UK Gyaru guide

Shopping - Anna Smith Handbags

2011-09-22T23:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Gals! I'm Lili - and I'm a new addition to the Uk Gyaru Guide's already amazing team of gal's. A quick introduction: I'm 19 years old, I'm from Brighton (South east) and I'm a university student!

What I've been dying to tell you all about are Anna Smith (For LYDC) Handbags! I own a few of them, and consider them one of the few gyaru-esque style bags which can be found here in the Uk.

They're not too expensive, most costing around £20-£30. Which means you can usually afford to buy a couple (hooray for different colours and styles!).

Personally I always buy mine online. You can usually find them all brand new on ebay - just search 'anna smith handbags'. Super simple, and I've never had a problem with quality.

Speaking of which - these bags are brilliant. They're stylish, and incredibly sturdy considering the low price you're paying. Most have plenty of little pockets inside and/or outside, and I've found a lot of the styles come with cute little bag charms which really add that extra bit of 'gal' to them!

Anna Smith bags are basically a brand attached to LYDC, which is a BEAUTIFUL brand in itself, with lots of super pieces which are appropriate for most styles of gal.

Anyway, hope I've helped any gals on the search for that new bag for school/college/uni/work (or just cause a treat is deserved ;D)

edit 5th dec 2011 - Hey gals! Just to say I've found that in Brighton Laines there are stalls that sell Anna Smith handbags - another place for you all to shop for them ^_^

Gyaru Makeup tools

2011-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Continuation of Gyaru makeup series

In my last entry I was talking to you about the basic gyaru makeup essentials.Obviously you can't apply makeup with just your hands, you're going to need some tools to help you to do so! So once again I'm here to recommend some fabulous (and cheap) products that you can will need to perfect your gal makeup.

Lash curlers are essential for achieving larger eyes. You can use them to curl both your own lashes and you can use then to blend your natural lashes better to your falsies.

Superdrug has set of curlers for a mere £1.99!

By themselves, I admit they're nothing that special and they don't do a tremendous job of curling, but if you heat them with a hair dryer for 10 seconds, you have free heated curlers that'll keep your lashes curled all day!
Mind you don't let them get too hot when heating them or you may burn your eyelids. Give them a touch, if they're too hot for your fingers, they're way to hot your around your eyes so let them cool

Brows:

It takes quite a lot of effort to get your brows looking as effortless as Gal brows. Surprisingly there's quite a few steps you'll need to achieve them.

Gal brows are generally very pale and soft at the inner corner of the eye getting harder and get more angular as you reach the end of eye and this is generally achieved by removing half of your eyebrow by means of shaving/waxing/tweezing, bleaching them or trimming them so you can drawn other them in a darker colour and filling them in and drawing on the ends with pencil or eye-shadow

For £1.99 you can get an angled tweezer from Superdrug to help you remove stray hairs from your brows

If you have light hair then you may not need this but if you have dark hair like me and it's really easy to see the individual hairs in my eyebrows (that sounds so strange) then I recommend this lightener from Boots which is £3.99.

It's very simple to use. It comes with 2 tubes, one of an accelerator cream and one of a lightening cream, a pot to contain the mixture while stirring and a spatula for apply and stir the creams. you put equal amounts of Lightener and accelerator into the pot depending on how much you think you'll need, stir with this spatula until the 2 are totally mixed and apply directly to the brow with the spatula10 minutes later you should have lovely pale brows!

Alternatively you could just cut your brows right down to use them as a kind of template for your brow shape, rather than bleaching them, and simply draw over the top of them and for that you'll need scissors

£2.79 from Superdrug [I love Superdrug today, can you tell?]

Yes these are nail scissors but they make excellent brown scissors because of the curved end of them which makes it easier to see what you're cutting.

Brushes.

This may be one of the more expensive things I'm recommend but this is because they come as a pack.
Topshop's makeup and brush range have only been out for a year or two but they are fabulous. I love their brushes and are particularly keen on their foundation brush~
They're selling a range of 6 brush essentials complete with carry bag for £26 and with that you get, starting from left to right:

1. A power brush

2. Blush brush

3. Foundation brush

4. Eye-shadow brush

5. Eye-shadow brush

6. Lipliner brush

These 6 brushes work out at just over £4 each and serve multiple uses as well are the ones they were originally intended for.

The powder brush can work for contouring your cheeks or blending highlighter and blusher into the cheeks properly.
The angled eye-shadow brush can be used for drawing on the ends of your brows
the lip liner can be used to contour your nose

and lastly a pencil sharpener for any brow liners or eyeliners you might have, preferably one with 2 holes like this Bourjois one that you can get from Boots for £2.49

You don't have to worry about all the sharpenings going everywhere because there's a little lid to contain them all.

and lastly, a lash glue which I have already written about in a previous entry *AHEM GO FOR THE EYLURE*

So there we have it; gyaru makeup tools for y'all.

I hope you guys found this helpful. If there's anything you think I've missed out on, please say!

basic Gyaru makeup essentials from the British high-street

2011-09-13T04:49:00.000-07:00

Hello ladies (and gents). It's Emmie! I seem to have been a bit absent from the site recently.

Today I thought I should cover one of the basic fundamentals of Gyaru which is the makeup, more accurately, where to buy it. Gal makeup in itself is a bit of an art form but as complicated as it looks, it doesn't require special makeup or particular brands. We have some fabulous (and cheap!) makeup products here in the UK that can help you achieve the flawless skin, precise eye makeup and glowing cheeks that you can pick up in Boots and Superdrug

The base:

Gals aim for flawless skin and one of the products that I feel help me achieve a smoother skin finish is a Primer. Sometimes, moisturizer isn't enough and if you have a slightly uneven skin texture or even pimples, primer will be your best friend. Primer also helps with making your makeup stay on longer and stopping the skin adsorbing all the colours that are applied to your skin that are in the makeup. it also makes your skin silky soft! You apply this to your face before you put in your foundation, let it dry for a bit and then you're ready to apply the foundation over the top.

17 Photo Flawless primer. for £4.99. You can't get much cheaper than this primer and they're generally pretty pricey

Foundation:

I struggled so much with foundations in the past. Either the colour was not pale enough for me, too orange, would sweat straight off my face or change colour (oxidize) if I wore it for too long or the texture would go funny. I've had my share of high-brand foundations but they just do not compare to this high-street brand;

the miracle that is Revlon Colorstay

A lot of gal models use this stuff, including Aina Tanaka.

It's around £12 in Boots.Yes that may sound expensive but this stuff is amazing. It comes in 9 different shades (none of which turn you orange) and there's two types you can get to suit your skin type, either normal/dry or combination/oily

Good points:

. Medium/heavy coverage. There's no need for concealer, this covers all bags, blemishes and red marks.

. Doesn't feel or look cakey (if applied properly lol!) If you want a really heavy coverage apply another coat of foundation about 5 minutes after the first to stop it caking.

. It's sweat/grease proof. It may be a little greasy around your t-zone at the end of the day but the foundation will still cover the area.

. It lasts all day without the need to reapply it.

