonderful flavor – ever! They call it sugar flavored but that really doesn’t explain it. It is sweet, like butter-cream frosting on a cupcake, but also like sugar on a jelly donut, or the crusty sweet sugar on top of a blueberry muffin or the sprinkled on top sugar of a still warm sugar cookie. I mean this stuff is super tasty and since all lip gloss (and lipstick) should be flavored since it goes on your lips (duh), this is one of the best, if not the best. Which of course is sad because they aren’t making it anymore. Bummer.

Here is my haul:

Wonderful double-sided palette with candy bright colors, gloss, lip creams, blush and bronzer. All you need is a mini-mascara and you are good to go. This is perfect for travel. It is super kawaii, sturdy and pink. I got this for a steal only $20!

This is the adorable SUGAR cube. 2 eyeshadow palettes, blushes and two mini lip glosses. It is really small, so it is also portable and has the happy colors that SUGAR is best known for. It is a metallic hot pink and just would look crazy cute on your bathroom counter with your other kawaii cosmetics.

I got all four of the above lip glosses, called SUGAR Lip Slicks. They have a neat angled sponge tip applicator and a squeezable tube so you can get every last bit of gloss out. Why don’t all glosses come this way? Oh can you stand how cute they are? I just want to nom them they are so adorable. They are like candy sticks for your lips.

I also got this lipgloss called SUGAR shellac and I just had to share the teeny tiny little lip brush with you. It is so twee it almost hurts but it really is a great applicator too. Many glosses I try have big brushes which can be less than accurate. This one is terrif!

This is the SUGAR big pink body brush (or face powder brush which is my plan for it). I would not use it with bronzer because I don’t want to kill the pink-ness. It is so fluffy and sweet its like a cupcake brush!

I cannot wait to use all my new goodies. In fact, that’s what I am going to do now – post this, shine up my face and get SUGAR-y!