Life passes by so quickly that sometimes it’s nice to just take a step back for a moment, breathe, and then think, “what the hell just happened?!” I was having one of those moments the other day where I was feeling overwhelmed by everything that’s been going on and almost had a complete meltdown… But as if by some magical force, my package from Modes4u* arrived a week later which contained a super cute Rilakumma cup. So I scheduled a time out, slipped into my onesie and made myself some hot chocolate with marshmallows.
And here we are. So, let’s have a little catch-up, shall we?
I can’t believe Halloween is only a few days away! Where has the time gone? As I write this post I haven’t yet watched a single Halloween film *gasps of horror* but I really hope that by the time this goes live that I would’ve seen at least one.
There are so many things that I love about Halloween and I’m surprised that I haven’t dedicated a whole post to it. Better late then never, aye? So here’s what I love about Halloween!
There’s nothing quite like having a Halloween-themed gal meet or party, and it’s so nice to see people going over the top with their costumes! Sometimes the weather isn’t on our side (like in our last meet – it was freezing!) and it’s cool to see how people adapt to that. I usually get stuck on what to wear for Halloween as the inspirations are endless, and I did a little gyaru inspiration post over here.
Ghost Tours and Castles
Last year I went to Warwick Castle and I LOVED IT! It was so cool to see the whole castle decorated in spooky gear and I took so many photos that it was hard to whittle them down for my post about it. This year I went on Bill Spectres Ghost Tour with my gals and that was also pretty awesome!
Creepy Clothes
I use Halloween as an opportunity to revamp my rokku gyaru wardrobe, and places like ASOS and H&M are the first places I go for this. My “costume” this year was just a skeleton maxi dress from Boohoo that I’m going to keep on wearing throughout the year.
The Gyaru Nails
The colour scheme for Halloween is endless; you could go for the elegant look with purples and blacks, or for a more “fun” look with oranges, greens and purples. The possibilities for gyaru nails are just endless, and I find that people go really creative! This year I jazzed up some spiderweb nails from Primark with lots of glitter and gems.
I feel like I play a little game to see how many times I could play “This is Halloween” before my other half gets bored of it. Ghostbusters is always on my Halloween playlist as well as Thriller and The Addams Family. And you can’t have a Halloween playlist without the Monster Mash being on there!
The Not-So-Spooky Films
One of my favourite films of all time is Hocus Pocus, and you know it’s Halloween when it’s available on TV. I also like watching Nightmare Before Christmas and The Addams Family… I’m hoping to squeeze in some more Halloween films fit for people who aren’t fans of scary ones. Got any recommendations?
Discounted Sweets & Treats
Halloween means that lots of sweets are on sale, and often at discount prices, of which I take full advantage of! I mean, it’s not just for trick or treaters, you know? I also love the Halloween themed donuts that they bring out at Krispy Kreme, especially the ones from last year that I had at my Halloween party (even though they’re not as cute as the ones I’ve seen them do in Japan.)
Should I go for zombies, skeletons or a more witchy theme this year? There’s just so much that you can do for Halloween and I love how I can just go all out and buy lots of house decor and party decorations to match it. Even with Halloween over, the decor is also good for those who are into rokku and the more gothic-side of gyaru and they soon become year-round house decorations.
Pumpkin Carving
Does anyone else find it very satisfying pulling pumpkin guts out? It did make quite a mess with my false nails but I loved carving with my friends this year.
And there we have it! What do you love about Halloween and how would you celebrate? Hope you have a spooktacular time!
Trick or Treat! Or, in my case, just the treat side of things. I couldn’t help myself searching for some Halloween goodies but I feel like the more I love Halloween, the less that shops stock of it. How typical is that? It’s mid-October but shops have reduced their Halloween accessories to but a single aisle and has been taken over by *whispers* glittery baubles and sparkly tinsel. That’s right, Christmas stuff. It’s probably a good thing because I’m desperately trying to save money right now, but I couldn’t help myself to a few bits and bobs as well as some makeup goodies.
My idea of heaven would be to drink hot chocolate in a comfy sofa, surrounded by cats. Luckily heaven is a place on earth – the cat café in Nottingham was just under a couple of hours away, and it was the perfect spot for our next QueenE gyaru meet hosted by our member Rachel. We’ve been trying to do more ‘themed’ meet ups with our gyaru circle and the cat café – aka Kitty Cafe – was at the top of our list.
So, Hyper Japan was amazing as per (even if the venue was a total maze). I got to see all of my friends, spend money that I should be saving, and took part in the fashion show… I couldn’t have asked for more! It took me ages to go to sleep the night before because I was so excited to see everyone.
I remember the excitement building as I stood grasping onto the train handles, counting down the stops on the Yamanote line to Shibuya. I have been waiting for this moment ever since I found out about gyaru – it is the birthplace of gyaru after all, and I couldn’t wait to be walking along Shibuya crossing in front of my beloved Shibuya 109. After we stepped off at Shibuya station I whizzed straight to see Hachiko, the world’s most loyal dog! The story about how he waited for his master years after his death at Shibuya station is one of my favourites, and struck several heartstrings when I finally saw the statue in person.
And then it was time to join the crowd of people at Shibuya crossing to walk towards the beacon of all things gyaru – Shibuya 109. And I was extremely disappointed.
Hello, hey, hi. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to have a proper sit down chat with you so I thought it was time we did this before I get into doing more of my posts on Japan (how exciting). Right now I’m nursing an awful cough that was actually caused by my hayfever but I’m trying to get my thoughts together for this post.