Basically it's magic

Cheeks

Gals like their unnaturally pink cheeks and I have found that this Barry M 'Pink Orchid' blush is a perfect shade to use

picture taken from another site

At £4.59 from Boots, Pink Orchid is a vibrant pink with blueish undertones. I don't recommend you using the little brush that comes with it as it will leave you with a block of colour on your cheeks, instead opt for a traditional rounded blusher brush to apply it with. It takes a few layers of blush to achieve a bright colour but it's worth it!

Contouring;

Gals use contouring to create the illusion of having a taller, more defined nose, giving the face a more dimensional "western" look. Some may argue that contouring this isn't necessary for Caucasians to do because we have tall noses etc but this isn't true! Contouring is the plastic surgery of the makeup world. With a simple bit of shading and high lighting you can give yourself prominent cheek bones, a slimmer face and nose and beautiful high brow bones.

My favourite contouring product to use is Sleek's Face Contour kit.

Picture taken from itsagirlthing11.com

You can pick this up from Superdrug for about £6.50 but please be aware that not all Superdrug stores actually sell the contouring kit even if they have the rest of the sleek makep line.

You can get 3 different pallets depending on your skin colour; light (as pictured), medium, and dark. The shade is a beautiful soft matt powder that blends easily into the skin, so don't be put off at how dark the powder looks. The highlight is a slightly metallic and slightly pigmented to make the high light look natural. You can apply this high light to the bridge of the nose, the brow bones, your cupid bow (to make the lips look more full) and your cheek bones. There are full instructions inside the box on techniques you can use.

Eyes

Eyeliner

Gal eyeliner is probably one of the hardest things about Gal style makeup; it's very black and it's very precise. In the past I used to use a pen-tip eyeliner (which were fabulous for a couple of uses but then went grey) and liquid eyeliner (which is just plain messy) so my favorite eyeliner is Maybelline's Lasting drama Gel liner.

Picture taken from shopcoholic.blogspot.com

You can get this for £7.99 from Boots though I do remember seeing them being on sell for around £5 at some point not too long ago. It's a fantastic, dark black and favourite things about it is actually the little brush that's included. The brush is very important for creating accurate lines and is excellent for creating cat eyes and making corners on your inner eyes.

As demonstrated by Sakurina

Mascara

I can't really recommend a mascara because I'm not too concerned about what brand I use butI would say aim for getting something Waterproof (British weather you see).

I can recommend what ones not to use because the ones that don't work really don't work.

I do not recommend any of the natural collections mascaras as they flake everywhere, MUA mascara (they're only £1 for a reason and they do nothing) or anything for under £4 really.

I'm currently using Rimmel Max Volume Flash Waterproof which I got for £6.99 in Boots.

But most international brands like Maybelline, Rimmel, Max factor etc have reasonable mascaras, just see what's on sale! Besides, your fake lashes are more important.

Eyeshadow;

The trend of Gal eye-shadow pallets change all the time but brown and black shades are a pretty standard trend. Gals tend to use 3 colours of eye shadow, one of the base colour, one for high lighting and one for shading. 17 makes these little trio pots that you can buy for £5.49 in Boots will give you that option. (it's cheaper than buying 3 separate shadows too)

I don't recommend these colours, just showing the packaging.

17 has around 12 sets of these trio pots but they bring out new or limited edition ones depending on the seasons.

Brows:

Gals tend to have pale, angular but soft looking eyebrows and this is achieved with a combination of plucking, trimming, bleaching (which I shall go more into later) and filling in, with either a pencil or eye shadow.

After bleaching, trimming and shaving off half my eyebrows, I like to use 2true's eyebrow pencil to fill them in.

It only comes in 1 shade but depending on how hard you press it, the light or or darker you can make it. I bought this for £1.99 from Superdrug

So there we have it; the basic Gal makeup essentials! I haven't included things like lashes, makeup tools, lenses and other things like bleaching products, I'll save those for another entry.

So what do you guys think of the products recommended? Any other products you would recommend? If you have any questions regarding the products, feel free to ask!

Emmie over and out xx

Being British is "in", Gals

2011-08-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

I have been promising a few people a new post for a while now!

So here it is:

It seems that for this Autumn and Winter, we can forget about all the rubbish

Rioting going on, and be proud of being English.

This season is all about Sexy & Romantic styles with that British edge.

All over the spectrum of Gal, I'm seeing Hounds-tooth, Check/Tartan and Small Floral Prints.

This accompanied by classic styling Is a very key trend. Obviously all of it

has a very Gal take on all items, but it's wonderful!

Liz Lisa's key words this season for their Collection "Royal Lady"

says "Neo Retro British" - and from what I've seen on their blogs etc

It looks like how I described the styles above.

Interestingly enough, I've noticed that a few more mature stores are

following some key items of the "Chelsea Girl" trend for this winter in the UK.

Sister shops like Cecil Mcbee have the long, fine-pleat skirts with puff blouses

and (god-awful) red, suede wedges amongst their new line-up.

Here is some of Liz Lisa's new range, and the items on pretty similar lines from New Look!

personally, I think I might save and get a bag or something, but in general, if the lines are so close

this season, is there really a point to buying "gal labels" at the moment?

Apart from the few items that you know that the UK won't adhere to, or the out-there brands

from Japan that do fabrics we haven't even seen - This A/W2011 seems almost seamless

around the world.

In a positive light to this - perhaps we could have seen items in popular Gal magazines before Japan has for once! XD

Chou Chou Nail Salon Review

2011-07-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

The time has come!

haha. Yes, I had another set done at Chou Chou in Brighton

on Monday and I wanted to share my experience with

UK Gyaru Guide.

I recommend getting an early appointment (mine was at 11:30)

just to save any other appointments over-running and so you can

spend the afternoon doing other things and getting used to your nails.

Upon arrival, they will ask you if you want a drink, and what the

outlining design of your nails is.

If you are unsure of anything, the Chou Chou team always have the

latest issues of Nail Max etc to hand, and will happily copy

or adapt any designs you like. They are also happy with you

taking in hand-drawn designs, and working off that!

The nail tech staff that I have had nails done by are:

Tina - she is the owner of Chou Chou and runs it with her husband.

For any of you that speak Chinese, they are from Shanghai :D

(she can also speak a little Japanese)

Asaka - one of my lovely friends whom I met through here. She is

Japanese and is Gal!! She is also really interested in foreign Gal and

how we are able to dress this way over here.

All nails done here, like in Japan, are done with Nail Forms.

Basically, every nail is free-sculpted.

The quality has never doubted me there, neither is it a really closed-

environment so you don't get a headache from the fumes.

Most nails, like everywhere else, take around 3-4 hours to complete.

The lovely Asaka putting on my rhinestones :)

Pricing

I know a lot of people will be wondering about this.

Now, it depends on the technician because of what they charge

per hour.

When I got my first set done back in December by Tina, as she is the

head nail technician, it was £85 for a short-medium length,

a colour gradient and with some of their deco parts.

For a medium-long length (say up to 4cm) it would have been

around £100.

This time, I brought in all my own parts, and had my set done by Asaka.

With a Colour gradient, medium length and her sculpting a heart,

it cost me only £60.

So it really depends on who you get it done with, and what you want.

This was the finished result! My theme this time round was "Barbie"/

"MA*RS" nails

Feel free to ask any questions everyone!!

