What Gyaru Means to Me

I was just flicking through my blog the other day to search for some inspiration when I found myself looking at my old livejournal blog. Whilst scrolling my eyes I discovered my very first post where I mentioned gyaru and couldn’t help but noticed the date…

November 2010. 2010.

I just sat there like: holy mother of pandas, that long ago? I still remember my first days of gyaru where I was incredibly cringey and was adamant that a stroke of eyeliner was enough to call myself gal. And boy how wrong I was! Gyaru, as cheesy as it sounds, has changed my life, and so I decided to put together this post on what gyaru means to me!

What Gyaru means to me

It taught me how to put on makeup

I didn’t know much about makeup apart from that iconic Lady Gaga look that Michelle Phan did on YouTube, so gyaru makeup was really the first proper makeup I tried on. All I knew before my gyaru days was how to do a stroke of messy eyeliner on my upper lid with some equally messy mascara and eyeshadow, that was it. Contouring, doing my eyebrows, and even picking the right shade of foundation was all new to me.

One of my first tries… Well, this is embarrassing

Thank you, Gyaru, for giving me thicker skin

I spent some time online during my beginner stages, searching endlessly through “Kogal Panel” on livejournal before I bit the bullet and posted online. As expected, I wasn’t the greatest of newbies so there were some comments that was a bit of a slap in the face. But I just grit my teeth, took the criticism, and improved. Without those comments, I wouldn’t have pushed myself to try harder, and I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today.

I can’t actually remember who wrote this back then but it was a major tuning-point for me! Thank you!

Looking & feeling great!

It became my therapy

Gyaru gave me strength through difficult times. Whenever I was feeling down I just looked at gyaru inspiration online and it immediately put my mind at ease and allowed me to focus on other things (such as: how the hell did she do her hair like that?!)

I met some amazing people (from all over!)

I know that gyaru might just be a fashion but it has just changed my life in so many ways, and I think the biggest and most important one is that I have connected with some of the most amazing people in the world. I have finally found people who share the same interests as me and who knew what I was on about! And international meets? Gosh I never imagined that I would actually travel abroad to meet some people who were interested in the fashion!

Photo credit: David Kaiser

Wow I’m rambling so I’m going to stop and end this post by saying that I am forever grateful for all of the people I know and have met through gyaru, and for the people who actually came up with the concept of gyaru all of those years ago. I don’t know what my life would be without it!

Here are some things I have learnt over the years before I go:

♡ Never be afraid to post online, but always be wary that you may get some criticism. But the more advice you get, the more you can improve!

♡ There will always be people who will support you

♡ Learn the basics and then the gyaru ways

♡ Never stop experimenting

♡ Wearing brand is not important, you just got to learn how to put things together in the “gyaru-style”

♡ Keep on going! Never give up!

Love,
Lizzie xx