ビューラー (byūrā) eyelash curler

eyelash curler


【 ビューラー・byūrā 】eyelash curler

The root of most カタカナ words come from another language, but where does ビューラー originate?

ビューラー is a trademark that became a generic term for an eyelash curler. The original trademark was called 「ビウラ」(Spelled “BEAULA” derived from “ビューティーカーラー” beauty curler) registered by a phramaceutical company called 啓芳堂 (Keihoudou) in 1930. The company lost almost everything after the bombing of Tokyo and sold the commercial right to a cosmetics company.

Today, the manufacturer for the cosmetics company called 沼澤製作所 (Numazawa Seisakusho) holds 70-80% domestic market share (30% international market share) of eyelash curlers, produces 20,000 curlers a day (which includes OEM for brands like Shiseido), and sells 2 million eyelash curlers a year!

まつ毛(げ) (matsuge) = eyelash

まぶた (mabuta) = eyelid

「イタッ!」
(ita)
Owww!

「どうしたの?」
(doushitano)
What happened?

「ビューラーでまぶたを挟(はさ)んじゃった!」
(byūrā de mabuta wo hasanjyatta)
I pinched my eyelid with the eyelash curler!

「あらら」
(arara)
Oh, ouch.


Resources: Wikipedia, Keihoudou Pharmaceutical Co., and here