Have you heard about Rilakkuma jewelry? There is a variety of jewelry pieces with Rilakkuma now.
Rilakkuma San-X Jewelry. Photo from San-X online shop.
I was so excited to see the variety of rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Some have pearls or gemstones and can be in silver or gold. One disappointing thing is that most of the series does not use real white gold or pearls--even with the $100 and up price tag.
My ears are easily allergic to materials that are not real gold, so I would need to look into the materials used if I were to buy the earrings. Luckily, with a Google translate add-on you can usually translate the Japanese and find out the material.
If these rings had been made with slightly higher quality gemstones and material, I would have of course chosen it for my engagement ring, but I'm worried if it will last my life! I would be devastated if my wedding ring got old looking after a couple years...
But! Bo knew how much I loved the jewelry and got me the Rilakkuma silver ring for Christmas a year ago. I sometimes even wear it on my ring finger on a daily basis and have not noticed any aging yet. I am careful not to expose it to water or harsh soaps and I take good care of it. I want it to last!
The perks of buying this ring is that you get an adorable Rilakkuma jewelry bag and monogrammed box and bag. So lovely!
Bo bought it from Rakuten. At the time, they had a special sale that they would wrap it for free and have it arrive on the date of your choosing. Since Japanese ring sizes were a little confusing, I think he opted for one of the larger sizes (even though my fingers are very small for a Westerner, about a size 5 3/4). It fits perfect! (*so lucky*) He paid about $120 with shipping, EMS.
Please go here to view the shop he bought from (J-plus).
Photo from J-Plus shop on Rakuten.
Please let me know if you have any Rilakkuma jewelry or experience buying from Rakuten!
I recently posted my video about the bridal shower and also about our DIY Rilakkuma invitations. (My whole kawaii wedding video playlist can be found here).
At first, I wanted to have my bridal shower at home and cook lots of fun Japanese foods and sweets. But I happened to find this amazing tea restaurant (that also serves asian cuisine!).
It was the perfect atmosphere for a cute, rilakkuma themed shower.
I decided my invitations would be using Rilakkuma Natural Time letter sets. The set is perfect because it comes with beautiful matching letter sheets with envelopes and gold seals. I wrote everything in cursive.
I custom made return address labels using a Korilakkuma image (representing myself :3 ) and I chose a cherry blossom stamp that was offered at the time at my post office. You can get more info on the DIY invites on my other blog post all about it.
I decorated with Rilakkuma bears and doilies!
The tea restaurant had a delicious fancy menu with options for all the guests to chose from when they sent back their RSVPs. I remember getting a fancy blackberry appetizer, tuna salad croissant and of course my choice of tea. (They have so many to chose from).
I bought a Tiramisu cake from Belle's bread in Columbus (SO GOOD). I decorated it with a little ReMent Rilakkuma head from the cake shop series.
I also bought macarons as well as other sweets from Pistacia Vera in Columbus. While visiting the Asian markets, I bought giant pocky and a collection of Japanese sweets to give as goodie bags.
All the flavors were so good....mocha, buckeye, lemon, raspberry, green tea...!
The second favor was a tower of cake shaped hand clothes. They have all colors and sizes available, and I got mine from Amazon. We decorated with them on tiered plates.
For little welcome signs, I made my own print outs using Rilakkuma borders and white frames from Target. And I bought the Rilakkuma with hearts plush that were released in March 2014.
I did not even consider including lolita in the event until my friends were asking me if they could dress in tea outfits and all wear hats! I was so surprised and I decided to wear my fluffy pink lolita dress. Everything came together!
I was lucky to get so many thoughtful gifts, including a sweet handwritten recipe book (in Chinese!) from Bo's mom, 2014 Rilakkumas (great to remember our big year), and tons of other fun goodies from my friends who know my interests very well. : )
A picture of me and Bo! (He tagged along in the shadows for the yumminess and goodie bags ^.^)
It was a super fun bridal shower and if you are planning a shower I hope you incorporate your own personal interests to yours!
