[productsample] Before I show you the Paul & Joe Doraemon collection properly, I need to do a quick low-down on who and what exactly Doraemon is. If you’re a Japanese manga fan, you will already know and can probably add to the story (please feel free in comments!) but if you’re not, you might quite understandably be mystified. SO, Doraemon is a Japanese cultural icon – in fact becoming Japan’s first ‘anime ambassador’ in 2008 to help explain the anime movement to those outside Japan – a robotic cat who travels back in time to help a young boy. The Doraemon manga series has sold over 100 million copies and Doraemon films sold the same in tickets. Everyone in Japan knows Doraemon – he’s the quirky gadget-cat hero that guides Nobita through bullying, struggling with homework, sadness and jealousy – basically, growing up is hard. If you think Hello Kitty is a cash cow, Doraemon has generated over $5.592 BILLION in merch sales!
If this collection had Hello Kitty on it I’d buy it twice over but Doraemon is much less well-known in the UK (it’s not part of the San Rio stable that HK, Little Twin Stars, Badz Maru and the egg… I’ve forgotten his name.. belong to) so I think this will have niche, manga fan appeal only. It’s a good match though – the brand is obsessed with cats, and Doraemon is, of a sort, a cat.
Exciting for me though (as a tooling geek) is the impression of Doraemon that runs through the core of the lipsticks . I know they’ve done cats so it’s nice to see a different one and also – can we do flowers, candies, fruit? I’d buy a lipstick with a flower core in a heart-beat.
The blue lipstick is pH – it turns pink on the lips and the level of pink will be individual. The other shades give the colour of the core in a moisturising, sheeny formula (£24). The Lip Treatment Balm (£14) is flavoured with Dorayaki, Doreamon’s favourite snack. As it’s a sponge cake, I would say it falls into many people’s favourite snack category! The tin is cute, combining Paul & Joe flowers with Doraemon.
Lastly, there’s a Pressed Powder in special Doraeomon packaging – a patterned case, embossed flower and a floral bag with a little bell to keep it in. It’s £28.
The collection will be exclusive to Beauty Bay from April 5th. I’m quite curious to see how well this does in the UK – presumably, Beauty Bay is the one that’s taken a punt on enough Anime fans wanting it and that there will be enough relevance. Let’s wait and see ;-).
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