Skin Care!

Gals wear a lot of makeup, whether it's outlandish and wild manba make or more natural looking, and it can be hell on the skin! You don't have to use as much concealer or cake on the foundation if your skin looks great, and to me, beautiful, fresh clean skin makes your makeup look even better! Teenage girls may have a problem with oil and bacteria, and older girls may have a problem with pore blockage and hormones, and there are thousands upon thousands of products to choose from! What to do? My skin isn't 100% perfect 100% of the time, BUT I have found a skin care routine that works for me, and this advice was given to someone I know by a real, licensed dermatologist.

For acne, you should not be using products containing salicylic acid, which strangely enough is in 99% of the products sold to help control pimples. It doesn't do anything, in fact, it makes the problem worse! Acne, no matter what the cause, either by oil, stress, or hormones, is a wound on the skin and you should treat it like a wound. You wouldn't put acid on a cut or a bruise or a sore on any other part of your body would you? Don't do it to your face! It's perfectly fine to cleanse your face once a day with a cleanser intended for that purpose, but you need other things too! Here is what I do!

MIKO'S SKIN CARE ROUTINE:

1. Cleanse in the shower! I use Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser (pictured below).  It's really gentle on my face and it smells lovely, and it's relatively cheap and can be found at Walmart or Target or any drug store.

2. Use Toner! Toner makes my face feel cleaner and fresher and really makes my pores look great! I use the Neutrogena Alcohol-Free Toner (pictured below), and it's really gentle and doesn't dry my face out at all. I highly recommend it!

3. Moisturize! You never ever ever want to get your skin too dry, you want it to be nice and soft and well protected before you even put your makeup on. However, you don't want something that's too oily and makes you more prone to breaking out, or something that's too shiny and will mess up your makeup! I use Mark's Matte Chance Mattifying Lotion (pictured below). It moisturizes my skin but leaves no shine. It can't be found in drug stores, you have to order it from AVON. I don't know if they do shipping to other countries but I do know they ship to the United States and Canada.

A great substitute for this that CAN be found in drug stores and you don't have to order with a representative or online is Neutrogena Oil Free Moisture (Pictured Below). One advantage it has that the Mark moisturizer doesn't, is it also has SPF to protect you from the sun!

4. After you're done with your makeup and home for the day to relax, take that stuff off! I like to wear my makeup when I'm going out or for a few hours when I want to get cute, but I don't wear it when I'm just hanging out in my pajamas and relaxing at home. I use Biore Daily Cleansing Cloths with Green Tea (Pictured Below.) It usually takes two cloths for me to get my face clean enough to suit me, but they come in cute little packs of 30. They smell really good and they're REALLY good for your skin. It does sting a little though if you rub too hard (especially trying to get lash glue off) so be gentle and do not get it in your eyes!

5. After you clean your face with the cleansing cloths, wash your face! The cloths don't get ALL the makeup off, and leaves a residue on the skin that you have to wash away. Now here is where the dermatologist's advice comes in about treating acne like a wound. Rather than washing with a salicylic acid cleanser, use antibacterial hand soap on your face! I suggest something from bath and body works or SoftSoap, something that doesn't dry your face out. All pimples, no matter what causes them, are a buildup under the skin of dirt and bacteria, the anti-bacterial soap will help clear it out. I use Bath and Body Works Antibacterial hand soap in Midnight Pomegranate (Pictured Below) because it moisturizes your skin while getting the bacteria off your face!

6. Just like you would with a cut you're going to put a bandaid on, after you clean the wound you have to protect it. Dab a little bit of Neosporin (pictured below) on your pimples after washing your face with the antibacterial soap, and your pimples will clear up in a few days, it's also antibacterial and will keep your skin nice and clean!

Hope this helps all you lovely Gals get beautiful healthy skin! If you have any suggestions, feel free to put them in the comments or tell me if the routine worked for you!

xoxo- Miko

Q&A

There are several topics that have been heavily debated (eloquently and not) in the Western Gyaru Community and here are my personal beliefs on a few of these issues. It may not be general consensus of what everyone else believes, but this is just me and I don't claim to represent everyone else.

Q: DO I NEED CIRCLE LENSES IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED GYARU?

A:  A lot of Gals think you do, but I think they are entirely optional. There are some things that are not optional, in my opinion, like false eyelashes. False eyelashes are a necessity, there is not ONE gyaru model that doesn't wear them. I myself am getting circle lenses soon, but without them, I do not feel any less gyaru, or to be honest, look like less of a gyaru.Wearing circle lenses to me, is a personal choice. Gyaru is all about being stylish, feeling fun, being confident, big hair, and big makeup!

Q: WHAT SIZE DO I HAVE TO BE TO BE A GYARU?

A:  I understand why this question is asked in the gyaru community since Gals are very looks-conscious, and yes, all girls are in some way body-conscious. This question however, REALLY pisses me off, as does the Fat-Bashing in the Gyaru Community. I'm not as skinny as I probably should be, and there are a few Gals that are overweight. I'm sure they are trying to lose weight and no one CHOOSES to be fat, but all the negativity doesn't help, not one bit. People shaming these girls doesn't make them any less unhappy with their bodies, it exacerbates the problem. Gyaru is all about feeling beautiful, the style was invented to challenge the accepted, preconceived notion of what beauty IS. So long as you feel beautiful, your hair and your makeup look good, and you feel confident, FUCK what everyone else thinks. I don't care what other people think about me, and really, that's the only way you're going to get anywhere not just in this style but in any alternative style or a different subculture that's not considered "normal." You don't have to be ANY size to be Gyaru. You have to be confident and own it, and know that you look and FEEL beautiful.