Let me know if you have any questions or if I can assist you with any of your DIY projects.
I'm really excited to another Asian beauty-related blog post today. You guys probably know that I am a long time fan of the My Beauty Diary face masks, so I'm glad to do a full review about some of their products--including what is in the Bridal Beauty bag from Beauteque. From getting this bag, I got to try two new flavors/types of their masks, and also a wash-off style mask! They let me know that if you use my username (Pescamaryan) you will get a free mask with your order.
For all the details about the sheet masks, feel free to watch my video. Below, I'll also write a section about my top tips for using sheet masks.
First, I'd like to talk about the Bridal Bag--it's a collection of Asian beauty products and Beauteque.com sent it to me to review. They are a new online seller of Asian beauty products that is located in the US.
I was a bride earlier this year, so it is easy to relate to how I would use this bag : ). It comes with two My Beauty Diary sheet masks, the wash off My Beauty Diary mask, a hair wrap, eyeshadow, eyeshadow brush, shimmering primer and all in a cosmetic bag. (I'm obsessed with cosmetic bags...! I have toooo many..)
1. Two My Beauty Diary Sheet Masks (Pearl Powder Mask & Red Wine Mask)
My favorite sheet mask from My Beauty Diary is the Aloe one but it was nice to try out these varieties. My skin has been very tired and blah lately so I did these two nights in a row and noticed my skin felt much better. I like sheet masks because they can be rejuvenating for skin and these two in particular say they nourish, repair, tighten and refresh skin. I think this is true, though no tightening as the Red Wine mask says. For me that is just fine.
2. Hair wrap
Hair wraps are good for showers, doing makeup, and also while you are doing your sheet masks. I already have one, but now I can keep one in my bathroom and my makeup area to use all the time. This one is very soft.
3. Eyeshadow & Brush
I am a big fan of ELF brushes because they are cheap and they work great, though I do have other higher-end brushes. The brush included in this set is really nice! It doesn't have a cheap feel like many others and works well. I think I will be using it often. It's especially nice to have the two ends.
For the eyeshadow, there are two options--a pearly white and a shimmering pink. I received the pink one and I really love the pigment form. It's a perfect color for me. I plan to do a makeup video soon on some kawaii makeup tips I have, and I think powder form eyeshadows will work great for that look!
Look how pigmented it is!! The left is the eyeshadow, with just one swipe of the brush..and the right is the shimmering primer!
4. My Beauty Diary Cucumber Soothing Wash off Mask (Choice out of 3 varieties)
For this one you can choose your wash off mask, and I choose cucumber so it would be soothing for skin. It's a thick consistency with a mild cucumber scent. I really enjoy using this when I'm taking a long shower! If I take off my makeup at the beginning of the shower, I feel my skin tighten and feel very dry. If I take off my makeup, then use this mask, my skin feels much better and I don't feel as rushed to finish up. Of course after rinsing, I still do the rest of my skincare routine as normal.
5. Liole Blooming Shimmer Pearl BaseThe first thing I noticed was the cute packaging! I fall easily to packaging and I wish big brands like at Sephora could get a little more kawaii : ) This product is meant to be a glowing primer for under your makeup. I like the consistency and the shine but I didn't notice too much of an effect--I usually wear heavier makeup so using a lighter foundation or BB cream (as they suggest) may let it show through more. It would be fun for summer. I may use this to top on my cheeks over my makeup and see how that works too. I'm also really pale so its unique for a product to be light enough to use.
The bridal bag is $30 and can be found here. They also offer a variety of individual products and monthly beauty bags.
To let you guys know, they sent me this bag as a gift for me to give an honest review. If you have any more questions for me, I'd be happy to answer and offer my opinion.
Also, if you are interested in that translated sheet about My Beauty Diary's full mask line..here you go!
For our invitations, I wanted to include Rilakkuma and the kawaii theme.This post will include each set of invitations I send out, including our Save the Dates, Bridal Shower Invitations, Formal Wedding Invitations, and Thank You notes!
