Twenty-three but no wiser~

These past couple of months, as I've been saying, have just been so strange. Like a whirl wind of stuff-lots of self reflection. A lot has went on but not a lot has at the same time~

So first off my twenty-third birthday passed. It was the first time I ever spent my birthday alone. I went to SF alone to celebrate a couple of weekends later! Haha~ I suppose it's all a part of growing up really-being independent. But it for sure was such a strange feeling. 

The day of my birthday I dressed up for absolutely no reason and just lounged around the house. I tried to do a slightly more mature look. I did a new hair style too! I really love how I just rocked simple make-up and nothing but Dollywinks~ It kind of made me feel like an older Popteen gal or something! Haha! The day of my birthday was bizzare because of the weather too. it was sunny ad storming at the exact same time while I headed up to get a boba... What the hell? 

A couple weekends later I hit San Francisco solo and went for a totally different look. Because I was hitting the city I wanted to kind of being flashier since I can't get away with certain clothing out here as is. I decided to goth it out and wear my Ghost of Harlem dress out. It was long enough to feel safe in and throw a jacket over without feeling unsafe considering I was alone in the city and taking the BART for the first time in two years. 

It was a nice quiet trip. I ended up getting ramen and takoyaki at my favorite ramen place, Yamadaya and just sat there thinking about a lot. I really liked the quiet time in a certain sense and I felt relieved knowing that I wasn't the only girl dining alone. Haha~ It was super hot out and I just have not been using to eating out, I took the takoyaki to go hoping it would survive the trip back to the valley and couldn't finish the noodles I ordered. 

I hit Kinokuniya got the September issue of Kera because well...the birthday issue had Akira on it, so why the fuck not? <3 Then hit Nijiya to stock up on Dollywink eye lash glue because I refuse to use anything else. I always end up taking a rest in Hotel Kabuki's lobby (also they have an outlet for my phone ;A;) and sat there skimming through the magazine I got sipping on tea feeling fully out of place next to the tourists staying there. 

Eventually I did deck it out of Japan Town because due to personal reasons there's just a lot of memories there that I just wasn't ready to deal with or face. Next trip down that way I am for sure going to go crazy and just spoil myself rotten because I want to be happier down there next go around!

Downtown was the next destination and I just hit Sephora to restock up on foundation. I kind of swear by NARS and Kat Von D... This round I was getting Kat Von D. I'll probably head back there for NARS next go around possibly. NARS is lighter feeling than KVD but I love both. They have different effects. I ended up getting birthday gifts with my purchase! I got to try out the make-up forever lipstick and mascara. The lipstick is okay, I still like my Colassal Rocket mascara though!

I hit Forever21 just to stall around.Why is it that every time I have cash I hardly find anything but then when I don't have cash I want to buy out the entire floor? LOL Next time for sure!! I have to buy work clothes in solids and I intend on buying drapey shit and some fuggin' cute dresses for school ontop of that. -intends to have no self control- 

After that trip I did a bit of make-up experimentation with my friend Cross (ya'lls know her as Dearxx) with visual kei style. She did hers first because she had the right wigs and shit (haha I was stuck with my long ass girly fucken hair) and we were dying laughing the entire time on skype. She then shot at me, "Girl where the hell is yours?!" Challenge accepted. I tried my best to be as badass as possible. It's kind of hard to do now that I wear girly kind of minimal eyeliner type of looks~ It was so hilarious though. Cross and I while we were never really active in the visual kei scene here, I think we for sure had the visual kei/J-Rock spirit alive in us and still do even to a certain extent-we were never blantly visual kei or really embraced or claimed the title I don't think. For me it's because I never really truly had the look down. I had style icons but I never wanted to look exactly like a band  member like a lot of kids do now a day. Honestly,  we just grew up and all with the times and grew out of the scene. Cross and I got girlier for sure~ We were laughing because it took us this long to be satisfied with the look. Our make-up skills have for sure improved since a couple years ago when we had teased hair and shitty eyeliner. LOL 

I felt like I looked slightly like miko from ExistTrace when I restyled my hair. I've always kind of liked Uruha's hair too but that shit wasn't happening with these long layered. The right picture is what I used to rock and I obviously had tease-able layered hair. I ain't willing to sacrifice the length for the experimentation -ain't about that life any longer- LOL but it was funny seeing how I had improved for sure!!!

So speaking of work clothes-a couple weeks later I ended up scoring not only one job interview but two! I was pretty flipping shocked not only because they were both the same week as each other but they were both in cosmetics and we all know how I am a bit of a beauty product whore. One was with Ulta and the other was with Estee Lauder. 

Both interviews went insanely well, I was actually kind of shocked. I was really pleased. I ended up choosing Ulta because they weren't seasonal and Estee was. Plus Ulta has a wider range of stuff to throw onto customers so you damn well know I will lure ladies and confused boyfriends/husbands right into the Prestige isle for Urban Decay/Too Faced/Benefit ect. LOL 

I don't start until Tuesday but you all wish me luck because I've really been hoping to find a job where I live where I fit in a little bit better! The past two jobs I've had haven't been quite what I was looking for but it was work. Being a Beauty Advisor is tough work but I want to come off as friendly and like you're almost shopping with a friend who's happening to make suggestions and such! 

