Hi, guys! It’s been a while since I’ve last done a review and giveaway! Christmas season is also here, so I thought this post would be very apt for the season of giving! I’m here to share with you another product review in collaboration with Japan Candy Box! ♥
Thank you so much, Japan Candy Box, for this opportunity to receive tons of delicious treats!! ♥
Hi, everyone! I’ll be sharing something very different from my usual travel posts this time. For this post, I’ll be doing a kawaii (cute) product review! It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. I know that I’ve been sharing mostly about my travels recently, but this time, I wanted to share a different side of me–that is, my kawaii culture enthusiast side. ♥
I was fortunately given the opportunity to review the Kawaii Box for the month of August! Thank you so much to Kawaii Box for this opportunity!
Hi, everyone! Continuing on from my Nihongo Introduction Post, I’ll discuss with you the basics of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
For those of you who have no idea what these words mean, basically, these are the three classifications of the characters by which the Japanese alphabet is divided into.
Normally, people start out by learning hiragana and katakana, as these are much simpler than kanji. This is because, with hiragana and katana, you are simply learning how to spell words with a phonetic alphabet (of relating to speech sounds). Thus, hiragana and katakana are your sound/syllable alphabet characters.
However, when it comes to kanji, you cannot simply rely on the syllabic characters to spell out a word. Kanji characters vary in meaning and strongly depend on the context by which the characters are used, which characters are placed beside each other, and much more.
For those who don’t know, I am actually extremely biased towards Asian makeup brands. I’ve had my fair chances of hoarding them during my trips to Korea, and Tokyo during the past few years, and up until now, I still can’t stop this tendency of buying Asian-brand makeup out of impulse!
The first thing that really gets to me is how they come up with such cute brand collaborations, leading to even cuter packaging! Second, is probably my trust on the quality of the brand, since I’ve had my fair share of Asian makeup hauls in the past. Through that, I was able to find out which products seem to work better for me from certain brands. For example, I prefer the eyeliners from Dolly Wink, concealers from Holika Holika, and then the cream blush tints from Canmake. Though, those are just a few examples of the many good makeup brands out there.
Were you able to read the characters right on top of this? (If you were, let me know in the comments section down below!) I feel like there are tons of weeabs like me (lolol) people out there who would really like to learn Nihongo (the Japanese language), but just have no idea where to start.
I’ve decided to write this blog entry, since I rarely do get to find any blog posts online about being able to learn Nihongo in the Philippines. Although I’m not exactly “sensei-worthy” about Nihongo, nor am I any N-level/JLPT certified student, I still want to share my own experiences on the formal learning process, as well as actual classroom set-ups that I found very helpful in getting a good foundation on Nihongo.
Also, I realized that this topic is actually very extensive. I don’t want you guys to get overwhelmed about all the topics involving studying Nihongo, so I’ll be breaking this down into several blog posts–starting with this introductory one. For this post, I’d like to focus first on just my general learning experience.
Hi, everyone! I just recently wrote a feature on kawaii inspiration, Olive Uy, for Kawaii Philippines! I really think a lot of you should get to know her story. 🙂
So, I’d really appreciate it if you would check it out! ♥ (Art and words by yours truly! *u*)
Here’s a little excerpt from what you may find in the feature:
“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
From crafting her own merchandise, designing clothes, showcasing her fashion, managing her own businesses, and others of the like, Olive Uy is definitely what we can call a ‘jack of all trades.’ But what’s makes her even more interesting is that she is able to do all of this despite the fact that she is a congenital (inborn) amputee.
I’d really appreciate it if you could check out Olive Uy’s pages as well!
Kawaii Inspiration: Olive Uy of Olive Eccentric / For Isabela
TUMBLR: http://oliveeccentric.tumblr.com/
Thank you!
I cannot remember the exact moment when I started to fall in love with dream pop music. Perhaps, it was also during the time my love for Japan and the kawaii culture began to develop even more than it already has. I believe these are the things that slowly made me realize that these influences have greatly affected me into becoming who I am today—someone who feels even freer to express her creativity, along with the growing drive to share that creativity with others.
Last October 11, 2014, I was pleased to have the opportunity to find out about the album launch of a good friend of the Kawaii PH Community, Zeon Gomez (AKA Ulzzang Pistol). In all honesty, I did not know much about Ulzzang Pistol, up until maybe two weeks ago (although, I did start hearing about him during Kawaii in Manila 2’s promotional days) through a new-found inspiring friend named Kaila Ocampo, who is also one of the founders behind the Kawaii PH community.
Having been able to attend Kawaii in Manila 2: The FirstPhilippine Kawaii Convention felt like such a dream. I still can’t believe I was finally able to experience such an event! Even prior to the launch of the KIM2 convention, having discovered about Kawaii PH and its advocacy really made me feel like I truly ‘belonged.’
