What's in my bag?!

Just finished this video for everyone to have a little insight as to what I carry around with me almost every day. Enjoy guys!!

Gyaru & Sexuality rant (interesting read?)

I have been wanting to write about this for a while. So I hope some people will share my views, and that others will respect them and perhaps take part in a healthy debate? 

This 'taboo' really grinds me down an awful lot in the Western/gaijin community.

I feel a lot of people, especially in the new generation, dismiss the fact

that Gyaru originally was partly an expression of Sexuality, trying to get

away from the pressure of Japanese society in the early 90s (and still now!). 

This is one of the main reasons (apart from being so tanned) that Gyaru were 

classed as "dirty girls". 

I feel that because a lot of girls interested in 'girlier' fashion, who tend 

to lean towards dressing in Liz Lisa etc, are now dominant in the west, finding

it easier to intergrate items into all outfits from western spring/summer fashion.

This style of Gyaru, which is undeniably popular all over the Globe, is still

considered 'sexy' in Japan. Because still in a lot of rural and traditional areas

of Japan, even if you bare your shoulders or a little too much of here & there, 

you are considered a whore, and even if seen outside of work, can be fired from

your job just by reputation. 

Over in the West, due to the dominance of sexy fashion taking influence from the Adult

Industry, most of us wouldn't associate something so cute and girly directly with sex. 

Perhaps with looking younger, but because there are similar -but not quite "Gyaru"-

items in the Western fashion market, it's considered more the norm. 

I have nothing against Liz Lisa, or those who dress in it (I have a few items myself)

but the main reason I came back to Gyaru was due to me losing weight and feeling

that I could wear something a little sexier and express that side of me that was,

admittedly, suppressed when I was wearing Lolita. I am not attracted to Lolita in

any sexual way, it was purely for my love of Period Dramas and historic horror films.

So much to my surprise that when I fully started wearing Gyaru again, the newer Gyaru

that were in the community where on the whole more frilly and girly. Either because

they had migrated over from Lolita or that they just generally liked the style. I was a 

little thankful that elements of the older styles were still peeking through in 

Tsuyome <3 and cool styles being more prominant like Rokku-kei etc; which appeal to

me in general. 

Over this past year-and-a-bit we've seen another wave of change within Gyaru fashion trends.

Combining 'darker' items and themes, with club & gothic elements in tutuHA & Fernoopa;

breaking out of more of Japan's taboos with Mafia, Biker gangs and tatoos with OraOra-kei,

and obviously these styles are beomming more apparent and popular if they can have whole

magazines and publications on these sub-styles. 

I know a lot of these blog rants get flamed, and I obviously hope not to anger anyone,

but I do get fed up of people constantly being slut-shamed and put down for dressing

in d.i.a or wearing a super push-up bras and jokingly grabbing their tits etc. 

Fair enough that styles change, but lots of base elements of Gyaru are still prominant.

YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO CONFORM IN A STYLE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE NON-CONFORMATIVE.

Perhaps at least in the girls' version of Egg, they have cut down on the sex-related articles

and funny comics. You still get them, but more so they appear in Ranzuki, and are still

ongoing in Men's Egg. Does anyone perhaps think that this is because they assume that girls

in Japan have been growing up with Gyaru and have read all the previous articles, or are 

aware of the 'reputation' associated with Gyaru?? 

In all honesty, I'm assuming a lot of people will think because I 'haven't been around 

for a long while' I would be ignorant. I apologise for perhaps thinking this, but 

I have been into and dressing Gyaru for a very long time. May not have ever been the best,

certainly not the slimmest, or the most popular bla bla bla, but I do take the things 

that I like with open arms, and for a lot of girls (and guys) to be this ignorant

and callous towards others is beyond me.

People go on about following a "Gyaru Lifestyle". It is possible, obviously the materialistic

items are a little more difficult to get hold of, but if you plan on following one be prepared

to accept & admire the roots, know your shit, to be surrounded by diet & fad-conscious girls, to get

hit on by pervs and to know how to defend yourself, to perhaps get shit jobs because of how

you dress and most importantly - learn to accept hate and just have fun with it all.

