8.8.24

✨🍀posting on 8/8, so lucky 🍀✨

In May, I had a ko-gyaru themed meet that I organized with my friend Sandy. We didn't really give people a long heads up about it but a good number of people showed up and we had a good time 🤙🏽

We met up in the city and even though we had planned to do some shopping, we all just ended up getting bubble tea and chatting/getting to know each other. The workers at the bubble tea cafe we ended up at, Uni Uni, thought everyone looked so cute and they took pictures of us for their social media and also gave us a super cute pin souvenir! 🧋

My main reason for wanting to do a ko-gyaru theme was to begin the process of feeling like a kid again - back when I was able to express myself visually without barriers and there was an excitement for new experiences and relationships. 

So I think in that regard, the meet was a success 🤓

Getting ready for the meet was pretty easy because after however many years of being gyaru, I definitely have all the pieces needed for a basic kogal coord. I am not the kind of gal to wear loose socks and I hate tan school cardigans so my look ended up being very "normal" school uniform looking which honestly I think is the cutest look anyway 🙃🙃

I didn't have loafers at the time of the meet so I had to wear my work shoes lol but it looked cute anyway 🌞

I had another meet in July and I'll talk about that in the next post, but I had a great time at the kogal meet and I only have Sandy to thank, cuz lately I'm not feeling the gyaru community over all and I wouldn't have hosted a meet on my own. I am grateful for their enthusiasm! 

Also, tbh Sandy has the most striking, stunning manba style of makeup I have ever seen!! I feel like the art of their make style can't be fully appreciated in pictures, but we can try. 🥰❤️

I have a lot more pictures from this meet but I think from this point on, I only want to post pictures taken with my flip phone on this blog, for no other reason than the 2011 aesthetic of it all. I don't use my public instagram anymore so if I post the non-flip phone photos, it'll most likely be on twitter... maybe I'll also post on tumblr! We will see 🤔

3.21.2024

I went to the mall for the first time in a while and I found a store I really liked -- Lucky Brand!

It's not a new brand and it's not new to me, but for whatever reason I never went into the store in as many times as I've visited the mall. I've known them for their denim which I've bought secondhand before and seen at discount stores like TJMaxx but it was interesting to see the other items they had for sale.

I really loved the pair of shorts in the picture above! It's rare to see a lot of details in American brands, and this was right up my alley. I put them on my wishlist and I hope to snag a pair soon!

The items I saw in the store reminded me a lot of the old brand Goa -- they had a loose, natural, and casual feel. Rediscovering this brand is timely because I wanted to go for a breezy bohemian vibe for the upcoming summer, and it's always nice to have something local to you. It's also nice because I see this brand often in secondhand shops near me so hopefully I won't always have to go retail for a fix. :3

I bought two tube tops, two belts, and a super cool shawl neck knit cardigan. I've been in need of higher quality tube tops and tbh the mannequin wearing a tube top is the entire reason I stepped into the store! The tops have a slouchy casual feel to them, which is perfect for me. :) 

The belts are so cool/cute! I love the embroidery~ I think that they'll make even a super basic coordinate into something a bit more memorable.

The cardigan was a really nice find because this type of cardigan tends to be fairly expensive, even secondhand, so finding it on a good sale was great. It's made of cotton, so it's gonna be a really nice layer for chill summer evenings.

I also got a few other things! The Summer Breeze perfume by OP is so perfect and I can't wait to wear it when I hit the beach this year! I picked up a set of Waikiki Beach Coconut from Bath & BodyWorks as well, and while I may or may not layer it with the OP perfume, I'm definitely ready!!

While at the mall, I went to Sephora and got new lip colors and a bronzer from Nars. I think the vast majority of my makeup comes from Nars and so I feel confident saying that I'm now truly a Nars Girl. :) I'll probably show you the colors in a different post but the lipgloss is the color "Supervixen" and the lipsticks are the colors "Turned On" and "Dolce Vita". 

I also recently got two new magazines in the mail! I'm still reading them and parsing what I'd parts of them I'd like to add to my own life and style but one thing is for sure -- I am definitely a Nakane Reiko fan now! She's so gorgeous and I definitely see how she was the top EGOIST sales clerk of her time.

I guess since I've bought so much new makeup, I should probably start practicing my make again so that I'm not so rusty when the weather finally stays warm. A Gal is not a Gal without the makeup, so I can't keep giving myself this label when I only get done up every 2 months. 

See you later!