!EDIT!

If you think that the £60-90 average price of this type of nail set

is expensive, At the current exchange rate (post office: 122.9円=£1)

A "gyaru" set of nails in Tokyo will more than likely set you back

£140-200....Which is utter crap unless you happen to be earning in YEN.

Even with coupons, I looked last week at several salons, and with the

options I wanted, a set like this (perhaps a little longer) would cost

13,000-22,000円

UK Based circle lens store & Kumicky inspired highstreet finds

2011-07-06T03:02:00.000-07:00

Sup guys, its Marie another new contributor to the UK gal guide~

So have any of you ever needed lenses asap and just weren't satisfied with TokyoToys small and slightly overpriced range? Well we finally have a UK based circle lens store with ready stock lenses available as well as batch orders, with free fast UK shipping!

I bought a pair of Princess Mimi Apple green lenses and they arrived the very next day after they were shipped (review available on my blog) and I received a free charm as well as a lens case~
Now the lenses are £15 on the website but I used the 10% discount code on the sidebar on Amelies blog and got them for £13.50 and with free shipping such a bargain!

I highly recommend these guys and no I'm not being paid to say this haha!

Now I was in Kingston the other day and spotted some gyaru finds that I'd thought I'd share with you guys just to show you how easy it really is,

This outfit reminds me of the cute retro girly style Kumicky has been rocking all over popteen recently~
You can also find these satchel bags in a variety of colours in Primark (can't remember price), as well as the pearl bracelets in Primark for like £1.

Hope this was somewhat usefull to some of you~

Liz Lisa - River Island Recreate!

2011-06-25T03:24:00.001-07:00

Liz Lisa - River Island Recreate! by emichoco featuring stone rings

Perfect for summer, and just showing some perhaps worried new Gals that it is EASY

to find some bits n' bobs on the high street here. Similar to the other re-creates that we have

on UK Gyaru Guide, the original Liz Lisa coordinate is on the left, with scarily similar pieces

on the right found on the high street. I used clothing from River Island, and accessories from

Accessorize. The rings that are on the Liz Lisa side, I usually see everywhere in little boutiques

so if you are in love with them, scour around and you might find one for around a Fiver!

Have a good day!

A New Admin and Shopping in Brighton

2011-06-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone~!

I'm Emilie, your new addition to the Gyaru Guide here in the UK.

My blog: koakumacloset.blogspot.com

Youtube: jeunefille666

I'm really looking forward to sharing more Gyaru finds within the UK

and helping anyone that needs it.

I live in Brighton which is on the South-East Coast,

and we are famed for being the 2# Largest LGBT city in the world!

Also we have a lot of unusual shops here, which is lovely.

Speaking of which, there are a few places here in Brighton that you can

delve and find some Gyaru items for your closet or lifestyle.

Mama San

www.mamasan.co.uk/

Really lovely selection of clothes, bags, cute items and purses as well as

hand-made cards. I really love this shop, and the owner, Cindy,

has just had a baby!! So cute~!

Style: Retro, Casual, Cute.

Great for fans of: Ank Rouge, Rose Fan Fan, One-way, mmts, Glossy Rouge & Honey Bunch.

Shop Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYSrH8Lcads

Fashion Temple

Shop Locations

A little franchise of three stores, with two in central Brighton.

They carry a wide range of clothes and accessories, and are kind of

classed as an "off the back-truck" shop. But i've found some real

gems in the past and recently!

Style: A whole mix of things!

Great for fans of: Liz Lisa Doll, Laguna Moon, Lip Service, Cecil McBee, Miauler Mew, Mitsumaru Brands.

Lipsy

Lipsy of London

Now, I know they have shops in various other locations,

but I feel that Lipsy, more often than not you can spot

extreemeellyyy close knock-offs to Gyaru brands including

Liz Lisa, Spiga, Egoist and even styles similar to MA*RS.

Our shop inside Churchil Square Mall.

Style: Sexy, 70s, Casual, Evening & Partywear.

Great for fans of: MA*RS, Tralala/Liz Lisa, Vanquish, Rady, Kiss Kiss, Egoist.

Chou Chou Nail Salon

Chou Chou

Right, I have had my nails done twice here, and in a week I am getting a

new set done again so I shall do a nice review!

If you are going for a full set of Acrylic "Mori" nails, you can expect to pay

up to £85-90, but if you give them a budget, they will do their utmost best

to give you a pleasing design for that price. On their gallery, you may find

that some of the nails are hit-and-miss but I have found that If you give them a

design, Tina loves doing Mori-nails & will really be creative and make a masterpiece.

If you are looking for Sakurina-length nails, it will be hard to find in the west,

but their nail forms go up to roughly 3-3.5cm in length.

Fashionable Items that I have found recently!

Lipsy have these awesome Wedge Flip Flops that are trending in Japan

right now!

On the left are the Lipsy ones, On the right are by Liz Lisa Doll!

For only £18 you can pick up these leopard print beauties!

Tralala Wedge Flip Flops in two colours here!

Also, Miss Selfridge currently have this dress which is reminiscent to

Ank Rouge's lovely Summer designs.

£36 from their website and in store

Recreate the look: in Urban Outfitters

2011-05-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie!

I was flicking through the latest issue of Egg magazine when I stopped a couple of things that reminded me of things that I had seen on my most recent trip to Urban Outfitters.

"Blogger style" seems to be getting quite popular at the moment amongst Gyaru at the moment, which is nice because we can emulate their looks more easily!

You can get a similar t-shirt from the brand Truly Madly Deeply that they stock in UO for £28. It doesn't have the tassels like the first picture but if you're feeling brave you could try!

The shorts in the first picture are basically a total rip off of Bitching and Junkfood's cross shorts. they're a bit pricey at £55 but Urban Outfitters do offer student discount!

Retro Girly gyaru look on the UK high street

2011-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hello dears long time no talk!

I'm sorry, I'm bad at keeping up with this but I had a little strike in inspiration!

Bloomzy wrote an entry yesterday (which strangely got deleted by blogger, which was having multiple problems yesterday) highlighting the current trends amongst the followers of the newish Gyaru look, Retro Girly.

This inspired me to have a look around for ways that you can recreate the Retro Girly look with clothes you can find on the high street!

With the help of Bloomzy's entry and my own observation, here are some of the current trends.

. Peter pan collars

. Bib detail

. High Waist shorts

.Pale demin

.Gingham

.Ankle socks

.Lace

. Vintage style jewelery

. Oxford Style heels

. Pale floral print

. Flowery hair things

Please keep in mind that not everything that's avaliable in Japan right now is available

here, I'm just working with what we have ^^;

I think that the look is pretty easy to recreate with the clothes we have on the high street but funnily enough I think it would have been even easier to recreate if last Autumn's stock was still around, especially in the case of shoes, as there are barely any shoes available atm that aren't sandals, flats or gladiator-like, and socks!

So, running around Oxford Street I go~

So for the New Look co-ordinate, I picked an off-white chiffon top with neck detail, peach shorts with a bow, suade peep toe boots with woven heels. Earrings that pick up on the colour of the shorts and a cute little fob watch neclace with rose detail.

