Why all the hate?

Disclaimer: This post contains opinion!

I have been thinking a lot about this lately, and I thought it was a good subject to bring here.
The fact is that anyone that knows at least a little how this community goes will know that one of the most popular critics is "That's not gyaru!".
There are guides and guidelines in order to become a (good) gyaru. A whole set of rules and do's and dont's.But still, this isn't enough, because from there it borns the "Doing X isn't enough to be gyaru!" discussion. It's not my intention to enter into this topic, as it's been discussed broadly and while I have my opinion like anyone else (opinions are like balls) but it amazes me that this is in fact a subject of discussion. 

I've been in different dressing styles (which belonged to different urban tribes, to call it somehow) and this was never a subject of discussion, so it makes me wonder why.


For instance, I highly doubt that if some guy starts getting interested in punk and listening to punk music and dresses alike to the musicians he listens to, I doubt he'll find anywhere a list of dont's. 
Of course, _every_ urban tribe has its own rules (because doing something and not doing something else it's what caracterizes them), and you probably won't see a goth in pink (or maybe you could, but yanno) or a punk wearing Swarovski decoden (that one is harder to find, right? although there are some approaches, lol).

And, well, every urban tribe has its degree of trueness and competition, but it's not at high and heavy as it happens in gyaru (or j-fashion in general, I dare say).

But... Why does this happen?

One of the first posible reason that I can think of it's because it has no musical background (or not as deep as other subcultures have). It might sound stupid, but if you fail to give the looks, what do you have left? 

The gyaru spirit? Sure. 

We've all come to this discussion in one point or the other. You can be a rebel, you can go against society and the mass media and the rules and averageness and all that stuff without being gyaru, so that attitude might belong to anything else. This wouldn't be like this if there was a musical background. 

Take goths. A teen might not be all dressed up in expensive victorian-ish velvet clothing, but she might listen to all those goth rock bands, and with just a t-shirt with the logo of the group, some jeans and heavy dark make-up there'd be no doubt of what urban tribe she belongs to (or at least her tendency).

Another reason that comes to my mind is that, under the surface, it's a highly competitive fashion. I'm the kind of person who finds it easy to like pretty much everyone and I really don't need much to grow fond of people and care about them (I'm a care bear, lol). I prefer sharing to competing but I know that there are a lot of people who like having adversaries. This is indeed a good way to push you to get better, but you might end up crossing the line of friendly competition to enter the realms of hate, and hate leads to suffering (and it's the path to the dark side).

(yes, this is what appears when you google Gyaru Secrets)

I also think that the fact that it's a japanese fashion is also somewhat of a barrier due to the racial (physical) differences. This might sound silly or wrong, but I really don't mean it in a bad way, but I came up to this conclusion a couple years ago when I made a first attempt at japanese fashion with visual kei. No matter how many make-up tutorials I tried to follow, my eye keept looking different. Then I realized that the crease in my eyelid was the reason of my failure.

I compare my pictures to japanese gyaru's and I fail to see the same. But that's obvious, because no matter how better my skills might get at make-up and hairstyling (at which, by the way, I suck) I will never see the same, since my features are different, for a start. Of course, there are awesome gaijin gyaru who grasp the essence of gyaru, who give you that feeling instantly at a first sight but... 

And finally, I believe that part of it is created by itself. It's like the feed-back creates the fear, the fear of being criticized for not being gyaru enough makes people being more critic ("because... I'm going to be criticized by ... you? you don't even look that gyaru!") and so on, and so on. 

What do you guys think about it?

Jill Stuart 'mix blush compact' Review

My second (make-up related) Christmas gift by my other half was this lovely blusher which I had been wanting for a really long time. I was really in love with its cuteness case and applicator and how the colors looked like!
Being a pink blush lover, I obviously asked for shade 01: Baby blush!

Pues como ya fui diciendo por ahí, aquí está la review de mi segundo regalito (de maquillaje) de Navidades (cortesía de mi mitad querida). Hacía mucho mucho tiempo que lo quería, siempre me había encantado la presentación (el nivel de detalle de los brillantitos y los gravados es una pasada!) y después de verlo muy a menudo me decidí a añadirlo a mi wishlist. Cómo amante de los coloretes rositas que soy, me apunté el tono 01: Baby blush!

As you can see, the case and the brush are pretty and princess-y like the most. It's really beautiful and it stands out, BUT it gets dirty easily!
(See that fingerprint there? lol)

Cómo podeis ver, tanto la caja cómo el pincel son totalmente princesiles y preciosos. Destaca bastante PERO se mancha con mucha facilidad! (veis la huella? XD)

The brush is detachable and retractable. It smelled bad when I first got it out of the box but it had -and still has- an awesome touch (I'm not sure if it's synthetic or not though).

