Sparklewolfie's Wonderland: Anime Cosme Cardcaptor Sakura Blush and Balm

Most recognizable costume and magic staff

Magical girls are a staple in anime and manga, and in recent years mahou shoujo has leaked into real life! In addition to cosplay, there is now real, daily fashion, accessories, and cosmetics. Sailor Moon is probably the #1 magical girl series, but I personally have always adored Cardcaptor Sakura! CLAMP is my favorite manga creator group due to their art style and the fact they have some of the best costume designs in my opinion.

This year is also the 20th anniversary of Cardcaptor Sakura! Since I didn't have paid TV channels growing up and wasn't allowed to watch much TV at all (books to the rescue!) I had only ever seen snippets of the anime. Recently, I finally sat down and watched all the episodes in the span of about three days. Because I'm an adult. I can do what I want.

I did watch the series in Japanese with a Chinese subtitles, so if I use some wrong terms when describing some things, that may be why :P

Riding on the high of Cardcaptor Sakura marathon, the very same day I finished watching the last episode, a pop-up cafe of the same theme opened! I do plan to go if I have friends who want to go with. Actually, I'd probably go alone just because I want the Clow Card beverage and also to buy some of the goods they are selling. This is getting off topic.

Anyway, back to the topic of real-life magical girls! Anime Cosme!!

Lots of Sailor Moon

I already knew Bandai had created a Cardcaptor Sakura set of blush and lip balm, but never found it for sale in person. However, I was searching online and found that it could be ordered through Watson's site (similar to Walgreens in the USA) despite having never been in any of the displays!

So of course I ordered one. It arrived the day after payment and I made a small film to show it! I've realized that filming is immensely difficult, stock image photography is immensely difficult, and lighting is both difficult and confusing!! So please excuse the shoddy editing and footage ^_~

EDIT 2016.07.26: Remix music version for copyright block

Though some fans purchase these types of goods for the sole purpose of collecting them, I do intend to use them. In fact, I've already used the lip balm~ Cosmetics do expire and the main attraction point is the packaging anyway.

The outside packaging box is even decorated with the series title and description of contents.
The background shows the Clow symbol in a faded pink against the pink box

Packaging Box

I'm most excited about the Clow wand lip balm because I really adore the winged bird design! After the lip balm is gone, I indend to reuse the container by making my own lip balms to put inside.

Classic Clow Magic Staff

The lip balm inside is lightly scented with, what else, sakura scent! It is not very obvious when worn, so even if you don't like having a smell under your nose, I think it is not a big deal.

Lid off

Cardcaptor Taiwan Teddy

To go with the magic staff, of course you need to have the Book of Clow! The book is made of a thick paper and feels surprisingly sturdy. It doesn't have any "squish" factor to it when you press the cover with your fingers. The details are lovely as well!

It is a small enough size that I would consider it "travel-friendly" even for daily outings.

Book of Clow

Back

Once you open the book, ALL THE CLOW CARDS FLY OUT AND YOU MUST COLLECT THEM BACK!!!

OK not really, but just like the anime, you are left with only the first card, The Windy. It's a semi-translucent paper to protect the blush beneath. The inner cover of the book has the incantation in English. The book closes securely due to the thicker piece where the incantation is written fitting very well into the other half. While filming, I was unable to get it open with one hand and so had to cut that part out ^^;

Open the Book of Clow

Remove The Windy and you will see the baby pink blush underneath! It's a very feminine shade with some shimmer in it. Very difficult to photograph >_< I'm not good at photography in general, so such details are impossible for me to capture!

Blush of Clow

The powder formula is neither velvet-soft nor rough. I suppose it is standard drugstore style blush, so somewhere in the middle, which is perfect for me~ I don't wear makeup often enough to warrant getting high-end cosmetics, so this really is about as good as any powder product I've ever used. No fallout when I swiped it, which is good. I'd been concerned that if it were excessively powdery, the blush would get the surrounding packaging dirty, but it seems fine! If I can find any replacement blush in a similar size the container would be reusable as well. Even if not, it's a good decoration piece!

Blush Closeup

Overall, I'm really pleased with the whole set! There was a sale on drugstore brand cosmetics when I purchased it online, and orders over NT$450 get free delivery so I paid only the discounted product price of NT$901. I think it's well worth it!