GAL 109 MONTH MEME

Hi!! How are you? I know, I'm spamming but this month the adorable Reilaless with other gals created this "109 Gyaru Month" full with gal activities so I'm on FIIIIIIIIRE
They put together panels, makeup and parapara lessons, group videos and blogging projects and so on T__T

Obviously I had to take part to the blogging activities XD

So today's activity is a gyaru meme *0* 

You can find this challenge's template here

 Let's start!

 GAL 109 MEME   

1. Name / Gyaru nickname and country: 
I'm Natsumi or Natsumin, and I'm from Italy 🇮🇹

2. Since when are you gyaru? 

I started around 2008/2009, but my first attempts can't be seen as gyaru 🤣 in 2010 I finally stopped being stubborn and accepted a lot of advices from other gals who were more informed than me at that time; following their suggestions I started buying magazines and then BOOM! I became totally obsessed. My love for gyaru had some ups and downs, I quitted 2 times due to some problems, but everytime I regretted it and came back to gal www

 
3. How did you discover the style?  

Probably in the "worst" way lol: through Super Gals! Manga XD I say it's the worst way because I was so obsessed with it, that my first gyaru attempts were more bad cosplay attempts than gal www thank goodness after some time I got to Gyaru Wardrobe, an Italian site about gyaru, and discovered the "real" gyaru style www
The funny thing is that I read SuperGals since 2003/2004 (when it was published in Italy), and I was obsessed with it back then, my first alternative fashion attempt ever was actually a Ran inspired outfit XDDDD me and my bestie back then were obsessed with it (we even called each other "Ran" and "Aya", and I was Aya www), we spent a lot of time searching and customizing our clothes to make them similar to theirs... (obviously no makeup, no big hairstyles cuz we didn't have the skills or the products) Then we started the HS, got into rock/metal sh*t and bye bye gyaru XDDDDD Only I came back to it 5 years later, in 2008, sadly with the same concept of gyaru in mind that I had back in 2003 XDDD thanks goodness internet allowed me to learn the right way wwww 
Here you can see how I changed through my three big "phases", it took me a while to find those pics XDDDD

4. What's your current substyle? Why do you like it?  

This question is always hard for me www I love every single side of gyaru so I tend to wear a lot of substyles depending on seasons, my mood, where I go etc. But I can say my most worn styles are agejo, onee and tsuyome! Mainly because I'm old www I have a job that only allows me elegant clothes (so onee) and I love strong, feminine coords so my choice often comes to be agejo or tsuyome! 

 
5. What are your current booms? 

OMG I have so many! But the strongest ones surely are Chanel, AGEHA, Duras, Cecil McBee and white/beige/cream colors!

6. Share 3 of your fav codes. Why do you like them so much?

 

 I choose those three cuz they represent my favorite styles: colorful gyarukei, agejo, tsuyome and ora ora/anegyaru :D I think those represent every side of me, also you can see my favorite wig and my favorite hairstyle with my real hair www

7. Share 3 things your learned during your Gyaru journey.

Apart from makeup and hairstyle skills, I had to learn how to take criticisms and learn from what other gals point out; even bad comments can point out a real mistake (example: I ended up on gyaru_secrets because of my large nose; even if the comment was offensive it was right somehow, cuz back then I didn't care about contouring and without that secret probably I wouldn't started to learn how to contour) so I had to take my time to think about the criticisms I received and try to take the best lessons out of them.

Another thing I learned is to mix and match, I have to say XDDD when I was younger I loved colors but I used to mix them in the worst ways XDDD especially cuz I was influenced by manga and anime 

Now if I ever mix again pink and brown at least I know how to do it www

Last thing I learned that I wanted to share is that thanks to gyaru I finally started to take care of myself - literally.

Gal's motto is "Get wild and be sexy" but is also love yourself, to me. After all why we dress this style? Cuz we want to look amazing for ourselves. And isn't this love for ourselves?

