gal over the years 4/27/2011

La, and I wrote a gal story/timeline a whillle back~
and since others are posting it, I'll do so too.
ちょっとはずかしいｗ

lots of pics ahead!

Before I was gal,I was into rock fashion, but had no good style at all!!! At first I wore baggy clothes, then all I wore were black hoodies over my plain old shirts . I wasnt confortable being myself fully and also was withdrawn too.

me in 2004 (pre high school)Y.U.C.K!!

 second/early third  year of high school

not emo, just blah

All I new was that this had to change, so I wanted to do a fashion style that I liked and was super flamboyant to really break out of my shell(I always liked flashy stuff, but was too concerned over other people's views and what they had to say):
decora: too much plastic shiz to buy.
lolita: clothes too damn expensive, and not enough cash or time and skill to make my own dresses.
vk- still too damn expensive
cyber goth (sisen esque) - too revealing for outside!! and clothes too expensive and too unnormal for everyday
ganguro/manba- CREEPY!!

And honestly, I made fun of them and always thought WTF when I glanced over Buriteri's pictures. I was going to mock them and such, but when I started to do the make up to do some mocking... for some reason, something went off in my head. I had these big white circles on my eyes and little eyeliner, but for some reason, it felt fun!
A bit later, I talked with a girl on a forum about it and she did light manba make( her ricoche name was sushikitty), and she schooled me on it a bit, and I Ifell more in love! she also introduced me to Ricoche.net, and there I started to study the styles that would suit me.
I liked rock fashion, but there was little pics on it at the time, and eventually I started to like banba. I studied pictures HELLA hard before I made another attempt and post and saw what others did too. I saved pictures of make up and styles that I liked and printed some out to put in my sketch book for reference when I needed to waste some time at school.
Everytime I came home from school(mid to late senior year ish), I'd take the make up I bought and practiced like crazy! I didnt do it once and give up or say "HERE GALS! JUDGE THIS!" right away.

But eventually, I did submit a few photos for critique, and though I was at a beginners level, it wasn't like the stuff you see nowadays on gyarufucks because I actually paid attention to the Japanese gyaru's make up and didnt slap make up on my face and call it a day. I got good feedback from people like and advice from people like Momoko and Yari when he used to do manba. Back then, there wasnt alot of bitchery there or atleast I did not encounter it alot, and people really gave good advice too(imo and experiences). I took that advice and grew.

first *official* try V
 

To be super honest with everyone, I didnt have alot of money to be buying alot of clothes so fast when I first started gal, I was pretty fucking far from rich at that time and didn't have the cash flow that some people are blessed with.
Some people might think, if you lived liked that, why be gal? Why? It's too expensive for you!
 It made me happy, took my mind off the stresses with living with my grandma and great grandma for 2 years and having little freedom, and started to gave me confidence, and I was learning how to have fun.

Anyway, as a manba/banba gal in highschool, I had NO gals in person to grow with me. I just had my regular crazy artsy friends. I used to get asked questions about my make up, or hear people asking if I had fallen into a cake or something because my make was super heavy lol. But I didn't let it get me down!!! I held my head high!!! one of my normal friends got me into parapara though. I would also do my make up before class,during a longish break between classes or during lunch. I dont recall a time where I didn't have on all my make up for school besides for school pix and graduation I guess.
                                                                                     After school with  friends~

(lol, im a bit dark... but my make is kinda embarrassin lol XD ) me 

a pic before we started to bumming around for the day in Millinium Park

I also met LA in person from Ricoche during the summer of 08, and she was there with me , hanging out, giving me style advice,giving me a taste of the gal lifestyle(clubbing and sleeping late, paraing outside and messing with people, and not giving a shit if people stared at our heavey make up-ed faces) and taught me so much. Without her, I dont think I'd gotten too far. I love you, girl!






I usually had a summer job though. my style was a bit off at first , but I slowly grew into the gal mindest, and slowly replaced my shitty boring clothes with better ones when I saved up enough. I was also into customizing clothes and knitting/crocheting stuff too which was perfect for my rock look and that saved money(currently, and continueing to save cash: I also customize clothes, do my own acrylic nail sets, customize my wigs and make hair pieces,and also do my own hair; bleaching,perming,snipping, putting in extensions).

When I got into college, my rocker banba and manba styles were much better than when I started, but there were things I didn't get into yet until then: la introduced me to hair extensions , and Kiara got me into further shaping up my brows: bleaching them a med brown, WHICH HELPS SOOOO MUCH! and I bought a wig for manba too.


(begining of 09! i miss that hair!)

acen o9

bleached my brows, and i started to shave more of them off...to draw them back on.

At this point, I was invited to DIAMOND gals, and I was seriously blown away! Me ,of all people? I thought I'd stick out badly with my manba/banba make and rock style clothes, but these girls were kind and also gave me tips and style inspiration too!

A Diamond gal shenanigans ~ lol

2009

Janis,Me,Val

Me and Tif! I did her make up~

acen 2010, i did a convention attendee's, C O U R T's make up for her~

her face is actually darker than it is in the photo~

(winter 2010)

spring-ish met Usagi and Purin!! :D (me, tomo, usagi, purin)


who says you cants rock short hair and be gal??



