My Current Favourite Songs 4

Once again, It's the end of the month, which means one thing, and one thing only...... My latest list of current favourite songs!!!

So here are this month's selection:


Everytime You Kissed Me (Singer: Emily Bindiger/ Composer: Yoko Kanno)
Despite the sad undertones of the lyrics, I love this song to bits and is one of my favourite pieces from my favourite composer, Yoko Kanno.


Just Be Friends (Vocaloids: Luka)
Yet another song from Vocaloids, this is the only song that I truly love from the character, Luka. It is actually a breakup song, but do note that despite the fact that it's Luka singing it, the song is actually the guy's view of the breakup. I wish and hope and pray that I'll be able to do a photoshoot for this MV....
*edit* I just had a discussion with my cosplay buddies and it seems that the idea has gone down pretty well, so well, that we may just make a video out of it! Think a real life ver of this MV and you get the idea.... now to save money for the numerous costumes used.....


Mutaku to Mutaku to (Kra)
I am not a fan of this group, most of their songs bore me, to be honest, but I find the style of this video pretty cute


Filth in the Beauty (The Gazette)
Lots of head banging/rotating/rolling(???) in this video. One of my favourite songs from them and Ruki is rocking the dreadlocks!!!


Kuroi Namida by Anna Tsuchiya inspired as Nana
I find Anna Tsuchiya's songs better during this period where she was under the alias, ANNA inspi' Nana. Her songs were more gritty and darker, but oh well, plenty of singers have changed their styles over the years....

Personal Outfit 32 & New hair!

Outfit for the day:

Cardigan worn as mini dress: Lip Service

Inner black tank top: borrowed from mom

Denim shorts (not shown): Cotton on

Black beanie: Maison Gilfy

Engineer boots: Bought in Macau

My new hair! Finally get my old fringe back which has been growing out all this while, the colour is still bit lgiht, but my hairdresser says it'll darken over time... woohooo less obvious roots and a nod to Momoko Ogihara!!

Hey everybody! Just yesterday, moi went for a whole day of total pampering and primping with my partner in crime, my mom!

We started off with a facial, which I am only half fond of, because having such a low tolerance to pain, I tend to give my therapist a difficult time as I am often squirming around like some kindda worm whenever she does the extractions, which some of you may know, it can hurt like hell! It didn't help when she immediately shouted out in dismay at the state of my pores and started lecturing me about proper skincare routine and such. In case anyone's wondering, I use skincare like a fiend and am religious about applying moisturizer and sunscreen, my skin is only in this bad state because lately I've been turning into an owl and staying up in the wee hours of morning, and been bingeing on junk food, hence the poor state of my skin.

After the facial my mom and I did some window shopping before waltzing into a spa centre that my mom's a member of, so that we could utilise the electronic massage chairs! After having the kinks in our muscles kneaded out, we floated down to our hair salon on cloud nine.

There, I finally managed to get rid of those pesky, ugly roots of mine and also got my long lost straight fringe back after so long. I also decided to dye my hair a darker colour since I won't be sure when I'll be able to find a good hairdresser again considering this my last hairdyeing job by my beloved hairdresser before he says goodbye to Singapore, so I thought I'd might as well make it last.

Good thing is, since my hair was a lighter colour previously, I'll get natural highlights as my hair colour washes out! Yippee!!!

*P.S. pardon all the covered faces, I wasn't wearing any makeup and my face was red and blotchy from all the pimple extractions (>.<)"

Personal Outfit 31 & Lots of New Stuffs

One of our Purikura shots...(damn I hate this machine, the lighting truly sucks)

Outfit consists of:

Black Floral Usamimi: Chameleon

Floral blouse with Black Trim: Online (can't remember where exactly)

Belt: Shared with Mom

Tulle Tutu Skirt: Forever 21

Strappy Pumps: Charles & Keith

Patent Lady Dior Bag: Borrowed from Mom
(been feeling rather uninspired lately... so this was a half-assed effort to dress gal)

Melliesh Eyelashes from Japan! In 01 Upper lashes (that resemble the longer verson of MAC's famous No.7s) and 06 Lower lashes... Would do a review once I get the chance to try them out!

A real handy mirror from the Egg Store! I am so glad that the mirror is just on the other side, so that way I don't have to worry bout fiddling with the latch unlike my previous mirror which is really difficult with my current nails...

Hair elastic from L'Chance, functional yet cute...

She also got me this really quirky phone charm from one of those machines that drop plastic balls with randoms gifts in them. This one is a nail chip accessory from Momoeri!

And I finally got a case for my new Iphone, though I wish the deco was bit more goth/rock such as using a gothic-style cross or something instead of merely the heart gems...