Q: DO YOU HAVE TO BE TAN TO BE GYARU?

A: I am very fair skinned and am not tanned at all. Again, I think it's a personal choice. If you feel beautiful with a tan, get a tan, if you're perfectly happy being pale, rock it. Personally, I love my skin and would  never want to change it, and it makes it easier for me personally to find a good shading powder to contour my face. I don't have to use a whole lot, and a good bronzer works wonders for shading. I think Gals should change what they want, and love what they don't want to change.


Q: DO YOU HAVE TO BE BLONDE TO BE GYARU?

A: No! I have seen perfectly beautiful, great Gals with dark hair! If you want to be blonde, be pretty in platinum! If you look better with dark hair, have dark hair! My hair is blue black and again, it doesn't make me feel any less like a true Gyaru.

Product Review: Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude

Nude lips are a necessity for Gyaru makeup. I'm by no means an expert, but to me, the main focus on Gyaru makeup is the eyes, that's why Gals wear circle lenses and false eyelashes, to accentuate their eyes. Extreme or at least very noticeable eye make, blushing cheeks, contoured face, and completely nude lips is what I try to go for when I do my makeup every day (I am by no means one of the gyarus that wear Natural Make, or light make, NOT that there is ANYTHING wrong with Gals that do.) This look, from my perspective anyway, is the most easily identifiable for this style other than Manba make. Some girls choose to cover their lips with concealer and clear lipgloss but I use Smashbox concealor and it always sinks into the lines on my lips SO I was on the hunt for the PERFECT nude lipstick. Another good fix for concealer sinking into lip lines is to put primer on your lips, but, again, I use a Smashbox product, and their primer is a little more oily and makes the skin feel like silicon, and I don't really want that stuff on my lips. Revlon makes really rich, moisturizing lipsticks that feel really nice on your lips and doesn't make them feel too dry or too goopy and sticky. I bought this lipstick in Walmart for $4.50 US, which for a good lipstick is extremely cheap, and I used it for the first time today and it is a GREAT lipstick! There's no glitter or shimmer (I hate glittery lips, but that's just me) and it gives the look of using concealer. It blends my lips in with the rest of my skin which is exactly what I was going for. I'm very fair skinned though, it may be too light for Gals that are really tan or naturally dark-skinned Gals. Revlon also makes beautiful neutral lipsticks in this line as well and Gals of any skin tone SHOULD be able to find a nice nude lipstick that goes beautifully with their skin tone! I am definitely keeping myself in this brand of lipstick and it is definitely a necessity for my personal Gyaru style. Hopefully if you were looking for a good nude lipstick that isn't as expensive as MAC, this review helped :D

RATING: 5/5 STARS!

My Gal Story: Why I became a Gyaru

I have seen a lot of these on the internet, girls in the Western Gyaru communities sharing their stories, sort of like an inspirational sort of thing and I thought I would share mine.

When I was 17 years old, I went off to college, and I wasn't ready. I didn't like the place, I didn't like the people there, it was a miserable experience. And rather than admit to myself that it was the worst thing I've ever gone through and just go home, like I should have... I stuck it out. Because I didn't want my family to be disappointed in me. Needless to say, I failed. And after that debacle, I went back again the next year, and failed again. I was taking medication that wasn't helping me, I was so depressed I could barely leave the bed, and I never left my room. I felt like the biggest loser on the planet for not being able to tough it out and do well despite being in a place that was, in every way, all wrong for me. I came home, to my grandparents and my dad, and I sat in my room for three years, getting more and more depressed. I would only leave the house to go visit my mother who I am very close to, but even that was really really hard for me.

And then this February, my mom's new husband went back to England to attend his father's funeral, and I went to go stay with her. It was so different... it was like all the negativity just disappeared. I started being myself again. I started being a person again. We started shopping for cute clothes, we decided to look better and feel better too. We got really into learning about makeup and hair, and that is when I found Gyaru. It was everything I wanted to be again. Fun, loud, vibrant, and beautiful. I started doing my hair and makeup immediately and I've been in the gyaru lifestyle and fashion for a couple of months now and loving every moment of it. I'm even buying extensions and circle lenses and taking longer than I ever have in my whole life to get ready, but it's what makes me feel beautiful. It makes me feel like me.

I am by no means perfect at this, and no one should take my advice on this blog as the be-all end-all gospel on gyaru when there are gals online that have been doing this for a lot, lot longer than I have. This is just my own personal blog and my opinions on things. If it's inspirational to fellow new Gals, that's great :) And I welcome emails and comments and everything else. I have watched the community for a while and I am glad to finally be a part of it in some small way, but I won't be going on Gyaru_Secrets or anything like that though, or participating in the LJ communities, because I don't approve of or need that sort of negativity. Gyaru for me is all about positivity and I don't really care what anyone else has to say about that. I of course do welcome girls from the community to talk to me, or new gals to ask questions about me and what I DO know about Gyaru fashion and share pointers about makeup and hair and enjoy each other's company genuinely.

I also don't have any pictures of myself just yet, because I am waiting on a new digital camera or for my old one to get fixed but as soon as I get one, I will be posting tons of pictures so you can all see me, my makeup and hair and be just as much a part of the Gyaru blogging community as the other gals! Anyway!

Hello Western Gyaru World, here I am!

xoxo- Miko