My personal gal faves from 2025/Jan 2026

 Hi everyone!! I should be going to bed, but I wanted to share some items I personally really like and add as a gal staple to my life. Some of these might resonate with you dear readers, but some might not! And if you're wondering what you could experiment with, here's some of mine to maybe be inspired by!!

1. Magazines!!!! Scans and physical versions!! Ofc there's gal revo and internet archive, but there is something so fun to just open up a magazine and flip through it in person. In general, if you're looking for a specific type of inspiration, it's fun to look through a magazine. I also personally believe magazines are better than pinterest as there's a lot of scans from the mags that doesn't really seem to make it to pinterest. I also think collecting physical magazines is great when you can't find scans of magazines or if you're looking for reiwa mags, which aren't typically scanned.
2. Self tanning lotion!! This has been a january 2026 purchase I actually really like. I got more serious with the self tanner last year, but just kept running into issues of keeping it maintained. I personally find the lotion to be great, there's no residue you worry about putting on, and it's very gradual so it's not like a super big jump. I personally use the tanologist in light to medium right now, I might experiment with the darker shades later.
3. LENSES!!!!!!!!!!!! This sounds like a nobrainer, but as I only got into lenses last year, I feel like they've made my makeup look less jarring. My recent favorites have been my pinkyparadise Geo Princess Mimi Chocolate Brown and my Geo Mimi Waffle Grey.
• I will say daily vs yearly can depend on your scenario. I find wearing daily lenses is good for environments where I plan to discard my lenses to swap to glasses (aka at the end of a swing shift or after drinking awhile). I was actually using daily lenses pre-tariff law changes but moved to yearlies. I did just order a ton of dailies and some half yearly to play with.
4. Colourpop gel liners/gel liners in general. I mostly use the black and white, black for my water line and white for the eyebright portion. I also have a loreal peach gel liner I also use for the eye bright portion too. I also like sparkly gel lines... so good. I do like colourpop a lot personally as the quality is good for the price.
5. Diamond Lashes, Dollywink Lashes and Decopara Lashes - I love a good spiky lash, and ofc I like to go for diamond lashes, but they're kind of hard to get now. There's a cute spiky dolly lahses from dollywink I've started seeing at maruichi stores, but if a gal needs a nice big spiky pack from the states.. Decopara is the way to go. They're super cute and gal owned brand yes!! yes!!!! 
6. Dollywink lash glue. Jules recommended it to me and it's godly. GODLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that's like all I can think of. Really with those 6 items you can do whatever with your clothes and hair... its all good

Ok!! good night!! and don't forget to watch a video on how to play craps at the casino! you don't have to gamble. don't gamble. But just become familiar with craps ok. And then tell your friends to learn about craps. I told Bob I wrote about it on my blog so I'm writing it again.

1/25 - I contemplate why I am ok with Prisila half wigs but weary of full cap wigs on myself

 Though I have been busy practicing learning blackjack I have also been doing a lot of thinking of like... my thoughts on how gals have been styling themselves as well as the gyaru attractions. Yes, this links back to ppgalclub which I mentioned in the yabi gyaru post.

Something I've noticed and not been a fan of is the use of the ponytail clip wigs... and like this comes from someone who has used those wigs in the past. One of my first posts on my instagram was using a random ponytail wig from amazon as I was still quite new to figuring out my hair. I use full cap wigs once in a while, but I've noticed I preferred utilizing my Prisila half wigs. If you're reading the blog and want to use full wigs idc what you do!! Do what you want!! This is just for me. 

The biggest thing I've noticed is that something about my prisila wigs just looked... different. I ended up researching this a bit and noted that prisila claims to have worked on utilizing synthetic wig fibers that are heat resistant and look realistic. 

Realistic hair quality is popular! The new fiber wig is more natural! |Wig Priscilla Official Mail Order Site

Based on the website, this has been a WIP, so older prisila pieces you get may still look more synthetic vs more like human hair. I personally have purchased every piece except for one set of bangs from the prisila website, and I've just noticed it looks closer to my natural hair than some of my other wigs. The cheaper the wig, the shinier it is. Ofc you can remove the shine.