It really is an event of great sentimental value to me, and I am very thankful for the passionate and hardworking team behind Kawaii PH to have made such a wonderful event possible. I continue to look forward to how Kawaii PH will progress in spearheading the kawaii culture in the Philippines!
It was very apparent that the attendees had a strong inclination to the kawaii culture. You could tell that everyone had their personal taste and preference in Japanese-influenced fashion–from gyaru, lolita, fairy kei, mori kei, wa, decora, and many more! Personally, I have a strong inclination to gyaru, and Japanese street fashion (more on the fairy kei approach), so I went to the event with that style in mind.
Apart from the fashion, the event also had a lot of other kawaii factors to offer, such as art exhibits, workshops, clothing stores, makeup stores, and the like.
NOTE: (I would like to apologize for the quality of the photos as I was only able to use my cellphone to snap photos during the event.)
The kawaii art exhibit had such diverse styles to offer, so I found it a pleasant experience to go through the exhibited artworks. I wasn’t able to take photos of all the works, but here are a handful of them:
Apart from the art exhibit, I also enjoyed shopping through the stalls that were present during the event. One of which that I was pleased to see was the Lucypop Japan brand, wherein they allowed the attendees to try on their seifukus (uniforms). What I actually really like about Lucypop Japan is their Japanese school bags. Unfortunately, they weren’t selling any of their products, but I was glad to have been able to see their products in actual.
Apart from featuring a Japanese brand such as Lucypop Japan, there was also a fashion show wherein Japanese Harajuku brands were featured. Brands included were: FUNKTIQUE, PUNK CAKE, etc. I actually missed the fashion show, but I was able to see some photos of it online. So, if you’re interested on how the fashion show went, I am sorry to say that I was not able to cover it. But, I’m sure there are a lot of other photos of it somewhere on Instagram. Just use their hashtag: #kawaiiinmanila2 !
In relation to clothing stores, I was able to take photos of some of the other stores that were present during the convention. Here are some of them:
I really love Dolly Wink‘s products! I was able to buy a new eyeliner, and an eyebrow mascara from them. ♥
Mimiclaire Sweets was also present during the convention. I absolutely adore their decora phone cases! ♥
The newly-launched Rainbowholic Cafe was also present during the event! I find the cafe concept very charming, and I hope it will further develop to its entire intended vision! ♥
I missed out on most of the activities and workshop, but the tarpaulin below pretty much manifests the groups/parties that have participated in order to have made the other activities possible:
I actually arrived almost close to the end of the event, but even in that short amount of time, I had a great fill of the kawaiii experience! I managed to snap a photo of the adorable stage set-up after the program ended:
Although I would have wanted to have experienced the event longer than I actually did, I am still truly happy that I was able to partake in such an event. It really is such a dream! ♥
Again, I am so very grateful to the Kawaii PH team for making this event possible. It truly was a huge success. I can also say that this has posed as a milestone for them for future events. I am very sure that a bright future is ahead of them for their future plans for their projects, events, and activities. In line with that, I do hope that they will plan a Kawaii in Manila 3 in the near future! hahaha!
Cheers to Kawaii PH and Kawaii in Manila 2!
It’s difficult for me to contain my excitement about this since I’ve been waiting practically my entire life for an event such as this to occur! I am used to hearing about cosplay conventions, comic conventions, and toy conventions, but their event lineups, exhibits, and other gimmicks never quite fit exactly where all my interests related to Japanese culture lie. Fortunately, all thanks to the hard work of the team from Kawaii PH, the dream of finally being able to attend an event where all my interests in Japanese culture, especially those related to fashion, art, pop culture, and the like, can finally converge into a single spectacular event that is Kawaii in Manila 2: The First Philippine Kawaii Convention!
Cosplay conventions have been highly popularized in the Philippines for quite some time now. Japan’s influence on our country has also long been apparent from the multitude of animes that have been featured on our television channels within the past several years (or even decades, maybe). I remember the first ever cosplay convention I have ever attended was at around year 2008 or so, but up until now, Japanese culture still continues fascinate me and still remains as a strong influence on my art and fashion.
The Otaku Magazine Festival (a.k.a. Ozine Fest) is one of the biggest cosplay conventions that has been held in the Philippines for quite some time now. For this particular event, it was scheduled to run from April 25 until April 27, 2014 at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. I attended it with my sister on the last day, which was on April 27.
One factor my sister and I overlooked on the day itself was that cosplay conventions were no longer the same as before (say, about seven to eight years ago) where it was not as difficult to get a ticket. So, on the day itself, we were faced with one of the longest lines we have ever seen! The line stretched to almost halfway around the building! We decided to take a stroll around the mall first, since the Mall of Asia was adjacent to the convention center anyway. Well, we didn’t want to end up lining up for tickets under the scorching sun! Especially because it has been particularly hot this summer in the Philippines.