Eye See You

Japan is well known for it's more "interesting" inventions & trends. A style that has caught my eye personally in the last few years is something known as "gurokawa". What is gurokawa, you might ask? If you look at the name in Japanese, it's written as グロかわ. "Guro" being Japanese shorthand for "grotesque", and "kawa" being the first part of かわいい--"kawaii" (Japanese for "cute"). So mashed together, you have a new word that is used as a catch-all for things that can be labeled as "weirdly cute".

It's not entirely clear exactly when this term was coined (or who officially created it); but since it's inception, the label has been used to describe everything from the art of Japanese artist Junko Mizuno to the wildy popular Gloomy Bear toys. But gurokawa isn't just limited to art and toys, of course! The idea of gurokawa has also creeped into fashion. And recently, the biggest trend to come from this theme is without a doubt, eyeballs!

Photos from TokyoFashion.com

That's right! Everywhere you look lately, it seems that eyeballs are one of the hottest accessories to add to outfits. Even outside of Japan, designers seem to be taking notice of this trend--even Etsy is FULL of creative ways to add some eyeballs to fashion, from necklaces to fake nails!

So what brought on this strange new love of eyeballs, one might ask? While eyeballs have been used in pop art and fashion before over the years (they're heavily used in biker and rockabilly styles, for example), some people are attributing this recent trend to none other than Kyary Pamyu Pamyu---the Japanese fashion model/blogger turned recording artist. Her break-out single ("PonPonPon") became an almost overnight sensation, thanks to it's over-the-top music video that went viral...complete with eyeball themes throughout!

Screencaps from the video--see the full official music video HERE.

It could be a coincidence, of course, but the steady rise of eyeball accessories popping up everywhere and Kyary's recent popularity seems too close to ignore.

I for one love this recent trend! Of course, I couldn't pull off anything as crazy over-the-top as Kyary. But a pair of eyeball earrings or a colorful broach can add a fun touch of weird to a normal outfit. (And I for one, can never resist adding a little more weirdness to my life. ;D )

What do you guys think? Too over the top? Or do you find eyeballs in fashion to already be a tired theme? What other unusual things do you like to see in fashions? (Bats? Lips? Platipi? XD)

Until next time!
♥Usamimi

New nails

 

My bunnies from Easter were starting to chip pretty badly, so I decided it was time for some new nails. I've always wanted to try doing zebra stripes (since it seemed pretty easy), so I went full-out "Lisa Frank" (as one of my friends called it, lol!) and tried some RAINBOW zebra stripes! Not too bad for a first attempt. I took this pic with my phone (while I was out thrifting on Thursday, actually), so it's hard to tell, but some of the stripes came out a tad smudgy. But from far away, it still looks pretty cool, so I don't mind too much. I was thinking of trying it with some pastel colors next time. 

What kind of nail art do you guys like? The crazy over the top deco nails, like the ones from Japan? Or more subdued & simple ones? Lately I've been sort of obsessed with nail polish & nail art, so I love hearing about other people's favorite nail polishes & techniques. ^__^

Til next time!

♥Usamimi

TToF: A bundle of cute

It's Friday night! Time for another exciting episode of--!

Dun dun dun DUUUUN! :)

Only 2 finds this week, but they were pretty cute, so I was happy with them! First up:

Six (SIX!) Care Bear pillow plushies! I was digging through the stuffed animals and found the Birthday Bear (the yellow one) first...as I continued to dig, I found the others one by one. These are similar to that Strawberry Shortcake cushion I found a while back--originally, they were sold as fabric that you sewed into the pillows yourself. These are actually from the 80s, and even though they're already sewn together, the going rate seems to be around $10 each on eBay. The Goodwill I got these at sells most of their stuffed animals for 49 cents each, so I got all 6 of these for $2.94 plus tax, which isn't too bad! A couple of them have eyes that look kinda funny, but overall I think they're pretty cute. xD

And second: The Heidi Kenny (of MyPaperCrane) designed strawberry donut plush released by Kidrobot! This really surprised me, considering that originally this plush is kind of on the expensive side (retails for about $25!). I've always liked her work (if you've never checked out her website, do it--SO much cute!), so I recognized it instantly. I guess since it was so cute looking, the Goodwill put it with the stuffed animals instead of the pillows; so it, too was only 49 cents! Definitely not something I thought I'd find second hand. It's practically brand new as well--the fabric is super soft! There's a couple of marks on the back, but I think I'll be able to clean that off gently with some soapy water if it's just marker like I think it is.

Grand total this trip: $3.43 + tax
A fun, cute haul this week! And pretty cheap, too, which is always a bonus. What do you guys think?

Til next time!
♥Usamimi

TToF: The Return

(Oooh, sounds creepy for a post made on Friday the 13th, huh?)

Hey, everyone! Sorry I missed posting the last couple of Fridays...I've been a little busy, so I had to put it on hold. But I promise to try to keep up on it again. ;D Soooo, without further adieu!

