Looks like the USA is getting kawaii-fied! Hello Kitty Beauty is coming to Sephora, and they are currently having a 2-day online preview for Sephora members only. Indeed, the kawaii has landed. For everyone else, the entire range will come in mid-January. I never got the idea of online previews - you mean I get to buy something for full price ahead of everyone else? I don't know about you, but I'd rather wait til Sephora has their annual 20% off sale. But I'm sure they must be working for at least some of us, since Sephora seems to be having such events with increasing regularity.
Anyway, the range consists of items that veer from the cute and afforadable, to the utterly ridiculously overpriced, to the WTF-was-that. Typical prices are around US$15, so it's not cheap, but not ridiculously overpriced. Since noone's sampled the items yet, the jury is still out with regards to quality. But looking at specific items, I don't think it's that worth it. Nail polishes are going for US$10 - and for those prices, I'd rather get OPI. A lip quad is going for US$35 - also a no-go for me. And a cheek tint is going for $22. But I imagine thousands of women will plonk down money for these items, so I'm not going to say no to them just yet.
Here are some items I'd definitely buy, though - Hello Kitty Nail Stickers! At US$5, they're actually affordable. And who doesn't love Hello Kitty nail stickers, huh? Huh?
And here's things I'd consider buying, depending on the quality:
Hello Kitty nail polish - at $10, it's not cheap. Freaking OPI is cheaper, as is a whole host of other brands. But cute is cute - I love the bottle design, although it kind of also looks like cheap kiddy makeup. I guess we can only tell what it really looks like if we get around to seeing the actual bottle.
Say Hello Palette - consists of a lip quad, and an eyeshadow quad, packed into one kawaii-overdosing case. Cute, but at $35, it's not cheap. But I guess if the quad is decently sized, it can be quite a deal. I mean, 4 eyeshadows and 4 lip shades for $35. If they're not the size of dimes, it's not too bad, right?
Charmmy Kohl Eyeliner Kit. A nice range of shades, very wearable with the occasional bright. At $25, it could potentially be a good buy depending on the quality. Smudgy pencil liners are a pet peeve of mine.
Hello Kitty Fragrance, $18-$55, depending on bottle size. What, Hello Kitty now has a perfume! Honestly, unless you like the bottle, or a die-hard Kitty fan, I'd pass. The description of this one (another gourmand floral, yawn), makes it sound like another one of those generic perfumes targeting the tweeny-bopper set. (Not that there's anything wrong about being a tweeny-bopper, but for some reason 99% of perfumes targeting young women all seem to smell vaguely alike.) Still, I'd love to be proven wrong, though - the bottle is too cute for words.
Apple Cheek cream blush. Hello Kitty meets NARS Multiples, with a NARS-ish price of $22. From what I can see, it seems to be one of the more popular things in the Hello Kitty line too. I hope the quality is just as good, since these aren't exactly that cheap.
Now that we're done ooh-ing and aah-ing over the whole range, here's a product I definitely WON'T buy - this WTF-moment-inducing Hello Kitty mirror. Yes, it's a mirror, and it's bling, but it's not worth $49. It's a mirror.
So what do you think of the range? Kawaii, or just puke-inducing? Anything catching your eye in particular?
