Blurb:
YumeTwins is a monthly box of Japanese kawaii products from Tokyo. It is part of the TokyoTreat subscription box group which also includes TokyoTreat and nomakenolife. Each box contains five kawaii items including plushies and lifestyle goods plus premium anime brands.
There are one-, three-, six-, and 12-month subscriptions costing $29.99, $29.00, $28.33, and $27.50 per month respectively.At current exchange rates this is £23.21, £22.45, £21.93, and £21.29. Shipping is free.
Japan’s rainy season lasts until the middle of July, and so by August the sun has been shining for a while!
The theme of last month’s box was Summer Holiday. I’m certainly ready for a kawaii summer, because there hasn’t been much sunshine in the UK.
The shipping box is such a lovely bright colour! It always makes me feel happy when I see it. Especially because I know there are going to be some marvellous goodies inside!
Sitting on top is their menu booklet.
The booklet is always enjoyable to look at. It lists each item in the box, plus competitions, pictures, and bonus information about some aspect of Japanese kawaii culture.
Little C is extremely keen to add this to our list of places to visit in Japan!
(I’m totally cool with this. I want to go too.)
Anyway, let’s have a look and see what lovely kawaii things we have!
Total cuteness to start with. This AMUSE Pote Usa Loppy Mini Pouch marks the YumeTwins debut of Pote Isa Loppy bunnies. Let’s hope they appear again soon!
She (Little C says it’s a girl) has a zip on top, and there’s room to tuck a few coins or sweeties inside.
You can also use the chain to hang it on your bag or purse, or even as a keyring.
We finally got some proper summer heat and sunshine this Bank Holiday Weekend, so this is perfect timing. This is a Kawaii Hand Fan.
It’s made of plastic rather than the traditional fabric or paper.
At first I wasn’t quite sure about this. Then I realised that, pretty though paper fans are, they are rather susceptible to damage.
You can chuck this one in your bag and not worry about it tearing as it’s nice and sturdy. It doesn’t even matter if it gets wet.
This is one of four designs available. According to the menu there is a hidden pattern. Can you see it? I can’t!
Anyway, this is cute and useful.
Hi there! This cute little guy is a Shinada Chigmo Plush, an alien from the Planet Chigmi.
He’s a little different in style from the plushies you usually get from YumeTwins. But we think he’s adorable!
He has a little clear pocket on his tummy. Right now he’s holding a Gudetama pen we got in a previous YumeTwins box.
He also has another neat trick.
There is a button and loop on the ends of his arms. Here he is hanging out on our living room door!
This lovely Rilakkuma Face Towel is quite a decent size. While it’s not big enough to dry you after a bath, it’s perfect to bring along on a day out,especially with children who always managed to find a source of water and douse themselves with it!
It would also be useful to protect yourself when sitting on grubby surfaces.
It’s soft and lightweight, 100% cotton, and folds up conveniently small.
YumeTwins have put small face towels in their boxes before, but this is the largest one they’ve ever offered!
I’ve saved my favorite item for last.
This is a gorgeous Gudetama Sanrio Bottle Cozy. It’s one of four possible designs, the others being MyMelody, Rapunzel, and Ariel.
I actually saw this as a spoiler on the YumeTwins Facebook page. They were asking their fans which one they would prefer, and naturally I commented Gudetama! He’s one of my favourite characters ever.
Anyway, the Kawaii Fairy granted my wish and I got the one I wanted!
As well as being kawaii, it’s also practical.
There is a drawstring around the top, and a removable shoulder strap. It fits a 500ml bottle perfectly.
The interior is lined with silver insulation, so you can keep your drink bottle nice and cold. That’s especially handy in this weather, which has suddenly become properly summery!
So cool! (Geddit?!)
So here are my thoughts.
The alien plush is a lot of fun. It’s nice to have something a little bit different, and even though he’s not the more common huge-eyed-baby-animal type of plush, he’s still very kawaii. And funny. Guess whose bedroom door he’s hanging on now?
The bunny pouch is just adorable, and my daughter Little C has immediately claimed her for her own. I suspect he may end up on her school bag!
Three out these five items have proper practical use. I love the kawaii style, but I also like things having a function.
The fan is fun, even if it’s not the most elegant of designs! And as I said, it’s sturdy enough to keep in your bag without damage.
The towel will go straight into my my ‘days out with Little C’ bag.
As for the Gudetama bottle cozy, what can I say but FANTASTIC! It’s perfect for keeping a bottle of water, and I’m going to use the strap attachment for a carabiner to attach it to my day out bag.
On to value. Because these items come directly from Japan and are effectively unavailable outside Asia I’m not going to do a detailed breakdown.
I think this kind of plush would cost around £10. I found the Ariel bottle cozy for just over £10, but it didn’t include shipping from Japan. Just with those two things you’re nearly at the highest price for the box, so along with the other three items you’ve got way more than your money’s worth!
This box has definitely give me warm and fuzzy feelings. The kawaii levels are very high, as is functionality! It’s so nice having kawaii things I can use, and I’m also glad I can keep at least some of them out of Little C’s hands!
The rest of the summer is going to be very kawaii indeed!
NB: a different version of this review first appeared on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk
