With the new year around the corner I decided to find a couple items that I thought were great for a night in to start the New Year off right. I gathered up a couple of different cute 'sexy but cute' items that really would make you feel like an elegant agejo gal staying in a hotel on her night in or out after a long day out shopping and such. Agejo girls I've always thought, are the most elegant of gyaru. They're all about cute with a touch of bling, elegance, and maturity. They're the older gyarus that I feel like the younger ones strive to be if they want to stay flashy. It's easy to think about how these girls might be on their day out and about with hair, make-up, and accessories but what would they use life style wise for the nights in when they're busy relaxing and pampering themselves? I found a couple of sexy but cute products that you can find either online or in stores that work for these type of nights!
First up? Lush's Sex Bomb bath bomb~ This is what inspired me to make this article in the first place. When I first saw it I couldn't help but think 'This is the shit SakuRina bathes in daily'. LOL Maybe it's because I've seen her in a bikini with bubbles lately? Not sure but these bath bombs (all of Lush's bath bombs actually) smell absolutely amazing and it turns your bath water a gorgeous hot pink!
To set off your ambiance in that bath I high recommend lighting candles while you take your bath or maybe even just to make your princess room smell amazing-light them in there while you relax and pamper yourself! This is Bath and Body Work's 'Champagne Toast' candle which amusingly made me think of Host/Hostesses who do Champagne calls and even if not, it sounds kind of elegant right? Like something to celebrate with the New Year rolling in and just seems like a grown up candle!
Next up is shampoo/hair treatment/conditioner. I personally haven't gotten to try this yet but so many people swear by this stuff, I've heard good things from a friend-and I see it all over the Japanese stores I hit so it must be doing something right! Ichikami hair products seem to be a thing and I think it's going to be my next snag unless someone throws me into a different direction with hair products! Supposedly the scent to this stuff is amazing and it really great for your hair! And let's face it every girl loves her hair feelings soft and amazing! Especially when you're always curling and terrorizing it with hairspray!!
Post bath comes perfumes and lotions. Betsey Johnson not only has super glamorous packaging but her perfume/lotion titled 'Too Too Pretty' smells freaking amazing. It is my go to scent! It's really fruity and I really don't know how to explain it but I would definitely call it a girly scent. It's not really musky or strong in the sense that you get from Juicy (who has equally as cute packaging) or Gucci (which is up there in the elegance factor) but just...really pretty smelling and cute to boot! It's a good price range as well in terms of affordability!
After lotioning/perfuming up I think every one love a couple of really amazing facial treatments. I've used the Pure Smile Face Masks in Diamond and Ruby and both are AMAZING. I love these so much and they make my face feel dewy and bouncy. Which is great for the winter time when the weather is kind of cold, drying, and extremely harsh on one's skin. Both the Ruby and Diamond like they say-have said extract in them which also creates brightening skin! If you like sheet masks these are for you!
Another face/skin product I like is Jurlique! If you want to bust bank on skin care products and want your face feeling AMAZING? This is the shit to get. I only tried a sample of a Rose Moisture Plus cream and I've actually wonder why the fuck (especially recently) I haven't went the hell back to Sephora and got myself some of this miraculous stuff. It leaves your skin feeling so soft...and when I applied my make up on a day after or hell I think it was the day off.. Foundation went on AMAZINGLY. This is a go to! I've just reminded myself to bust bank eventually...
After getting all primped up I think good lingerie makes any girl feel sexy/pretty. From the previous post I was saying how I had just discovered that and it's a for sure thing. Treating yourself to some frills under your frills every now and then is kind of a luxurious feeling and I'm sure if you have a special someone it's just a plus. Something I think that's really agejo-esque in a sense is baby doll dresses. They're like the bedtime version of what agejo gals already wear... I've been told plenty of times that I could sleep in my ma*rs dresses and while I can see why considering the brand does do babydoll cuts and is extremely sexy when it comes to dress lengths, thigh highs, garters, ect. real baby dolls are I'll assume more comfortable and waaaay shorter than my ma*rs stuff. I think they're cute to lounge around in if you have a place to yourself.
