Tanning

Hey Acorns ! Tanning is a common discussion within the gyaru community and something I've recieved lots of questions on in the past.

"Can I be shiro and do kuro?" vice versa "Can I be kuro and do shiro?"

"How tan do I need to be to be considered kuro?"

"Is tanning too deep problematic?"

Terminology

Within the area of tanning and complexion there is a lot to discuss. First off, I'm sure you've heard the terms shiro and kuro. I've seen many baby gals confused with these terms and would like to clear this up. The terms shiro and kuro refer to your complexions and the categorisation of your tan. And within these two categories have associated substyles and expectations.

The term shiro refers to an individual with a lighter or pale complexion.

 Substyles within the shiro category can be:

• Hime, 
• Himekaji,
• Rokku, 
• Goshikku
• Ane
• Agejo 
• Ane agejo
• Roma
• Onee
• So forth

The term kuro refers to an individual with a deeper or tanned complexion.

 Substyles within the kuro category can be:

• Ganguro
• Gonguro
• Yamanba
• Manba
• Banba
• Romanba
• Cyber
• Tsyuome manba 

Although there are substyles that are interchangeable with kuro and shiro. Such as tsyuome, saike, Amekaji and so forth. Interchangeability will be elaborated further in this post.

Requirments 

Tash! How deep does my tan need to be before I'm considered kuro?

To be frank, in my personal opinion, the deepness of your tan is really up to your personal preferences. Although if we were to get technical, your tan would need to be reasonably deep enough to have a decent contrast of the white elements of your makeup. If there is no decent contrast, you can end up looking very washed out and uncanny. 

Makeup

When considering the categories of shiro and kuro, makeup styles within these areas can be drastically different. 

But Tash!!! can you do shiro makeup on kuro? and vice versa can you do kuro makeup on shiro?

 

Kuro makeup is very diverse and less strict than shiro makeup, whilst on the other hand, shiro makeup can be rather tedious and specific. Kuro gyarus can do shiro makeup styles, whilst unfortunately shiro gyarus are limited to shiro makeup.

This is because kuro makeup typically has a lot of bold white elements that will not appear on paler complexions, hence appearing uncanny, unbalanced and a hot mess... Whilst kuro gyaru can typically get away with doing shiro makeup styles, although it may be difficult in some styles such as goshikku and rokku which may require extra effort to pull off due to these styles being inspired off rock and gothic subcultures that draw from ghostly and pale appearances.

The main issue of makeup is balance. You will want your makeup to come together to balance eachother in creating a cohesive and visually appealing look, which is why kuro makeup will look very washed out and messy on shiro gyaru. 

Contreversy

There is a large discussion on blackface and when tanning is too extreme. When tanning the areas to consider are personal safety doing blackface.

  Safety

Its important to consider the method you get your tan. In the past, groups such as Angeleek and Black Diamond used extreme methods of tanning to get a really deep tan. One infamous instance is the Angeleek rules that stated that members has to go to the tanning salon minimum 4-5 times a week. Which is not only unrealistic but dangerous. Your method and safety matters and you do not want to be risking your health for aesthetics. Always ensure you're wearing SPF50/50+ when you're in the sun! I personally use tanning foam which is a lot safer and easier, although sometimes it can give you an orange complexion that I know some gals like. It was brought to my attention that purple tanners exist than can neutralise the orange tones which I plan to test out soon!

 Blackface

Another major issue associated with tanning is blackface. One of my biggest irks is seeing influencers "attempt" gyaru makeup and proceeding to paint their faces 5 shades darker than their actual skintone. These creators try to justify this by saying "this is gyaru" but it is not, this is blackface and regardless of intent, it is harmful. There is this general rule in the gal community to not go deeper than 3 shades of your skintone and I think this is a good basis to go by. And when tanning, ensure that the colour of your body matches the colour of your face, otherwise this can also come off as blackface. We as a community need to be concious of the cultures and history ensuring we are not contributing to oppression as we as people have a responsibility to educate and protect those within our community.

That concludes my discussion on tanning! hope this helps, good luck acorns ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

 FEATURES OF GYARU MAKEUP

Hey Acorns! There are many components to gyaru makeup that people tend to neglect. I think it's important to consider that the entirety of your makeup needs to be a cohesive combination of elements that complement and balance each other rather than separate elements that need individual fixing. This tends to be a common issue when I was learning how to do my own makeup, and something I observe in other babygals. 

It's important to learn what the different features of gyaru makeup are, and babygals can recognise what they may or may not be neglecting. I will be addressing the most common features of gyaru makeup.

Features:

Eyeliner - consist of your top and bottom eyeliner that will create your tarame. 

Tarame - This term refers to your droop. there are many shapes and sizes to your tarame. 

Namida Bukuro - Tear bag, commonly known by the Korean term aegyosal.  This is eye fat under your eyes.

Lashes - lashes tend to be a very important feature, especially in shiro gyaru composed of top and bottom eyelashes.

