Mini-Meet with Jobi & Liz

Can you spot the fake (puri) lashes??

I'm in LA but I'm finally posting about Friday's meet up!

I tried to organize a little meet of local gyaru but only Liz and Jobi were able to make it. It was still fun!  I think maybe in a smaller group you can talk (and listen! lol) more.  We met in (SF) Japantown, did purikura, ate dinner, then had coffee and dessert.

I went wig-less which was probably a huge mistake since Jobi and Liz looked so cute!  Oh!  And I was the tallest one again, which doesn't happen very often.

@ Pika Pika

Liz

Jobi

This slutty pose was surprisingly flattering!  Not for my face, tho!

1

a sinister chess game

couldn't resist

i

Is the woman in the background photobombing or just awkward?

yay!

Liz and Jobi have such awesome style! I tried to talk them into blogging... on Blogger, not Tumblr! XD

Hopefully we can have more meet-ups in the future!

Music Monday: The Pretty Reckless

I was so happy to see The Pretty Reckless!!! Their music and style is so awesome!


I saw them open for Evanessence in the fall and I've liked their music ever since. I was also very enamored with Taylor Momsen's style. I blogged about her style HERE. She always looks fierce and the show here in SF was no different!

The show as at the Bottom of the Hill, which is not very big anyway but the place was PACKED, since it was sold out! The next time they play here in SF, they'll definitely play at a bigger venue. Bottom of the Hill is a rad venue where pretty much every big, important, awesome band (i.e. Nirvana) played early in their career.



The show was so good! The band itself is a little underrated because Taylor is such an iconic front-woman but they were rad too. Taylor, of course, was amazing! I was surprised that they did a cover of "Aerials" by System of a Down. I was a big System fan as a cute little teenager.

There was no crowd at the bar, which seemed weird at first until I looked around and noticed that most of the crowd was not only under 21, but under 18! Hahaha!



OMG, the crowd was funny. During the show, girls were like "You're so hot!" I think a lot of people had never been to a rock show before. No one seemed to understand the concept of an encore. It was so obvious that there was going to be an encore (the posted set list even listed the encore song) but everyone just stood around in silence when the band left the stage. Also, a bunch of kids tried to wash off the "X"s from their hands (the Xs show that show they are too young to buy alcohol). The young, dumb crowd was funny but not too distracting.



Anyway, like I said already, the show was so good! I bought a shirt and CD, so we were able to stay after the show and get signatures from the band. They wouldn't let us take photos but it was cool to get to talk to the band for a few seconds. :)



Lots of people had their BLACK shirts autographed by the band with BLACK markers... doesn't make too much sense, does it? It reminded me of this scene from "This is Spinal Tap." ROFL!



Me camwhoring:



I wanted to take more photos of Taylor but I didn't want to be a stalker like the other kids. She was smoking in the back patio. I hung out there for a while but I seemed like it'd be super uncool to sneak photos of her when she was just hanging out.

I look some quick videos.  I should try to upload those to YouTube.  I've only put a few videos on YouTube before and it took forever!  Seriously, hours!  I'll update this post if I do upload videos!

Red, Dead Hair

This post is about how to destroy your pride and joy get a semi-permanent color out of your hair.



Since I dyed it last weekend, I've been freaking out about my red, red hair.  I really, really did not like it on me, so I went crazy trying to get the color out.   Normally, I only wash my hair a few times per week. This week, I've been washing it at least five times a day. Plus, on Monday and Tuesday, I washed it with... no joke... dish soap and laundry detergent. My poor hair!

First let me say that these are tips I found online... not from my own warped mind. I don't think I'd ever have the idea to put dish soap on my head. Also, if you find yourself needing to get some wacky colors out of your hair like I did, then be extra super careful not to get anything in your eyes!


Dish soap (Monday)

Normally, we use natural dish soap, but I used this opposite-of-natural dish soap that my mother-in-law gave me. To get color out of your hair, your supposed to use blue dish soap but I didn't want to buy more soap I wouldn't use. It seemed to be pretty effective, getting out a lot of red. The downside is that it is very drying, leaving you with literally squeaky hair! I used a ton of conditioner afterward and my hair seemed fine even after several washes with the dish soap.


Laundry Detergent (Tuesday)

This seemed to really work! It got a lot of red out and wasn't as drying as the dish soap, maybe because this kind is supposed to be gentle detergent. It still seemed crazy to me to be putting that crap on my head.


Dandruff Shampoo (Wednesday and thereafter until it comes out!!)
All the shampoo that I own (and I have a few) is color-safe, so I didn't want to use that. I read that shampoo designed for dandruff control is supposed to help get the color out. When I looked for dandruff shampoo, I was happy that Head & Shoulders makes several types of dandruff shampoo. I bought the kind for damaged hair, which coincidentally has a pink label and coincidentally smells like bubblegum! [Have I ever mentioned that I love bubblegum? It's my favorite food!]