Readers. For the love of anything Holy....

GET WILD AND BE SEXY.

Hyper Japan + New Zebra Nails (Pic heavy!!)

I did my nails on Friday, going for 

a 'Misfits' theme from "Jem & the Holograms"! (Any Jem fans on here?!)

After a greuling 4 hours, they were finished 

and this is what they turned out like!

I rushed off to Alex's house as we had to be up really early

the next day to London. 

We'd been invited to model for 'Hyper Japan' - A J-culture

event in London this weekend just gone. My friend Tania

was holding a Street Fashion show, so we were showcasing Gyaru!

Relaxing Sunday + OOTD

Always an oppertunity to dress up!

OOTD:

Cross + Top: tutuHA

Cardi: eBay

Leggings + Booties: Primark

Earrings: Hysteric Glamour

Had to change over my phone tariff today, saving myself £15/month so that's not too shabby!

Also, got me these sexy sunglasses from River Island! I have been scouring places online and offline, UK & Japan for some nice sunnies in this shape; these fit the bill perfectly. They're lightweight, dark tinted and have a cute quilted pattern on the sides. (and were cheap!) So I will take these with me when I go to Tokyo again in summer. I think I will also work them into my coordinate on Saturday at Hyper Japan - if anyone else is going I will see you there~<3

 Also I "invented" a new face.... It's called "I've had way too much Botox/Juvaderm and I'm trying to make Duckface". Hope you enjoywwww.

~Winter Lyme Regis Holiday~

I know that Alex has already posted his entry but I just wanted to cover it a bit and pop in a recommendation for the apartment we stayed in.

 the entry-way

 our lovely living room with awesome French windows

 awesome kitchen with confusing oven :(

our romantic bedroom connecting to the balcony!

When we looked at the apartments and at this particular one's specs, it seemed homely, but we were worried that we had to take the Macbook and attempt to rent a dongle for the internet etc.

It stated that it just had a VHS Player for entertainment, so we were really

Excited and surprised that when we arrived, it had TWO big LCD TVs with full Cable!!, a DVD & BluRay player,
And free internet!! Also the kitchen was pre-stocked with Tea & Coffee etc and cooking basics
Which was extremely useful.
To view and rent the property, click here:
 http://www.lymebayholidays.co.uk/cottage-details/A4609

During our trip we went to find fossils along the beach, which was a really nice adventure
Even though it was pretty cold and/or rainy.

 low tide

cut Amonites

I found these!! So proud even though they are not perfect.

 An Xmassy Amonite

 Pretty stairwell

 An Ichthyosaur

We also visited the Lyme Regis museum and an awesome Tea room which were both
Really interesting and lovely.

I cooked a few times during our stay, which was nice to do – like
My FIRST EVER Xmas dinner. We were a bit stumped on what to cook
As we are both Pesketarians; even though Lyme Regis is famous for it’s fish,
The Fish Mongers were closed around then.
So I made several dishes of Chilli & Garlic Prawns, Quorn bits in a Parsley Sauce,
Steamed & Honey-roasted veggies… lol oh and uh.. loads of rice…

The shops were decorated rather epically over the Holiday period.
Freaking fell in love with the Xmas Raptor!!

And all the stuff to do with Dinosaurs everywhere.

HAHAAAAAAAA~! Caveman Santa with his fleet of Dinosaurs!! XD

Alex took most of these pictures but he kindly let me use them <3

I’ve got some (hopefully) interesting entries coming up soon
So stay tuned~!

Emilie xoxo

GGA 2012?! + Valentines Weekend~!

I must apologise that I haven't been posting so often lately.

But I am so, SO pleased that you have stuck by me and there are even some new faces to be seen! *waves to all new followers*

So on Saturday, Ligyaru (Lhouraii) posted the nominees video for her 2nd GGAs (Gaijin Gyaru Awards) she set up last year. 

