Harajuku Lovers "G" Perfume: Kawaii Desu Ne!

About two weeks ago, Christine from 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic had a prize contest for 5 people to win a bottle of perfume from the new Harajuku Lovers perfume collection. And guess what? I was one of the lucky five. To be honest with you, I would not buy any of the Harajuku Lovers perfume at all and therefore, would not experience the kawaii-ness (cuteness) of this new line of products from Gwen Stefani. The funny thing is when it came out and I read the teasers from various blogs online, I thought G was an interesting perfume to try. Then when Gwen Stefani's PR company sent me the prize, I opened it and saw a bottle of G perfume (FYI: I did not get to choose the prize). Holy mother of pearl, my wish came true!

The front of the package, I dig the baby blue letters!

From the scale of one to ten, the kawaii-ness level of this product is around 11.5. The packaging is so gorgeous with the fan-shaped swirls and matte black background. Whoever designed the packages need to have a pay raise because it is so awesomely pretty, so pretty that I found myself speaking in broken Japanese learned from reading mangas (and I don't speak Japanese at all, just "domo arigato" and "konnichiwa").

The back of the box
" Your look is so distinctive like DNA like nothing I've ever seen in the USA- a ping-pong match between eastern and western did you see your inspiration in my latest collection?"

The coolness level of this product exceeds its kawaii-ness. After all, this is G for Gwen and I bet Ms. Stefani spent a hella lot of time to design her product. The G perfume overall exerts a rocker chic vibe that I've never seen before.

The perfume bottle, unleashed from the box

Since I got a 30ml bottle, the doll is kind of big. This bottle has two parts: the doll is the top part and the base contains the perfume. Again, whoever came up with the design needs a raise. The only perfume that has a similar elaborative top part is the one from Betsey Johnson. Team Gwen, however, took it up a notch and put dolls on the top, kawaii desu ne*!

Check out her back :)
Turns out girlfriend wears a tank top with a G on the right side (click to zoom out)

I imagine this Gwen doll resembles Gwen Stefani when she was a kid wearing a tank top, a mini skirt, and fish net stocking (???) The details on the doll are unbelievable and they are painted, not stickered in like I've heard.

The perfume itself is catered for food lovers. As a creamy tropical gourmand perfume, it has notes of mandarin, coconut, apple skin, jasmine sambac, freesia, magnolia, coconut cream, white sandalwood and cottonwoods. On me, it smells like pineapple-coconut candy but later blooms into a concoction of fruity candy fragrance. The perfume by itself is not strong and quite fun to wear. I imagine myself wearing it when the weather gets colder and I started to dream more of the tropical. As a gourmand, it is not as interesting or noticeable as Angel by Thierry Mugler, the most famous perfume without a flower note. However, G does make you feel younger and lighter at heart. I think it is more suitable for the teenage crowd and I personally think it's a weekend perfume for me.

Price-wise, this perfume is expensive: $45 USD for the 30 ml (1 oz.) bottle and $25 USD for the 10ml (0.33 oz.) bottle of eau de toilette. For a regular, non doll-topped perfume, a 1.7 oz (50 ml) bottle is around $45-55 USD and a 3.4 oz (100 ml) bottle costs $55-65 USD. However, you pay for the kawaii package and I think the smaller version is affordable for teens.

Ms. Stefani is trying to win me over by sending me a folder with this note:
"You got the wicked style
I like the way you are
I am your biggest fan."
(again Picassa loves to put my pictures sideway!)

Geez, thank you Gwen! I am your biggest fan too! You don't know how many No Doubt CDs I got :) I really love "Don't Speak" and that song you did with Eve "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" rocks my world girl! Also I find the "B-A-N-A-N-A" chorus amuzing and you rocked that cheerleader outfit. I also want to thank Christine for choosing me as a winner and sending me this perfume. I've read her blog for a while now and she has very informative entries. I learn a lot from her posts about sunscreens.

Now Smell This has a review of all Harajuku Lovers perfumes if you are interested in a perfumista's opinion ('cause yours truly is more of a makeup junkie hehe.)

I know Christmas is near and if you want some extra kawaii-ness in your life, please add some Harajuki Lovers to your list. If you wish, it may come true :)

Take care ladies and stay kawaii,
Your Makeup Blogger who is now a Harajuku Lover ;)

P.S: "kawaii desu ne" is roughly translated as "Oh, it's so cute!" or "Cute, isn't it?"
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