I started using Instagram about a month ago and sometimes I like to enhance my pictures before uploading them. In Japan you can use a Purikura photoboot to take ultra cute pictures (larger eyes anyone?) But you can come a long way with mobile apps.

Line Camera (also available for Android) is a Japanese photo editor. Many cute stamps are pre-installed and you can purchase extra sets from characters like Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma. Line works very intuitive and also has filters, frames and brushes which you can apply to your photo. As far as I can tell it’s not possible to upload directly to Instagram, but you can access your picture from the photo library once saved.

Pros: Lots of cute stamps and options to enhance your photo. | Cons: Nothing that I can think of.
Price: Free but with in-app purchases.

After Photo lets you add pretty captions over your pictures. Just type your text, choose a font and pick a color (white, grey, black or pink). There’s a nice selection of free fonts -like Goon and Blackout- and extra fonts are available for $0,99. One you’ve placed your caption, you can save the picture or upload it to social media, including Instagram.

Pros: Easy way to add a caption to your picture. | Cons: Nothing that I can think of.
Price: Free but with in-app purchases.

The name Tiny Faces pretty much says it all: with this app you can place a kawaii face on your picture. The app is very easy to use and makes it possible to send your picture to Instagram. I’m really enjoying it so far and think all my nature and food pictures might have faces soon 😉

Pros: Very simple to use and lots of cute faces to choose from. | Cons: It’s not free, but I think it’s worth the price.
Price: $0,99 but no in-app purchases.

Charuca PuriKura (also available for Android) is a photo editor with cute frames and stamps from illustrator Charuca. It’s got it’s own community and you have to sign up before you’re able to save your picture.

Pros: Very cute images to choose from. | Cons: The collection of frames and stamps is limited and saving the picture to your photo library requires a couple of steps. Also I had some trouble clicking on the buttons, they sometimes refuse to respond.
Price: Free and no in-app purchases.

Kawaii Photo Boot provides kawaii stickers to brighten up your pictures. Snacks, nature and fruit stickers are free and you can purchase up to three extra collections. The app includes an extensive photo editor from Aviary which is very useful.

Pros: Very cute stickers to choose from and a good editor. | Cons: The ads are obtrusive 😦 and you would have to pay $0,99 to get rid of them. The aspect of the picture is 3:4, so it isn’t a square picture which you could directly import into Instagram.
Price: Free and no in-app purchases.

Other cute photo editor apps you might enjoy are GirlsCamera (iPhone or Android) and Decopic (iPhone or Android).
If you use another cute photo editor, feel free to share it in the comments ^_^