El pincel es separable y retráctil. Olía bastante mal al sacarlo por primera vez, pero tenía (y tiene) un tacto genial. No estoy segura de si es sintético o de pelo.

So this is what it looked like right out of the box:

Éste es el aspecto que tenía el colorete nada más salir de la caja:

After 11 days of (regular) use, this is what it looks like:

Después de 11 días de uso (normal), éste es el aspecto que tiene:

I'm NOT unhappy with it, even if its pigmentation level deceived me a bit. After a few days of using it I'm getting used to the way it looks and the right amount of blusher I've got to use and the colors/combinations that suit me better I'm starting to like it. I don't like how coral tones look on my skin, so I tend to use tones from 1 to 3 the most (and you can tell because the "flower" of the last one has kept its form way more!).

NO estoy insatisfecha con él, aunque el nivel de pigmentación me ha decepcionado un poco. Eso sí, después de estar usándolo unos días (11, jaja) me estoy acostumbrando a cómo pinta, a cuánto colorete usar y a qué colores o combinaciones me gustan más y me está empezando a gustar.
Eso sí, siguen sin gustarme los tonos coral en mi piel, así que cómo podeis ver por el desgaste de la "flor" los tonos que más uso son del 1 al 3!

And here are some indoors lighted swatches!
I'd been delaying this for too long because I couldn't find a moment to take a pic of both at the same time, so I've decided to post it without the daylight swatch. It's in indoors light pics that blush tends to disappear, so it's not going to be such a bad indicative.
According to MAC, my skin tone is NC15.

Y aquí unos swatches con luz de interior!
He retrasado esta review precisamente por culpa de los swatches, pues quería encontrar un momento para hacer los de interior y los de exterior a la vez pero era incapaz, así que al final me he decidido a poner sólo éstos. De todas formas, es en las fotos de interior que el colorete parece desaparecer, así que ya va bien que nos muestre su efectividad en éstas condiciones!
Por cierto, según MAC mi tono de piel es NC15.

My overall (humble and inexpert) opinion:

It's beautiful and practical, since it easy to carry around without having to have a full arsenal of stuff with you.

The colors are pretty and shiny, and while you'll need (I do, at least) quite a good amount of blush to make it noticeable it'll look nice when it does.

The brush feels a bit big to carefully select each shade, but when you're using it it actually works and doesn't mix the colors (too much). It gets a bit dirty though.

Price is a huge drawback. I'm not sure if I would have bought this myself, since I'm on a tight budget. Now I know about them, I probably would have gone for a NARS blush (I'm saying this and if I don't own one yet, so I might take it back in a future, but I doubt it).

Mi humilde e inexperta opinión general:

Es precioso, práctico, y se puede llevar por ahí fácilmente porque apenas ocupa espacio.

Los colores son brillantes y bonitos, y aunque necesitarás un montón de producto para que se note, queda bastante bien cuando lo hace.

Al principio el pincel parece demasiado grande para coger cada tono sin mancharlo todo pero, no, funciona bastante bien! Eso es algo que me daba miedo! Se ensucia todo un poco, pero imagino que es normal.

Tiene un gran defecto, el precio. Yo no estoy segura de si me lo habría comprado, pues tengo un presupuesto ajustado y quizá no me hubiese compensado, por más bonitos que me parezcan el packaging (todo el rato dudo de si la caja y el pincel entran en packaging o no, jaja!) y los colores quizá me hubiese comprado un colorete de NARS antes (aunque no tengo ninguno y quizá me desdiga de éste punto en un futuro, pero me han hablado tan bien de ellos que dudo mucho que sea así!).

Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon! <3

Gracias por leer y espero veros pronto! <3

CandyDoll Mineral Powder Review

This Xmas my other half has taken a lot of care about my desires. He always does though.
From a lot of other wonderful gifts talking of which does not belong to this blog (but if you want me to talk about Bioware and such, tell me about it and I'll lovingly do!), I wanted to show you one of my precious:

No voy a traducir literalmente porque... me da palo xD.
Estas navidades mi otra mitad querida me ha regalado muchísimas cosas que llevo queriendo durante mucho tiempo (algunas de las cuales no corresponden a éste blog, así que cómo no me digáis que os apetece que hable de juegos y Bioware, las obviaré). Es el mejor! <3

Hoy os voy a enseñar una de ellas:

Tsubasa's CandyDoll Mineral Powder!

As you'd expect, the packaging is as great as product by itself.

Try to picture my face when I unwrapped the present and found out some freebies as well. This lovely strip comes with a tiny amount of all the blushers and highlighters you can have. As a drug dealer, Tsubasa is tempting us with trying her products so we can't live without them in the end. She's so evil, isn't she?

Como era de esperar, el packaging es tan genial como el producto en sí mismo. Ahora intentad imaginaros qué sorpresa me llevé cuando vi que venía con muestritas de colorete e iluminador! Tsubasa es como un camello, primero te lo hace probar para que luego no puedas vivir sin ello y piques!

