In March, 2016 a new series called "コリラックマと新しいお友達テーマ” or Korilakkuma and New Friend theme. I think I'll call it the "New Friend Theme" for short. (Shop here for Koguma goods)
Korilakkuma pictured with the new character. Above is San-X's description of the series. (Image credit)
I'll translate the Japanese for you all:
Korilakkuma and New Friend Theme
It happened when Korilakkuma and Rilakkuma went to the Honey Forest. A brown, round, honey-scented "Koguma chan" (Little Bear) was who they met. It seems Korilakkuma made a new friend.
With new watercolor-like artwork, the Rilakkuma bears' fun times with Little Bear are incorporated in the design. This new theme shows their happy, friendly feelings of time spent together.
I think Koguma-chan will be a little hard to say for many in English, so I prefer Little Bear! I think this is a really cute name. (As you probably know, Rilakkuma means Relaxed Bear, and Korilakkuma means Little Relaxed Bear.) Also, wasn't there a TV show named Little Bear? It was my favorite as a child--I would watch it every day!!
Here's some of the new goods that will be released in March. Hopefully, MiraPlush will have plenty of preorders!
What do you think about this new character? I am super excited and I'm loving the new friendship dynamic between Korilakkuma and Little Bear. It seems Little Bear looks up to Korilakkuma. but they quarrel together while Rilakkuma watches over them!
There is no official announcement from San-X on this series or the new character.
I'll update this page as I find more information, but check out my FaceBook page and YouTube account for other updates on the series.
I have really had a great summer so far but I can't believe how fast it is going by. I'm trying to cook all kinds of fun summer recipes especially with seasonal ingredients because I know fall is coming soon!
I gave my normal plush some leis to wear : )
I'm going back to school, (and probably more excited just to do office supply shopping than for school haha) are you guys going back to school too?
This is a picture of when I first got my normal Aloha series plush in the mail. At first I wasn't sure I would be collecting them, but once I had seen them in person I had to order them! The grass skirts are so cute.
I also got the Lawson Aloha version. I love this set so much, but it took me a while to find it at a good price. It comes with so many little details! Lawson (if you don't know) is a popular convenience store in Japan. It actually started in America...My dad used to go to Lawson when he was young and was amazed to see it when we visited Japan. Lawson often has fun collaborations with anime or Rilakkuma so they often have special Rilakkuma goods.
Kiiroitori looks so cute with his change purse sitting in the cart!
It comes with a Lawson shopping bag, cookies and coffee. Makes me want to go to the Hawaii Lawson!!
I love to put my Hawaii inspired lotions from Bath and Body works inside the cart!
I collect a lot of Rilakkuma stationery, and for this series I have all the mini memo pads. It's nice to use them in the summertime. I keep forgetting how cute the details are!
Kiiroitori's face is adorable in this one. "It's a relaxing time in the paradise. Why don't you join us?"
I wonder why they chose pancakes to go with the Aloha series? Rilakkuma loves pancakes though.
I love this pattern so much! (I'm a big fan of shaved ice or kakigori) It says "Aloha" in the first pattern. I also like the nighttime beach pattern a lot too.
Here Rilakkuma says "Hawaii is delicious, isn't it?"
I put my two folders up on the wall near my collection. I think my folders are the Lawson version.
Surprise! I found authentic Hawaii Rilakkuma fabric on Etsy. I made some curtains!
I got a coupon book in the Hawaii pattern from a Japanese magazine a while back. It has been really handy!!
I have the big Hawaii towel and also a small hand towel. They were from my good friend Isabel!! (Usagiichigo on YouTube)
So below is how I have decorated! I use the cubby shelf from IKEA on its side. I really love it for summer!!
Thought you guys may like to see my summer decor : ) I recently posted my Hawaii Aloha Rilakkuma series collection video, so you can watch that to see more of these plushies : )
Thanks for reading!! Hope to continue collecting more from this series.
I got the Rilakkuma Fresh Lemon set for my birthday! I actually helped my mom with the preordering from MiraPlush.com, but of course I couldn't open them up until my birthday. ^.^
It is such a cute set, and as always, the details in this series are so great. Korilakkuma has a lighter pair of overalls and a white hat, compared to Rilakkuma and Kiiroitori's darker overalls and yellow hat.
Above is a view from the back of the plush. So cute how Korilakkuma and Rilakkuma have their hats hanging of their heads (they are attached in place) and Kiiroitori is actually wearing his! And check out the cute little tails!