I picked a pale pink Gypsy-style top to go with these AMAZING camel shorts with cut-out detail (I forgot the proper term) a scalloped hem with a big pretty bow. A pearl collar necklace which I think would double up as necklace and picking up on the Peter Pan collar trend; a flowery headband, (worn like how they should be and not worn across your head like a bandana) and some pink studded wedges. I think this could have looked really cute with some little socks but alas, there were no little socks to be seen in the shop -cry-

I think this is my favorite co-ordinate though I think the shorts are a bit long. The top is pink 9yuo will have to wear a cami underneath it because it is sheer), taupe shorts, shoes with a chunky heel which seem to be quite popular with the look atm and this adorable little hat. It's so cute I can't stand it! Look at the flower and bow aasjfbgkajsd and because you can't really wear necklaces with such a high necked top, a little whimsical bracelet with an envelope on it to top the look off. (I still think it would look better with ankle socks...)

Aaand the last one. The Topshop website annoys me because half the time they never have things on it that they actually have in store.

SO here's yet another top with a Peter Pan neckline, this time with ribbon detail, suede royal blue shorts (idea from the 3rd Retro Girl picture I posted), sheer pink dotty socks, cut out leather wedges and a gold bracelet that looks a bit like a watch but isn't (if only the autumn stock was still available, that stuff was way more suited jewelery wise).

So there you have it! Retro Girly!

It was actually kind of fun to make! I'd love to know what you guys think of the looks and, as always, if you have any suggestions for the site for anything that yuo want to see on it, drop a comment!

False Eyelash glues that are avaliable in the UK

2011-03-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

False lashes are a staple accessory for any Gal so it makes sense that her lash glue holds her lashes well and lasts a long time and doesn't let her eye-makeup down.
I have had a few request in the past to write about glues at that are available on the UK high street so I shall talk about three of the most popular brands here and talk about my own experience, so I hope any of you falsie newbies or girls looking for a better glue alternative,find this helpful!

I recently became aware that it is possible to be allergic to latex so if any of you are, or on trying 2 of these glues it really irritates your eyes, please don't use them. I pointed out the two glues that contain latex and the ones that don't.

Duo Lash Glue

So far, the only place I have seen this sold is at M.A.C stores or counters and it's pretty pricey at £10 [I think it used to be £8] per 14 gram tube. The tube is a soft squeezable plastic and you apply the glue by squeezing a little out of the top and running it along the lash bone. Duo is a latex based glue,.

Picture not mine, I don't have this glue anymore to photograph

Pros
. It sticks to the lashes well. The glue itself, being latex based, isn't sticky on anywhere except the lashes so it doesn't really stick ot anything else besides it. Yay, no sticky eyelids!

. It peels off your lashes easily. One pick at it and the glue should peel off in one with no glue sticking to your lashes!

. It's weather and sweat proof, and according to Kei, sex proof

. It doesn't wreck your falsies. The glue just peels straight off with the aid of a tweezers and you're free to use those lashes for as long as you can maintain their shape for

Cons

. It SMELLS. It's common knowledge that lash glue wreaks but once the glue dries, the smell of old jizz goes away

. It doesn't stick to skin well. If you like your Gal make with the outer edges of your lashes going past your natural lash line (onto skin), this glue won't work that well.

. Peels at the edges when your face gets greasy.

. The tube has a life of its own. Squeeze too soft, nothing comes out, squeeze slightly too hard, it explodes everywhere, which can cause two possible problems:

If it gets in your eyes, it hurts so if it squirt i your eye, wash it out quickly and when putting the falsies with glue on your lashes, make sure you leave them to dry for a few seconds before you actually put them in your eye

It doesn't come off clothes easily, if at all: I have ruined many pairs of tights and even a pair of tracksuit bottoms from a glue-exploding episode.

Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive

Skanky container is skanky!

You can pick this up from most Boots stores for around £5 (give or take a few pounds) and it comes in a nice hard plastic tube with the application brush. Revlon glue is latex free.

Pros
. It's easy to know when it's suitable for sticking. The glue will turn a pearly blue!

. There's a lot of it

. The brush applicator makes it really easy to apply.

You can see how the glue goes blue when it starts drying.

. It sticks really well. Lashes, going past/above/below your natural lash-line, SORTED and it will stay stuck for the entire day

. It doesn't smell bad.

Sounds amazing right? But in my opinion, the few cons it does have far outweight the pros

Cons

. It sticks really well. This means it sticks pretty much anything really well; your own lashes to themselves, eyeliner/shadow to your eye lids, your eyelids to themselves and it takes forever to get off your own lashes, you can still find clumps of it after you've removed your falsies and it hurts to remove. The eyeliner you applied before you stuck your lashes on will still be there after 2 days, even with vigorous scrubbing and even then your eyelids are going to feel sticky.

The glue mark has been there for a YEAR and that's with repetitive washing!

. It WRECKS your falsies. If you're patient enough, you can get most of the glue off the bone with yuour tweezers, any glue that goes directly onto the hairs of the falsies will NOT come off, infact you're more likely to pull the bone out than pick out all the glue. Dead falsies mean that you have to buy more lashes, which means spending more money on new falsies and UK falsies are not cheap!

This is how your lashes look after you've picked off all the glue you can

. It wrecks your real lashes. Picking that glue out will rip them out and no one wants that, it hurts and it increases the chances of not having lashes when you're older.

and onto the last glue

Eylure Lashfix

This is the cheapest of the three at £2.50 (give or take a few pence) a bottle for which you get a thumb-sized glass bottle with 6ml of glue. You can find this in Boots (some, not all mind) and even in Topshop, thought the packaging is slightly different. Eylure glue contains latex.

As demonstrated by my lovely assistant, Stitch!

Pros

. It sticks well, lashes and eye-skin area, unless you sweat then you may need to apply more on the skin area

. It's easy to apply. The applicator is a transparent tube that's cut off at an angle, which traps the glue almost like a feather quill to ink, that you swipe with easy precision along the lash bone.

. It peels off your lashes easily and it doesn't hurt [as much as the duo glue]

. It peels off your falsies easily. One pull of the tweezers on the corner of your falsie and the glue peels off in one. Don't worry about getting the glue on the lash hairs because the glue can be removed from them just as easily.

Cons

. Again, it smells, it doesn't have the same jizzy/latexy smell at the Duo glue but it does smell a little of peroxide and on smelling it right now, I think they tried to make it smell less bad by adding something to it... not too sure what it's supposed to smell like

. The bottle is glass. I've never had it smash before but the glass is pretty thin and if it gets battered around in your bag, there is a possibility and the results won't be pretty.

. It's not really sweat proof. If your face tends to get greasy or it's a really hot day, you'll probably end up having to reapply the glue at some point in the day, unless you use a lot of glue then it should be fine

So there you have it! I hope it was helpful. It was strangely fun to write about too. If there are any glues that you can get in the UK that I didn't list, drop a comment and share your experience.

If you have any questions about the glues that I didn't cover, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

English princess style brand Boginni&Co

2011-01-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

Anyone heard of Boginni before...? I thought not. Me neither.

This is a slight strange occurrence for me as I'm pretty brand savvy but Boginni was brought to my attention because of this picture that popped up on my tumblr.

