They Be Stealin’ Mah Makeup!!

As I was surfing through music videos on youtube, I caught something interesting while I was watching. I’m not sure if this is the new trend, or makeup artists around the world saw my face and had an awesome inspiring moment, but the black eyeliner and barbe pink lip colour which I thought was currently MY thing has apparently been spreading. As seen here:

Miley Cyrus

And here…

 Lights

And yes, even MAC stole it!

Now I’m not usually one to try and stay ahead of the crowd and race for the new ‘it’ thing, but this time I thought I was totally cool cause nobody was doing it. Now you may be thinking, “oh, she probably saw it on someone and unconciously remembered it” and my response would be, NO WAY! I know for sure I had this look going on before anyone here stole it CAUUUSEEEE….

I stole it from 2NE1….like..A YEAR AGO:

PROTIP: If you wanna get ahead of the game, follow the Koreans

The Gyaru in you and the Gyaru in me

Lately I’ve been finding myself fascinated with they ‘gyaru’ type fashion of Japan and well…my own makeup and fashion are starting to reflect it. (you know you like something when…!) Gyaru is a transliteration of the english word ‘gal’ and in Japan, refers to a style characterized by dyed hair (usually light brown or lighter), tanned skin, heavy eyeliner and rather eccentric-looking clothes. 

What I LOVE LOVE LOVVEE is the the overly poofed and curled hair. It’s usually kept at an abnormally long length, most likely through the use of extensions. (I have yet to see a short haired gyaru) And the skin is usually tanned to a slight to medium darkness. Fake eyelashes and heavy black eyeliner are also a must. For a while I was trying to replicate the black eyeliner look and failed many times because the eyeliners that I had were just not black enough. Now I find the only eyeliner that does the job is MAC’s Fluidline in Blacktrack. It’s a litter more expensive than I would like but let me tell you, that shizz does NOT come off! Also what I really like about this kinda look is the really subdued and faint (almost not even there) eyebrows. Ever since I was younger when thicker eyebrows were in style I never really liked them. BUT THIS I LIKE. I also can’t forget the characteristic nude/baby pink lip. I’ve also slowly grown fond of this too, because as you would already have lots of eyeliner on your face, no need to make the lips stand out too.

Another major part of the gyaru fashion is NAILSSSS!!! They’re usually done up heavily with bright colours and giant jewels and acrylic built designs on top of them. In my own venture into doing acrylic nails on my own, I’ve come to learn that it’s not quite as easy as it looks. But the rewarding part is that at least you’ve got a set of really cool nails that you did for yourself, even if it only lasts for a day and a half.

sooo pretty

So, for your own enjoyment, here are my own attempts at this stuff. dont mind the noobiness:

Makeup:

Nails:

These were actually one of my first attempts at acrylic nails. The tips are pink with glitters on them, too bad they don’t show up too well with the phone cam that i have. They didn’t last long though The acrylic lifted after about a day.

In Japan, this style and fashion has grown into a slow following and a handful of magazines employ such models to showcase the new and upcoming styles and looks. 2 of the most popular magazines are Ranzuki Girls, Egg and Ageha magazines. It also showcases the models in their lives and how they live their gyaru lifestyle. Because of this they have been turned into something like mini-celebrities. And of course the pictures of them are adorably cute.

sooo cuuuttee

Beauty, Makeup and the Road to Perfection

EEEEEEE!!! The Barbie line from MAC. ZOMG DROOL.

Now I have to admit, I’m one of those girls that are crazy about makeup and beauty products and it’s always hard to tear me away from the windows of the local MAC shop showcasing their newest limited edition line. But, one thing that I’ve been coming across lately is a bit of criticism of girls who use makeup and other means to enhance their physical appearance as being “shallow” or “fake”. Of course, this isn’t anything new. I’ve been hearing this all the time from girls and also from most boys on occasion. But after reading many comments on a certain beauty forum that I frequently visit, it really started to get me thinking…grinding my gears so to speak.

Sure, its natural for women especially to want to enhance many physical features that they already have, but along with that comes many others proclaiming that ‘natural’ is the best way to go. For example, if you were to go around to ask your guy friends what they would like in their ideal women, I would venture to say that most of them would state a preference for a ‘natural beauty’, one that’s pretty without makeup or enhancements. What’s interesting to note is that most men can’t even TELL if a girl is wearing makeup or not, unless its dramatic, or overly caked on. Which kind of leads you to believe that pehaps what they really mean is that what they’re really looking for is someone ‘hot’ without the need for any sort of appearance altering product. Sadly, there are not many who fit this description, simply because EVERYONE has a fixation of some flaw that they themselves find unattractive.

Would covering up that pimple or dying ones hair make that person ‘fake’? not adhering to the body that they were born with? My arguement would be that, we all strive for some form of self betterment. We attend school to better ourselves intellectually. We work hard to get that work experience to obtain that better job. We work out to keep healthy and we nurture those relationships that we have so we can grow with them. That being said, how can wearing makeup or enhancing oneself physically be any different? Sure at the end of the day, when all the makeup is gone you’ll look different, But hey, if you stop going to school and start being a bum, you’re intelligence will change too right? Using the same arguement, wouldn’t studying at school for 4 years make you ‘fake’ as well? because certainly you weren’t born with that knowledge. Or born with the life experiences that made you what you are today.

I’m not really sure how to conclude this, but, I guess my main point of this is that before calling something fake or artifical, think about what it means to say that something is REAL. And that take into account all the attributes that classify something as true and genuine. I think what you’ll come to realize is that to do so would be a more complicated thing than you imagined.

LOL GG.