Spring, floral, straw and cowboy

Last weekend, when I was in London (which i'll soon blog about), Emmie, Unni and I quickly popped into Oxford Street for some quick shopping (I should have brought more money with me (v_v);. It was then that I realized how quickly the gal spring fashion is seeping into UK high street fashion, or at least how similar it is - which, in a sense, is good for us Western gals because sometimes its hard to access Japanese clothes, or gal-style clothes on the internet.
So, some of the trends that are coming in this spring are~

♥ Floral and white/pale dresses

This dress are from the magazine JJ:
(click the images to enlarge them)



I love how light this dress is, and the fold details at the bottom are really cute~

These spring dresses are from Vivi:



Again, really pale, pastel colours are really in this season, and small floral details - like small roses and flower pattern are too.



I've never worn a maxi dress before, and I'm not sure whether I really like them or not, but again, they're in this season, and I've seen quite a few around, in stores like River Island and New Look.

I'm not sure the magazine this scan is from, but I ADORE these spring dresses:



I REALLY need to save up for some more spring dresses V__V, and some belts too, I love the brown belts in these pictures, and they're fairly easy to find, I swear they're everywhere in cheap vintage shops nowadays~

♥ Straw trilby hats, head scarfs and florally decorated accessories.

These scans are from JJ:

If you're looking for easy-to-get straw trilbies by the dozen, i'd recommend looking in Topshop even if the hats there are a wee bit expensive, they have a nice range of these hats out this spring.




Again, straw hats, flowers and spring imagery. It's easy to mix and match with these accessories since they suit most colours, even brighter colours, like the bold pink top worn in the top left photo of this picture

These accessories are from Vivi:


Again, pastel colours as well as gold are really popular for spring accessories and jewelery. I love the nature-inspired gold hair accessories coming out, although the ones that you put over your hair (like the leafy one in the scan) don't really suit me because it makes my head look really small!

This really good site called ASOS sells those sorts of hair accessories (and cute clothes and shoes), and they're only about £4.00!

Lots and lots of cute bags are in this season~~
Again, floral prints and pastel colours, also, satchels and vintage style bags (I suggest going to places like Urban Outfitters for stuff like that)

♥ Denim shorts and jackets, floral print, checkered, cream and frilly tops~

These clothes are from Vivi:

I love, love, love the cowboy look going on this spring, checkered tops are so cute. To be honest, in a shop sale, there were some men's pajamas (top) for £3.00, so I brought it because it was long and checkered.. and so cheap *__*!

High waisted denim shorts and skirts are adorable... I really need to go shopping (-_-);;


Big floppy hats! Maybe I should just borrow my Mum's...


Skin coloured things are everywhere nowadays... I know there's another name for the colour, but it's completely escaped me at the moment D;

STILL, skin coloured heels are so cute, and brogues too!

*comes back to edit* IT'S CALLED NUDE, I REMEMBER NOW!


Baggy, baggy, baggy things are always good for the summer and spring, they're also pretty good for lazy days indoors, although I prefer to just stay in my pajamas the whole day XD!

There are also a lot of pinstripes and dots floating around nowadays, especially long pinstriped shirts, which are cute, but lets be honest, they're everywhere nowadays!

JJ scan:

I really like zip up clothes with zips right at the front of them; simple but hottt!

♥ Makeup; light, natural, pinks and organic colours

Natural, glowing kind of look here, matching the sort of 'soft' floral looks this spring. I like this sort of makeup because it takes less time to put on in the mornings (and i'm a lazy, lazy person XD)

Nishino Kana is so pretty~

I really need to invest in some nude lipstick, I think Mac has quite a few nice colours going, but none of the stores near me sell Mac products (;__;), cursesss!

Here's a really simple makeup tutorial I found, its for people like me who miss 3 alarms in the morning and don't have time to do too much makeup in the week. Besides, I think this looks really natural and airy :)

♥ Shoes; cowboy boots, brogues, dolly shoes, wedges, and heels~

I'm usually not such a big fan of dolly shoes, they get wrecked too easily *in my case anyway*, but I reaaalllyyy like some of the ones I saw in River Island when I went shopping with Emmie and Unni, the shoes there are so cute, especially the pastel ones - although I dared not look at the prices *__*.

