Shop and Destroy: Yumetenbo

I am always so pleasantly surprised at the adorable clothes on Yumetenbo! The clothes from 109 are gorgeous and original and probably worth the cost but it's nice to see prices closer to H&M or Forever21 clothes. Maybe I'm just a total cheap skate!

Yumetenbo is, for anyone who may not know, inexpensive but fashionable Japanese clothes. The clothes aren't knock-offs, per se, but they more like Wet Seal or other "fast fashion" stores you'd find in a typical American shopping mall. I've purchased their clothes through the Rakuten store, DreamV.

Here are some examples of cute clothes I just found (Sorry if you don't like pink & black! Haha ) If you click on the image, the link should take you to the Rakuten page:

My personal obsession is with coats! I love love love coats! Right now, I want to buy this one >> in white:

... I already have this one << in black! But the buttons are loose! ;_;  It's actually not a big deal, I guess I can just re-sew them!











Anyway, if you haven't taken a look at Yumetenbo, then do so now! I should warn you that the shipping from Japan adds up... srsly, in some cases it's almost the cost of the item itself.  But you can get a unique item that may not even exist in your home country!   http://item.rakuten.co.jp/dreamv

Tricia's Giveaway & sick me

I am very sick!  I've been sick since 2/14 (a.k.a. Valentine's Day) and I'm still not well.  I must be improving, though, because I was bedridden for a few days but now I'm actually sitting at my desk. ^-^


Here's a really awesome giveaway that I'm excited to share:

Tricia Isabela is giving away these awesome goods, including lots of lashes.  I really want them!


I've been thinking about my online presence and anonymity.  I never show my face online (except on facebook with people I know irl) because I'm afraid/paranoid.  I'm worried that one of the following will happen if people see my blog:  A) someone I know will see my blog think I'm a dork,  B) someone I hated in high school (or anywhere, lol) will see my blog and stalk me,  C) someone in my family will find my blog and be like "Shouldn't you be studying 24/7?"  or  D) an employer or potential employer will find my blog and think I'm silly and waste my brainpower on superficial things. 

You may notice that I didn't include "E) strangers will tell me I'm ugly" because I am SURE that would happen!  I see it happen regularly on gyaru_secrets, even with gorgeous girls like Monica Tang.  So if the most beautiful gyaru out there are called unattractive... what hope does an average-looking wannabe-gyaru have? No, really, what hope do I have?  lol.

I suppose I shouldn't worry about people I know finding my blog [i.e. "A) someone I know will see my blog think I'm a dork] because if they do, it probably means they are into gyaru fashion and we can talk about gyaru,  swap magazines, go shopping together and be gyaru amigas!!  XD

As for employers... I don't know how they would find my blog unless they were into gyaru fashion.  As I've already concluded, we would end up enduring gyaru amigas, remember?  :P  Besides, it's not as though I am doing something bad or gross or illegal.  Fashion is a legit hobby!

Ok, this post got very... reflective?  I didn't set out to make it that way, I just wanted to write about a cool giveaway.  So... go check out Tricia Isabela's giveaway!  But don't actually win it, because I want to win! ;)

February 2011 Egg

Everyone probably already got this mag but whatever, I just got mine so I'll write about it!  I'd never bought (or even read) an Egg magazine before--I had the impression that it was a magazine strictly for high school girls.  The only reason I was interested in it was because I knew it featured the gyaru event (Tsuki-con?) that was in Finland.  I went to Kinnokuniya last month [I actually go pretty regularly, as I live nearby] to buy it but it wasn't in yet so I reserved a copy.  It was finally in this week!

Here are some highlights and/or things I thought were interesting!

cute rabbit girls!!  love the cover--it's almost ageha-esque!

some sort of ranking/awards… wish i could read Japanese!

short profiles on the models

not sure what to think of the shaved side… my brain is still processing it!

“nemo tone” vs. "kana punk” section… very cute! i like both styles. :)

an article about models’ apartments… surprisingly very boring! they probably can’t paint or put up wallpaper so their rooms are very plain, like college dorms.

one model had these bizarre figures on her shelf.  they have the faces of inflatable sex dolls but the bodies of rubber chickens and are wearing beach clothes.  へん…

this section features photos that i assume people send in photos of themselves. pretty cool idea!

lhouraii!  she looks awesome!  i read her blog, so it's very exciting to see her in here! 

this is the (very small, as it were) section why i bought this issue!

so cool to see gaijin western gyaru in a japanese magazine!  in these pics, i recognize koneko and monica, both of whom i read their blogs!  yay!  XD

i'm not active in the online gyaru community, but i think i recognize faces from everyday_gyaru on livejournal.  gah!  so much cuteness!

I might buy Egg magazine again, even of it doesn't feature any western gyaru...  I really liked some of the clothes featured and I actually appreciated the lack of bling/kira kira that Ageha sometimes takes too far.

Agepoyo!

New Ma*rs?

Ok, so I know I just got finished saying how I love Mars but their new season is... I don't know, I don't like it!  There are prints with lots of flowers (almost like Liz Lisa) which I don't like.  In general, the clothes are not nearly as cute and sexy as last season.

I can honestly say that the only thing I like in this photo is the dog!


...And WTF is this "bra on the outside" dress?

(The shoes and stockings are cute, tho!)

The new season is on their site and in their webshop now, if you want to see for yourself here.

Universal Doll wrote about the new season in her latest blog post.  One comment there was about how last season's clothes were almost hooker clothes but that they liked the tame stuff this season.  I feel the complete opposite!  I like the hooker look!  XD  Well, maybe.

I just got the new Egg at Kinokuniya.  I haven't even looked through it--I wonder if there's any Mars in it.  I've never bought an Egg magazine before [I usually buy Nuts or Ageha] but I wanted this issue because I heard there is lots of gaijin international gyaru in it!