If you’re interested in them, you probably know how expensive Hime Gyaru styles can be. Dresses at Jesus Diamante go on average for $700 and then there are shoes, accessories, hair pieces, make up supplies and all the rest that goes into such a detailed look. A lot of being a Princess is in the details and details can be expensive!

But I am a firm believer that people should be in control of their own budgets and if you want something bad enough you’ll make it happen. I know that it can be tempting but I am not the kind of girl who will spend her rent budget on a pretty dress! That’s why when I want something before I’ll buy it, I will toss up whether it’s worth making it. I’m not saying I don’t love brand to death but I love my $2 store as well

So the other week James and I took a trip to Lincraft, our local craft supplies/fabric store for supplies to make some new accessories. James found some 3D glasses that some kid had left behind… stylish no?

He looks like such a ladies man holding all of my craft supplies

In the same complex as Lincraft is my faaaavorite burger place “Big Chief Burgers”. Oh they are the most delicious thing you would ever wrap your mouth around.

James once told me that if he could he’d marry that burger They make a cute couple! I’d be ok with that as long as I could get free burgers!

In case you were ever wondering what Hime Gyaru’s eat, the answer is gigantic burgers which are pretty much as big as their hair… and a side of chips with secret country sauce. I bet you thought we only eat delicate cakes with tea… ok I admit it, I had a cup of tea just out of shot of this photo

And for desert? The best cheese cake in the universe: cookies and cream! Man I’m getting so hungry just thinking about this again!

So after all of that delicious food I got down to doing some crafting. I’m quite a messy crafter, this is what my table looks like…

And in case you’re interested here are some of the things that made it out of the mess of pearls:

A ring with blue paper flowers, pearls and purple beads. The flowers have little dew drops on it.

Pink paper flowers on a barrette clip thingy. Looks super cute with Kitty rolls.

I couldn’t decide whether to put this on a brooch clip or a hair clip. I think I might just make 2 and have both!

I love this little ring. Actually I just love jewelery with dangly things

Double felt hair bow with a string of pearls.

Lace and pearl felt iPhone pouch
. I wanted something cute for Ruri to sit in, the little pocket in my bag is too hard to get to.

Red felt iPhone case for Ruri. The heart on this is actually a flap to give it extra security.

Pearl bracelet with dangles!

My favorite of the things I made that day was this pearl watch I got the watch face at Lincraft ages ago so I just added the pearls and flowers I bought that day with a couple of bows and tadaa! I also made another pearl necklace that day but I was wearing it while I took these photos so I forgot about it!

Not bad for an afternoon though right?

I’m sure you’re all sick of seeing all my silly craft things by now though so I’m going to write a proper guide to Hime on a budget and leave it at that for now ^_^

Have a good afternoon!

Ok ok ok ok ok ok so you were all waiting on the edge of your seats for this post right? I’ve received a surprising number of messages from you all desperate to know what I did… well here it is!

In my previous post I mentioned this competition at my advertising company Nuffnang (who rock). The general jist of the competition is that they sent us all a $10 Coles Myer Gift voucher and the blogger who spends it in the most creative or frugal way wins a voucher for $100.

Here is the story of what I did…

One night I was busy dreaming about how much I love clothes that make me feel like a princess. I love Hime Gyaru fashion and most of all I love Jesus Diamante clothing… but it’s notoriously expensive ;_; Dresses can cost as much as $1000 which a poor little graphic designer like me just can’t afford…

But as I awoke I came up with a brilliant idea!

So I put on my favorite outfit and headed off to the shops with James to use my $10 voucher on what I needed….

I went everywhere looking for what I wanted. I visited Kmart and Target but there was nothing in my price range *_* I consoled myself with yummy pancakes filled with caramel…
But alas I couldn’t find it… so after a long day shopping we went home for a nap. I was very disheartened but James convinced me to try again and visit Coles later that night… also we didn’t have any food in the house and needed to find something for dinner but that’s beside the point!

Lo and behold I got exactly what I needed!
I bet you’re all about to burst from holding your breath about what I bought… TAADAAA!!

2 pink flannelet pillow cases and 1 cream scarf. Wait not what you expected? Well keep reading!

And it even came to $9.98 so I have 2 more cents to spend at Coles

Now let’s get to work… I took everything up to my sewing room and unpicked all of the seams in the pillow cases. Now I have 2 large pieces of pink fabric and 1 cream scarf.

I made up a pattern and cut up the pieces. I made sure to keep all of the scraps in case I need them later.
I gathered and sewed the skirt piece onto the cream belt and pink bodice, I overlocked each seam to make it cleaner and more hard wearing.

Then I found a piece of lace and finished the bottom seams. I gathered the top of the bodice to make a sweetheart neckline.

lt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373387288188375186″ border=”0″ />Next I added some darts to the bust area to it fit nice and snugly. After that I added two small straps to hold it up. These were made from the scraps of pillow case.

I have been in love with all of the 50′s inspired boat neck dresses Jesus Diamante have been coming out with lately so I made my own interpretation with the remaining pieces of the scarf…

I used the fringe ends of the scarf and a scrap of pillow case to make a little pin as an accessory…
And TAADAA! I turned $9.98 worth of pillow cases and scarf into a dress!

I bet you all want to see what it looks like on right? It sure isn’t “One Size Fits All” anymore!

Add some beautiful accessories and you’ve got a pretty Hime style summer dress!

