gyaru makeup basics crash course!

*liquid foundation and concealer, for a clean base to start with! Whatever brand/coverage/etc you like is fine as long as it covers blemishes and evens your skin tone out!

*contouring! always the nose but jaw/etc is optional, to define the nose and other features you want chiseled. Gyaru often use powder bronzers or matte brown eye shadows, but cream contouring works if you're into that! The dramatic nose contour is extremely intertwined with gyaru and I promise you, even if a selfie filters out their contouring, they DEFINITELY have it.

*highlighting the nose/brown bone, cheekbones are optional! This thins your nose out and makes your brows look higher to create more visual space for the big eye makeup, and focuses more attention on your eyes. Old school styles love using a light beige or white cream concealer for the nose highlight, but white eyeshadow or a strong highlighting powder do the trick too!

*blush! I see some gals skip this or apply lightly, but you also see a lot of gals pack it on for a cute punch of color!

*matte foundation powder! Whether you go for something with skin tone or translucent, the idea is to mattify the face so it doesn't compete with the sparkle of your eyemake/lips/etc!

(kanako's base makeup below! You can tell that she does all of the steps above including light blush, and until her eyes are started, her nose is the most dramatic part!)

*eyeshadow! Often nude/neutral colors but you can opt for black or fun colors for different looks! Gyaru seem to LOVE applying glittery shadows to the whole eye except for heavily shaded matte areas like under the lower lash line! Glitter is king!

*eyeliner! Always always always use eyeliner on the top lashline and extend it out PAST the true end of your eyeline. You use this and the lower eyeshadow to draw the bigger eye shape you WANT to have, including usually leaving a gap between the top and bottom eyelines you draw to create bigger eyes. You can use eyeliner on the lower lashline if you wish but it's often optional... Especially if you use dramatic/longer lashes and want to keep the look less intense!

(some liner and eyeshadow combos below! Notice how they all extend their eyeliner and shadow out past their natural eyes, even if they opt for a more natural shape or less eyeliner!)

Some extra notes: drooping the eyeline DOWN is "tare-me" or droopy/panda eye, winging it UP is often called "neko-me" for cat eyes, and bringing it out STRAIGHT will create cool long eyes that can easily be droopy or cat like! Try out different styles and see what you like best!

*false eyelashes! Always top lashes, and very very often bottom lashes. Gyaru lashes are NOT meant to look realistic so you want pairs that are long/spikey/flared/etc depending on the look you're going for. Even "natural" gyaru lashes are longer and thicker than your average pair! The most popular brands gyaru use are Diamond Lash, Decorative Eyelash Playgirl, Jewerich, Eyemazing, Nature is Lovely, and some of the more dramatic Dollywink styles (not all of them are workable for gyaru, beware the ultra natural upper styles!)... But local store brands can work if you're picky! Some dramatic gyaru styles even use spiked upper lashes for their bottom ones!

If you opt for no bottom lashes, you want to use a good thickening/lengthening mascara! It's also much harder to be recognizably gal without bottom lashes unless you keep a bigger/dramatic shape and use eyeliner on your bottom eyeline... I reccomend waiting to skip bottom lashes until you're experienced at gyaru makeup but I feel the need to mention it solely because the current trends and super old school styles DO allow it if you're careful.

(Notice that even these 2019/2020 eyemakes use unnatural and defined top lashes! They also use eyeliner to exaggerate their eye shapes instead of using their natural eyeline. These things are essential to keeping the look gyaru!! The middle look even snuck some subtle falsies on the bottom outer corners)

*circle lenses! To provide color and bigger eyes to balance out the eye shape you drew on! These are most often 14.5mm-16mm... Any smaller than this, and they can provide color but no visible eye enlarging effect. Browns/blues/greens/greys/pinks are all super common! You MAY choose to go without them but it will be harder to balance the shape/size you drew and still look recognizably gyaru, similarly to the bottom eyelash conundrum. It seems easiest to pull off skipping them if necessary with heavier or super old school gyaru styles!

(Lizzie and Chris both do some amazing looks lensless!)

*groomed and filled eyebrows! You definitely want to be plucking/trimming your brows regularly for a clean look! Most gals pencil or pomade their eyebrow tails in... either thinner/arched or slightly thick/straight for a more modern look. Brow powder helps keep the inner brow full but less "drawn on" if you prefer more natural looks! If you bleach/color your hair you'll want to use eyebrow mascara/gel to match the color to your hair, but gals with darker hair often go for slightly lighter brown brows. Some gals literally shave their brows off and draw the tail/entire brow in! If you're brave, it gives you a lot of room to customize your look.

*lipstick or gloss! Nudes and pinks are most common to keep the eyes the center of attention, but reds and other colors are increasingly trendy! The goal is to balance out all the makeup on the rest of your face, so even a clear gloss is better than nothing!

Some more optional tips:

*primer before anything else and setting powder/spray at the end helps makeup last all day and keeps your base makeup looking smooth and matte!

*use eyeliner on the inner eye corner to change the eye shape/length! It's not necessary but a lot of gals love to do this since it gives you more freedom over your look. A small "wing" or pointed shape is more than enough

*if light nude lips give you trouble, try concealing them before you apply your lipstick! Also be sure that the "undertones" in your lip product complement your skin tone, as this is usually why colors look wrong!

*lashes can be glued together to extend how long the band is to suit your eyeliner and customize the look of your falsies! It's super fun and there's endless ways to cut and combine your lashes for a unique style!

*a good facial cleanser will gently remove all your makeup (even the waterproof stuff!) at the end of the day and prevent breakouts. Gyaru is a LOT of pore clogging makeup so take care to let your skin breathe when you're finally bareface ><

*unless you're doing a specific old school style like manba/banba/ganguro/etc gyaru do NOT fill in the gap between their real eye and lower falsies with white eyeliner! It turns the look into something cosplay oriented and generally makes eyes look smaller because eyeballs aren't actually pure white :(

習作 No.1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Yashica-44

No Lens

Closed Aperture

Panasonic G2; 1/3; ISO 100; No Lens (body cap with a slit cut into it)