Met up with the cool and knowledgeable Steph last Friday! Though our meeting was short, it was nevertheless fun and I learnt abit more about her.

We chatted most of the time before ending our day with some Purikura and she even gave me some gifts from her previous trip to Japan! Thanks alot Steph!

On a side note....

*Gomen Nasai Steph, I think next time it'll be better if you lie to me and tell me an earlier timing so that I'll stop being late! Gomen! *bows*

Formspring me!

Oh yes! I can't believe I keep forgetting to mention this, I've recently created a new formspring account, so you can ask me questions at http://www.formspring.me/Hortaru

I happily await your questions!

Gyaru Manifesto Meme

Sara Mari of Moments like Diamonds recently did this great Meme that was not only fun, it was also pretty personal so it helped me to understand more of the other bloggers that I follow, not to mention it showed just how wide and varied the Gyaru style actually is. So here's my own version:

Name: Hortaru/ Sandra

Location: Singapore

Occupation: -

Height: 154cm

Hair/Eyes: Light brown/ dark brown

First discovery of Gyaru: Somewhere in 2008

Your Gyaru Style:

1. Pop

2. Celeb

3. Mode

4. Rock

5. Agejo

Top 5 Gyaru Model Inspirations:

1. Sakurina

2. Muto Shizuka

3. Misaki

4. Yui kanno

5. Nana Suzuki

Top 5 Gyaru Non-Model Inspirations:

1. Lip Service Shopstaff

2. Golds Infinity Shopstaff

3. MA*RS Shopstaff

4. One Spo Shopstaff

5. Steph!!!

Top 3 Favourite Gyaru Magazines:

1. Ageha

2. Popsister

3. Popteen

The Top 6 Gyaru Brands You Like Best:

1. Lip Service

2. One Spo

3. Golds Infinity

4. MA*RS

5. Maison Gilfy

6. Glad News

3 of Your Favourite Coordinates:

Your 7 Favourite Fashion Items That You Own:

1. Ethnic Maxi Dress

2. Sabot Style Heels (Pedder Red)

3. Usamimi Headbands

4. One-piece lace dress

5. Black Tulle Skirt (F21)

6. Black Stockings

7. Leopard print Beret

Top 10 Gyaru Fashion Goals:

1.Lose Weight (to let my legs appear longer)

2. Grow my hair longer

3. Dramatise my eye makeup

4. Do nail extensions as often as I can

5. Style my hair better

6. Actually visit Japan and 109

7. Focus more on certain styles

8. Get more Gyaru clothes

9. Have more self-confidence

10. Expand my Gyaru blog

Top 5 Gyaru Achievements:

1. Started this blog

2. Meeting other like-minded people

3. Getting complimented by others

4. Getting better at my makeup and hairstyling

5. Being recognised as Gyaru

Gel Nail Extensions Virgin No More

My nails on my left hand...

And my nails on the right, not very gyaru the design but I like the colours and I find the metal beads give it some edge, maybe a nod to ethnic perhaps? No to mention, whilst the manicurist was painting the colours on, my first thought was, "crap, my nails look like I'm trying to represent the Vocaloids, ice blue for Miku, yellow for Rin/Len, purple for Gakupo and green for Gumi"

Hey guys, as you can red from the title above, I was a gel extensions virgin, actually any form of nail extensions to be precise *ahem*.

Main reason why this is so is mostly because of the costs involved, as it's pretty well-known that they are pretty costly to maintain, not to mention I kept thinking about how difficult it might be to have such long nails getting in the way of doing regular stuffs.

But as I delved deeper and deeper into my Japanese magazines and the various models in them, I came to a revelation. If people like Momoeri, Muto Shzizuka and Sayaka Araki can do it, why can't I?

Heck, Momoeri manages to raise a son without causing damage to him, Muto Shizuka does housework and takes care of two dogs bhy herself and Sayaka Araki even does DJ-ing with them, so why can't I, a regular girl, do just as well as them with pretty nails?

So I took the plunge and after Steph's recommendation, I went to a salon and left 3 and half hours later and a $130 poorer with new, shiny long nails. I was estatic at their shiny glory and couldn't keep my eyes off them the whole evening. Until I realised, how difficult it was to live with them....

First problem, I couldn't open the taxi door properly, then came the buckling of the seatbelts, but with alittle trial and error, it was done. After getting home, I couldn't pluck off my false lashes properly as I couldn't get a proper grip on them, but a pair of tweezers came to the rescue so another crisis adverted. Then came my greatest challenge, removing my contact lenses. After lots of poking and prodding till my eyeballs nearly dropped out, I figured out a method involved 2 fingers and squishing the lens from both sides together till it popped out, so with alittle creativty, yet another was crisis adverted.