(Sorry in these photos I had to blur out our personal info~~)
If you are interested in having custom work done, please contact me by leaving a comment.
1. Save the Dates
I wanted a design that let Rilakkuma be the focus, with us in a photo strip. I finally found it! (The photos of us are actually from a photobooth in China.)
I ordered a magnet style design from Magnetstreet.com. They have many templates, but each are very customizable. The nice thing about this website is that whatever samples you order, though you pay for it, that amount is credited toward your final order. Sign up for their samples--you choose 3 free samples and you are provided with lots of great info! Once you order, be sure to Google coupon codes, but you'll also get more coupons in the mail after you order. You can also watch for deals because they run sales on different sections all the time.
2. Bridal Shower Invites
I was stuck on these for a long time. Finally, I decided to make my own shower invites from Rilakkuma stationery! I was inspired by the pen pal letters I had been writing, and I thought something with nice stationery in cursive would look very cute and personalized. Rilakkuma Natural Time was the current theme when I was wedding planning, so I decided to use those.
The shower was held at a tea restaurant and a few of my guests even wore high tea outfits and hats! I wore my lolita dress as well. (Blog post on the Bridal Shower, soon :P) The restaurant wanted the meal selections in advance, so I mounted the meal cards/RSVP cards onto pink corner-rounded cardstock for guests to return in a self-addressed envelope. The meal cards were set at each place setting at the shower, to remind guests of their selection. The RSVP cards were also reused for a raffle during the shower.
The Rilakkuma stationery included beautiful golden seals for the envelopes! It was perfect.
To match the invitations, I created place cards using Happy Natural Time memo sheets, mounted on pink cardstock.
3. Formal Wedding Invitations
I bought so many invitation samples, and just was not happy. Each one seemed to not quite have something right. I looked on Etsy, but it seemed expensive and nothing hit me. So again, I decided to do it myself!
I was most happy with pocket style invitations, because I felt like I had a lot of information to include and I wanted everything to be very neat and organized (and not fall apart when you open it). So I bought heart patterned vellum from Jo Anns (get it when its 40% off), big pack of white cardstock sheets from WalMart ("marshmallow white", it's the best deal you can find), and pink cardstock I ordered online in bulk after finding the one I liked at Jo Anns. Oh and a huge paper cutter.
Glue was a mess! I finally got this huge glue rolling device and it was finally enough to hold the thick cardstock together. For the inside: I created the basic shape, then folded in the pocket (with a section cut out so you can see the inside easily), pasted the vellum backing inside, then mounted the white informational cardstock sheet. I printed out additional cardstock squares with more info on the wedding. Each one was scored about a quarter inch in to make it look more professional.
For the outside, I wrapped ribbon on the top piece and glued a bow and small pearls on top. I then wrapped our "Mary & Bo" Rilakkuma sticker mounted on two sheets of cardstock with a vellum sleeve. I custom made this sticker using Photoshop and ordered it through Zazzle.
Let me just tell you--finding envelopes to fit these darn things was a mess. Even though I made my invitations at a specific template size, they were difficult! I also made custom return address labels from Zazzle, and used our Rilakkuma custom sticker to seal the backs of the envelopes. For all of these, I used the New York-Japan Cherry Blossom edition stamp because I liked it better than abraham lincoln and all the cheesy wedding ones. However, I still had to stick old abe on my envelopes because I was short a few pennies.
why did it have to be abraham lincoln?!?!
4. Thank You Cards
Thank you cards were easy! I just used our custom logo and had it printed from Zazzle. Look out for their custom card sales and coupon codes. It can be expensive otherwise. So sign up for their emails.
Each was sealed with my custom return address labels and custom Rilakkuma stickers.
Here is a very happy 'me' finally sending off all my invitations! できました！
Feel free to contact me about custom work or questions on your DIY projects.