At times I'd feel a bit bad because I'd feel that I could be improving a lot more if I had more cash and would really consider dropping out the scene, but some words from LA (gal isnt just about clothes, its a lifestyle, having fun..)and thats why I'm still here! because of her! Because she was there for me, I thought it be a great thing to give back to the gal community, so I made a youtube channel for manba/banba make up (for people who want to see it done right lol) and also a few appreciation slideshows for western gals too(i think i might do another video one of these days...) and I also gave advice to some newb gals too, even Kevi, when she was a new member of BLACK CHERRY at the time.
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heres my little checklist thing:
1. study pics! get the pics of style/make up that call out to you and study them!
2.try it out! you wont be perfect the first time, dont give up
3.  keep the first pix to yourself, especially if you cant take critiques yet or people being dicks when your pix are not up to a nice par yet.
4. have faith in yourself
5.make some gal friends~ the best ones will not only just chat with you, they will give you mega advice <3 but dont abuse it!! *and will respect you. (added april 9, 2024)
6.HAVE FUN!
7. take chances, be creative, push yourself. you will never grow as a gal if you hold back!
8. invest in good wigs/extensions and simple pieces you can mix and match with other stuff
9. look at street snaps of real gals than gal models.
10.  dream BIG!! but, dont expect to become perfect so soon, and dont let your mistakes discourage you.
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a thing that pisses me off :/

1.i think its a shame how some gals that can have so much potential, get so scared or discouraged in ANY style (manba especially) and just drop out.
2.gals or girls who think they are gal but arent even close put others down when they are trying. to the gals that have been in the game, SHAME ON YOU! You know it didnt happen magically for your transformation, and you had fails too, so dont act like you were born a perfect gal!!
3. just because you do some make or style at home once or twice, (manba, any other style) doesnt give you the right to claim yourself as a gal! you have to be good at it and be brave to wear it outside. its a lifestyle, not a costume or cosplay.
4. telling a gal who wants to do manba to not waste her time. even though the style has died down quite a bit, they still do exist all over the world!! as long as she (or even in some cases, he) wants to do it, give them the best guidance! being a manba/banba can be harder than other styles ! especially if they are the only one of their friends doing it too! manba is still a part of gal!!

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heres a little list to the people who were there for meh, thank u:
yari and m0m0ko(lol) they helped me quite a bit back in the day
la- my first gal sister
Kiara- a gal eyebrow advisor
DIAMOND GALS- making me push myself harder~
<3

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Various pix

oh gawd... lol like... 08 i think?

first gen Black*Cherry

2010

Jen,Tiffani, Me, and Dj Sisen

2010?

2011 (san fran~)

2011

2011

2010?

2010

2010?

random ass old guy. 2010

(2011) Its very important to have fun!!

Be natural!

unnatural naturalness


For some reason, it URKS THE HELL OUT OF ME when lets say a lover or such would say "I like natural.natural eye colour, natural hair." and so forth. I can understand this, but two things: I LOVE gal fashion! I like heightening my appearance whether it's for manba/banba or for my more tsuyome rocker look; thick lashes, bigger eye shape, bigger eyes and colour, wigs and extensions, heels, etc. Its like art in my opinion, and art is my life. The second is; it's not like he NEVER saw a picture of me all done up before(all my pictures were mostly banba at that!and thank GOODNESS that I don't do cybergoth!). So it's not like I just popped up out of the blue with a white wig and heavy make up at his door saying "HEY BABYYYYYYY".

But besides that, guys go "I like the natural look". But do you realize how FLAWED that is?
I am sure most guys want their girl's face skin to be realitively even toned, their lips to be a little glossy or pigmented with a lipcolour, their hair done, and probably a little bit of liner. True some guys have girls that do relatively nothing, but that's not the point LOL. (maybe they want them to wear a lil make and do their hair a bit.

no make up vs a little bit of make up

I think guys have to realize that they need to know about make up too and what it can do for a girl or what it can work against them(and also be respectful of that GAL'S preference. ;)   ). And also realize the difference between light/"natural" make up and no make up at all. I even remember a study about this. I more men chose the made up but "natural" looks than just nothing at all ANYWAYS.

I will have to rag on the guys(who complain about this atleast), they dont do things that natural either! Is shaving natural? Or getting a hair cut? Otherwise, your beard hairs would be falling out, and your hair would only grow to a certain point. I dont think using gel is natural either. You didnt pop out your mum with spiky hair, so what are you doing? Or wearing suits that make your shoulders broader. Or wearing tight fitted shirts to show of your muscles. Or wearing cologne. If everyone is supposed to be natural, then hell, we would all be running around butt ass naked, with our hair all knotted up and all over our heads with hairy legs. That sounds super hot, huh? Because we weren't born with all the stuff that makes us look atleast halfway decent this day , right?

For me liking and studying subcultures and being in one, the one thing that i find important above all else is if that person's make is clean and not flakey or smudgy, and that it compliments that person's features depending on what that person is doing. If it just looks sloppy like a 2yr old did it... It's a no go in my book.


In the end, I will keep to my habit of doing myself up in the style I favor. Because after all, humans have been decorating themselves for CENTURIES, so why is it a bad thing that it is still being done to this day?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-uOErHdhPw&feature=related

Manba Boom?

So, the other day when I was browsing through the forums on ricoche.net, i saw a thread regarding manba possibly making a comeback(because of Geha becoming an egg model). One person replied that they hope it doesnt become big, because they did not want to do manba.
....
.....
.......

WHAT?

Just because a style pops up and gets big or has a bit of a folllowing, it does not automatically mean that you HAVE to do that style if you like it or not. If that was the case, everybody would have ditched manba for something else, or became hime gyaru when it popped up on the scene.

If you don't like a certain style, then you don't do it. Simple as that! I and a few of my gal friends didn't do hime style,or resort style, or alot of other styles that other  people prefer or that are popular now.

 I do like to play with my look a bit, but I mostly stick to rock style, banba,tsuyome(and manba on occasion these days.)and just go with what *I* like, not what a magazine "wants" me to do.