This is a serious case of "Not Sure If Want". It looks pretty chavvy and obnoxious looking. It's baby pink, it's covered in gold chains, it has an enamel brand plate and it looks suspiciously like an old-school Polly Pocket case but for some reason, I don't think I can continue to live unless this bag is in my life.

I had a look around Google to try and find some more out about the brand. Their website, Boginni, is a little bit defunct looking but they have a functions ebay site!

The clothes seem a bit hit and miss and well, it does appear to be a bridal-wear company but if you would just focus your attention on the bags...

They look like they'd be pretty at home next to a Jesus Diamante handbag right?

The JD ones look pretty tame in comparison!

Their shoes are also a bit hit and miss (especially their boots, rhinestone encrushed boots? No thanks) but look at these bad boys (PICTURES FROM THEIR SITE AND EBAY)

Front virew. (cute button eh)

View of the heel! I love this detail, it's so clever~

The front of these shoes is cute enough but just look..

KYAAA!Look how pretty that is! The heel is clear pink plastic, embedded with little rhinestones!

(most of these shoes are on sale at £39.99 so go get!)

Here's a Jesus Diamante example of heels-with-stuff-in-them

and time for my favorites...

HOLY CRAP, GALIFIED DOC MARTENS

Also available in black! Wouldn't these be cute with TuTuHa clothes?

Me and Amelie are having a hard time containing ourselves at this present moment. I pretty much wet myself the entire time I wrote this.

If you're into OTT Hime gyaru style or just like really pink sparkly things, definitely check out this brand! Support British brands!

they also have a branch in Japan; this might explain some things...

if any of you want to check out the store itself, go to

Showroom shop: 7 Poplar Arcade,

Touchwood Shoping Centre,

Solihull,

West Midlands,

B91 3GH,

United Kingdom

Kigurumi pajamas from the UK

2011-01-25T09:38:00.000-08:00

The London Evening Standard bought to my attention a website that sells Kigurumi pajamas that's based in the UK simply called Kigu!

What's a Kigurumi you ask? If you're familiar with yamamba and manba, you may recall the animal/pokemon/Disney bodysuits they were frequently seen donning..

Pretty cool right. Comfy too, I should know, I own one.

Hello 16 year old Emmie [old picture is old]

So back to the website.

All the Kigu's avaliable are £39.99 (plus £4.99 for post and packaging). You might think that's a bit expensive but here some the benefits of ordering from a UK store rather than a Japanese one.

1) There's no yen-to-pound hooha to worry about

2) There's no added tax/handling/shipping/weight/whatever fees that mount to extra costs

3) Because it's based in the EU, there's no risk your package is going to get caught by customs, meaning you have to pay even more money!

If you fancy an old-school gal, kogyaru day, old-school manba day or you just want to be warm, these are perfect. Plus the look hilarious and are always fun to take to a party.

KIGU <>KIGU

and no I'm not being paid to promote the company (unless they want to you know, send me free things), I'm just happy that there's actually a UK site selling them!

and for site news; I should be changing the comment box so that I can reply to you directly to your comments!

EDIT: Apparently there is more than one online store based in the UK that sell Kigurumi

kigs.co.uk

Animal Costume Shop

Forever 21 in Birmingham

2011-01-21T03:30:00.000-08:00

Wait... isn't Forever 21 only in America?
Well apparently not because on my visit to Birmingham to see Amelie, she showed me that The Bullring shopping center does in fact have it's own Forever 21 store which opened in November last year.

So what does this mean? Well for one thing, it means cheaper clothes, In the US, Forever 21 is famous for its super cheap clothes but unfortunately for us because Forever 21 is technically an imported brand the prices are still going to be a little higher but most of their stuff still work out a lot cheaper than most of the high street stores that we have here.

Shop front on the 3rd level with the fancy chandelier [not my pic]

The shop itself is massive, expanding across 3 levels. It was a little over whelming because there are just so many clothes. If you've ever been to Primark on Oxford street, some of you, like myself, will have found it incredibly stressful to look around because there is just so much stuff everywhere and you just don't know where to look so you just end up giving up and leaving. This shop on the other hand isn't like that. Unlike Primark, this store is very well layed out. There are little mannequin displays everywhere showing you how to put things together and certain trends are blocked into one area with other clothes so it's totally easy tp navigate your way through all the clothes.

So how does this relate to Gal? Clothes from the store are featured in gal magazines like Egg and Popteen quite frequently and there are a number of stores in Tokyo so this means that we can have some of the clothes that are favorite models are wearing without the hefty gal-brand price tag.

Amelie and I had a little wonder around to see if we could find any gal style co-ordinates we could put together so we took a quick wizz around the store and picked up some stuff!

We wanted to go for a ShibuHara look so we smuggled a few things into the changing room and took some sneaky pictures.

We used the polka dot skirt to demonstrate 2 possible looks.

Pretty cute right!

Both the top and skirt were approximately £16 each.
The skirt is lined royal blue with green-blue polka dots and it's made from a polyester chiffon meaning it's very floaty and kind of see through with an elasticated waistband.

The grey jumper is a little darker in reality than the picture at it has that greyish/white effect that a lot of sports clothing has. It's a super soft cotton/polyester blend (and amazing for the price) and the design on the front appears to be screen printed on.

Outfit 2

Tshirt: £14.80
Socks: £4.40

The tshirt and socks are from a super cute Minnie Mouse themed collection called Minnie Muse. The collection itself has a Parisian/Japanese vibe to it (yes that is Katakana you see on the t-shirt). I think the collection is shopping now because these were the only thigns from the collection that we saw left in store -_-

So there we have it, simple but cute Shibuhara, and you can accessories it as much or as little as you want and both of these outfits only work out a little over £30 each!

We would have done more but its hard to skulk around taking pictures in a store without getting thrown out.

I did take a couple of pictures of the shop fronts though.

They aren't really relevant to Gal but I think it is important to know and understand the trends that we have here so you know what you have to work with.

If any of you want to visit the place, here's the address

FOREVER21
Birmingham Bullring (England)
MSU 8-9, Levels 7&9 Bullring
Birmingham, West Midlands
Phone: (44) 121 616 2169

and if any of you want to check out the site click here.

If there is anything you want me to write about then please let me know as I'm a bit baffled about what you guys want to know about.

Lhouraii's Gaijin gal interview

2010-12-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Today, Gal Lhouraii a.k.a Lady Li uploaded a video featuring some of the Gals in the Western gal community and asked them questions about their relationship with Gal, what is it to them and their own tips of being Gal as a foreigner.

It's really interesting, check it out~

It features Monica, Ashley, Valentine, Lisha, Shiena, Natalie and Yuri

Gal clothes on the British Highstreet; River Island

2010-11-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Yes I know, it's been almost a year since this site was updated but I'm really hoping to get it up and running again~

This is a cross post from my personal blog

Yeah Hi guys, I'm on a blogging roll here. I went to London today to check out what was new in fashion land. I wasn't actually intending on doing a post like this but I walked into River Island and saw an adorable display with these items on it and i instantly thought GYARU and hauled them into the dressing room to take sneaky pictures of them and try them on.