Each have a cute little bow tie where the hat is "hanging" from their necks. Korilakkuma has a pink one, and the others are yellow.
I also really like the pin stripe detail of the overalls. Rilakkuma's has more of a masculine look with denim and Korilakkuma's definitely looks more girly with the lighter color and pink pin stripes.
They have a little lemon logo with a mini R on their front pocket too. Also, the tags on these are so cute too--in the shape of an actual lemon!
I'm actually doing lots of gardening this summer, so I love how these guys look like little farmers too.
Look forward to some cute photography of my garden and this series on my instagram and tumblr of course!
In addition to the regular series, there is also a limited edition set, and caravan plushies. The limited edition sets have all three dressed as lemons! It does get expensive very fast, so I opted to just get the limited edition Kiiro.
This one is especially cute because he is sitting in a basket of lemons! The one lemon even has his face on it! Haha. I also figured I should get this one because it is a great shape to display. Most of the plush are hard to pose, and I knew this would look great in my dining room.
I celebrated my birthday with my parents at their house. Ironically, after I opened my gifts, my mom told me we were having LEMON CHICKEN!
Poor Kiiro...
She said it was not intentional! What a funny coincidence.
That's all for now! Full video will be posted later this week.
Are you guys buying anything from the Fresh Lemon series? If so, where is your favorite place to buy?
I was just looking at the new Rilakkuma Panda series, and I happened to see that there will be a new Halloween set for Rilakkuma this fall. They are all cute little pumpkins!
Photo from TaoBao seller. Please click link below to view their shop!
I saw this on Taobao, a shopping website in China. I'm guessing when it gets closer to the release, MiraPlush will most likely offer them for preorder. I'll post updates here as I see them!!
Preparing for the wedding in China was a little different than what I did to prepare for the Catholic wedding. Bo's mom handled all the planning of the Chinese wedding before Bo and I arrived in China. In America, everything has to be booked a year ahead, but in China not that much time in advance is necessary.
We decided to have a traditional Chinese reception so that I could experience the Chinese wedding customs. My favorite part was the dress of course! It was really hard for me to buy one while I was in America. Bo's mom tried to go shopping for me and take pictures, but sizing is just too hard. Sizes in China are really small too...So, I ended up buying my dress on TaoBao LOL. It's kind of like a Chinese ebay but they custom fit it to my measurements.
Buying on Taobao let me see many different kinds of traditional Chinese clothing and I chose the Hanfu style. Qipao are another traditional style for weddings, but I preferred the long, flowy style of Hanfu. It is said that Hanfu in China was a major influence on the kimono in Japan.
Bo told me from long ago he was not going to wear a funky traditional hat or anything and he insisted on only wearing a red patterned top with formal Western black pants. Haha.
Bo's mom also shopped for a silk veil to match the color of my dress (which apparently was hard to get a perfect match.) When I got to China, I finally could try on my dress and I was so happy with it. I brought along my own red flats because I'm not going to find size 11 in China!!
Bo's mom also prepared some goody bags for all the guests. Each bag included special wedding candies. She also prepared raffle prizes, similar to bridal shower customs in the US. Also, she made these little raffle tickets that had our Rilakkuma wedding logo on it.
Bo's mom hired a company to handle the photography, video, stage, and coordinate the wedding. It was much like a big "show". They had a huge banner with a photo from the Catholic wedding near the entrance.
The day before the wedding we headed to the hotel where the wedding would take place and practiced the ceremony. Earlier that week, I also had a "test" hair do.
The day of the wedding, I headed to the beauty salon, which was actually across the street from Bo's house (very convenient). I had my hair washed and styled into an updo with flowers. Bo's mom got her hair curled and makeup done, while Bo got his hair super poofed for the wedding. I laughed when I saw him!!
I did my own makeup because Bo's mom said that I may not like the style they would choose. Traditionally, makeup would be very very white for weddings, but luckily I am already very pale. Plus, I'm pretty comfortable with makeup and I was happy how it turned out.
Bo wrote down the vows for me to practice. Omg..his handwriting...
Then we all rode to the hotel, me and Bo checked into our room, and I did my makeup over there, and got dressed. When, I was ready had the photographer come in to take pictures too. A little strange for them to come up to the room LOL.