The other part though, is how much wig fibers there are and how dense wigs are. I've seen many tutorials where folks note its important to thin out wigs, and I think it definitely helps. I've placed some video tutorials as I cannot teach how to thin a wig myself lol

How to Thin out Bangs on a Wig using Thinning Shears| TALK THROUGH TUTORIAL

How I Thin Out My Synthetic Hair! | VERY EASY, VERY QUICK

With my prisilas, especially with the part wigs, there's already layers and dimension that makes me feel like I don't require thinning. Also, I personally don't like having so much hair right at the sides of my head, and wigs always have that problem for me. With my parts wigs, I just have to organize them on my head in a way so that doesn't happen. 

The final thing is the ponytail clip on wigs. Most of them are small at the top of the wig where the clip is, and then huge volume at the bottom, I don't really like it personally. I like more of the ponytail to be voluminous at the top to match the volume at the bottom. Sujimori is also just very big hair at the top of the head and I feel like if one was to wear a wig... it should match. 

And there's nothing wrong with like flatter hair in gyaru, it's common, but if you're going to emulate an OTT agejo or hime look, the big part of the hair needs to be at the top!!

... I guess that's it. Just finally got the words I was thinking out via blog lmao!

And if you've made it this far. You should learn about the casino game craps. I will not influence you to go /play/ craps, but it's dying out and Bob said the kids should be off their phones and play craps. Bob. If you read this blog. This is for you.

1/14 - The yabi influence on gyaru fashion / are we witnessing a new trend / substyle???

 Hi y'all, lil personal thinkpiece today, and I'm going to admit I am not the end all be all of fashion, I am not Anna Wintour. I am just a random person who is noticing things in fashion. I actually was thinking about this more after reading this wonderful blog by Rina READ THE BLOG HERE FIRST!!!! I would read it first before reading the rest of this.

I also am interested in other gals take, or if you're more into the yabi fashion than I am, and I'm happy to be incorrect too. Also dear readers if you do not have an account to comment, please feel free to dm me on instagram... I want to make it abundantly clear I am not coining this phrase and I am just realizing I am witnessing a new gal trend in the reiwa era...

Something I've noticed in the past year is the major influence of the Yabi Subculture and the influence of the Chinese gyaru in recent gyaru trends. A few gals I immediately think of are @ocaso0.00, @77yeeki, @zzzz.uquq.uoa7, and @qiiqiiqiiqiiiii. Though I do personally read them all as gyaru, you can't help but also note they also incorporate Yabi into their coordinates as well. 

My understanding of Yabi is that it's easy to incorporate aspects of another fashion subculture (gyaru, y2k, visual kei, and others) with Yabi styling. In my personal opinion, it also adds in that super maximalist aspect of big accessories, clashing patterns, clashing stylistic choices, etc.

I am coming to terms with the fact that the Chinese gyaru have infact pushed for a new substyle which I personally call "yabi gyaru" though I am definitely not the one to coin the phrase nor the first to realize this is a thing!! I do want to give credit to cinnagal as they were the first person to make me aware of yabi fashion, I'll link their youtube video talking about chinese trends here.

And to be honest with yall, I think Yabi Gyaru is a very reiwa trend, the main thing is styling. You can take an Agejo Gyaru influence or a Yamanba Gyaru influence in Yabi Gyaru styling, but it's not really agejo or yamanba as it's not following the OG influence and it feels more Yabi and more... different. I also only really know gyaru from an agejo/koakuma ageha standpoint, so maybe some older substyles could be linked to more of a Yabi styling... if you know dear reader pls let me know I'd love to learn.

And the funny thing is Yabi can pull from Gyaru, but it feels like now the opposite is happening where gyaru are pulling in the concept from Yabi. The two biggest things I see modern day gals doing now is either 1) MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF ACCESSORIZING and 2) Coordinating items together that clash. 