Unfortunately they're not on the River Island site yet.

First was this ADORABLE cream plush zipped jumper with bronze sleeve and collar detail. I know this kind of texture was really popular in gyaru clothing last Autumn/winter but I have never seen it used in any clothes in the UK up until now.

It was really soft and warm and really versatile with this seasons colours but I didn't really want to pay £39 for it -_- Christmas present, Mum??

and secondly; THIS. A brown and grey leopard print coat with pom poms and hood. It reminded me of the W♥C one except this one has buttons instead of peg fastens and lacks the ears but still, damn cute none the less!

I put together a few coordinates of the things I saw in store and stuff I saw on the site.

Co-ordinate one: the teddy ear muffs and fur bag were together on the display along with the plush zip jumper so they inspired me to make this cutesy co-ordinate with lots of fur and wool and.. well warm looking things.

The Oxford Street store had a much bigger selection of tall fur boots that aren't on their site yet and a much nicer version of those black fur boots in a brown but just pretend those shoes are brown ne?

Second Co-ordinate; for a more sexy style. If you don't feel daring enough to wear the suspender tights, oft for cute striped black ones (The last time I wore suspender tights, a man walked past me and said "HOW MUCH, love?!" ) haha

You're not going to get much warmth from this outfit in this cold season but who cares! Look good right?

Co-ordinate 3: I wanted to make something a little Mode/high fashion inspired.

The top has amazing shoulder detail that you can't really see well here. It's got silver spike-like detail that cover the tops of the shoulders.

and that's paired with these amazing diamante embellished leggings! Normally I hate leggings (don't get me started on plain black leggings aslkdjaskl-infinite rage-) but these are GORGEOUS. To top it off, a fur cuff, statement wedges and a plain studded bag.

and just another couple of things from Bershka that I thought were cute

Cute cute cute~

Hope you enjoyed the coordinates!
I had a lot of fun putting them together and looking for the things in store~

What do you think of entries like this? Do you find them interesting? I'd love you hear your feedback ^.^

Emmie x

Item Alert

2010-02-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

A new little feature for this site; Item Alert! While out-and-about, we've seen something that's gotten us really excited and want to share with you!

SPOTTED!: Geo Angel and Nudy lenses at Tokyo Toys in the Trocadero.

Angel Lens 19.99 for 1 pair or 32.00 for 2

Nudy: around 14.00

I had to buy a pair obvz. Sorry for the crap picture, I got overly excited.

Ground Floor Trocadero Shopping Centre
13 Coventry Street
London
W1D 7DH

Gyaru clothes in UK stores: New Look

2010-02-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Here in the UK, it is possible to find Gyaru inspired clothing. You can't really be too picky though, what you get will be all that you're given, and it will only come around once!

I haven't been clothes shopping since Japan because I didn't really need to and couldn't be bothered, but I am going out tomorrow. I do a lot of online shopping, whether it be from Japan, America or UK, or anywhere in the world. Taking a look on some popular high street store websites in the UK, ive found a few Gyaru type pieces. I'll do more than one shopover a few blogs, so heres our first store and first blog on this:

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New Look

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Taylor Momsen is the new face of this store for 2010/the time being. New Look are one of the stores to harness the "new spring lace trend" which can be seen as a rip off of Hime, as the British high street are claiming it as their own fashion finding. Here are some Gyaru type pieces I found:

CLOTHING

Grey top with braces. £18

Striped cardigan. £18

Studded waistcoat. £40

Boyfriend blazer. £20

ACCESSORIES

Lace leggings. £14

Slashed leggings. £10

Black quilted clutch. £12

Animal print beret. £8

Black striped trilby with gold chain detail. £8

White trilby with black trim. £12

Pearl beret. White & Black. £8

Pyramid bangle. White & Black. £8

Bling chain ring. £8

Bling cluster ring. £8

SHOES

Rouched high leg boots. £40

Buckle peeptoe boots. £30

ETC

Pinstripe bra. £12

Blossom satin pinutck bra. £12

Kawaii in London~PART 1

2010-02-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

かわいい、"kawaii", which means cute, is springing up everywhere. Japan is the founder and it appears many other countries are wanting a piece of the action!
Kawaii is probably one of the words used most by Japanese girls when describing something, and I guess the word itself is pretty cute. You might be thinking "well, Gals aren't cute! They're sexy! And strong!", but they are! Check out Popteen, Ranzuki! And clothing brands like W♥C~ Cuteness to the max for Gals.

Supposedly London is one of the fashionable places of the world, but I beg to differ. You can, however get in on the Kawaii trend thats slowly sweeping overseas.

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SHOPS

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Artbox

http://www.artbox.co.uk/

If you're a lover of cute items and accessories, and also cute characters like Hello Kitty and Rilakuma, Artbox is a place where you can find these things. There are 3 branches of the store in London, and each one sells stationery, gifts, clothing, and other accessories. The prices are not too bad, but too be expected for London shopping. A lot of the goods are going to be imported from other countries so the price may seem expensive, but it works out.

Everytime I go in, I envy the HUGE Hello Kitty plushie sitting on the top shelf. The price for ultimate cuteness of a Hello Kitty bigger than you? £190. Its steep, but would make me happy anyday to walk home to! Im a big fan of Hello Kitty, and my own collection includes some small pieces and some big. I like finding quirky things, and when they're Hello Kitty, they're even better. I picked up these items yesterday:

Hello Kitty silicone baking pans. £15.00

I bought them because I love cooking, and when I can finally afford to live somewhere by myself, I want a complete HK kitchen. I also want to make my boyfriend something cute and nice to eat for Valentines day ;D

Hello Kitty rug. £15.00

Theres no reason for this one, just wanted something cute, and this was perfect for my room :D

☆☆☆

Artbox Covent Garden

Unit 14, Thomas Neals Centre

Seven Dials, Covent Garden

35 Earlham Street

London

WC2H

0207 240 0097

Artbox Camden

Unit 11, The Stables Market

Camden Market

London

NW1

0207 485 8840

NEW: Artbox King's Road

Unit G2 King's Walk Centre

122 King's Road

Chelsea

London

SW3

0207 240 0097

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FOOD

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Candy Cakes

www.candycakes.com/

Flickr (worth a look, seriously):

www.flickr.com/photos/31279737@N06/

Candy Cakes is one of those stores where your eyes light up and you suddenly want EVERYTHING inside. The teal green shop front instantly stands out from everything else in the white painted street. The store logo stands out even more, being in bright pink, with a cake in the middle of the two words. The window is like looking inside a rainbow, as all of the custom cakes they make are on display. Bright coloured icing on each cake, edible glitter, and cute little marzipan people inhabit this window and the glass display shelves on the inside. Prices are again, what you would expect, and they aren't bad for specially designed cakes. They also offer a service where you can design your own cake. This would be a nice touch for any kind of celebration!

