Sailor Moon Miracle Romance Shining Moon Powder Compact REVIEW

So it's been a long time since I've done an item review but now that I have better equipment, I can actually do them again!  I'm going to re-do my Yuna and Kairi necklace ones with better pictures... and actually do my Serah pendant one but for the time being, Sailor Moon!

Last summer, the Premium Bandai website announced that they were going to release a special line of Sailor Moon cosmetic items aimed at those who grew up with the original 90s show (aka women).  This line started out with cosmetics and the first of which to be released was the powder compact priced for sale at 3,999 Yen (around $38 USD).  When this announcement was made they said that they had plans to release this item overseas but sadly, they don't seem to plan on making good on that promise.  I believe they only got so far as Hong Kong... not the western market.  Since I felt its better to be safe than sorry and wait on that, I went on and bought my compact through Mio Boutique Tokyo where it has since then sold out and is out of production.  This item was incredibly hard to get your hands on outside of Japan because inside of the country, they were only allowing 2 items per household making it pretty much near impossible for shopping services to get them for people.  There were 2 rounds of pre-orders for this item both of which sold out within hours.  Finally, they had another round of pre-orders that was unlimited (and once again, Japan only).  I was able to secure one through this and these pre-orders were up for only a week before they sold out for good.

I paid roughly $43 for my compact sometime in June 2013 and waited 6 months for Bandai to ship them.  In total, my compact came to $57 including EMS shipping from Mio Boutique Tokyo to me.  Not a bad deal at all if I do say so myself.  I've been wanting a Sailor Moon compact since I was 7 years old and figured this may very well be my only chance to nab an affordable one.  A few days ago after a ton of drama with my designated post office, my compact arrived!  Onto the photos:

(Click to enlarge the photos)

The box is a pretty sugar pink color with a silver silhouette of Princess Serenity

Side of the box

...another side of the box.  The other side of the box has a silver silhouette of Luna but it kept photographing blurry so I don't have a picture of that.  I may do a video when I'm not feeling lazy but who knows!

The bottom of the box

Inside flaps of the box that say, "Moon Prism Power Make Up!" in a rainbow font.  I thought that was a pretty cute touch.

Onto what everyone wants, the compact!  It's nice and shiny and has acrylic rhinestones.  I consider this to be a step up from the original 90s Japanese toy since that one just had color plastic instead of "crystals."

The compact by itself.  It's a nice size but...

DEFINE COMPACT FOR ME, PLEASE.  Out of all the compacts that I own (and I collect them), this is by far the fattest and most impractical one of them all!  Powder compacts are typically thicker than dual mirror ones (duh) but I think this one is just a bit much...  It opens by pressing on the rectangle.

View of the bottom

The compact opened.  It comes with a really cute powder puff.  It's quite small compared to every other powder puff that comes in my other compacts though.

Opened compact for a view of the mirror.  The mirror is very tiny and impractical.  I could hardly see myself in it because it's so small... but the moon and star relief surrounding it is pretty cute.

The compact opened showing the design of the silver crystal and ribbon.  Now this is where I become very disappointed.  In the promotional photos of the compact, I couldn't tell how the powder and powder puff would be separated but...

...as you can see here, the only thing separating the powder, the powder puff, and the mirror is a crappy sheet of clear plastic with the crystal and ribbon printed on it.  I found this to be very cheap and tacky.  Most high quality powder compacts have a separating compartment to store the powder puff beneath it.  This was a very stupid decision on Bandai's part not to include this feature.


All in all, it's a pretty cute but very impractical powder compact.  Originally, I planned on actually using this compact for the mirror and keeping it in a silk pouch so it would be safe in my purse but... this thing is way too chunky!  I was honestly expecting it to look a bit nicer too since its aimed at adult women but it looks just as childish as the finish on the 90s toys.  The construction of the compact left me unsatisfied as well since there really wasn't anything to separate the mirror, powder puff, and powder from one another except for a crummy round sheet of plastic.  That's... not very practical for a functional compact.  I haven't tested the quality of the powder (and I probably won't at this point) but it does smell pretty nice.  On the Premium Bandai website its described as smelling like "princess rose."  I don't really think it smells a thing like a rose but the smell is quite pretty and inoffensive.