I can speak from an Agejo perspective, but you really don't see a lot of clash when it comes to the styling in Koakuma Ageha. As Rina wrote in her blog, Agejo can be seen as a very elegant, and I myself noted the careful styling and the minimal accessorizing even throughout the years. The most OTT gals were the hime gals in the magazine, but even then, their accessorizing was not as massive.

I feel like this did make its way into the gaijin community first, but some of the Japanese gals I follow also seem to incorporate influences of Yabi and its styling. I personally think asupii (asuka__0928) styles herself in a way that takes influence from Yabi but it still reads gyaru to me. Additionally, @ppgalclub has blown up in the past year which has option to have oneself styled in gal, and the vibe of the fashion worn in these typically read as more of the yabi gyaru. 

It is at this point I realized mid blog writing that we are in the midst of a new substyle of gyaru and I started asking my fellow gal pals about it. Shout out to the gals for real.

I personally feel as though Yabi Gyaru is going to be a similar substyle to Himekaji Gyaru, where it will take additional styling measures to add the "gyaru" portion, as Gyaru still have distinct looks to them. The reason I personally find the folks I listed above as yabi gyaru and not just yabi as they still have have a recognizable gyaru make and just gyaru vibe. I think a big issue for people trying to dabble in Yabi Gyaru is if they don't incorporate the gyaru aspect and then the look will just end up looking more Yabi and not Yabi Gyaru. Does this make sense??

There have been people dressing up in the new trend... substyle... whatever!!! But I feel like in the western space we feel the need to distinguish Gyaru and Yabi, while also complaining that gyaru will never get a new substyle when its right here, it's happening in front of our eyes people!! 

I want to note though that this is going to be a heavily debated substyle, and the validity of the gyaruness of a person may also come up as well. Something that's been a topic in the gyaru community for a while is if people are coming into the community to be seen as "posers", and mix that in with how some view folks in the Yabi subculture as posers (Which Cinnagal also mentions in their video), Yabi Gyaru is going to be seen as risky and there's the risk of being seen as a poser. I've also spoken with a lovely moot who noted that a lot of baby gals seem to like this style as Yabi is much more lax on styling and what pieces work well together, and I do agree with this as I've seen many discussions complaining about the lack of styling. 

This is also like a weird inspiration becomes the inspirer in this case, as first the Yabi were pulling from the gyaru, but now the gyaru are pulling from the Yabi... how interesting...

Now if you're wondering if I'll be pulling any inspiration into my looks... no not really lmao... I am currently yearning for more 2013-2014 agejo. I think if you like the vibe, you still would need to pull off the gyaru part very well to have it still read as gyaru. 

Ok... more thoughts on this is coming but again I would love. love. love. a discussion on this from any other gals in the comm, pls share ur thoughts with the class!! pls!!!! 

1/11 - I dissect how my look has developed in 2025.

 Hello y'all, final 1/11 blog post. I wanted to detail a bit more of how my looks have changed over the year in 2025 because I feel like though 2024 was a mental glow up, I really took a physical glowup in 2025. I'll be very harsh on myself and dissecting my looks, so disclaimer. 1) This is how I feel about ME!!! NOT YOU!!! YOU DO WHATEVA!!! I usually take my gal criticisms and put them on myself the hardest. 2) If you are uncomfy with someone doing self dissection of their makeup and styling you are free to head off. 

But if you're interested in how I view my make and styling this is the blog for u. It gets lazy at the end but. whatever.

I think if like we want to start with the official first code of 2025, which was almost the last code of 2024 simply as I stayed up for NYE, it would be this one!

I definitely was in the phase of "I am never taking these prisilas off my head". And working on a more dramatic eye makeup. I will say this code was definitely more like... appropriate for the party we were going to, but I'd like to try a sleeveless styling of this in 2026 too. 

For me personally, my biggest dislike is the lack of tan here. Ever since I started tanning I just realized I like it for me personally, and it also solved my problem of foundation issues where even the lightest foundation looks noticeably different. I use cheaper products where they really don't make the ultra pale stuff. I also think liye can change how it looks depending on how tan I am or not. 