As for the interview looks Estee was really neat, light, and feminine. For Ulta I wanted to be super high end and trendy. 

Lately as you can tell, I've been kind of in a dark mood and it's been reflecting in my clothes and make-up for sure. I think it's due to a lot of things and all but I've been a lot more mature for the most part with each look I've been doing. Obviously I didn't wear circle lenses for the interviews but LOL this is the first time you readers get to see me without contacts in! Yes those are my real eyes. Yes they're naturally green-I just happen to like the enhancement of circle lenses (especially when I wear heavier lashes) and changing my eyes colors! Haha~

So that's been life recently. Eventful but not so eventful~ Hopefully when I have cash rolling in and once I take care of necessities I'll be able to do a bit more and talk about stuff from a personal point of view yeah?

The Appeal of Japanese Fashion magazines

I was watching a couple Popteen videos recently and two of my favorite Popteen models have graduated. Okarie being the first and Kumiky recently being the second one. The idea of explaining the appeal of Japanese fashion magazines versus the American ones kind of came into my head. I'm always asked why I'd pick a Popteen over a Teen Vogue since obviously I can read English and not Japanese. I can explain this a bit in a couple of different ways. This isn't only for just Popteen but the deceased gyaru magazines and the running of Gothic Lolita Bible and Kera which I also follow pretty closely.

I think the coolest thing about Japanese fashion magazines is the relatability. The way they market these models is really great. Of course models here are scouted too but the cool thing about Japan is a lot of the girls start out as 'reader models'. They're not exactly cast by any agent I don't think-they followed the magazine they're representing pretty closely and know the history behind it. It's not "oh you're going to be on the cover of this random magazine." A lot of these girls live a specific fashion life style (gyaru/lolita/punk/ect) and grew into the fashion looking at the older models. A lot of the girls are incredibly regular and were fans of the magazine they read before hand.

Another really cool thing is this sense of family between the models. I think the closest thing we have here is the Victoria Secrets Angels who are consistent and represent that line but that's not for a magazine really. Popteen, Ageha, Egg, ect all have a line up of the same model who only represent that magazine. They will do this for years and have a certain style unique to them that will really set them a part from the other girls. In Popteen's case I always thought that it was Pikarin because she wasn't fully Shibuya-kei nor was she Harajuku-kei or Akiba-kei either-she was super well rounded. In  Ageha's case it was definitely a show down between Sakurai Rina and Himena Osaki for me. You'd follow these girls for years and be dedicated to buying the issues where they were the featured cover girl in support of their career. In Popteen's case-graduating models is always a little saddening but you know the ladies will move on to bigger things with their modeling career. 

A lot of the models create their own brand for fans to wear. A really huge line right now clothing wise is Kokokim which is Angelic Pretty/Kera model's Kimura U's brand. A lot of fans showed up to support her line and buy her clothes. In my case she  had gained a new fan because I really loved how passionate she was on creating her own clothing line and store! It's neat how she's expanded it. Other girls create and endorse products. Tsubasa Masuwaka is known for endorsing GEO's Princess Mimi contacts, Palty Hair Dye and creating through Koji her own top selling make-up line DollyWink and CandyDoll. This will also expand their fanbase through product placement. Tsubasa, Rina, and Pikarin are also singers/idols! They have their own albums and singles expanded outside of their modeling career.

Other than this, a lot of the 'reader models' will bring clothes they selected from a certain brand to their photoshoots. These brands are usually accessible for girls to buy and own. They can wear the same clothes as the girls they admire. I just bought a Kera magazine for a matter of fact and a couple of things I own clothing wise and make-up wise are featured in the magazine and a model is wearing it! I got so thrilled seeing Kimura U in the Ghost of Harlem dress that I bought. I think that it really brings a sense of reliability for the readers. 

I read a lot of Elle and Vogue and even Seventeen in  my high school days and honestly I felt like I could never really look up to the girls in there. A lot of it was high end pretty girls in yeah...high end clothes that no normal girl could afford. I don't really remember any magazine model's names or anything that truly stood out to me. They were literally coat hangers for whatever line or brand they were endorsing. A lot of the media here pressures girls to look sexy or fit a certain image or else you don't fit the 'criteria of looking beautiful'. So the pressure is there to afford expensive things and to diet or even grow-up too quickly. 

Not that Japanese magazines don't shove ads down their readers throats. Ageha and EGG are super guilty of having pages and pages of diet pills and plastic surgery/weight loss adds saturating the back pages. And I'm very sure girls feel pressured in Japan as well- a lot of clothes are still one size only. Good luck trying to fit into ma*rs or DIA without your thigh or bust hanging out if you attempt to squeeze it. Japanese magazines definitely have their faults as well. However Japanese beauty standards are for sure different. A lot of girls are for sure reliant on make-up in Japan and I loved how EGG models especially had imperfections making a girl who looked up to the gyaru life style a lot more reachable. Even Kera model Haruka is recently decked out in colorful braces! 

The Western counter part is very organized where  Japanese magazines are cluttered despite there being a method to the madness when it comes to information! 

Which one do you guys prefer? What else do you guys like about Western or Japanese magazines and which do you religiously follow?