Now for the quality of the powder itself... it's pretty mediocre drug store quality but I was expecting that since this item was marketed solely for its packaging.  It's a pretty crappy as far as highlighters are concerned and its filled with small glitter rather than quality mica powder.  It doesn't pick up very well and goes on quite cakey.  It's decent for reducing the look of oil but all in all, the powder is lousy but who actually bought this for the product alone?  The compact is a cute collectible and my classmates in cosmetology school comment on it all the time (and laugh at its size) but if you're looking for a good highlighter, I highly recommend Too Faced's Candelight Glow Highlighting Powder Duo.

As for where to buy this compact, as of right now the only place that I know of is on eBay although you will be paying higher than retail prices for it as this is a sold out limited edition item.  If you're a Sailor Moon collector, I recommend it as a piece for your collection.  For those of you who wanted to actually use this compact... I don't really recommend it since it's very impractical.  The next upcoming Sailor Moon anniversary item on my list is the Proplica Crescent Moon wand!  I've been wanting a crescent moon wand my entire childhood and I went on and pre-ordered mine through Ami Ami.  From what I've seen, it looks a lot better than the sought after Sailor Moon World version of the wand and the (now) funny looking 90s toy.  Best of all, it's perfect for cosplay!  I'll finally have a pretty prop for Princess and Queen Serenity. ;__;

Authentic vs bootleg: Serah Farron and Snow Villier's engagement pendant

It's been a few years since my last review on an official Square-Enix product (partially because their sterling silver jewelry is so expensive) but I really feel the need to write this one to prevent people from getting ripped off.  For this, I will be using stock photos of the bootleg and authentic versions (my personal review of the one I own will come once I can take better looking photos).  Ever since the Square-Enix online merchandise website went down sometime in September, a great deal of bootleg engagement pendants have been popping up on eBay for ridiculous prices.  When I say ridiculous, I mean they're going for just as much if not more than how much the official piece costs!  The main tip-off of the bootlegs is the design.  Here is what the bootleg looks like:

(Bootleg engagement necklace)

Notice the chain of this necklace.  The official one does not have those little beads on the chain.  Another thing is that the bootleg can't even fit the ring on the chain properly.  It's supposed to rest on top of the actual pendant... not sit weirdly on the chain.  The links and eye pins look very poorly made.  This thing can break on you within a matter of time and that will be a ton of money wasted.

(Bootleg engagement necklace)

Its luster is incredibly dull.  This is because it isn't made out of sterling silver but instead made out of some kind of mystery metal (probably lead) with an electroplated coating to give it its silvery color.  Don't know what that means?  It means it's made out of the same stuff that you can get out of a $0.25 ring machine from a grocery store.  Do you want to pay $190-$260+ for that????  Why would you want to pay that much money for something that will turn your skin green?  Better yet, pay that much for something that you can't resell for anywhere near that value because it is a fake?  It's an extremely unwise investment...

(Bootleg engagement necklace)

Notice the ring.  It is incredibly dull.  Sterling silver doesn't do this.

This is a very bad bootleg and it doesn't look anywhere near as beautiful as the official one.  This necklace has zero resell value since in reality it's not worth more than $5-10 in materials and it's mass produced in some Chinese sweatshop.  Why pay like $260 for a bootleg when you can get the real one for $250!?

Now onto images of the official one:

(Authentic engagement necklace)

Notice the luster.  This is made out of sterling silver and the craftsmanship is beautiful!  The construction is very sturdy as well it should be.  This necklace weighs a ton but that's okay because it's made out of genuine sterling silver and is worth it's value (it goes for $250 on the official website... which is down for the moment)

(Authentic engagement necklace)

The chain is very thick and well constructed.  The pendant itself is quite heavy so you'll want the chain to be strong and thick enough to support it!  In fact, you can probably swing this thing around and knock someone out with it.

(Authentic necklace)

The ring sits on top of the necklace since it easily slips through the simplistic yet strong chain (unlike the bootleg from earlier in the review).  There are clear cubic zirconias in the slide ring, the small solitaire ring, and a nice sized one inside of the pendant.  It sparkles quite brilliantly because the pendant itself is quite shiny and the cubic zirconia is also very shiny.

So there you go.  A detailed comparison of the bootleg and the authentic product.  The authentic product is priced at $249.99 on the Square-Enix Online Merchandise website but unfortunately, at this time the website is down due to some hackers attacking the Japanese servers so I don't really know when it'll be up and running for the general public again.  Because of this, the price has drastically increased to over $400+ on websites such as eBay, Yahoo! Japan, and whatnot.  This price is a lot more understandable because the value of sterling silver has constantly been going up.