Thanks to gyaru I started to do skincare, haircare and tried to have a healthy life style (but also funny, so I still eat out or drink sometimes XD), but also I started to work hard on myself to improve as a person too before as a gyaru.

A beautiful appearence is useless if the inside is ugly, isn't it? So gyaru really pushes me to move forward and become the best version of myself.
8. Share 3 gaijin gals and 3 Japanese gals you look up to.

It's hard to choose just 3 T___T

Western:

Georgie, cuz she's the western Tsubasa Masuwaka to me, she should have a makeup or fashion line imho!! I love her taste, her chameleon style, and all her knowledge sorry I'm a fangirl www

Lizzie Bee, cuz following her gyaru journey through her blog never made me feel alone, and her style is so dear and cute!!

Emirichuu, I know she left gal but I still look her old gal video in loop and I love her AGEHA boom into my heart T_T even if she won't dress the style anymore her old looks are still a big inspo

   Japanese:

Yumachi, cuz she's still gal, have you seen her IG?? Even if she toned down she's still undeniably gal

Chie, cuz through her journey she tried so many styles and trends that her blog is like a gal manual to me

 Sakurina, cuz she's the goddess of AGEHA and her movie "Girl's Life" is another gyaru manual to me XDD
9. What's your favorite Gyaru memory?

Surely is this 2016 Harajuku Fashion Walk! I was there with my besties back then and had the best time of my life XD I truly lived the gal lifestyle that day, and had so much fun! I miss a lot those days, but now my life doesn't allow me to do this kind of events and nobody here dresses gyaru anymore :'D
10. What would do advice to people who want to start in the style but doesn't have the courage yet?

My advice is to have courage XD here in Italy we say "Buttati, che è morbido" ("Jump, it's soft underneath") XDDD 

Jokes aside, if you really want to be gyaru, then be gyaru! Take your time to study, learn how this fashion works and make lots of attempts and experiments; you don't need to spend lot of money from the start (in the 2008 pic I'm wearing flea market clothes and a Liz Lisa shirt I managed to buy for 10$ on ebay www) and above all DON'T RUSH, everybody grows at different speed (it took me more than TEN years to get this look and it's not even the best for me) so don't be hard to yourself and have fun!!

And remember: it's just clothes and makeup XDDD they don't bite, and if you get negative comments don't give up, as I said above, but try to take the best lessons from them! There's nothing wrong if you fail and in those failures you can learn and improve yourself!

Also, you're never too old for this ;) I'm 30 and I still do this and I'll do this until I die XD and if somebody says you're too old they can go to... "relax" themselves somewhere else wwwww

I wish you all a fun gyaru journey!!

*Challenge ended*

I'm so happy about this month's event, I swear T___T if somebody manages to organize also an international meet I would die happy, I swear

Anyway while I'm here I'll show you my co*de from yesterday:

 

トップ,ベルト: d.i.a

ズボン: D-Stiag

付属品: Chrome Hearts replica, aliexpress 

I was inspired by this Yumachi's co*de

 

Simple makeup yesterday, I was in a rush as always ops but I tried to follow some steps from Emiriichu last makeup tutorial

I played around with SNOW filters, I found this one and now I look like Kinashen www

Now I'll go back watching the routine for the parapara session, see you soon and take care!

Yours, Natsumin~

EGG 09/09 Issue!

I'm back again this time with another magazine post! I prefer to post this before my last summer post cuz I don't wanna end up posting this at the end of the month again www

 

Ok so today we're gonna flip through this month's issue, next will be AGEHA from 2013 (if I have enough time ^^"), but for now let's take a peek through September trends from 2009!