Every girl likes a manicure and what's not better than a DIY to save (or not save in this case) a little cash with your own nail polishes and bling? I do know that Christian Louboutin released his own nail polish line which is apparently super expensive but Nails Inc also just collabed with the gorgeous fashion icon and previous Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and it's been kind of a topic so I'll add this here. I'm not sure if there's any other colors other than that red and white but white is super elegant and basic. You can french your nails or add decoratives as you choose! So this has been my little agejo pampering post! What do you guys think? Are there any additives that I could add into this? Let me know! Until next time lovelies~
It's already comfortably the middle of December already and I've been crazy busy working retail hours and all. But with the hours has came cash and with cash came the ability to part take in some really great adventures and buy a couple of nice things and necessities! We're hitting the end of 2014 *finally* and I'll be honest and say I'm so glad it's almost over. This has been like I've been mentioning, one of the craziest most difficult years I have ever endured. A lot of growing up has occurred personally and just a lot of trials and life tests. Holy crap... 2015 I am looking forward to you. Please treat me well because I'm going to try my hardest to do well and be successful this year! No promises on anything else because haha, I doubt I'll ever be the same person I was. But that's a whole different story for a completely different blog!
With that said, let's get onto covering these two little Bay Area trips that I've taken shall we? The first trip I took with one of my friends and kouhai babes (I have so many kouhai-tachi and so many varying in different ages LOL it's quite amusing and all of them are incredibly sweet) Ashley. I had worked Black Friday (bless you to those of you working in retail that day. it is by far the most miserable thing) and the Saturday of decided to hit the East/South Bay for some much needed shopping and fooding in the Union City/Fremont area!
The first stop of was TapEx for some much needed peach tea and takoyaki. I never realized that the Union City TapEx had a pretty decent menu. I do love that they have Takoyaki and that's the only one up they have against the Sacramento TapEx which I've fallen in love with. Regardless I had my snackage in the car and went off to Newpark Mall with Ashley. I quickly shoveled down two fucking boxes of takoyaki in my mouth down the freeway so fast... I felt like such a lady. Newpark apparently is going through some renovations and all. I'm kind of curious to see what the end result would be. I wish direly they'd renovate the mall where I live because lord knows that it needs it. Anyway, we were kind of doing some gyaru-esque shopping in Newpark. Now most of you wouldn't consider anywhere but maybe J-Town or whatever gyaru-y shopping but that's seriously where you are wrong. There used to be a Daiso for your eye lash fix along the way but that's gone now BUT there's a store across where the used to be that's called 'First Impression' that has not only super flipping cute unique kawaii clothing but at crazy cheap prices. Forever21 has went up in price a bit admittedly so whenever I am here I always hit up First Impression first and this is also one of Ashley's favorite stores.