Next morning, after having a major itch on my thigh, I realised how I can't scratch myself to relieve itch anymore, bad thing is an itch would irritate me till no end, good thing was that my eczema would get better now that I'll stop scratching at it. So it's worth the sacrifice I guess. Later, after having an itch in my nose, I realised that I could no longer pick my nose too, so yet another sacrifice, but that I could live with I guess. Another challenge came in the form of putting on my bra, I could always clip on the first clip, however I could never ever find a way to clip on the second, but by simply turning the bra around and hooking it in front, another challenge was solved. Next challenge arose when I was putting on my makeup, and my lipbalm was in a pot, so I cound't get to it without having loads of it stuck under my nail, so cotton buds came to the rescue this time so now I am kindda forced to carry a few with me whenevr I go out. The worst challenge and I have yet to solve this is picking up coins when it drops to the floor. I can never get a grip on the stinking coin and my nails will always somehow propel it forward making me chase after it like some twisted game of tag. If the Bf is with me, he usually helps me out but if I'm alone, I have to simply hold my head high and forget the loose change on the floor after I've dropped it.

However, despite the numerous challenges and the fact that my makeup routine has lengthened by bout half an hour because I have to slowly pluck the dried adhesive off my lashes with a pair of tweezers, everytime I look down at my nails, I feel a strange kind of happiness especially when I look at it whilst curling my lashes, it gives me the boost to ensure my hair, outfit and makeup is perfect before leaving my house and I have noticed salesgirls being nicer to me after having a glimpse of them (probably because they think I'm a rich girl or something, I don't know...), so despite the trouble they bring, the strange satisfaction I derive from them is compelling me to get a new set when this current set grows out. However, they are pretty pricey so I'll have to see how when the time comes...

Fellow S'pore Gyaru Blog

Hey everybody, as you know, coming from a tropical far flung country, it's pretty hard to become a Gyaru on a constant basis especially when fashion here can be behind internationally by 2-3 months. It's an even greater challenge to actually find friends who share the same interest in it.

So I was simply estatic in forming a friendship with the cool and knowledgeable Steph! You've probably seen her comments here a few times and I even had a post about our day out!

Anyway, if you're wondering at where I'm getting at, I'm mentioning all this because Steph has finally luanched her new Gyaru blog, and it's aimed at focusing on Gyaru fashion in Singapore, unlike mine which can be abit all over the place at times... -____-

She's already done 3 posts to date, all of which are chockful of amazing tips and advice especially about the current Mode style! Heck! It's thanks to her that I'm slowly trying to move away from the sweet girly look to the icy cool Mode look, hence the scouring of blogshops and shopping malls lately (Steph, if I go broke I'm blaming u! >.<).

Not that I can totally shove all the blame to her considering I was getting a cavity from all the saccharine sweeteness of the florals and Liz lisa-ish styles. She's totally right about the usefulness of Mode, considering I'll still look decent at work yet without comprimising my own personal style.

Okay, I'll stop shifting topics, so anyway do check out her blog at -->
http://sexy--diamond.blogspot.com

Birthday Night at Marina Bay Sands

The small but cosy room, with the Bf fiddling with the Tv and Pochi lounging comfortably in the sofa behind

Our "magnificent", garden view... with lots of concrete and less green shrubbery...

My new maxi dress! Love the paisley print and bright purple colour, though I find it does make me abit fat, but love the print too much to care...

My hair, this was the best picture of my hair so pardon the tired face and the freaky, ghostly person behind... *snickers*

My birthday cake... totally forgot to take a group photo so I only have lots of individual photos with friends, but pretty lazy to upload it here...

*This is just a quick breakdown on what happened on the day of my birthday as frankly alot went on and I don't feel like typing out every incident that occurred:

As part of my birthday celebrations, the Bf booked a room at the swanky new Marina Bay Sands hotel. Unfortunately, it failed to meet my expectations especially when the so-called "garden" view consisted more of sand and concrete, then any actual 'garden' and the room was much smaller then I had envisioned ( I still feel like getting even with the stupid receptionist and wiping that smug smile off her face).

But as how the BF put it, at least I've had the experience of actually staying there instead of being left wondering how is it like.

Pochi and I ended up using the whole work table as our personal makeup space and I allowed her to go wild with my hair. Before heading off for dinner at Kushin-bo, a Japanese buffet restaurant where more friends joined us.

Ended the night with another friend, Francine, joining the BF and I in our room to watch stand-up comedy and chat abit, before leaving the Bf and I to collapse in bed from sheer tiredness and having run on adrenaline all day.


But would I change any part of the day? Hmm... perhaps to utilise my time abit more efficiently however, despite the ups and downs, it's still a day I'll never forget especially when it's been a long time since I've had gathering of friends and laughed this hard.