Head & Shoulders seems to get some color out but not like the detergent. The shower water looks like a pink milkshake whereas with laundry detergent, the water looked like a psycho killer had stabbed me in the head. I guess the simple fact that it's not shampoo designed to preserve hair color is a good thing. I wash my hair at least four times with it, then use fists full of conditioner.


Curling my hair

Well, this is not really a technique for getting rid of the color so much as it is for concealing it. I was nervous about having red hair at work so I tried a few things. First, I pulled it back in a bun, which looked awful. My roots are dark and putting the ends of my hair (the reddest) next to the roots (the darkest) created way too much contrast, making the color look really extreme. A ponytail--more like a My Little Ponytail!--looked horrible as well. I usually leave my hair down, wild and free but with the red, my hair looked wild and crazy. Curling my hair with a large-barrel iron made me look more put-together. I still looked a little wacky but intentionally wacky! Nothing looks worse than accidentally looking horrible.


Me on Thursday:


Me today, a full week after dyeing my hair.


Am I crazy or does my hair actually look redder today than it did on Thursday??

I hung out with my bff from high school and she thought it looked great. It's kind-of a rust color right now.

Fortunately, my hair isn't totally damaged.  Aside from being really brutal with washing my hair, I have been doing everything else "right." You know, all the tips that crazy, long-haired hippies give you! I use a wide tooth comb, sleep on a satin pillow case, etc. I think that's the only reason my hair has not gone on strike and fallen off my head

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I hung out with PinkSugarIchigo on Friday and had so much fun! Unfortunately. I was a dum dum and forgot to take photos! Fortunately, Miss Ichigo did take photos, and with her super-awesome, ten-million-dollar camera! I look forward to seeing those!

Anyway, look at these super-boss-ass omiage she brought me from the land of the rising sun!! I love these lashes and can't wait to wear the nails.

Thanks, pretty lady!!!!!

Music Monday: The Shrines and The Crocodiles

I'm gonna be more consistant and do MM again! With outfits! :)

Me in the light tunnel at my hubby's office

Lecherous Gaze with the Shrines at the Hemlock

The Shrines

The Shrines were the opening band but I actually liked them a lot! They reminded me of MC5. My hubby, his friend and I all bought t-shirts, which I hardly do anymore. (I ran out of unique ways to cut them up! But I'll come up with new ways!)

Lecherous Gaze

Lecherous Gaze was pretty boss too.

The Hemlock is always a fun place to see shows. The cool people pay money to see the bands play in the back room. The average-to-uncool people stay in the bar and drink PBR while the bands play. :P

My outfit of the night with and without my jacket. (Gotta show all angles!) Bad lighting is so unflattering! I should stay in the light tunnel! haha!

The Crocodiles at the Rickshaw Stop

I've seen the Crocodiles before. They opened for the Dum Dum Girls back in September. The singer of the Crocodiles is married to the singer of the Dum Dum Girls. She came out for a duet which was pretty boss.

For the last couple of songs, people climbed on stage to dance.

The Rickshaw Stop is an ok place to see shows. The room is a little too long and narrow--not the ideal set up for shows; the Romans would be disappointed. There are rickshaws inside, which is kinda interesting. It's weird to sit on them. They have skee ball and foosball which are pretty fun. I don't know. Something about the place doesn't appeal to me. I feel like there's always a struggle to get a good spot to stand during shows.

This is what I wore! As you can see, my new uniform is: shorts + long sleeve shirt + otk boots + puffy coat.

Oops!  I forgot to put links to the bands' music!  If you're interested, go look them up on YouTube or MySpace Music!

Anyone go to any good shows this week?

I have RED hair!

What do you think of when you think of red hair?

The Little Mermaid? :D

Ronald McDonald? D:

When I decided to dye my hair red, I was thinking more of...

Kat Von D

and

Run Lola Run!

But I was afraid I'd look like...

Meredith from The Office!

I knew there was a chance, I'd end up looking cartoony.
 I figured that'd be ok as long as it looked cute, like...

Strawberry Shortcake

but not...

Sideshow Bob!

Well, that was my very long, very drawn-out way of sharing some of the red head pictures I found. :P

I first wanted to dye my hair red last year when I saw some cute red hair in Egg.

I tend to overthink things but I finally decided to finally just go for it because I was getting sick of my "golden brown" Feria hair that I'd already had for almost 2 years. I used Manic Panic, which makes my inner middle schooler feel like a badass. The name of the color is "Rock and Roll Red" which I obviously liked, too. Oh, and it's vegan? Yeah, it was easy to decide on Manic Panic of all the dyes out there.

And, finally, my fugly mug with red hair, right after dyeing it...

It's so red!! (My hair looks weird around the edge--I tried to hide the kitchen behind me.) I didn't bleach my hair, so I thought it'd be a much darker red.  I guess my hair was light enough to pick up the color.  I don't want it so red! I'm nervous about going to work or my internship. I think it's too extreme.