Actually, I think anyone who has shopped with me there has kind of fallen in love with that store. Now be wary, because the prices are a bit cheap the quality can vary. I've bought two dresses that haven't been lined well enough and are pretty much unwearable without of slip because other wise they are see through. So for sure inspect your clothing. Usually I never have had any problems with their clothes but just recently I just realized a couple of the dresses I own need slips and I have yet to find a nice short white slip to place under these two dresses. Other than that you can find really good quality clothing too and at really good prices. I've bought eight dollar skirts and dresses that are very Onee-gyaru. I've bought gingham Swan Kiss esque tops or Liz Lisa-like florals here. It's a very unique find and I definitely recommend it for anyone who is just now getting into gyaru! A lot of the stuff I first wore when I first got into gyaru fashion was from this store and I still go here to wear my casual stuff so I can appreciate wearing my brand for events a lot more. So even if you're a gyaru who doesn't mind wearing off brand this is also for you! Another really good clothing store that even exists where I live is called 'Ms Clothing'. A lot of the clothing there is 9.99 or so unless labeled other wise and the style varies. I've found a lot of 'mode' style gyaru outfits here and an occasional piece that looks like it would be from Emoda/Sly/Spiral Girl/Glad News depending. Ashley found a couple items that fit K-Pop style perfectly and not SNSD style Ulzzang but pieces that looked like something CL from 2NE1 would wear. I've found big bags that pass off as ma*rs-esque in the past but that day I bought leggings and some high waisted pants with buttons for work which ended up being super comfy btw. Last stop at the mall was forever21 where I bought a floral print dress that I had been stalking on the website for ages. There was only ONE left and not in the burgundy color I wanted it in but you know what? I liked the cut and navy was still not too bad so I ended up settling for it anyway. I also got some sparkly over the knee socks that I'm not exactly sure what to wear with yet. Here are my purchases!
Ashley and I ended up hitting two other stores outside the mall that actually ended up being disappointing. One was a cosmetics store which I was beforehand super excited about seeing because they sold Candy Doll and I had never got to swatch or mess with Candy Doll in person. Unfortunately for me though, it ended up being priced way too much for the pigmentation and amount of product you got. 30.00 would get me MAC, Nars, Kat Von D...things that last a long time and where a little goes a long way. If you're really into Candy Doll I would say go with the lip sticks because I think that's the only thing priced decently. I kept looking at the blushes and they were priced at the price of a NARS blush and they're not nearly as pigmented. You can get the same Popteen look with that price but for NARS. SO with that said, I can now see why Dollywink is carried more at stores than Candy Doll. The price of Dollywink is more logical than Candy Doll. But it was nice to swatch and just finally get an impression of what that line was about. The face powders are nice and soft but just.. not enough product in them for 30.00. Sample sizes basically for the price of a full size MAC powder.
The other store we hit was something Ashley found online. We were super excited because we are a sucker for unique clothing but yet again we were disappointed when we saw taobao resells for not even double the price but like...triple. Now if it was authentic brand things like Liz Lisa or whatever I am willing to bust the 80.00-150.00 for detail but for what they were charging for brandless items and it being for sure things I could get from a store envy reseller, I think we both just shook our heads and walked out. The only regret of the night was realizing later that we were effing near Gongcha and I've been wanting to try that boba place for a long while! But we DID however end the night with ShareTea which was pretty effing amazing and it was my first time trying. I got another peach green tea with boba, pudding, jellies, and ICECREAM. And it was by far amazing. That day was for sure an experience so thank you Ashley for wanting to come out and play and all. I hope we get to see each other very soon!
Just the other day ago I took another adventure with a group of lovelies that I more regularly hang out with and the familiarity was just...so welcoming and nice. Like a warm feeling of sorts that I hadn't felt in awhile. Before hand I got a paycheck and kind of splurged on a MAC Holiday collection item. I ended up investing in on the pigment sets that they released in black and blue. The packaging was super fucking cute and glittery this year. Last year I ended up getting the pink and purple set that was a bit frostier. This one however is a lot darker and I HIGHLY recommend using black pigment for black eye make-up looks over pressed eye shadows. It lasts all day. It doesn't fade or anything. I was SO PLEASED the next day when I went out. I used Urban Decay eye shadow primer and sprayed my brushes with MAC Fix+ spray before apply so they colors would be vibrant and last all day. This was the result of using all the colors in the set. This is the whole look together with eye lashes and I paired the look with the limited edition Mac Diva lipstick. The inspiration for that days look was 'mature'. I wanted to kind of channel Sakurai Rina but I think it didn't fully turn into that either really. I loved how I did my hair and I like how gradiented it is right now. I want to add more blonde though but I'm kind of keeping it as is for now. I dunno what my look was exactly but I dunno it just felt very lady-like and mature. I was pretty happy with it for the most part.