Blushers are: Strawberry Pink, Peach Pink & Carrot Orange. Dunno about the name of the highlighters.
No tengo ni idea del nombre de los iluminadores!

Allright, now onto the powder.
Did I tell you that I love the packaging? I did? Allright, I love this packaging. I love every single packaging Tsubasa produces, I like the level of details she puts into doing what she does. I know there's an industry behind her, and that in the end this is just business, but I do not like the outcome of whatever all the other models do, so I'm pretty sure she's not just a puppet. (This is starting to sound like a rant. I'll keep the rant for a future post!)

Bueno, una vez vistas las muestricas, vamos al meollo. Me encantan todos los packagings de los productos que saca ésta mujer. Sé que algunas consideran a todas las modelos de éste mundillo (iba a decir a todas las modelos que sacan productos, pero me he dado cuenta que es en general) simples marionetas, cuerpos vacíos a merced de la industria. No quiero negar que hay una industria detrás, pero me gustaría poner en duda gran parte de ésas opiniones. Hay muchas modelos, muchas de ellas han sacado productos y se nota en todos ellos un toque personal. A mí me gusta la esencia que esta mujer imprime en las cosas. Más allá de eso, creo que tanto las modelos cómo las revistas son producto de ciertos individuos (ciertas individuas en general) que se han comprometido tanto con todo esto que han querido dedicar su vida profesional a ello. Cómo una shop staff con suerte. De todas formas dejo éste tema para otra ocasión, que acabo de decir que no quiero quejarme y al traducir me he vuelto a emocionar. XD

D'you know what? I don't really like this applicator. At first I thought it'd be wonderful, but somehow the distribution of the powder through all the applicator isn't uniform and it leads to having to rub a bit more than I'd like. Maybe it's more about how the holes were made than about the applicator itself, but I still don't like it.

Sabéis qué? No me gusta nada el pompón aplicador. Pensaba que sería genialoso y una pasada, pero por alguna razón el polvo no se distribuye uniformemente y acabo teniendo que restregármelo por toda la cara, además de tener que ir a coger producto demasiadas veces. Supongo que más que el aplicador en sí son los agujeros de la tapa, pero no me acaba de convencer. El pompón no parece tener nada malo, pero...

The powder is really really REALLY (I feel I can't stress that really enough) thin. I'm really scared of loosing it all if I ever remove the lid (if I ever THINK of removing the lid), but you've got to do something if you want to get some powder on the applicator. Okay, now I'm starting to feel clumsy. Maybe you wouldn't have issues with this, but I do.

Los polvos son MUY finos. Mirad cuantas veces he escrito "really" ahí arriba para daros cuenta de lo mucho que quiero resaltar que son muy finos. Parece que se te vayan a salir volando si te atreves, no, si piensas en atreverte a sacar la tapa. Pero claro, tienes que sacarlos de alguna forma, porque sino cómo te los vas a aplicar? Pues golpecitos, sacudidas (con la tapa de arriba XD) e ir probando. La verdad es que me hacen sentir un poco torpe. Quizá vosotras (vosotros) no tendríais problemas con esto!

As for the results, I'd say it does what it's supposed to, nothing more, nothing less. I was a bit disappointed when I realized it wasn't going to turn me into Tsubasa.
They do finish well, they keep your skin matte and smooth and they make sure your make up doesn't go away as easily as it'd go if you didn't use them. You wouldn't like to use a huge amount of them, because everything would start getting a bit too dry and cracked.

Sobre los resultados no tengo mucho más que decir que... Hacen lo que tienen que hacer, ni más ni menos. Me decepcioné un poco cuando me dí cuenta que no me iban a convertir en Tsubasa (ni a darme la piel que tiene en las fotos XD). Dan un buen acabado, mantienen la piel mate y de aspecto suave y se aseguran que tu maquillaje no se irá tan fácilmente como si no los usases. No es bueno usar demasiado porque resecan un poco y acaba todo como la típica ilustración que sale para ejemplificar una tierra árida en los libros de texto (vamos, cuarteado).

I haven't used them myself too much since I got them for Christmas, so I haven't had time to get myself a well thought out impression, but I'll re-review them if I feel this makes them no justice.

No los he usado demasiado (pues me los dió en Navidad -bueno, Nochevieja-), así que tampoc he tenido tiempo de formarme una opinión bien sopesada, pero esta es mi primera impresión. Si más adelante sintiese que lo que he dicho aquí no les hace justicia ya los re-reviewearé!

Thanks for reading, take care and see you soon!
Gracias por leer, cuidaos y nos vemos pronto!