Brows - Gyaru makeup often consist of lightened thin, slanted and arched brows.

Contact lenses - contact lenses are very common, and are a very prominent feature in reiwa gyaru makeup styles.

Inner corner - This feature can describe a hooked or straight inner corner. sometimes you don't need one.

Eyeshadow - this can deepen your eyes, bring a pop, commonly there is a smokey gradient in shiro makeup. Kuro makeup is much more diverse from the large curved cut crease or colorful eyeshadow.

Base makeup - base makeup often, if not always, is a matte full coverage base.

Nose - straight nose contour

Nose stripe - the highlighter of your straight nose. can be matte highlighter, a shimmer and/or bold white.

Lips - often lips are a lighter color or nude to avoid drawing attention to the lips. 

Blush - blush is often placed central to the cheeks to bring attention to the center of the face.

I think it's important to mention that as a babygal, you are at a stage where you are learning the basics of gyaru makeup. I would personally recommend learning more simple makeup styles, as those will set up the foundations for you to advance to much more advanced makeup styles, specifically ones under the kuro gyaru category, as the makeup will require much different techniques and an entirely different outlook on the makeup.

I'd also like to mention that you are also at a stage of a lot of experimentation; you as a babygal will be learning what does and doesn't suit your features. Do not confine yourself to one box when trying to find what does and doesn't suit you, and discover what you believe suits your face and preferences. Everyone is different! Do your research, ask for advice; it'll take a while to learn, but every gal you look at has probably been at the same stage as you! So good luck on your journey!!

I hope this post helps anyone who comes by it                                                                                         ! Good luck!

THE 2/3 RULE

You cannot be a gyaru without makeup; this is a fundamental of gyaru culture. Gyaru is a fashion-based subculture characterised by bold appearances, makeup, and style. And sometimes I feel this is a fact that a lot of baby gals neglect. 

I've seen people say "You can be gyaru with just makeup" or "all you need to be gyaru is just makeup", and although this is true to an extent, I feel this is an idea that is very lazy and shallow. Gyaru is a fashion-based culture, and like your makeup, different elements come together to create your look and make you gal. And this coordination of your appearance is essential to the lifestyle of gyaru. Gyaru is, without a doubt, a high-maintenance lifestyle that requires a level of self-care and effort. From putting on your makeup, doing your hair, party culture, socialising, to resetting, removing your makeup, and taking care of yourself physically and mentally.

And to truly embody gyaru, you need to be putting effort into all parts of your appearance, not just your makeup.

I've seen some people wonder why they dont get called a gyaru by the community, despite doing the makeup, whilst they're doing much more simplistic makeup styles. The thing is, although the makeup is gyaru to an extent, when doing simplistic makeup you are expected to compensate with another element of your appearance.

For example, when you look at old magazine scans of old school or amuro gyaru, despite them having minimal makeup, they still appear gyaru because their appearances were balanced out by deep tans, bleached, styled hair and flashy coords. Essentially, if you are unable to do an element of your appearance, you must compensate with another. The minimal old school gyaru look rides heavily on deeper tans to look gyaru, otherwise, it will appear as just normal conventional makeup.

There are three central elements when it comes to your appearance:

1. HAIR

Hair refers to whether you style your hair or not, whether it's bleached, you're using wigs, etc, this focuses on styled hair. Such as sujimori, buns, ponytails, sakage, curls, waves, etc. 

To be missing this element would just mean having unstyled or simple hairstyles. 

2. MAKEUP

 Makeup is, well, your makeup. But this also includes how you plan to complement your makeup with your skin tone (whether you're shiro or kuro).

To be missing this element would just mean having a more simplistic makeup style. This could be lashless makeup (unless your kuro gyaru doing panda eyes), no lenses or missing elements of your makeup that make it less striking. 

3. COORD 

 Coord is your full outfit coordination. From your clothes, accessories and your nails, your outfit is a coordination of different pieces or sets that come together to compliment eachother. Often you can find different coords in magazines. When discussing substyles, substyles often refer to the clothing trends of different time periods and the categorisation of them.

To be missing this element would just mean having a much more simplistic coord. 

I created this rule for myself called the 2/3 rule. Where to be recogniseably gyaru, you must have a minimum of two elements of the three elements I previously explained. This rule isnt essentially a commandment of some sort, but rather a guide. I intiailly made this rule to help baby gals understand that being gyaru is not confined in only doing your makeup, and to be gyaru you must be putting effort into the entirety of your appearance. You can of course neglect this rule and it is definitely important to form your skills of doing your makeup, and people can pull off doing ONLY their makeup, but for baby gals this would be a difficult approach.

Do what you can, of course and dont force yourself to splurge on random clothing peices, but I merely hope to enlighten, not to neglect other elements of your appearance.

I found this rule especially helpful when I was a baby gal myself, I didn't have much clothes at the time so I compensated using wigs, tanning and makeup! 

I hope this helps !