Also I think this eyemake + no lens combo makes my eyes looks a bit... odd. I think the warm brown under the eye looks weird, but the eyebright part was (chefs kiss).

At the point of the gal journey I was in... it's not bad!

Ok, we have to talk about cunty floral bingo look now. 

I actually really liked how the makeup looked here even though I'm still doing the no lens make + lack of tan. I think this hair color just worked super well with my paler complexion. I actually need to order this wig again as I ruined mine for my halloween costume lol. I also liked making the accessories hehe.. the only issue is they don't go with anything else I have.

My biggest issue with this code was the SHOES!! To this day I still struggle with good shoes... and socks. At this point I didn't have a lot of like... white socks... so I was like arghh??? 

I now want to talk about probably my least favorite look this year. 

I want to like it. I was just trying so hard to be "casual gyaru" but still doing too much. I also recreated a himena eye make that just was too drastic for no lenses. Hence I don't have many photos of this. There's a few codes like this where I just... struggle. Also I looked kind of ghastly in this code which ah.... not a good look for me.

I also need to make a mention for the two slay kyaba looks

 

Bye not the bottom being from rednote LMFAOOOO its ok.

These ones I did tan but had the new issue of oh god my foundation is too light... but I think these two looks were the start of my visualizing my slayful woman image. I always want to have a slayful woman image for sure. I also was struggling if I wanted to wear a bottom lash or not.

I think however the biggest change in my gal looks were when three things happened.

1) Got lenses in April (and an extra, when I discovered loveil and daily lenses from Japan). 

2) Got back into tanning

3) Realizing I don't gotta GAF if I look gal to other ppl as long as I am enjoying my look.

I feel like with those3 things, emphasis on the third, I definitely developed my look more. Even in my casual chiikawa tracksuits I could make it a bit more "gal" 

 

Though it got so bad I had to do only gal makeup for cosplay because I forgot how to do any other makeup. I was wearing lenses for pitbull.. oppenheimer... wowie wowie...

I think also in general I allowed myself to steet away from stereotypical agejo and do more with looks, and experiment more, and it's been really fun! I've been loving more of the looks I put together in the later half of the year this year. Even if some are simple, include my hair, or a non prisila.

I could detail further on many of my favorite looks now... but I think honestly just the look I had on 12/31/2025 was a good look... a big change from my 12/31/2024 look. I think this look also captures of "slayful woman" image I've wanted to capture. May it continue to develop in 2026... ya girl getting into ane agejo again..... the winter always makes me yearn for florals and business woman fits

I will say... did stop using bottom lashes again... thats ok LOL! I'm always experimenting w/ my "droop" area.

Ok... that's a lot of blogs in one day and I need some late lunch. To pizza marvin I go.

1/11 - Oh you thought I was going back to Boston? No. New York City.

 Let's switch it up chat. I've gone to Boston a lot... so why not a lil trip to the big apple?! I hadn't gone to NYC since a very cursed 2019 experience, so when I was asked to join for Ally's birthday shenanigans, I was like YEAH!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!! The day before I went and picked up my friend Gabi and we headed to their family home close to NYC to stay there for two nights. No hotel needed... love that. We also hung out with our friend Olivia in Stamford for a bit but I took no photos... actually I took one... but go to the end of the blog for that.

The idea was to dress up cute because we were going to a fancy tea store. So I pulled out the big guns... Angelic Pretty dress and a fresh tan. (Literally did it the night before so my hands were AUUUGH but it is ok that's what happens when I put off tanning until the last min).

I know I am an agejo girlie, but I also have been really into the idea of himegyaru/himelolita. Doing some research into various dresses I saw this AP dress and I was like wow. Would love this. And then I went and found i secondhand in China with the matching necklace and headpiece and wow!!! It is so cute. I will be wearing this LOTS. This is a repeat outfit for SURE. I've also been enjoying the concept of brown eyes. I do love having blue eyes, but I feel like for the more cutesy princess looks, I enjoy brown eyes. Does this make ANY SENSE? I doubt it. 