SO anyway I hung out with my bro Jett and headed to the Bay Area with Vale and Miguel who are always so open to like...going anywhere/doing anything. So it was a really great trip. First stop was the mall. We ended up accidentally hitting Oakridge instead of the other mall (gdi) but it was fine. We had a lot of fun derping around and shopping. Parking was a nightmare since people are hauling ass for the holidays and all... I was so aggressive saying shit that just ended up becoming inside jokes for years to come. I am horrible. Yeah.
So we got something to eat and I yet again shoving JapChae down my face like nothing and fell for the temptation of thai tea (which was pretty yummy btw just to get that fix out of the way) and then we all walked around the mall. I ended up hitting Forever21...walking out because I found nothing that I wanted. And then hit Sephora to see if they had that Too Faced holiday set that was exclusive to Sephora that I fell in love with. Apparently that shit sold out fast. SO I ended up going into Lush with Miguel and bought some Christmas gifts and some bath bombs for myself. Yeah...next SF trip I think I'm going to head down town and get more. I haven't tried mine yet but just smelling the Sakura one and the ones I got as gifts...holy shit. I want more. Supposedly their skin stuff is great too. For those of you who have tried it what would you recommend? Afterward Miguel hit up the Guess store and I usually never go into that place but after he strolled on out with a jacket, Vale wanted to see what all was in there too. So then in we went and I ALMOST bought the most cutest DIA looking shirt with sparkley wings. It was like....20.00 and I really wanted it but I thought we were hitting Forever21 in SF and ended up being like 'Imma fucking wait'. Looking back? Fuck I should have bought it. It was very DIA because of the sparkles and kind of badass because the wings were on the back and I just have a thing for things like that. Afterward we ended up leaving to pick up our friend Charmie who got off of work and was going to adventure down to San Francisco with us. SO the intention was to go down town....we ended up meeting up with the lovely Jobi and eating and shopping in Japan Town because well...Japan Town is kind of a win/win. You can't go wrong with it.
ShibuyaSF ended up happening with Charmie while we waited for Jobi. I've never bought anything from there before but omfg.... I ended up buying like..hella underwears for only 20.00~ That's cheaper than Victoria Secret and they are WAY WAY CUTER than VS too. Like....omg. I've never been one to spend hella cash on underwear/lingere but now I kind of know why ladies do. First off the pairs I bought have bows and frills everywhere... Like I feel like a Sakizou creation..but lewd-er? If that makes any sense because everything is like tiny and cut in suggestive places as tmi as that probably sounds. Point is...now I know why ladies spend bank on lingerie. It makes you feel sexy. LOL end of story. I was pretty damn happy. They happened to have a Ma*rs jacket there too and I am a sucker for ma*rs but it was a beige jacket and not a black or white or I might have seriously came back and busted the bank on it. It was the fucking bunny jacket too. I was super tempted...if only it was in black. </3 Afterward we hit Kinokuniya and found Jobi. Looked through some J-Fashion mags, realized that Popteen as cute as the covers are? Are still bland and disappointing for an essentric glitzy girl like myself (Ageha/Egg I fucking miss you) and I almost bought Kera but nothing big stood out in Kera for me either. I seriously should have hunted down Men's Spider because Jobi and I had an intense convo about the death of gyaru mags and how Men's Spider and a couple of gyaru-o mags still existed. We came to the conclusion that 'host' style is what is keeping those magazines alive along with the J-Rock/V-Kei movement that's kind of latched on the aesthetic of what gyaru-o/host style is and have made it more suited to what visual kei/rock is. I think it's why brands like Glavil and Ghost of Harlem do so well for women because while they can be very gyaru they also delve into a completely different genre of fashion as well. However I will say that I am in love with Amihamu who I think is a Sex Pot Revenge shop girl. If I ever do rock gyaru her and SakuRina are my biggest inspirations along with a couple of other Ageha models that delve into that realm. We also ran into a couple of cute girls that were there for MaruQ's Rilakuma event that was going on. I don't know who they were (Jobi did though) and they were super cute~! We went downstairs to then fawn over anime trash because yeah...we all have cosplayed. Except for Miguel. 