Happy Birthday to me.......

More would be updated soon... I promise!!!

Cross my fingers... and heart.... and whatever else that promise song says you're supposed to do... some parts just sound too sinister and frankly terrifying to be written here... especially on a happy occasion....

Birthday Present from Sis

The bottom right corner are the Hiyoko cakes, the ones in pink are super thin Dorayaki and the bottom left is choux puff with sweet white bean paste in it. Haven't figured out what the others contain yet....

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, been really tired and stressed from work, heck I'm runnning a slight temperature at this very moment, but somehow I seem so short of time that my illness is the last of my concerns.

Anyway, my birthday is round the corner so my sis decided to get me a pretty special gift especially when it's my 21st birthday (its the coming-of-age for my country). She usually gets me a book or something, not that I don't like them, but it can get bit predictable and boring at times.

But this time, she totally surprised me with a boxed set of Japanee sweets and pastries. These aren't cheap for sure and I really can't imagine how much she paid for it but I'm really grateful especially when it contains my favourite tourist-y snack, Hiyoko (Chick) cakes!

I've loved them ever since my mom's friends brought a small box back and it's really difficult to get your hands on them locally. So I'm extremely happy! Even my dog was busy nosing around the box as he could smell the sweetness inside. Now, I'm just trying to slowly savour these delightful treats and playing a game of, guess-what-it-contains with the other treats.

Thanks Deb! I know I don't show you how much I love you enough, but I just wanna let you know that you're a great sis even if you are a pain at times (>_<)"

P.S. In case anyone's wondering what happened to my coplay on the 1oth, well my team postponed it as everyone, including moi wasn't fully prepared, there were too mahy peices of our costumes missing, so we'll stick to our original plan of cosplaying next year instead. So my next cosplay would be in November, but this time, I've got everything ready by now, so no more cancellations.

Personal Outfit 30

My outfit of the day:

Tie-dyed long shirt: Bossini

Bleached Jeans: Giordano

Quilted Bag: from some shop in Bugis street

Usamimi Headband: Chamaleon

Sabot-style Shoes (not shown): Pedder Red

(I just realised that my entire outfit with the exception of my shoes all come from shops and places where you shop to get cheaper clothes and such haha!)

A closer look at my Usamimi! Its white with black polka dots... Ecch! I need to clean my mirror....

Went out on Monday to collect my cosplay costume for this saturday's event. And considering I was gonna be taking on and off my clothes repeatedly, I decided to wear something simple and didn't even style my hair that day, just ran a comb through.

Anyway, despite settling on a simple combination of a shir and jeans, I decided to Gyaru-fy it abit by choosing more on trend items, hence my tie-dyed shirt with a nautical symbol on it, bleached jeans, sabot style shoes, quilted bag and of course, my new obsession, a Usamimi headband.

Who says wearing jeans and tee has to be boring?

New Blog Template!

Hey all, anyone's whose been reading my blog on a rgeular basis would of course realise that there's been a major change in my blog.

And I have to thank Truc once again for helping me out! Its really so kind of her to bother helpign me to do all this, especially knowing she has school and stuffs to handle, so I am so grateful for her kindness! She not only helped to create eevrything, but even asked myopinons on the colour scheme and pictures that I might wanna put up for the banner and stuffs. So ocne again thanks so much Truc!

I'll throw in more gifts for you in our swap okay? Hahahaha

My Current Favourite Songs 3

I just totally realised that it has been the end of a month and the beginning of a new month! So I actually missed out on uploading some of my current favourite songs....

Anyway, so here they are, a few days delayed... Hahaha.... Enjoy!



Kodou (Dir En Grey) - This is one of my favourite songs from them, but I'm not say a major fan of them especially after they changed their style to try and become more mainstream...



Hitohira no Habira (Stereopony) - I'm slowly starting to like the songs from this group more and more, though I've only listened to the songs that have appeared on anime, so I guess it could be bit biased since the better ones would naturally get more publicity



Don't Say "lazy" (theme song of K-On!) - This song is really addictive and fun but after hearing it constantly being played by local bands, it's become somewhat of a cliche in my opinion. But it's still a great song...



[Eager Love Revenge] Love is War (Hatsune Miku) - I'll be cosplaying this version of Miku on the 10th of July, which is bout 2 weeks from now. So I've put this song on a loop to get myself into character and brace myself... it's so stressful to be the lead character in a huge team...





Tzigane (Tsukimori Len in La Corda d'oro) - I do listen to classicla music at times, and contrary to popular belief, not all are slow, boring pieces. My 2 favourite violin pieces are Tzigane and The Devil's Trill, both of which are very fast-paced musical pieces with lots of emotions running through them.