Whoo!

So April 2nd was my birthday! And for my birthday, I decided to go thrifting in the morning, to see if my birthday got me any extra luck. My boyfriend and I went to 2 different places, and I actually ended up finding some pretty awesome stuff!

From L-R:
--2 old t-shirts to make into more t-shirt bags: top one is The Beatles, the bottom is a "Marvel Girls Rule!" ladies tee with Storm, Phoenix, and The Invisible Woman
--a G3 Cheerilee MLP
--a vintage '84 Care Bear Cousin plus of Gentle Heart Lamb! I was stupidly excited about this because since I started looking for Care Bears while thrifting, 99% of the ones I find are either the 90s or early 00s. So finding this was pretty cool!
--an old copy of "Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales". I honestly have no idea how old this book is because there's surprisingly no date inside (unless I completely overlooked it), but it looked old and the cover was neat, so I snapped it up
--an old 90s promo CD of "Songs from Disney's Fantasia & Other Disney Classics"
--a cute plastic cereal bowl with a strawberry printed on the bottom
--and the most surprising find: the limited edition version of the Complete .Hack//Sign DVD box set...including the pin set! Although one of the pins is apparently missing, but everything else was there! Zack & I were shocked...there was no price, so when we brought it up to the counter, we asked and the woman shrugged & said, "it's DVDs, right? All DVDs are $2.99."
I only ever saw like 3 episodes of this series, but for 3 bucks? Hell yeah, I'll try it out. XD We figured it would be worth more than that, since it's out of print, so I was amused to see that most people want to sell it for between $50-180. Crazy, right?

Not pictured: a couple more books I picked up (nothing as nice as the fairy tale book, lol) and a glass oil/wax warmer (I've been meaning to buy a new one, since I got rid of my old one when I moved--I would've taken a pic of it with the other things, but I already started to use it.)

All for less than $10! I was pretty excited about that. I guess birthdays do give you a little extra good luck, huh? ;D

Til next time!
♥Usamimi

Happy Easter!

I love bunnies, so Easter designs are some of my favorites. So to celebrate Easter, I did my nails in--what else?--bunnies! :D What do you think? It's my first try at a bunny design, so for a first attempt, I think it came out well.

Have a safe & happy Easter! And for those who don't celebrate it, Happy Sunday/Half-Priced-Chocolate-Bunnies Day Eve! ;D

♥Usamimi

TToF: The 90's edition

Friday night! You know what that means!

AWWWWW YEAH.

I feel old in the respect that some people consider 90's stuff to be "vintage" now. XD But I will admit that there are plenty of 90's stuff that I love and/or remember fondly. And my last few Goodwill finds are prime examples of that.

GIANT CARE BEAR! Haha, I actually have a large Cheer Bear that was a gift from my mother that's about this size. But this one, I've been keeping on my bed, sort of using it as another pillow. XD She's so soft and comfy--and big! (I put a pen next to it so you could get an idea.) I didn't know which Care Bear it was, since it's one of those newer characters they made up more recently...I looked it up and she's apparently Harmony Bear.

This one was $1.99 + tax.

I really couldn't pass this one up--Animaniacs pillow cases! There were two of them, and I knew my boyfriend could use a new one, so I snapped these up. We both used to love the cartoon, so now we're total dorks with Animaniacs pillows on our bed. TOTALLY HIGH CLASS, right? Right. XD

$1.99 for the set of two + tax.

I've been wanting to try out a tutorial I found for making reusable t-shirt tote/grocery bags...and I thought this was a cool print that could work well for something like that. (Once I try it out, I'll be sure to post here about it.) Definitely makes me think of the 90's.

$1.49 (on sale!) + tax.













And last, but not least:

High top sneakers! (Can't get more 90's than that, can you?) Seriously, I was excited to find these, because I usually never find shoes my size in thrift stores (I have big feet, sadly ^^; )...these were like new, and fit me perfectly! I had never heard of the shoe company before ("Pastry"), so I looked them up, and they actually have some pretty cute shoes! And apparently, I got a pretty good deal on them...brand new it looks like the cheapest sneakers they have are around $30. I got these for $3.49. The photos don't do the pink trim justice, either--the metallic trim is a pink with swirls of green and gold, giving it a pearly sort of tint. It looks really neat close up.

This week's total: About $8.96 + tax


Bonus photo! What do you get for the person who has everything? A custom-made, wooden yo-yo holder, of course.

(Someone actually bought this since I took the picture, if you can believe that. XD)

Until next time!
♥Usamimi

IT LIVES!

Sorry for the lack of updates, guys! And I know I missed my thrifting post last week...^^; I'll be doing an extra-large thrifting post tonight to make up for it. Things have just been busy for me (and Allie as well), so the blog's been a little quiet. But I promise...more posts are coming soon!

♥Usamimi