I will say I do want to invest in some cute socks and wrist cuffs. Surprisingly I didn't hate the white tights, but I did buy pink socks and pink tights but the tones of pink were off and I was NOT doing that... no...

So!!!!! After we got dressed, my friend Gabi and I drove over to Ally's house, gave her gifts, and us and our final party member, Luke, drove over to the local MTA station and hopped on the train to NYC!!

Our first stop was a cute lil tea place in Koreatown!! I love tea so I was so happy to down a few cups of black tea to keep awake. I got this mango tea that was like... tasty asf. I don't expect tea to be tasty so I was confused I could taste the mango but also surprised. I got some fries and a cheesecake, and everyone got some food and Ally got this super cute dessert tray with a creme brulee and that helped me remember creme brulee exists and now I want some. Yum....

Also we got free cans of redbull (broke my no energy drink streak after like 2 months but its ok LOL). and while we waited for our tea Luke put the can in his cup LMAOOO

 

Also some cute photos of me!! 

After food, we went shopping for a bit before our scheduled museum trip. I was expecting to spend a lot of money in NYC, but I only bought a few things. 

1) GFriend Season of Memories album, but it's the glass bead. UGHH MY ISO IS MINE YESSSSSS ITS SO GOOD. I'm so glad I got it.

2) A water from Teso Life. I dragged our group in there to get an idea and it's just like... reiwatakiya or taos...

3) All the cororo peach gummies from miniso. If you notice a lack of cororo peach gummies just know it was probably me.... love those gummies...

There was a LOT of cute stuff but I kept holding off. I will say just due to timing we couldn't explore a lot but thats ok!! I learned you really gotta like plan out NYC or plan more time to just walk around. 

We then had a fun time at the museum of illusions!! It's a smaller spot but it's so cute!!!! I took many pics with the group and it was so fun. I'm gonna do a photo spam at the end. After the museum we headed back for pizza and cake and it was so fun!! At the end of the trip I was like "damn that was short" and they were all like "oh shit right you're not from here". but it was all ok!!! 1) Ally's birthday so Ally's rules. 2) I can always come back lol. To my friends, they live near NYC so a trip to NYC is like a trip to Boston for me. I hit a few spots and head home.

Overall, an amazing trip! In a way I gained a softer spot for Boston thought because NYC is a whole different city than Boston. Like I was only there for 3 hours and though I was like "wow it's short." I was also like "WOW THIS IS A LOT..."

Ok!!! Photo spam now!!

And if you made it to the end... the one photo from Stamford. No context required.

1/11 - Boston in December Part 3 - the new years eve shenanigans

 Ya girl loved Boston in December. Which is crazy because I assumed I just hated Boston as for awhile I was just like not having the best experiences there. I mean AB 2025 was OK, but I didn't expect much. My first two Boston december trips were WONDERFUL so I was hopeful the third trip would be just as good!

This time around, I went to Boston with my friend Jordan as were attending Vicki and Dan's wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WEDDINGS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL and I knew this wedding was going to be fan-fucking-tastic as I love Vicki and Dan so much AND since it was a New Years Eve wedding, it was gonna be SO GOOD!!! They had events that spanned over 3 days, so we got to Boston on the 30th.

Also like disclaimer yall I forgot to take like barely any photos at the functions. The functions to me were about connecting and having fun (nod emoji goes here) and also we were requested to not utilize phones at the ceremony (nod emoji goes here). The wedding? Beautiful. Vicki? STUNNING. GORGEOUS. Dan? Looking hella great. 

So more of this blog will be more of what I wore, what I did, etc.

So when we got there on the 30th, I went ahead and got changed and did my hair and make for the pre-wedding get together social. The dress code was "smart casual" which to me, I had no idea what that meant... but the good news... EmiriaWiz is close enough I think! I have this tweed set that just kits a lil oddly on me, but paired with black boots, black blouse, and a black jacket, I think it worked super well! No nails here because lazy.