I went to the Covent Garden branch yesterday and purchased a chocolate cupcake with thick chocolate frosting, edible glitter, a dolly mixture piece and crunchy caramel pieces on top. I bought for takeout, as eating in costs you extra (and isn't really worth the price), and the packaging was really cute, a clear bag with the shop logo in pink printed all over it. I bought Niijii from HIBISCGYARU a Strawberry shake, and although I *really* dislike strawberry and milk type stuff, it was actually quite nice, and very very sweet. The only downsides were that my cake tasted a little uncooked, kind of like the last of the mix in the cooking bowl that you eat with a spoon, and the whole thing was quite sickly. The staff member that served me was not very nice, being a little rude towards us, but we bought something so that made her slightly better...almost.

☆☆☆

Candy Cakes Covent Garden Piazza

Unit 30

Covent Garden Piazza

London

WC2E 8RA

0207 836 9982

Candy Cakes Monmouth Street

36 Monmouth Street

Covent Garden

London

WC2H 9HB

0207 497 8979

Candy Cakes Goodge Street

26 Goodge Street

Fitzrovia

London

W1T 2QG

0207 631 5041

Candy Cakes Kingly Court

Kingly Court Terrace

off Carnaby Street

London

W1B 5PW

0207 439 1199

Candy Cakes Kingston

41 Market Place

Kingston

Kingston Upon Thames

Surrey

KT1 1JQ

0208 974 5444

Candy Cakes are hosting/helping to host a special Valentines event too:

I really want to drag my bf to this!

Westfield Shopping center

2010-02-04T02:31:00.000-08:00

Unfortunatly, nowhere in England has a mall ENTIRELY dedicated to fashionable clothing for young women but we just happen to have Europe's biggest shopping center; Westfield.

This place is pretty damn amazing, it's HUGE! If you're still working off christmas holiday weight, walk around this place a couple of times, it'll do the trick!

While none of the women's clothing shops are paticularly out of the ordinary, having the usual high-street shops like Topshop, River Island, Zara, New Look etc, it may leave you feeling like it's just Oxford street and Regents street rolled into one, BUT on the plus side, it is very nice not to get rained on while you're shopping around! And as all Briton's know, the weather is this country is very unpredictable, especially at this season!

It's rather pretty too, especially around Christmas time~

As well as the normal highstreet stores,Westfield also has a little alley way inside called The Village which is lined with luxury brands such as Prada, Tiffany, Dior, Versace, MiuMiu etc-drool- Oh I can dream~

Westfield isn't just good for shopping and eating, it's a fun day out too. Concerts, fashion shows and events are held there frequently held on the ground floor, and even if there aren't any events happening you can just use the giant floor as a place to slob around!

So, Gal or not, get your butt down there, it's fun as hell!! Just go early in the morning, it's usually crawing with people.

☆Nails

2010-01-29T04:32:00.000-08:00

Getting Japanese style nails outside of Japan can be really difficult, as not very many places know how to do the sculpting of 3d art, or how to do any of the crazy stuff you want on top of your nails. London is renowned for having nail salons everywhere, majority of the owners being asian. Your friends all go to one, and recommend etc etc .

If you want to have something specific, you need to do your research. Take a picture of the design that you want before going to have your nails worked on, and see if there is a genuine response from the salon. If not, its not the place for you. Many salons offer "Japanese nail art" but can't actually do any. A lot of people only associate "Japanese nail art" with a few 3d flowers (not difficult to learn and do) and some sakura style colourings. Wrong. They clearly haven't seen the Tokyo Nail Expo!

Ive only ever had my nails done in a shop twice, last night being my second time, because I usually just wear false ones from FULLMOON or I make them myself (theres no limits this way). Since coming back from Japan, I had been following Yuma Takahashi and Aina Tanaka's blogs, and I saw this come up on Yuma's not too long ago:

GORGEOUS nails.

I wanted them! I researched around a few stores in China Town and Piccadilly and they all said no, that they couldn't do it. I went inside Trocadero, where they are a few nail "stores". One has just opened and has photos of Tsubasa and other Japanese models on the walls behind with their nails, and the owner has lots of Japanese nail magazines for clients to look at. However, When I asked her if she knew how to do these nails, she said no, and her english was so awful, I was glad she had said no. A woman was about to get her nails done by her and I had seen her asking her about a photo of some really nice Japanese deco stuff on the wall. The girl working there had said she couldn't do it, and the woman seemed really unhappy....

Anyways. So, I was thinking that there must be SOMEWHERE to do crazy nails, and I noticed that a place called Jay's Nails had moved again from the Trocadero area. I went to find it, and voila, was told I COULD get my nails done! So last night, I went to a lady called Fiza Sabah who does all kinds of nails. She was really sweet and is such a professional at her work. I told her about previous "salon" experience and she told me that a lot of the places in China Town are run by her own ex-customers who went to her for years, learnt how she did nails, and then opened their own stores.....with no qualifications to actually be doing them. Makes you feel safe doesn't it?

This is the end result:

So they're not exactly the same as Yuma's but I love them! Im going to be addng some of my own deco, such as the gold rings, and maybe some small gold balls too~

But if you want someone who actually knows what they're doing and who are able to do anything you ask for, this is where to go.

Jay's Nails & Fiza Sabah

Piccadilly, inside on the right hand side just after Accessorize

Fiza: 07949916036

Map:

(click on image for bigger picture)

Little Hiatus

2010-01-23T02:19:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys, we will be going on a mini hiatus for about a month or so while I get my ideas together and plan what I'm going to write about.

If any of you have any suggestion on anything yuo'd like us to takl about, please ask away and we'll do our best xx

Hi Sushi

2009-12-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

Located in Soho, 45 Frith street, Hi Sushi is a hidden gem of a place!

On Saturday, Hibiscgyaru went to this place for a christmas celebration. I HIGHLY reccommend this place, not only for the amazing prices and good food but the GORGEOUS DECO!

It doesn't look like much from the outside, infact it's quite battered looking but on entering and going downstairs and you'll be very surprised!

Infront of you are 4 brightly colour kidney shaped tables with sunken seating.

The picture doesn't do it any justice, the lighting was provided by spot-lights embedded in the floor, but you can see the amazing seating! The glowy bits under the table are where your feet hang, and you can also put your bags under there! There's also a giant mirror on the far wall (the one which my back is facing) which proved very useful!

The menus are well labeled in English and don't leave you thinking 'huh, wtf is in a Donburi?'. There's a big choice of vegetarian and fish dishes if meat isn't your thing (like me!). The sushi is very reasonably priced and there's a rather large selection of it too, unfortunatly, Hi Sushi's website doesn't have a menu on it because all of it's shops have different selections of food.

Remember the giant mirror I was talking about? It proved very useful for a reason... MAKEUP!
At the end of the meal, we all whipped out our makeup bags and brushes and started tending to our faces with the aid of the amazing mirror~~ the staff kind of stared at us... but they didn't complain!

Sooo if any of your guys are in the area, totally check it out. We'll definitly be going there again <3

Revamp!

