Look at the big pile of adorable that arrived in my mail today.

Yes, that’s right, Sailor Moon nail polishes. I collect nail polishes and when my friend pointed me to The Lovely Moon Collection, I fell in love. Clockwise from top right, the collection includes “Rei”, “Usagi”, “Minako”, “Ami”, “Makoto” and an extra sixth colour called “Moon Kitty”. Please excuse my terrible photography, but really, nothing comes close to capturing Daily Lacquer’s awesome previews;

They are just as vibrant and sweet in real life and I’m going to ramble about them a lot, because I like nail polish.

These aren’t the first Sailor Moon-themed nail polish blends, but they appealed to me because it’s obvious that a lot of thought has gone into them. They’re not just a generic set of basic primary/secondary colours with maybe some glitter; actual consideration has gone into connecting each one with their character.
All of them, as a start, have star and moon shapes in them, colour-coordinated of course. This is an obvious and adorable link back to Sailor Moon. Mars, Jupiter and Moon are clear with glitter, Venus is a tint, and Mercury & Moon Kitty are opaque jelly polishes.

Mars’s glitters are sharp, with a lot of colour variation that makes me think of fire, and just a hint of purple. They all have stars in them, but the red stars in “Rei” remind me of Sailor Mars’s earrings, too.
The shapes in Jupiter’s are all quite large and chunky compared to the others, adding to its charm - just like Jupiter.
I like that Venus is a tint, because people can never seem to pick if her colour is orange or yellow, and this works well both ways. I’m really attracted to the blue sparkles - the blue in Venus’s design often gets overlooked, but the shade picked is perfect.
Moon? Ok, Moon is like a party popper in a bottle. It’s straight-up confetti on your nails in here. Looking at it makes me think of Usagi wearing a party dress. The mix of colours relate to all of Moon’s outfits, which run a wider variety of colours than the others’.
Mercury and Moon Kitty are my favourites. The colours are very clear and so beautiful; the shades are just so attractive and the jelly finish works perfectly. The smaller, less obtrusive glitters in Mercury’s remind me of mist; the unified colour of the glitter in Moon Kitty and the way the silver moons stand out against the purple reminds me so much of Luna.

Nailpolishes are already linked to the Sailor Soldiers transforming, but the square/pentagonal/hexagonal shapes in these blends are my favourite parts, because they remind me so much of the shapes that are ubiquitous with the Sailor Soldiers’ later transformation sequences;

(Photos are from Daily Lacquer’s listings.)

Basically what I’m trying to say is that a lot of effort, thought and planning clearly went into these polishes, and they’re gorgeous as a result. At $8 a generously-sized bottle they’re very reasonable, and you get a great discount if you buy them as a set.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/DailyLacquer

I live in Australia. I waited months for my Shirt Punch shirt to arrive. These got to me within a week, and the packaging was just as cute and thoughtful as the product. If you like nailpolish even as half as much as I do, I heartily recommend these.

Last piece of merchandise (for now) is one of the new wallets. This is one of the earliest pieces of the new wave of merch that I saw and I instantly fell in love with it. They also had a blue one that I was considering because it was slightly more gender-neutral, but I figured, “Well, either way, pulling out a Sailor Moon wallet would be a bit odd,” so I caved in to the fact I actually love pink and got it.

Since I thought it’s something other people might be interested in as well, I thought I’d post a review. :)

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It’s a J-Drama series starring Keiko Kitagawa (who played Mars in PGSM), in case you’ve not been paying attention to my recent reblogs. It’s part Fantasy, part Murder Mystery, and mostly just Comedy. So should you watch it, too?

Clearly.

That’s the main character, and (obviously) Keiko’s role, Momoko Hasegawa. The most startling thing for me about watching Mop Girl is that it was like witnessing Rei suddenly act like Usagi - ditzy, slow, and hyperactive, but still endearing. After a couple of episodes though, I got over that, and could enjoy the series for what it is - apparently, fetish fuel. The episodes somehow find a way to fit Keiko into any fantasy you could possibly have for her:

MAIDS!

GLASSES!

SCHOOL UNIFORM, WITH GLASSES!

LESBIANS!

LO- ACTUALLY IF THIS TURNS YOU ON I DON’T THINK WE CAN BE FRIENDS

ALLISON HARVARD!

But it’s not just Keiko providing eye-candy, either. Momoko’s sarcastic womanizing co-worker, Shotaro Otomo (played by Shosuke Tanihara) is pretty ridiculously good-looking.

unf

But no really.

Dang.

I started watching the series online here, but the video host got on my nerves, so I ended up downloading it all from here (registration is required, but also free). FuckyeahPGSMgirls (who led me to the links) reviewed the series herself here, too. Personally, I never found the episodes to “lag” - in fact, episode 5 was one of my favourites - but that’s probably because I like supporting characters/guest characters more than average. To be honest, though, the supporting characters in Mop Girl are pretty amazing.

And whenever I felt like some of the (admittedly formulaic) running gags were getting stale, I thought the show knew just when to switch them up a bit and keep them entertaining. But if you prefer your J-Drama to always be moving forward in plot, Mop Girl might prove disappointing.

I was actually very surprised at just how much I enjoyed Mop Girl. It made me laugh out loud a lot, and also cry a bit. The characterisation is surprisingly deep for a series only 10 episodes long. In particular, episode 4 - which seems like a light-hearted and slightly perverted romp - caught me off-guard with not only its sadness but its infuriating reality. In short, I’m telling you right now, you should watch it.

Go.