So first thing (as always XD) is our usual Co&Lu ad! I love every co*de as always, but I can feel a more "american" influence in the models and colors. That year was really trending in America the "rocker" style with '80 influence, which is visible imho in the color choices (more "darker" like in Kanako's outfits; also the preppie style was a big trend, imho reflected by the use of bombers and varsity/college patches, but it's the basic for Co&Lu www)

After we have 4 different substyles presented by our favorite gals! Romihi, Kanako, Yumachi and Aina show us their style for this month

Romihi's style looks so haady! Her title says "Poison Kawaii x 80's x Choiero(A bit sexy)" and we have the basic summer palette (yellow, light blue, pink) combined with black and some white. Flashy/polished accessories and punk/emo influences do the rest

 Kanako instead choose Amekaji! Her title says "Naughty Boyish x Loose Casual" and as I said for the ad we have more black than the usual, more pointing to rokku (see the coords in the middle-lower part). Maybe a sort of rokku amekaji? Mostly of her clothes in those outfits are from Delyle/Lip Service/Vanquish which were taking a rokku turn just in those years

 Yumachi and Yunkoro stay true to theirselves and show their usual style through "Erokawa x Trendy": we have a mix of cutesy and country co*des (since pastel and country is trendy this summer), with lighter colours and some sexy touches of black. Her favorite brands here are d.i.a/Lip Services/Sneep Dip 

Aina closes this amazing showdown with nice tsuyome co*des: I love her mix of pastel colours with tons of black, so sexy and ageless T___T Her title says "Tsuyome: sexy x (skin) exposure x animalier" and I think it's so appropriate!
As Yumachi she wears a lot of Sneep Dip and d.i.a, but she chooses a more "adult" and sexy style combining them with Gold's Infinity too 

Next is one of my favorite articles ever: 1 item, 3 coords! Every gal shows 3 different ways to wear the same piece of clothing. The point here is to make a different style with each coord, to show the potential of the clothes! Notice the colours of the chosen pieces: they're all darker colours, I'm so in love with that royal blue that it could be my next boom www

Romihi, Kanako and Yumachi know how to kill me www They're my favorites!! Which one is yours?

 

And we can see a trend from August that is still here: resort gal is still a big thing, even if it's September summer is not over yet!   

 

  

Next article shows us the best gal tops for summer! We have tshirts, shirts and tank tops, but the keyword is only one: "yuru" which means loose

So we have long, loose tank tops, boyfriend shirts or big tshirts, it doesn't matter if it sits nice and loose on your body!

Our gals show us the best choices from this summer: 

 

 

Next, we can take a moment to remember WanBoo, which spoiled us with cheap clothes for so many years that it deserved a special article on EGG lmao

R.I.P. WanBoo, we loved you so much

 

 

 And now we have my favorite part, street snaps! Trends from summer are still very present here, along with the "haady"/80's and rokku vibe

 

Next we have some items suggestions by our favorite models 

 

 

Last Summer article! Posting this for the sake of the bikini lmao

Also here you have a lot of make up suggestions  

 

 

Here's the reason why this issue is so special: Gal transformation!! In this article they took a regular girl and teached her how to do gal, to incentive whoever wants to try the style!

Notice how easy is this makeup tutorial, it looks so gal even with small glasses and no lenses!

 

With this other girl the transformation is total: from makeup to clothes to nails!

 

Next, some hair tutorial and accessories suggestions:

 

 More bikiniiiiis

And as usual this issue closes with more street snaps, this time it's with gals from Sapporo (if I didn't get it wrong XD)

And that's it! In this issue summer trends are still here while we prepare for fall: more fall items (like long pants, hoodies and long sleeves) and colours are being used with summer items like sleeveless dresses; also we can start to see growing the haady trend (which I hope to see more in the October issue). Black x white/pastel colors are a big thing, along with simple patterns like stripes, starts and polkadots. 

Tsuyome, rokku x amekaji, haady and erokawa are the bigs now: which one do you like? Will you prefer one of this substyles for this fall? Tell me in a comment!

Please keep in mind that I don't speak japanese, I tried to translate what I could and I studied the pics as I can, so everything I write is just my opinion and my reading, if I'm wrong you can totally correct me in the comments and I'll rectify!

For today that's all, see you soon and take care!

Yours, Natsumin~