Fashion progress (and evolution)

It hasn't been that much since I decided I enjoy gyaru fashion and I want to be a part of it. I've religiously tried to get the look every day (unless I got sick or you know, stuff like that) and while I've seen my own progress in terms of make up and hair and I really feel I'm getting there day by day, when it comes to clothing I feel totally clueless and lost. One of the reasons is that I need a lot of stuff that I don't have. I do have a huge lack of accessories and shoes which I try to solve day by day, but it takes time! (I can't spend like 6000€ one afternoon to get some basics lol)

So no matter how frustrated I might be at the plain-ness of my outfits or such, I need to learn day by day to coordinate and to know what does look good together (for both my taste and gal, that is) with what I have and what can be a "profitable purchase".

That said, I wanted to make a list of stuff that is fashionable nowadays which I like so I could have a clear guide when January (and its dear sales lol) comes.

But first I'd like to review of some of my old outfits (of the few ones I've got pics) and my evolution through time so I can share a starting point and have all your advice to begin with.

Of course I've got to say that I despise every single pic and attempt of outfit, lol. I'm just a noob and I can see the difference between those who really got the style in their hands and dominate it and make it look so easy! (Hallo you! :P).

Also, I'm in a "I want to burn my whole closet" mood, but I'm trying my best haha.

Outfit 1: October '10

This is the oldest attempt of outfit which I keep pics of in my computer after changing my hair color and trying some new stuff. Here I was combining two skirts to get something more catchy(?), and a hair accessory.

I don't really like how plain the sweater looks, and I believe it'd be better just changing it with a less "boring" one. Details like any kind of cute print or bows or whatever would have done.
Of course, same applies for the cardi, but I really don't think that's the problem.

Hair: I'd like it bigger. I didn't have a hair curler back then, so I tried my best just with the dryer. I think it looks somewhat cute, but not big and noticeable enough.
I was somewhat more focused on make up back then.

Also, maybe if the tights would have had a larger hole of net or more details it would have looked way better. More interesting for the eye.

And finally: ACCESSORIES! A bigger belt (with chains! like that d.i.a. belt with a star which omg I just love!) and necklaces!
(I didn't kinda censor my face on the first pic because it's not like it's visible lol)



Outfit 2: 12 November '10

When I found that smiling sweater in H&M I fell in love with it. I found it funny and trendy and whatever. Now I kinda hate it and it's been a bit less than a month, lol. What would I say here? I don't really like how anything looks.

Maybe tight-high socks would have everything look way better instead of those lacey white tights that just make my legs look like columns lol. Necklaces are one of my constant points of failure, and I wasn't wearing bracelets either in that pic, so this adds to the plainless. Maybe some huge white furry earmuffs would have made everything look better!

I don't really know what else can I say here.

Outfit 3: 18 November '10

I'm sorry, but I don't have a full body shot of this. I wanted to put it here because it's one of my first attempts to style my hair with the teaser!
I love that nordic print "poncho" thingy. This is one of the pieces I'd save and it's a pity I don't have a full body shot of a coordi! I'll try to make one soon.

Outfit 4: 09 December '10

No real highlight on the outfit here, even if I'm choosing this pic. I'd posted it because this was one of the first time that I liked how much volume did my hair end up with!
Same boring grey sweater, and a jean skirt which I ended up boring, but the outfit was incomplete by the time I took that pic!
Also, something funny that happened to me with those leggings... I had been searching forever some leggings like those. Like the Uniqlo ones. When I saw them at some store I was like "OMG I SO HAFTA GET THEM", but when I got home I realized that the holes just went to the knee, so If I wanted them to be through all the leg they'd be more like... Ovals. I felt so scammed... XDD

Outfit 5: 10 December '10

This is one of the first outfits that I start to like. It's simple, clean and it has two three of my favourite things: nordic print, tight-high socks and jean! I do look a bit chubby in this pic though, wouldn't know why. I'm aware of it lol. Anyway, it still lacks some accessories, like furry things, and better shoes. I wouldn't know if adding a belt here would be a good or a bad idea.

Outfit 6: 15 Dec '10

And finally, this would be my fav choice of all. I really like the tights, I really like the skirt and how do the knee-high socks and the boots look like together. I wore this with my (ridiculously short) H&M fauxtail (see the word game I did there? XDDDD), which is an accessory I love. As always, something for the head and a belt would have made it all look better. And a necklace!

Of course, I'm nothing near good but my point is to keep trying and improving a lil bit with each try.

I'm a bit sad because I wore some outfits which I might have liked a lot, but I can't find appropriate pics (not good quality enough) or no pics at all. To the left there's an example of poor quality pic.
And I look a bit chubby here too :(

From this small analysis I've seen that I repeat a lot necklace, belt and hair accessory (and earmuffs!), (and shoes, and nails, but that's a whole different story) so these will be my targets (aside from blondness lol) for my next magazine dissection and shopping spree!

As always, I'll appreciate any of your kind comments. ^_^
Take care!