tonymoly's petite bunny gloss sticks!

hi there! 안녕하세요!

i have some new buddies from korea! courtesy of a good friend--
petite bunny lip gloss bars by tonymoly.
i've recently discovered this brand, and am a big fan of both their use of all-natural ingredients, such as fruit and vegetable extracts, and their adorable presentation style!

you want the cute?
YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE CUTE!! even though some have observed they resemble bunnified tampons!?

extract properties:

#1 juicy strawberry: prevents skin trouble, refines pores.
#2 juicy grape: contains potent antioxidants, regenerates cells
#3 juicy apple: pectin fortifies pores
#4 juicy cherry: has whitening and anti-aging properties
#5 juicy peach: prevents dry skin, strengthens skin immunity
#6 juicy orange: has abundant vitamin C, whitening for radiant skin

& some newcomer cuties! the neon sisters: neon orange, neon yellow, and neon red. their 'skin benefits' are a mystery to me!

speaking only from my experience with my dears, sassy #3 and angry #4:

packaging
OMG. speaking from the perspective of someone with a rabbity predilection: grabby hands. strength is irrelevant. resistance is futile. cutest glosses i have ever seen.

pigment
the colors go on subtly, very glossy and shiny. i found i did have to reapply a few times to get them to show up clearly. these are great for daily wear. true to packaging, #3 has a more purple-y, magenta hue. cherry is a pinkish red, but again, both colors deepen through further application.

swatches

#3 apple in natural lighting.

#4 cherry in gross incandescent lighting :(

feel
it's a solid, lipstick-style roll on. feels nice and smooth on your lips, and don't make them all dry and crackly like some other stick glosses i've tried. i always like to put a little clear lip balm on first to make the flaws of my lips stand out less, though.

scent
 they both have a light and fruity scent, though #3 is hardly as apple-y as I would expect it to be (before I knew what it was, I was calling it 'indistinguishable tasty fruit' or just pretending it was something exotic like mangosteen...)

so... in summation.
they have a highly collectible look, which is tempting, but as much as i love them, i'm not sure that the colours are different enough to really be worth buying every single shade (unless you really really want to, just to keep all those cute faces!) i do want to check out the #1 light pink still.

where to buy??
yesstyle
ebay
pretty and cute 

i'm looking forward to posting about more tonymoly products as well!!

rosy's garden haul! alpacas galore♥

Eeeep. China trip in T-minus 5 days  now! Between work and getting sick though, I haven't had much time to work on the packing part. Come on body, don't fail me now---! ANTIBODIES! TO BATTLE!
(pant pant)

I did get my parcel of ultimate cuteness from Rosy's Garden, as mentioned in my last post, though, so I'm feeling cheered up at least
Rosy's is based in Hong Kong, and has both an eBay shop (100% positive feedback/950 transactions) and a StoreEnvy shop, which sell Arpakasso/アルパカッソ merchandise such as plush toys, keychains, cases, and other goods, and some Swimmer alpaca-themed goods mixed in!

 My Haul:

Alpaca march cosmetics case! It's 23 cm or 9.5 in wide. The shape is a bit tapered, as you can see, so it might not be ideal for longer items, though anything up to the width of a normal sized ballpoint pen would fit just fine? There is a secret flap pocket on the inside for tiny things, like coins or small makeup brushes.
Its size is suitable for the bulk of my basic cosmetics, plus a few extras, even!

Design detail. CUTIES!! The style of the print makes the exterior of the case look like matte fabric, but the outside is reinforced with a smooth, water resistant (?) layer. The zipper pulls look like pearls!

I think I have it filled to capacity already~

Sweet alpaca twins draw string bag! I'm using it to store skin care items, currently.
 It's 18 cm by 16 cm,  or 7 in by 6.5 in.

The items were mailed via Hong Kong Post, and though faster options are available, combined shipping was only about $5. The shop owner notified me immediately with a tracking number when the package was shipped, and even included a note about possible delays due to the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. It left HK January 22nd and ended up on my doorstep February 4th, which fell well within the estimated delivery range of 7 to 20 business days.

She also included some super cute free gifts -- two plastic retro deer pattern shopping bags, and a double-ended Swimmer marker! YAY!

