Will we look as glamorous as Cure Summer if we use the products in the show?

Another year heralds the arrival of a brand new season of super-popular magical girl anime Pretty Cure, abbreviated as PreCure for short. The series has been keeping its target audience of kids entertained since it first debuted in 2004, and the most recent series, Tropical Rouge PreCure, has already made a big splash with old and new fans alike.

The characters stop by a cosmetic store called Pretty Holic in the show itself, and thanks to common collaborator Bandai, you can purchase their wares out in the real world! The cosmetics are intended for kids, as you might intuit from their chunky plastic cases and vibrant colors, but our adult Japanese-language reporter Ayaka Idate is such an avid PreCure watcher that she decided to treat herself.

▼ Make-up features in the transformation scenes too!

https://youtu.be/LamncobJZko

Since Ayaka had already made the decision to invest in children’s cosmetics, she decided to go the whole hog and buy the biggest, most ostentatious product available in the line: the Heart Coffret Box (5,280 yen [US$49]), which contains a comb, lip balm, liquid eyeshadow, an amulet-shaped case that fits either the lip balm or eyeshadow inside, and peelable nail polish. Oh, and a big plastic heart-shaped case to keep everything inside, naturally.

▼ Majestic

The first thing that caught Ayaka’s attention was that the amulet was only big enough to fit one pallet inside, meaning either the lip balm or eye shadow would be left out in the open. That didn’t seem like a great choice either on hygiene or tidiness fronts; while the products can be kept safe inside the heart-shaped case, either product could easily fall face-first onto the floor and make a mess. Dirt could also get inside the makeup itself.

▼ They may be designed for kids, but contaminated make-up is risky for anyone!

Anyway, Ayaka’s attention quickly turned to the liquid eyeshadow. A bright and brilliant turquoise reminiscent of rolling waves… But how bright would it look on her eyelids? The set didn’t come with any applicators, so she gently daubed one finger into the brilliant blue goop and gingerly ran it over her eyelid.

▼ Isn’t this blue kind of intense for a kid?

After daubing it onto her eyes she took a photo to compare and was surprised by its subtle color. Rather than the garish, flashy shade that showed up on her finger, Ayaka’s right eyelid held a muted, bluish hue. It stands to reason that while this cosmetics kit is intended for little girls, parents might not want their children to have saturated colors on their faces—especially as children may apply it very enthusiastically.

▼ It makes her eyelid look slightly translucent.

You can wash the eyeshadow off with hot water and facial soap, but Ayaka advises that you use your typical make-up removal routine if you pair it with any other adult-targeted cosmetics. You can never be too careful!

On to the lip balm. Tapping a finger into the jammy red star shape left Ayaka with a pale red residue on her finger. She doubted this would leave much pigment on her lips at all.

▼ Here she is before adding lip balm…

▼ And after.

Again, a very subtle change, but her lips certainly looked redder in her opinion. The fluorescent lighting dulled some of the effects, but to Ayaka it made her lips look a natural, deep pink.

It wasn’t very glossy though. Maybe children’s lips are glossy enough already?

Next up is the tropical-green manicure product, the peelable nail polish. Nail polish like this can be removed just with scrubbing and hot water, as opposed to “actual” nail polish that might require a harsh removal product like acetone.

▼ The product looks like something right out of the show.

The instructions told her to apply a liberal amount and then let it dry thoroughly. Ayaka loaded up her fingernail and then waited a full thirty minutes until all the stickiness had faded.

▼ The applicator wand, thick with minty green polish.

▼ Very tropical!

Ayaka praised the look and the feel of the polish, claiming that it felt pleasant to the touch and looked just like an adult nail polish when applied and thoroughly dried. The product also stayed firmly in place when she washed her hands, only slightly discoloring when she used alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It returned to its typical luster once dry, though, so you really have to scrub your fingers in hot water to wash it away!

While the set comes in a heart-shaped case, there isn’t anything inside that really anchors the items, so you might want to teach your kids how to open and close it to minimize messes.

Ayaka bought one more thing from Pretty Holic: a special lip balm named Pretty Up Lip Cure Summer (1,188 yen). This product is stylized after Cure Summer’s special magical lip balm from the show, to imbue you with even more sparkly courage. Or at least that was how Ayaka justified buying it, even though the Heart Coffret Box came with a lip balm of its own.

▼ It bills itself as having a “tropical pink” color.

Ayaka washed off the lip balm from earlier and applied a coat of tropical pink to her lips.

▼ It’s more of a pinkish-yellow in practice.

This color is so subtle that it’s hard to see in a digital photo, but the tone suppresses the natural red in Ayaka’s lips to leave her with a warming pink tone. It had a pleasant feel, too, without any excess stickiness. It also contained plenty of moisturizing oils such as shea butter, olive oil-derived fatty acids, jojoba oil, apricot kernel oil, and shea butter. It may have only a subtle shade, but it should be great for your skin!

Ayaka is delighted with her purchase, especially as now she can brandish her own lipstick wand and feel the courage of Cure Summer flowing through her. As the products are intended for children they’re especially gentle on adult skin, and not every cosmetic product lets you feel like a magical girl warrior!

Related: Pretty Holic
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