2009-12-18T08:50:00.001-08:00

Sorry if you got spammed with my creating so many new entries x_x I'm in the process of a re-vamp as you can tell~ It looks a bit crazy at the moment but don't worry about it, I'm working on it! We'll be up and running soon! Hibiscgyaru is having it's annual 'HIBmas' celebration tomorrow so expect lots of pictures (unless the whole event doesn't happen because of the 6 inches of snow that fell over-night!)! Hopefully we'll be getting a couple of videos up so stay tuned~

Gyaru Magazines

2009-12-08T03:53:00.000-08:00

Hello! This is my first post to the London Gyaru Guide, and I thought I'd post on where you can buy Gal Magazines in London~

Japan Centre, Piccadilly

(photo credit of: antsizedman.blogspot.com)

The Japan Centre is located in Piccadilly, just over the road from the Eros Statue. It has changed it's appearance many times since it opened, and as of present; December 2009; the main store itself (in this photo) offers magazines, homeware, random accessories (like Rilakkuma slippers), and some cosmetic items. Directly next to the main store is the Japan Centre restaurant, Toku. It is not too pricey, and the food is really good! There is also a Japan Centre travel shop located in Holborn, and a food store located on Regent Street.

Buying magazines

When buying magazines from the JC, you have a really unlimited choice of many types of magazines. The JC cater from everything from Japanese lifestyle/home and "Mama" magazines to Visual Kei and Gal magazines! In regards to Gal magazines, the latest issues usually come out at the beginning of each new month, as the magazine is released a month in advance. So for example, egg magazine December would be released in November. Keep this in mind if you are looking to purchase your favorite magazine, because majority of the time, the JC only stocks a certain amount of these magazines based on their popularity of selling, and they can sell out quite fast. It is probably best to visit the JC a few days after the start of a new month, as the magazine itself will not be on the shelves from the 1st of a new month. Then you can browse, and pick up whatever you are looking for with no problems!

Subscriptions

If you do not live in London, or manage to get down to the JC after all your favorite magazines are gone, the JC offer a subscription service that you can purchase online:

(An example for egg magazine subscription. Original price £9.70)

This handy service means that your magazines will be mailed to you, and for a fraction of the price for each magazine!

Prices

Due to the "Credit Crunch", the prices of the magazines keep going up and down, and compared to the selling price in Japan, the prices here are very different. In one month, a magazine could go up by a pound or a few, or by 50 pence, or something similar. The magazines have a price label located on the back of the magazine. Don't let it throw you off though; however expensive it may seem, its a whole lot better than having to order the issue from the internet and having to pay first for the item, then a shopping service fee, then the actual shipping fee itself, and because the magazine is not that light, you could end up spending more that it would cost just to be able to pay for it at a cashier. If you spy a magazine that you would like, but have just noticed that you don't have enough funds to be able to buy it, you can always ask them to keep the magazine for you. They will take your name and number, and will hold the item for a week. They will usually ask you when you are able to come and pick up the item, as they will want to return it to the shelf if you do not show up to collect it. This does not cost anything, and is worth it if you know you'll have enough for the magazine a few days later. The JC website lists all of the magazines that it sells by category, and frequently updates all of their prices, so rather than me writing everything out, why not take a look?

http://www.japancentre.com/?cmd=cat&cid=52

Etcetera

Sometimes, the JC has weekly offers and special issues of magazines. For chances to see these, it is best to go in near the beginning of the month to have a look. However, not everything is always stocked. For example, egg magazine's "egg Beauty" is not usually stocked in the JC, and if it is, I have no idea when they put it out. You can buy this magazine online however if you really want to have it in your clutches : D

I hope this is helpful!

Koneko

Hibiscgyaru gyaru tours

2009-12-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

A new year is a new start for Hibiscgyaru; we've achieved alot, settled old beef and are leaving the past decades crap behind to have a fressshh successful new beginning so I'm proud to announce that in January 2010, HIB start offering Gyaru tours around London!

Please check out our site, Hibiscgyaru tour designed by circle leader Koneko!

Reminds you of Barbie, right? It's still a bit of a work in progress but it's getting there!

Check it ooout~

Purikura

2009-12-06T10:53:00.001-08:00

As we all know, Purikura is a fundamental part of the Gal lifestyle! Being Gal means putting 100% effort 100% of the time, but if you're like me and god slacked on this rule, then purikura wil act as your new God giving you super shiny hair, gorgeous glowy skin and even a tan!

Believe it or not, Purikura is avaliable in London, China Town to be exact!
Clicky here for Facebook group

Up the stairs of the chinatown market place, you can't fail to miss this place. It's always chock-full and you'll probably see some Hibiscgyaru members slobbing around there; our favorite haunt.

Please excuse my crappy pictures, I got distracted by a giant fairground banana... no seriously.

Picture shot between the puri machines.

Unfortunatly, only 2 of the 3 machines work which.

If you've never used a Purimachine, then you might not know that all Puribooths are different. Every machine has different props, changable back drops, stickers, pens and beautifying options.

This particular one has a seating area which can be slid forwards and back and MONKEY BARS and you can also pull a lever to change the colour of the background.

The price to use the 2 machines are slightly different. I think they're between 10 and 12 pounds.

"OMG EXPENSIVE!?" You say? There is a cheaper option which are the Digicams, basically a cheap rip off of Puribooths that involves you having to stamp on a pedal to take pictures, and none of the glitter and sparkles...but still good!

Or you could sign up for membership. 10 pounds (soz no pound sign on keyboard =/) buys you a

years membership. This means for every time you take purikura, you get money off! Yay! So then you don't feel so bad for spending so much money.

For a pound, you can have your puri emailed to you for easy facebook uploading, but I advise you not to because all they do is scan it into the computer and you could just as easily scan them yourself!

Hopefully the guys who run the place are thinking of buying a new machine seeing as one of them is dead and we can have a shiny new machine to play with, hopefully one that can change your hair and eyecolour *dreams* but I will keep you updated if I hear anything.

Peace kiddies!

Mr Taro

2009-12-01T01:48:00.000-08:00

First entry yay~ Today I shall be starting off with a resturant review! They're not going to be terribly formal but from our experience, this is what we thought of them. Got any questions? Ask away~

Saturday was a mini meeting to celebrate Koneko's (Hibiscgyaru leader) birthday so we ate at a Japanese resturant called Mr Taro just off Old Compton street in Soho.

Unfortunantly I didn't take any pictrues of the place so I've just *ahem* borrowed some pictures from their site.

Shop front oooh.

From the outside it looks a little small and as you get inside, yup, still small. Infront of your is a long a narrow dingy corridor where you can see the chefs preparing food on the left. You're lead downstairs and turn to your left and WAM

Pretty snazzy huh! I was plesantly surprised!

The pricing on food varies alot depending on what you get, but us being the poor hungry students that we are, settled on something more filling dishes rather than sushi.

A hungry-poor-student options would be something like the ramens, curries, yakisoba and Udon noodles [please check out the Menu ] At an average of about 6 pounds, you get a generously portioned meal! I'm not lying when I say generously portioned, we could barely finish them!

Chicken curry nomnomnom
They're not trying make there appear to be more food than there is by spreading it out n the plate or doing some fancy pointles arranging! Food is food, not art. JUST LOOK AT THAT CURRY, I might be a vegetarian but my inner cavewoman is salivating like a coyote!

Service is at a good pace, not so fast that you haven't decided what you want to get and not so slow that you get all tetchy and want to make a runner. Same with serving the food too.

So overall, I definitly reccoment this place to you gals. I'll probably stick a google map link on here so you don't get lost.

Emmie