To say that gyaru has changed in the last few years is an understatement; nowadays it’s totally unrecognisable, but hints of the old scene still lurks within the makeup. I’ve been watching this all happen and I used to get so riled up about how it isn’t what it once was but now I’ve learnt that it’ll never be like that again, and what we’ve got to do is just adapt with the times and see how it goes.
There are still a few things that I miss, though, and at the last gyaru meet Wib and I were chatting about everything that we missed about it. Thus I’ve compiled a little list of the top five things that I miss!
Soooo my friend over at love, maisie (hey girl hey) gave me “The Real Neat Blog Award” which is pretty awesome. Thanks so much, Maisie! So now it’s my turn to go up to the podium, say thanks to all of my wonderful family and friends, and answer my nominated questions before picking the next lucky winners of The Real Neat Blog Award…
What was the last book you have read? Would you recommend it?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows AND HELL YES. I don’t know how many times I’ve read the Harry Potter series but I always go running back to it when I want a chilled out evening with a cup of hot chocolate. It’s unlikely that I am the first blogger to say this, but J.K. Rowling is as magical as her books and I don’t think I can ever get bored of them.
How would you define your personal style?
An absolute mess. I can’t stick to one style and my wardrobe is covered in mis-matched clothes but I don’t think I can part with any of it. Some days I am all cute and sparkly, on others dark and mystical. Everything fits into gyaru, though (a Japanese fashion substyle for those who haven’t heard of it) so I guess I could say that I’m a gyaru chameleon.
Where is your favourite place to eat out?
Oooh this is a tough one because I love so many restaurants as I’m a huge fan of good food. I do love Prezzo though, and it broke my heart when I moved away into a place that doesn’t have one (don’t worry Prezzo, we will be together once more).
What is your must-have beauty product that you could not live a day without?
Eyebrow liner. I can’t stand having messy eyebrows and most days I just go bare-faced but as long as my brows are done then I’ll be fine. I’m still experimenting with different brands so if you know of a cruelty-free alternative, please leave a comment below!
How do you find the time to balance blogging/work/personal life?
I don’t. Seriously, I really don’t know how I do it but I have at least one day a month where I’m bedridden from being overworked. You’d think that I’d be used to this by now and I can’t imagine what my life was like before when I blogged at least twice a week. Never again.
I’m trying to get better at it by doing blog things on one day, personal stuff on another, but it doesn’t always work out… Any tips would be awesome!
Where was the last place you visited that you haven’t been before?
The House of MinaLima. I actually blogged about this and it was the best start of 2017. I was surrounded by beautiful artwork from the Harry Potter franchise and could’ve spent my whole day there.
Who are your three favourite bloggers?
I actually dreaded this question because in all honesty, hands on heart, I haven’t been able to find just three. There are so many bloggers that I love for very different things – lifestyle, beauty, fashion, and even travel – that I simply can’t narrow it down. I think in future I might dedicate a whole post to my inspirations though!
Can you believe that this time six years ago I was a budding blogger who couldn’t wait to get their thoughts down on paper? I’ve come a long way since then and even though I cringe slightly when I looked back at old posts, I haven’t the heart to delete them as they’re a reminder of why I started. Sure my photos were badly taken on an even worse camera phone, but who cares?
I might have said this a million times on my blog already, but gyaru makes up a huge part of my life. I don’t do the makeup everyday (because of allergies and eczema etc) and so I treasure gyaru meets. I realise that some of you are quite new to this blog and probably don’t know what I’m on about (“what the hell is gyaru, Lizzie?”) so in this post I’m going to show you what a day in the life of a gyaru is from the last meet I went to.
I didn’t think much of you when we first met; you were a pretty ordinary guy with an ordinary life, and I was actually quite sick of boys at that time because they were always the same. No matter how pretty they were they were predictable to the core (from the guys I knew of anyway) and it was a bit boring. I thus decided that I couldn’t be bothered to have a guy in my life and would rather just do my own thing and be my own favourite human.
And then you came along and… Well, nothing changed. At first. anyway.
Lately I have been feeling like this blog came to a standstill; I have been blogging for so long but it feels as if I’m still new to the scene. It was only a year ago that I found out about blogging communities on Twitter and realised how crazy cool everyone was, and how competitive blogging is. Everyone wants to be noticed but why read a blog when you could simply “like” or “share” a photo? Social media has killed the blogging star.
The year ended as it began; with my friends and family, because no matter how good or bad the year was, as long as I’ve got them then nothing else matters. It will end and begin on a high, what more could I ask for?
2016 was… Interesting, to say the least, but that’s so last year (haha) and now it’s time to focus on 2017! I have to admit that I did not stick to my last year’s resolutions at all. And you know what? I don’t think I’m going to stick to them this year either. Making resolutions sucks because you get this false sense of hope that you’ll be a better person but you end up just staying the same. Oops.
Instead I’ve made a to-do list for 2017 because I just love ticking things off, especially when it’s things that are super easy to do which makes me feel like I’ve achieved something. The first thing on my list was to enter the year looking as glamorous as can be, and what better than to dress up like a gothic princess-in-training? I’ve fallen in love with my dark side and couldn’t wait to find the chance to wear this gorgeous velvet dress I picked up from Quiz.
The thing I love about gyaru is that it’s adaptable; no matter what fashion throws at us, we can always incorporate it into our own unique style. I’ve seen so many Japanese gyaru that I idolised back in the day (and still do) who have grown into elegant young women, but still carrying a hint of that gyaru vibe. I want to be like that – to be growing old but never growing out of gyaru.
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