Today's post is an idea I had for our reception at our Catholic wedding. I wanted some way to incorporate my love of Rilakkuma and let the guests do something creative. Even if they didn't know Rilakkuma I figured they would have fun with it.
I set up a table with a Rilakkuma Polaroid camera with plenty of cute stationery, pens, and stickers to get creative. I made little folded cardstock in advance for guests to paste the polaroid and write a note for Bo and I. I got a big card box from Amazon and guests could put their completed ones inside!
But of course, a normal Polaroid camera was not enough--why not have the real thing! I found the official Rilakkuma Polaroid on eBay and bought the film too. I even found Kiiroitori plushies with him holding a camera! He was the perfect mascot and photographer for our wedding!
And it was a success! I was a bit worried when the waitress asked me how many chairs I wanted for the "kids table"...
..............--__--;;
But our guests had lots of fun taking pictures and writing special notes!
The only disadvantage of Polaroids is that they are kind of pricy (It's about a dollar per picture). I had already considered getting a Rilakkuma Polaroid, but I didn't think I would use it much. This event was a great creative way to use it. Otherwise, they aren't very practical.
You have to get used to the way it works. I experimented with mine before the wedding and preset the lighting/flash settings that I anticipated would work best. There is an online PDF with English instructions, so be sure to google that if yours doesn't come with English instructions!
It comes with a little mirror on the front for selfies, so that was helpful. It also has a special lens attachement which worked well for the event. Guests were typically within a close range of the camera so using the lens attachment let them be in focus. I was also worried about the batteries running out in the event, so I had bought two extras (which were nearly ten bucks each--a strange kind). However, it lasted the whole event with no problems and I have yet to change them even once.
I bought everything through ebay (the camera $100+, the film $10/pack, the kiiroitori keychain $6, and the kiiroitori mascot plush $35). I also overbought film. I figured each guest would take a few pictures but I barely even needed one per guest because many friends paired up for photos. I think it was worth it to get the Rilakkuma design film because of the cute borders.
Overall, it was a super success! Now I have adorable mini notes to keep forever from my guests!
I have posted a short video about our wedding, with more detailed videos to come.
We actually got "married" or rather "celebrated" our marriage three times. Things are pretty complicated getting married to someone from another country (legally). But also since our families live so far apart, we wanted to make sure we included everyone.
Our first wedding was a simple civil ceremony just to begin our long legal process. So why not have it at Dunkin Donuts?
At this time we were so worried about how long the process would take. We were worried about me applying for graduate school, and Bo applying for jobs with our upcoming graduation in May, 2014. Then we were hoping all of our legal stuff would be okay, we wanted to be together no matter what!
In the meantime, my mom and I planned our Catholic wedding for May 17. My family came, our mutual college friends, and also Bo's parents from China. It was a busy time, planning and finishing up our last semester.
We were also booking flights and planning our summer--for our Chinese wedding in June (in China), and our honeymoon in Japan. It involved lots of work, applying for visas--including a trip to Detroit (for Bo's visa), and a trip to New York (for my visa to China).
For the Catholic wedding, I tried to incorporate Rilakkuma as much as possible! I had a Rilakkuma themed Bridal Shower in a cute tea restaurant. (More on that later)
I searched long and hard for a Japanese style wedding dress. A lot of the wedding dresses in Japan offer different colors and are fluffy big ball gowns. I wanted something like that! However, it was nearly impossible to find anything similar in the US. I finally found a pale pink and ivory dress and custom designed a big bow for the side. (I'll post more details on the dress later of course)
For the reception, I also incorporated some creative notes for guests to make, using a Rilakkuma polaroid and fun stationery. Check out my blog post on it here.
Our journey was far from over--a little over a week later, we were planning for our Chinese wedding in China. It was held June 8th, and luckily our Chinese style Rilakkuma bears arrived on our wedding day for some great photos.
And a grand finale of our two week honeymoon in Japan! It was a great chance to relax and be where we love most.
More detailed posts to come!
In case you didn't see the video I posted on Youtube....