It's only supposed to last 5-7 weeks but there are tricks to lighten it in less time.  You can use dish soap or laundry detergent.  Seems super harsh but oh well.  Tomorrow I'll try to wash it out some. 

http://www.totalbeautyanswers.com/how-to-remove-hair-dye.html

What do you think? Is it too extreme?
Would you fire me if you were my boss? :P

Volumizing Hair Powder! It works!!

Ooh, hot red head!

I saw this product reviewed on XOJane--a site I'm becoming obsessed with--and I knew I wanted it.

The fact that I couldn't easily find it made me want it even more!!  It's a drug store brand but I pretty much shop exclusively at Whole Foods and Rainbow Grocery (SF co-op grocery story with amazing beauty products for way cheaper than WF!), so to find this junky product, I looked at Sally Beauty Supply, Safeway, Target, and finally Walgreens!  Thank goodness for Walgreens!  I actually found it at a supah scawy Walgreens in the Tenderloin.

Ok, here's me trying it out...

Side note:  I need to be less lazy and start ironing my hair.  It looks so much better when it's not frizzy!

Anyway, It totally works!  My photos really don't do the product justice.  My hair seriously felt LIFTED when I used it.  I accidentally got some on part my too-short bangs and those lifted too.  Next time I use it, I'll put it on a layer under the top hair in the back.  That's my advice to anyone who tries it out!



This stuff is seriously amazing.  It sounds crazy that this microfine powder could make your hair bigger, but it works!!  If you don't believe me, read this review: http://www.xojane.com/beauty/got2b-powderful-hair-powder-volumizing

When I visited Ulta (I'll have to blog about that later--Ulta wants to be Sephora but is actually super sh*tty and is more like Wal-Mart), I discovered that Bed Head makes a similar product.  To be realistic, Bed Head was probably first!  They are the original, high end, aren't-we-super-clever-with-our-silly-product-names company.  Got2B is just a clone--but an awesome and more affordable clone!

It's called Sugar Dust--cuter name!! I tried it on in the store but it was hard to tell if it worked better.  It defintiely worked, tho!  But be smart like me and but the Got2B stuff at Walgreen's... but don't be dumb like me go to the most dangerous part of town to find it!

Defining My Personal Gyaru Style

When I was sick and bedridden, I went through some of my gyaru mags from January and February and cut out pics of my favorite outfits (I refuse to call them coords!) and made collages. But dont judge me--they're not emo middle school collages! They're fashion collages!!


For a long time, I didn't want to cut into my precious magazines because I was trying to fool myself into believing that one day I'd actually go back and reread them. Well, when I was on my deathbed, I realized that I never would and that I should cut them up! :P


I'd heard that the best way to define your "personal style" is to chose images of clothes you like and look for patterns.

Anyway, these are some of my very favorite ones, most are images from Nuts:





Sorry they are so big, I wanted them to be full sized so you could see detail! I made a few more pages but these have my most favorite coords outfits.

Some patterns in the outfits I liked were:

Lots of black

Short skirts/shorts

Skinny jeans

Long tops

OTK socks& stockings

OTK boots

Platform boots

Military (?) Jackets

Fur trim

Actually, none of this is really new to me. I already knew I liked this style. But somehow these little collages helped me visualize the style I want.  Actually, I would like my style to be even a little edgier but this is a start!

My little magazine surgery has actually been very helpful with my shopping already.  It reminds me of what I want.  So instead of buying the random things that appeal to me--like fringed moccasins--I can be like, "Hmmm... well, that's not really my style." It's liberating!

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So... based on a my new, narrowed focus of how I want to dress, I got a few cute pieces while out shopping last week.  I also ordered some cute stuff off of Rakuten!  Can't wait to get it!  ;)

This top was at a local new/used boutique.  Go local!!

The brand is Morphine Generation, which I'd never heard of before.  You can't tell from the pic but it's a pretty long top.  I can probably get away with wearing nothing underneath, as long as I don't bend over, sit down or ride a bike!

EDIT:  wtf?  Hot Topic new sells this shirt!  This has really turned into an I-heart-HT kind of post!   I did not, however, buy it there.  I bought it at a small boutique here in SF called "Blond Logic." 

These shorts are from Hot Topic.  This sh*tty pic really doesn't do them justice!  They are super cute!


I know you can get super cheap shorts from F21, but these have one special detail... the pockets have skulls on them!  So cute!  They only show a little bit when I wear them but the devil is in the details, as they say!  Hot Topic has a lot of cute stuff that would work with rock styles plus their stuff is extremely affordable, even in these broke-@ss economic times.

See how cute Hot Topic clothes can be?

At the store, I tried on both these tops at Hot Topic but showed great economic restraint by purchasing neither!  I want to go back for the gray top...

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Do any of you make fashion collages?  Any other type of collage?  I think collages really help with visualization. I know ppl use them for all aspects of life.  There's a whole collage/goal movement.  What do you think?