8D So that happened. Flipped through a couple of Sailor Moon things and found Card Captor stuff too. The calendars on display were adorable. Kinokuniya clearly needs more Sailor Moon shit because there are a couple of cute shits that I would buy if it was things I would actually use so I could justify it. After that raid we hit Yamada-ya for ramen and goodies. I fucken love this place so much and I always end up going back. The staff there are always super kind and efficient and I just can not have ramen elsewhere in San Francisco at least. Now if it is Sacramento, we can talk about the many places I will clearly hit but SF wise this is my place and Sara had never been nor had Jobi so I was super excited to take them. Vale and Jett had been before so they were all set on what they wanted. I was suppper relieved they had vegetarian options for Miguel. That's the second place I've been too that had options like that but for ramen. Ryujin I think still takes first place for him and I was telling Sara and Jobi also about Ryujin as well since well...that's my go-to place in Sacramento for noodles. But the takoyaki here is amazing, the both is so yummy especially if you take it to go and have it a couple days later, they have really good karage and just....*A* I'm so glad we got to go with the group we did. Lots of lovely conversations occurred and the only missing bit was the fact that this was an evening trip and clearly didn't last long enough.
Jobi ended up leaving after our ramening and the rest of us were going to trek downtown for more adventuring but parking was a god damn nightmare and at one point we got so lost that I didn't even know if we were even fucking near Union Square/Powell anymore to even walk it or be safe walking it so we decided to just hit Purple Kow for boba instead. Which worked out. The drive up was super funny. Everyone was silly and just enjoying themselves. I think we scared people in neighboring cars or on the streets with our antics. I need a roadtrip with these exact people asap. Too entertaining. So boba occured-I got peach green tea with jellies and boba and another milk tea with matcha and pudding. I was pretty pleased with that and we ended up driving back to San Jose with our boba. And that's pretty much the end of that adventure. A lot more went on too but I was just trying to make this kind of fashion oriented for the post I guess? Haha~ It's been so much fun getting to go out and see friends and go places. I've been so limited to cons or solo trips that I really forgot what it felt like to just kick back and relax with yes people who hit cons but not in a con setting. It's super enjoyable and I'm hoping everyone else enjoyed and had just as much fun as I did. <3 <3
With the new year around the corner I decided to find a couple items that I thought were great for a night in to start the New Year off right. I gathered up a couple of different cute 'sexy but cute' items that really would make you feel like an elegant agejo gal staying in a hotel on her night in or out after a long day out shopping and such. Agejo girls I've always thought, are the most elegant of gyaru. They're all about cute with a touch of bling, elegance, and maturity. They're the older gyarus that I feel like the younger ones strive to be if they want to stay flashy. It's easy to think about how these girls might be on their day out and about with hair, make-up, and accessories but what would they use life style wise for the nights in when they're busy relaxing and pampering themselves?
After getting all primped up I think good lingerie makes any girl feel sexy/pretty. From the previous post I was saying how I had just discovered that and it's a for sure thing. Treating yourself to some frills under your frills every now and then is kind of a luxurious feeling and I'm sure if you have a special someone it's just a plus. Something I think that's really agejo-esque in a sense is baby doll dresses. They're like the bedtime version of what agejo gals already wear... I've been told plenty of times that I could sleep in my ma*rs dresses and while I can see why considering the brand does do babydoll cuts and is extremely sexy when it comes to dress lengths, thigh highs, garters, ect. real baby dolls are I'll assume more comfortable and waaaay shorter than my ma*rs stuff. I think they're cute to lounge around in if you have a place to yourself.
