Saturday, 24 January 2009

Biteki, Voce, Maquia and Spring March

The new March '09 issues of Biteki, Voce, Maquia and Spring have all arrived at Kinokuniya bookstore!

If you can buy only one mag this month, my vote goes to Biteki because it comes with a 62-minute DVD on eye makeup application by famous makeup artist Yamamoto Hiromi, using Est makeup. It also has an interesting article on Lunasol's 10 year anniversary, which I will translate in a separate post.



Maquia comes with a small tube of Transderma C Vitamin C Serum 1.2ml and a spring makeup collections catalog featuring 62 brands. I bought this mainly because I was intrigued by the cover model, Anna Tsuchiya, who looks like Hamasaki Ayumi in the cover shot.




Voce features another Maquillage spokesmodel on both its front and back covers, Ueno Juri. The main feature is makeup tips on how to make your eyes look bigger. It also includes 2 sample sachets of Kose Moisture Skin Repair (Rice Power Extract).






Feature on the Puffy duo for Lavshuca.




Hilarious pic of a new whole-body foam spa treatment in Kobe!



I also picked up Spring magazine, mainly for the freebie, a pink-gold mirror by Cookie Fortune, which is a Japanese accessories brand. It's quite well-made and worth the $13.40 price of the mag, which also comes with tons of features on spring fashion.



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Iris,

Thank you for translating the article on Voce. I love to read bit n pieces about any makeup brand. =P I have reserved my copy of Biteki. Can't wait to lay my hands on it.... ;)

Haru said...

Hey AhCapp,

You're more than welcome :-) I need to get around to watching that DVD!

paperdollrevenge said...

I saw all of these and was so tempted to get the Spring mag for the mirror too! I ended up getting VoCE and a few other mags, but not these 'cause I never bought any before and couldn't flip through them (sealed) to know if I'd like them. Looks like I might have to go back to the bookstore after!

Anonymous said...

I wonder how long the body mousse treatment takes - looks scary :)

Anonymous said...

I bought Biteki & Maquia March issues over the last weekend. I did not see Voce though. Will go over to Kino this weekend to take a look again.

Haru said...

Hi,
If you didn't see Voce, that means the shipment sold out already and the next batch of that issue will only come in a couple of weeks in the sea shipment. You can check with the Kino staff for the date of the sea shipment.

Anonymous said...

Hi Haru

I know you are a fan of Jap magazine. Thanks for introducing Biteki, Voce to us and informing us of the special feature that excites us :)

Fashion display is more subjected to different months of magazine feature as say Jap/USA has 4 seasons..but what about makeup? is there any particular months where it is more worth while to buy Jap magazine as the limelight on makeup is stronger?

I'm asking this as certain month i can't get my Biteki copy just like March issue - it is totally out of stock, sob sob. i hope they stock up soon ya. i'm wondering if i am missing out anything great this season except the 60 min video featuring EST makeup you mentioned....

I'm loving all your loots! so delighted to hear your jap friend shipped Jill Stuart right to your doorstep - your eyes are so lovely and sparkling!

Love
Niko

Haru said...

Dear Niko,

Usually it's more worthwhile to buy the makeup magazines when they have the seasonal makeup collections catalogs which are usually released every 3 months. For example, the February issues of Biteki and Voce and the March issue of Maquia. I often also make my magazine purchases on the basis of the freebie included, such as product samples or pouches.

It also depends on your interest, as some months tend to feature more color makeup tutorials while some months focus more on base makeup tutorials and products, usually around March and Aug/Sep as that is when new base makeup collections are usually released in Japan.

You can try calling Kino on the day that Biteki is released. They can hold it for you for three days but the reservation can be made only AFTER they receive the shipment as they do not take reservations in advance.

Anonymous said...

UGH it sold out on both shipments and I was late in buying i ><

I so wanted to see the DVD..

Have you seen the DVD yet? Was it helpful?

Haru said...

Hi Sugaflip,

I haven't seen the whole DVD, only the first 15 minutes of it and then I fell asleep. The part that I saw, it was pretty useful, but if you don't understand Japanese, I think it's only half as useful. Sorry to hear that you were not able to get your hands on it.

cheryl said...

Hi Haru,

May I know when are the months more worth it for buying the seasonal makeup catalogs. I know Japan has those mini makeup step by step tutorial catalogs that come together with the magazines but I don't know when will it come out =(

Also any particular months or magazines to recommend for skincare? =)

Haru said...

Hi,

The months in which the seasonal makeup catalogs come out sometimes vary so it's not possible to predict in advance. I think usually spring catalogs are in the Feb or March issues, summer catalogs are in the June issue, fall in the Aug/Sep issues and holiday in the Nov/Dec issues. I usually just check the magazines' websites, where they have a preview of what's in the next issue to find out when the seasonal catalogs are coming out. Or you can ask to browse the magazine in Kino at the counter.

As for skincare, usually every issue will have some skincare articles but again, some months have more skincare features but it's not a fixed schedule. But if you can't read Japanese, then the skincare articles are probably not going be that helpful.