Guests all sat around round tables and could begin eating during the ceremony. Fun fact..Bo and I barely got to eat the wedding food. We were busy on stage, toasting at everyone's tables and pictures afterwards so we amazingly were barely at our seats. The hotel said they would provide us with a snack beforehand, but it turned out to be a bunch of sweets right before we headed down. This sugar buzz was not good for our nervous energy!!
Here's the video with some great footage of getting ready. Next video will be about our vows and another of the whole ceremony!
I went shopping last week because I had a 15% coupon for VIBs at Sephora and a bunch of fun coupons I got for my birthday!
So first I went to Sephora, and got a mini nail design kit, and a jumbo Colorful Shadow & Eyeliner in the shimmery white color. I already have the pink one and I love to use it all the time when I don't have much time to do my eye makeup!
Semi-sweet palette, jumbo eye pencil, and 100 pt Dior freebie!
I also ordered online the Too Faced Semi-Sweet Makeup Palette. It has arrived and I love it so much. The colors are adorable and so are the names. I can't wait to create some new eye looks with the palette.
Forever 21 has some adorable items near the register. They have some fun Japanese snacks like Hi-Chew and some cute Hello Kitty sweets.
I picked up a bunch of cute socks for $1.50 each. I spotted cute patterns with cows, watermelon, bananas, whales, and so much more.. These are the ones I bought!
I also saw some adorable pajama sets with macarons, donuts and elephants. There was one with strawberries which really reminded me of the Rilakkuma la fraise/paris/strawberry design that came out last December! So if you are looking for cute pj's or t-shirts check them out.
Bath and Body Works has a new spring line of Hawaii inspired scents. Because I'm so obsessed with the Rilakkuma Aloha series, I was pretty attracted to the new scents! I love the scents--they use a lot of coconut and fruity scents like mango. I picked up the Kauai, Maui, and Oahu scents. Don't they look so cute with my Lawson Rilakkuma cart?
And I also got the Georgia peach sweet tea mini size! I had a coupon for a free full sized lotion--and they gave me tons of coupons with my purchase so I'll have to go check them out again soon.
So those are some of the cute things I've picked up recently! I'll leave the links below to my haul video, and kawaii cart tag where you can see all the cute stuff I'm finding in stores!
When I shop for anything, I'm always looking for really cute and kawaii-style products. In this blog post, I'll share some really cute makeup and beauty products and brands that you can check out next time you go to Sephora!
Too Faced packaging is so cute. They have the Chocolate Bar and Semi Sweet eye palettes. I have both now! I just got the semi-sweet for the VIB sale and I can't wait to try it out. The eyeshadow colors are even named after sweets...and SMELL LIKE CHOCOLATE!
Names for colors inspired by sweets!
Of course, Too Faced has other really pretty products too. I have their "Teddy Bear Hair" brush set. It comes in a lovely bag with a bear keychain and a set of the softest pink brushes. I use them all the time, and they look lovely in my bathroom too.
They also have some really pretty heart shaped blush (Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush) that I haven't tried yet, but look lovely too.
Once in a while, Sephora gets in new Hello Kitty products. I love the products that come in pastel colors and glitter. The packaging is cute too. My all time favorite has been a Hello Kitty eye shadow stick that is shimmery and so easy to apply when you don't have time to do your eye makeup. I got both shades of light and dark lavender.
Sephora used to carry these retractable brushes and also a whole line of Hello Kitty makeup brushes. I have one and love it for travel. I've seen them bring it back so perhaps there will be other similar brush products at Sephora in the future. You can watch my reviews of the Hello Kitty products here.
3. Benefit Benefit has retro style packaging that is really fun. Whenever I'm in Sephora I like to check out their newest products and colors. Their range of tinted lip and cheek stains are really cute. I just got the high beam highlighter and it adds a great highlight to your face above your cheeks. The slight shimmer is really cute.
I love the packaging for their gift or value sets. I recently saw this one called "Pretty Parfait". So cute!!
Tony Moly is relatively new to Sephora! I'm already seeing lots of the cute hand creams and lip balms being sold. It will be fun to see what other products they'll have in the future.
Tony Moly products, photo from Sephora website.
5. Accessories!
Be sure to check out the little Sephora accessory section or the minis by the checkout. You can find lots of cute goodies here! I love my pink hair ties, clips, and bobby pins!
Sephora pink hair clips and bobby pins (photo from Sephora online)
I'll be doing a post soon about my top kawaii makeup must haves! (expect makeup with lots of glitter and fun pastel colors!)