2.5.2024

Hi ᯓ★

Recently, I made a deal with myself to return to the things that made me happy. This seems pretty obvious but I think the more I focused on furthering my career and just "getting through the day" the faster the days seemed to pass, and the more I realized I was never doing anything that I truly wanted to do. Just work and sleep, which lead to more work and sleep. (×﹏×)

I think it's easy to become a boring adult when all you do is focus on work and "the future". But focusing too much on the future makes it hard to appreciate the present (in my opinion..)

Previously, I would go out every single weekend, and sometimes I would call up my friends on my lunch hour and see what they were up to after work so we could hang out. In the summer this meant random beach outings or nights in Chinatown. In the winter, it was all about shopping malls and finding good food to eat.

A major symptom of being too serious about my life is that my "gyaru spirit" has reached an all time low. Sometimes I wonder if I should just give it up for something a bit less intense, if I should fully enter my Old Navy era. But I know that won't make me happy. (｡•́︿•̀｡)

The major issue for me is that my gyaru lifestyle is fueled by the power of friendship, and I've been away from the people who make me happiest for too long. My view of how the lifestyle is to be most enjoyed lies in the experiences I share with my other gyaru and gyaru-adjacent friends. 

Doing para-para routines, taking purikura, trying new makeup products or techniques, online or physical shopping etc. - these are all things made that much more enjoyable by being able to be done with those that love the life/culture as much as I do. Of course these are things I'm able to do online, but for me, it's better to be physically together. 

I've come to the conclusion that the only way to revive my gal mojo is to return to the outgoing, always social girl I used to be. So that's what I've been doing for the past month. :)

I might blog about the past three dinners I went to with my friends, I might not.. but I will update here about my "journey" to returning to my previous power level! ☆ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ

My circle does have an upcoming meet this month, so I'll definitely do two posts about the set-up and the actual meet. I'm not the type of gyaru to make tutorials on hair or makeup, but maybe my lasting contribution can be how to run fun meets and how to create successful, long lasting circle. ✮⋆˙

Who knows? :3c

Thanks for reading, and I'll update here soon!

1.3.23

 

It’s been pretty hard for me recently and nothing ever feels right so I think maybe the best thing to do is go on autopilot… by that I mean just copy/paste cute looks onto myself and not worry about it too much.

I think this year I will take some inspiration from Georgie and just choose a year of gyaru inspo for my overall lifestyle/aesthetic. I was thinking which years would be best and right now I’m going in between 2008 & 2009.

These are the years where I first became familiar with gyaru, when I still had a lot of spunk and creativity and (in my opinion) these were the last years where gyaru was still something truly unique, before a lot of the trends in were clearly western influenced.

Also these happen to be the years I have the most print mags of…

Because I’ve been going through a lot I’m thinking it may just be better to have a hair color that doesn’t take a lot of upkeep and bleaching. I’ve been having dark hair for a while and it’s super boring but I was thinking about maybe doing a jet black or a very dark blue black, because it’s an intentional color and would be easier to keep looking nice… I’m really not sure on this because there’s another part of me that wants to do a nice ash blonde.

Whatever I choose, my main goal for the next few months is to be a fake nuts or jelly model. The clothing and styling you see in 2008/2009 nuts and jelly is much simpler without being simple and it’ll give me a break from sensory overload with my dia belts and jewelry.

My goal for the next week is to look at archives of old nuts/jelly models and decide on what a good capsule wardrobe would be for the next month or so.

Hopefully this is the year I fall back in love with gyaru, because I miss it and my old lifestyle a lot and it would be nice to have some comfort right now.

1.1.23

あけおめ（╹◡╹）♡

one part of my new year resolutions is to live only for myself, so that will explain why you haven’t seen me posting much on instagram and not at all on facebook. i get really caught up in what other people think or feel about me and it leads to a lot of anxiety, so i’m making an effort to only do what i want, when i want.

however, my friends are important to me and there’s one friend in particular who really likes it when i blog, so for them, i will keep it up!!

i’ve been having a bit of an internal struggle about my “gyaru life”, but mostly it’s because i am away from my circle. 

it used to be easy to be gal, since i was having meets super often and seeing my gals all the time, but now because we all must continue to move forward, everyone is far away... across the country and across the world :(

all of that to say, for the next few months or so, my blog will have a different feel than usual, because i’m going to share my current real life with you, and it’s not quite the glamorous super social gal fantasy that i used to try to live.

hopefully it’s something that you will enjoy, but if not, we will be relying on my original resolution of not caring what others think!!

i’ve been thinking about creating an eyebrow tutorial/guide, so if that’s something you’d like, please comment and let me know!

thanks for reading & i hope we both have a great year!!