These shoes and heels are in really simple creams and natural colours but go with so many different clothes. I don't really wear heels because i'm already nearing on 6 feet tall.. so I wouldn't see much point in me wearing any, unless I wanted to become a giant!

COWBOY BOOTS. I love them so much, mine are broken though. By broken I mean they have massive holes through their soles so big I bet someone could fit their head through them XD. Need to invest in some new ones. Come to think of it, mine probably broke because they were only £12.00, hahaha!

I'm going to work and save up money, especially after looking at all the pretty clothes, bags, shoes and accessories in all these pictures ;___;!

I know that this sort of airy, spring style isn't for all the gals out there, and personally, I like to hop around between gyaru styles, since everything is just so incredibly pretty!

I'd like to see what everyone else is hoping on buying this spring, and if there's anything else anyone wants to share!

Credit for scans goes to this wonderful tumblr blog thank you for all your awesome scans!

Happy shopping everyone!

Nails make the woman, or does the woman make the nails?

I was just browsing through the internet and realized 'OH MY GOD, I NEED TO BLOG ABOUT NAILS, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW'.

Nails. ♥
Fake nails. ♥
Long nails. ♥

I love nail art, I think that it can be one of the most beautiful forms of expression of creativity, but is often misinterpreted as being a 'boring hobby', 'plain', 'for chavs', etc.
Oh really?
Sure you may have seen the nail art salons dotted around your area, where you may get a french manicure here and there, perhaps a few stars and streaks of nail varnish painted on your nails to make it look pretty. I can tell you now, that is merely the TIP of the iceberg my friend! You haven't seen ANYTHING until you've seen Japanese nail art.

WE GALS KNOW BETTER!

I was snooping around the internet, and found some really cute nails that would be ideal to wear in spring; matching all the cute white dresses, hats and cowboy boots floating around in the gyaru fashion world:

These ones really match the whole cowboy look, I love how simple, but cute they are:



I absolutely adore these, the anchor details and marine blue look so cool, I think they'd definitely go with a lot of casual outfits:




If you're looking for local salons that do Japanese nails, which mind you, are very hard to find, i'd suggest taking a peak at this London Gyaru Guide post about Nail salons that do Japanese style nails, luckily Koneko found one in Piccadilly!

A couple of months ago, actually.. I think I started last summer (which is almost a year ago!), I started designing a couple of my own nails! I brought a load of sparkly jewels, nail varnishes, beads, plastic pearls, gold trinkets, hearts and other things to use for my nail art, which I simply got from Ebay - you can find so many bargains there, I love it!

Anyway, here are some of my previous sets I have created:


My first set, I called them my 'hime' (princess) set, since it was SO pink and crazily decorated:



This one was my second set, I didn't really come up with a name for them, but they're definitely my favourite, because of the big, cute, pink hearts on them:



And these ones were made for my friend (and fellow member of HIBISCGYARU), Polly. I love them because of the leopard print tips, I really want to make some pink ones with feathers next time:



So, who out there makes their own nails, or buys nails online? I was thinking about making my own online store to sell my nails... But I'm not sure if I have the time, or if people are interested in buying them.. we'll have to see how it goes~


AHHH, I almost forgot! Here are some useful links if you're interested in Japanese nail art:

♥ 'Ishi' is a useful site that shows loads of different nail art designs, and is a good resource to use if you need inspiration for your nails!

♥ 'Wow! Pretty Nails!' is a great site to find good nail supply brands, especially for nail varnish, and is updated regularly~

♥ This person has talent when it comes to designing nails, check out her flickr here!

♥ I thought that 'At Your Finger Tips' nail suppliers looked really good, they have a whole range of things, but aren't really aimed at Japanese nails. However, if you're looking to start trying nail art, I recommend flicking through what they have here!

Thats all for tonight gals, I'm knackered ahaha!
Good night x