Unfortunately, in my excitement, I jammed the yellow marker tip flat by mistake and broke it... nooooo!!!!! I drew the rabbit first, smooshed the marker like an idiot, and then wrote the message on the bottom (see how it's thicker?!) It still writes and draws OK, but it's not fine-tipped anymore because I am a dummy. Sob!

I would most definitely buy from Rosy's Garden again! The shop is worth a look if you're wanting tiny alpaca friends in your life.

internet tights window shopping!!

LET'S TIGHTS!! I'm not sure if I need new ones, honestly, but I'm starting to get convinced...

Grimoire
Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan's go-to "antique doll" / cult party-kei boutique. Their Verum line of legwear is gorgeous and unique, each piece having a transportingly unique vintage-themed design-- they look like Victorian engraving collages. Tights tend to run in the upper Y3000- Y4000 range (about $35-$45 USD apiece), but gosh, they are so beautiful. I am just crushing on these tights so hard. They do ship internationally, if you ask! Grimoire Ordering Guide

Celeste Stein
U.S. based, large-scale tight sublimation printing company. They have a insane breadth of designs to choose from to suit whatever style you wish, and they offer tights, socks, and leggings in a variety of different materials, but their selection process is really clunky and frustrating. You have to choose an item category (socks, tights, leggings, etc.), then the material or type from the next page (i.e. nylon tights), and then the site takes you to a pop-up print selector. There are almost 30 pages of print thumbnails to choose from, almost anything your heart desires, but it's poorly organized and hard to find anything specific, even via the category selection or search function.

I think it'd help to have more specific titles for the swatches, or a tagging system for each -- like "florals," or "animal prints" -- so you could search by tag. The existing titles are often vague, things like "Yes, Sir" or "Nice" that tell you nothing about the patterns themselves, or they are misspelled or just odd. By-the-by, "Yes Sir" appears to be a portrait of Bruce Lee, who, as much as I'd like to have his handsome mug displayed on my knee, I'd also like to see if the design works when worn It'd be great to see them modeled  so we can see how the designs are tiled and wrapped when transformed into tights form!! It's not immediately evident just by looking at the swatches, especially when you can see just a tiny bit of the pattern.  Er, and while we're at it, maybe a "view all thumbs" would be nice...

#105 Pastel Tapestry

#1061 Mosaic

#121 Spring

#120 Creation o Adam [sic]

#123 Natural Angel

#125 Angel Tapestry

#1301 Nira

#1359 Maddy Stripes

#1595 MIDEVAL [sic]

#1591 Cujo

#1473 Org Fleurdelis

#1609 SML BLK VERSACHE

#171 Red white bando

#123 Natural Angel

#258 Reality Check

#239 Treasure Chest

#218 Heaven

#201 Red Mekesh

#267 Teddy

#273 Strawberry Check

#379 Nice

#386 Granny Wall

#452 Yellow Bugs

#423 Rose Pourri

#389 Rust Daisy

#854 Pink Lace Floral

#876 Brown Denim + Eyelet

#936 Rose Paisley Cream

#984 Dainty White

TejaJamilla's Etsy Shop
Teja Jamilla Williams is a UK based indie designer who designs and hand prints some gorgeous tights. She also offers a wide range of sizes (including plus sizes) and colors. I am obsessed with the deer and mushroom design!! These tights are very versatile, and could work with more intricate lolita coordinates or a simpler casual outfit. If you're looking to support a talented independent designer, this is definitely a great place to start! I'm looking forward to seeing new designs from her.

Taobao
Of course I haven't forgotten you, TB~
I have, however, had a hard time finding comparable items this time, despite everything it has to offer! There are shopping services that will buy the tights from Grimoire for you, but other than that, it's difficult to find tights like the ones above...

Floral legging

Antique pattern legging

Cute, but not so close, unfortunately -_- I had lots of luck finding tattoo tights, and even found some galaxy super space-y print tights, which were all very tumblr, but those weren't really what I was after, either. It's still fun to look, though!

ModCloth
These two gems are up on ModCloth too (but beware, the first has very poor reviews in terms of quality.)

Lay of the Woodland Tights

A Tale of New Tights