The event was super fun as I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in like... 2 years? It was so nice!! Lots of yapping, met some wonderful people including a stunning fashion diva whose name I am forgetting... ARGH!!!!!

And then we went to bed... I woke up as the early riser in the friendship duo and decided while Jordan slept in, I'd go on an adventure to.... you guessed it. Newbury street. I actually needed to stop there because I wanted to get my friend Ally some good Hachiware gifts + I wanted to get some more chiikawa nails. For myself, I ended up picking up some hachiware nails at reiwatakiya and the tirtir cushion foundation from Tao's. 

Then I had the great idea to take the subway to the reiwatakiya in brookline only to realize it opened at like. 1 pm. and it was 12pm. So I ended up walking through a local neighborhood to the buffalo exchange and found 25 dollars on the ground? A crisp 20. A crisp 5. What the fuck? More on these bills later in the story.

Didn't find anything at buffalo exchange, and then walked to reiwatakiya and picked up more hachiware nails (for Ally this time) and an eyeshadow palette for me! I also then stopped at a random store to buy a necklage because I forgot mine. Whoops. It's super cute so I will be wearing it more for sure. Then my phone was on like 10% so I got back to the hotel, charged phone, and then Jordan and I went to grab some food. We sat by the window and people watched and commented on everyone's fashion choices.

I realized I never wrote about the dollar bills. I owed jordan 25 bucks for lunch so I gave it to him and we laughed. lol. 

Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding!!!!! Since it was NYE the dress code was gowns and suits and like... what wedding guests wear. I always struggle to dress for weddings and find the right outfit, but I found this dress on mercari JP and it was like whoa!!!! So cool!!! 

Before I spam the good pics I'll wrap up the talking portion here to reiterate the wedding was so beautiful and so fun, and the post wedding brunch was so nice too! Though I didn't take many pictures it so wonderful to witness the beautiful wedding... congrats to Vicki and Dan for real!!!!!!!!! I wish you both all the best!!!! 

Also one of the performers looked like Pitbull and about 5-10 people told me I should take his job. I love the fact people know me for that. 

OK!!! That's all the text. Spamming the pics below now. Personally, my best look in 2025 me thinks.

1/11 - Boston in December Part 2 Electric Boogaloo - Gal meet!!!

I am so behind blogging Boston trips and you know how I know that? I have another one next week and I haven't even blogged either last week of December!! 

Ya girl went to a gal meet in boston!!! Jules / misslotusgal on insta had posted about a meetup and I was like whoa... a meetup I can actually make it to!!!!! So I was super excited to go!!

I was cursed with 2 things right before the meet: Allergies and Snow. Hacking up a lung due to dry mouth and not being able to really wear agejo as it was cold and icy!! But with some allergy meds and a chiikawa inspiration, I was able to come up with a cute outfit and make for the event!!

My initial idea was to go full alba baka w the darich boots, but I ended up putting on a chiikawa shirt and put some chiikawa nail stickers on my face to match my chiikawa purse! (It needs a wash.) I think for a casual code, it was super cute. 

Also thank you Jules for the sick pics at the bottom, and to Morefun for some amazing lighting. Love Morefun.

I didn't take a lot of photos of the day, but it was super duper fun!! We met up at the mall and flipped through mags and chatted about inspo, gal life, etc etc, and then we went shopping!!!!!! From cookies to tea to photobooths to cosmetics stores, it was all so fun!!! I was nervous as I had no idea how many gals would be there or what the vibe would be, but similarly to my trip with Erin, I feel like we all hit it off very well!! Also we were all in the same age range which was so nice too!!! I also offered to host a meet for the Spring in Providence (nod emoji) so I'm going to work on putting together times closer to March once I figure out my work schedule for my night time job. 

I had a lot of fun!! I'm going to post all the other pictures I took below!!! 

I love the GIF versions so much hehe....