The bootleg... that is a huge waste of money no matter how you look at it.  It is made out of the same materials as a children's $.25 grocery store jewelry machine necklace.  Chances are it's made out of a lead-based base and the plating is electroplated... or as what some are claiming to be cupronickel.  ...Seriously though.  You do not want to be wearing that around your neck.  It starts to stink after mere minutes.  It's laughable that they want to charge $190+ for it when you can get the real one for just a little bit more and it'll actually have resale value.

Now that you know this, you won't fall to a bad deal on this product.  You won't get ripped off!  But if you still want to buy an overpriced bootleg after reading this then... well... you are a gigantic idiot.

Review on Square Enix jewelry

It's related to cosplay, so why not?  Since I notice that I can't find any reviews on the official Square Enix line of Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts jewelry, I'll write my own.  ...this is similar to my mini-review on cosplay.com, but meh!

On the left, is the hideous Chinese bootleg made out of some kind of mystery metal (lead, anyone?) and on the right, is the authentic licensed product made out of sterling silver.  I own both of these (actually, I threw the fake one away upon seeing how crappy it was), so I'm speaking from experience.

 (Picture from Square Enix Online Shop)

Yuna's necklace is made out of .925 sterling silver with an aquamarine in the middle of the center flower.  The main pendant measures around an inch long and overall, the necklace is a little over 18.5in. in length.

 The back of it has the words "©SQUARE" "X2" "SILVER .925" imprinted on the back.  As I said earlier, the necklace is sterling silver, but it doesn't have a rhodium plating to keep it shiny so it'll need to be polished on a regular basis.

The fakes cost around $10 and under, but the authentic one would cost anywhere between $192-$215 or even higher now that they're out of circulation.  So if anyone tries to sell you an "authentic" one for $20-$40, it's a fake and very overpriced for a bootleg.  The fake one is very heavy and hangs very low (it's about 30in. long) and is very big--as in three times the size of the authentic one (see my first picture).  Another thing... the authentic ones come boxed:

My photo is kinda blurry, but it reads "FINAL FANTASY X-2" and "SILVER NECKLACE YUNA" on the front.

This is the side of the box.  It displays Square Enix's information and it has a holographic sticker that reads "SQUARE ENIX PRODUCT."

So now that you're in the know... DON'T GET SCAMMED!!  The bootlegs are good for cosplay, of course but for the love of nothingness... don't pay more than $10 for one!!


Another product I'm going to review... is a very rare product since I only know of one other person that owns it.  Rare because it could only be purchased from the Square Enix Japanese store, which is Kairi's necklace from the Kingdom Hearts series.

 (Picture from unknown source)

Like I said, it's very rare so there isn't a bootleg to compare it to.  The pendant is made out of a moonstone and .925 sterling silver (and it's stamped on the back).  The small tab in the back is also sterling silver and has ©Disney stamped on it.  The necklace cord is made out of black leather.

(picture from Final Fantasy Merchandise)

The size is adjustable so it'll fit a range of sizes, unlike Yuna's.  My only gripe about this item is that the black dye of the cord bleeds and bleeds badly.  After wearing it for a few hours with a white shirt, the back of my collar was gray!  I was pretty peeved by this and had it cleaned so I no longer have this problem.  If you're expecting a giant pendant... this necklace isn't for you as it's quite small (as Kairi's is in Kingdom Hearts II).  Like I said, it's a very rare piece and from my knowledge, it's no longer being produced and I have no idea where you'll be able to find it for sale.  To give you an idea on just how much this particular piece costs, it goes for about $230.

Square's jewelry is pretty damn expensive, but the quality is good (although I still believe you're just paying for the name).  Do I recommend these to cosplayers?  Hell no!  I however, did not buy these for solely for cosplay reasons.  I bought them because they're two of my most favorite characters and I love their jewelry.  For example, I wear my Yuna one whenever I'm wearing an outfit with a lower neckline and wear my Kairi sometimes (and with my Kairi cosplay).  Of course I take pretty damn good care of them and make sure nothing gets broken or scratched.

So yeah... they're not the smartest investment if you only wan them for cosplay purposes (unless you have money to burn and are super anal about the accuracy of your cosplays.  If you're a collector (like me), I think they're a good investment.  Hopefully someone will find this useful.

...I still want Serah/Snow's engagement necklace.  The handmade replicas just don't suit my fancy, nor do the gigantic clunky eBay replicas.