I really was shocked that I got nominated for "Best Overall Makeup" !! O_O; 

I keep trying my best at achieving the look a lot of Gals strive for, so I am really honoured for coming this far. 

So it would give me great pleasure if you could vote for me in that category when you are making your ↓↓choices!↓↓
http://www.esurveyspro.com/App/Polls/DirectPoll.aspx?id=11423

Also, after play-fighting in happiness
(Like this)

Alex was nominated in THREE categories! Lucky man! His ones are: "most unique blog", "Best Gyaruo hair" & "Gyaruo- Best use of accessories". If you agree on any of these things, you're more than welcome to go and vote for him too~!

Speaking of Alex, he surprised me really nicely this weekend when I went to his house after work on Friday. As we live roughly 2 hours from each other, we try to make each weekend spent special and worth while. (d'aw...bbllaaurughh ;D)
When I came into his room - there was a gigantic bunch of Freedom & Black Baccara roses with Pink Lillies & little blooms!!! |SRTO|IRTPO|SR (Can't you tell I love flowers?!) and lovely coloured tea lights dotted around~ *sigh*

Then for the weekend we ate junk food and watched a butt-tonne of films!
He also took me to Zizzi's on Saturday night for a lovely dinner between us two, but he only took pictures! ^^;

Happy voting for the GGAs and I would love to know if anyone has anything planned for Valentines tomorrow, or if they celebrated on the weekend - what did you do?!

xoxo

Weekend in London (seeing Wicked & New Year GETS)

!~Hey Readers~!

I have to apologise for not posting much recently!

I have been planning things and working as much as possible ^^;

Though On Sunday just gone, I travelled up to London to see

two of my best friends, Sam & Steph (They're twins! <3)

(Left: Sam & Right: Steph)

We dropped our bags off at the Travelodge we were staying at and went out to do a little bit of shopping and catch the end of  Chinese New Year. But we forgot it was 5pm, and that England sucks for Sunday opening times ;__; 

So we went to 'EAT.' and got some tea.

I had a Matcha latte <3 

We also decided to take pictures as cats...

Derpy Cats!! XD

After this we were hungry so we had dinner at Bella Italia and went home to plan the next day...

WHERE WE WERE GOING TO SEE WICKED!!!!

So we woke up at 7am, got ready for 8am and set out the door for Victoria.

(We were staying in the West End) 

it was FUCKING COLD. D8 (Roughly -2c)

So we stood outside the Box Office of the 'Apollo Victoria' theatre with our morning lattes until it opened for the chance of getting front row. The funny thing was that we were the only non-Korean people in the queue.... it was really strange...but fine none the less - we're all mad. 

It paid off though - at 10:03am we managed to buy.....

DEAD CENTRE, FRONT ROW TICKETS!!!

(for only £27.50 each too!! BARGAIN)

As you may have noticed above - we went somewhere warm for a well-deserved breakfast.

'The Diner' in Soho, one of our favourite places to eat.

I had Blueberry pancakes with extra maple syrup while Sam & Steph had Banana pancakes.

We were so happy to have these LOL.

After some shopping in Picadilly Circus & Oxford Street~ I managed to pick up February's Egg and a new shampoo from L'occitane. 

It came with a "free" JSG collab pouch!

IT FITS EVERYTHING OMG.

I tried this, this morning and it's not that bad at all! Smells like pulped plants but it makes my hair super clean and bouncy. :)

...That evening...

The doors just had opened at the Apollo and we made our way inside.

I found a secret smiley face which amused me!

Also everything was green! Really cool~<3

I took some photos of the stage when the orchestra were setting up.

These are both the sides/wings of the stage

And here is the Dragon Clock at the top with the call curtain being the map of Oz.

It was an absolutely STUNNING show, and even though we saw the standby actress as Elphaba instead of Rachel Tucker, my god she was extremely professional in her singing and acting and astounded us three and I think the rest of the audience. 

If you have never seen Wicked - I highly recommend it. Mostly a Comedy, with Romance and Sadness/Angst in there too. You'll never want to watch Wizard of Oz again lol.