I wore it to James’ family lunch yesterday and it was a big hit! I got many compliments even before they all knew what it was made from ^_^

We took all the chairs and tables outside in their garden to have a delicious feast! Very French and perfect for summer.
The garden was the perfect backdrop for some photos, everything was so green!

James keeps his classic 1963 Valiant Regal car at his parent’s house because there is no room for it in our place! I’ll post some proper photos of it another day because it’s really pretty, but the star of today’s post is my dress!

Before lunch was ready James and I played around in the garden and took some photos, there were lots of gross bugs everywhere! You can’t really tell in this photo but I’m standing on a stump which is very unstable! Don’t get the dress dirty it’s so expensive I might not be about to afford to replace it!!!

I decided that this was the perfect garden party dress! I have to say I’m very happy with how it turned out

Say hello to everyone guys!
This was desert and boy was it yummy!

And so that is the story of how I turned $10 at Coles into some pillow cases and a scarf and then into a cute dress ^_^

What do you think? Pretty close but with my own spin? For the record I know that brand replica’s are illegal and morally wrong, this is merely my own spin on the fashions that inspire me!

Nuffnang! Please give me the $100 voucher and fill up the rest of my wardrobe!

Creative right?

So what do you guys think?

P.s. Anyone who wants to nominate me for the Nuffnang blogger awards is full of win and awesome and I’ll love you forever!

Well I’ve had quite a few questions about what inspires me to do the things I do and clothes I wear. I’ve been asked what blogs I read too so I thought I’d use today’s post to give a bit of a shout out to people I admire and my favorite things! This is going to be a pretty long post because I have a lot of wonderful people to talk about, at the end there are random facts about me you didn’t know so keep reading!

I’m also going to be adding to this over time too.

(All photos other than the one above credited to their original owners and found via google images ^_^ Also these are all my opinions, I’m not being paid to endorse anything hahaha!)

Lolita
One of my first fashion loves was Lolita and no matter what I do I’ll never shake it completely! While I still love the over the top-ness that is Sweet Style, after almost 5 years or so I’m moving towards Classic styles. Still love my pettis though

1950-60′s and Rockabilly
I love the music and the dresses. I may not have ben alive when it happened but I sure love that style! I know it’s oversimplifying it but I wish girls still got all dolled up for a night at the Malt Shop ^_^ So classy and classicly beautiful. This cut of dress is flattering on almost anyone.

Welcome to my Hime Gyaru Hair Tutorial!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS TUTORIAL HAS BEEN UPDATED HERE. The version below is achieved by teasing your hair, if you don’t want to tease it click here for the other version.

Please note that there are a LOT of photos so dial-up users beware!

This tutorial is just for the the way that I do my hair, there are several other ways to do this but this is the only way that it works for me.

Without further ado…

I’m so used to having my hair up, it looks weird to have it down!

Now get your materials together. You need a nice hair brush, a can of hair spray (I LOVE Sunsilk Super Hold)

You will also need LOTS of bobby pins
And some accessories to tie your whole look together. I like to have an alice band and a big bow to stick on the back to cover all the pins

Now let’s get started!
Brush your fringe forward and the rest of you hair backwards as if you were going to put it in a pony tail.
Now put your fingers at the tops of your ears and work them through your hair until they meet at the top. Basically what you should be doing is separating a section of hair that is about one inch thick. Pull it upwards and hold on to it for a moment.

This section will eventually become the smooth part of the quiff (top lump of hair) so you need to clip it out of the way for now. I usually twist it to the side and stick a clip in.

Taadaa!

Pretty sexy huh?

It should look roughly like this:

Now is the fun part… Take a section of hair behind the bit you clipped off a couple of inches thick. This will be the part of hair the keeps the whole thing up!

Pull this section of hair up and keep hold of it.

At this point it might help you to tie the rest of y
our hair up. Once you get some more practice you might not bother but if it’s your first time then it makes it easier!

Now pull the section of hair up above your head.

At this point you probably look like an extra out of a Dr Suess movie!

Now is the fun part! Tease the section you’re holding until it’s massive! To tease the hair you brush it from the tips to the roots so it turns into a big knotty mess.

Now you look like a deranged Mana fan so strike your best pose!

Lol cool style in it’s own way but we’re here for Hime hair!

So grab the teased part and start squishing it into a big ball. Don’t squish it too much or it will loose it’s shape. if you want it to be bigger just tease it some more!

Now curl it backwards over on itself. It should look like a big fluffy tube from the side. If you want don’t get it right the first time just tease it up some more and try again. Remember the bigger the better!

Grab your bobby pins and pin that big old tube in place!

Once you are happy with the positioning you should use your hairspray! Don’t scrimp on the spay, if you want it to stay up all day then it needs to be sturdy. If you find that it shape isn’t roughly what you want then you can squish it into shape and add more spray, it doesn’t need to be perfect because we’re going to cover it with hair. Sexy huh?

Now is the time to take down all of the hair you’ve clipped up. See it’s starting to take shape!

This part takes a little practice so don’t worry if it doesn’t come out right the first time, just unpin it and try again!

From the inch of long hair at the front take a section at the top/middle of your head and brush it straight upwards. This section should be wide enough to cover a good part of the quiff.

Now carefully place the hair backwards over the teased bump. Make sure it’s fairly smooth.

Bring it down over the back and use a bobby pin to fix it in place. Again use your hair spray to seal it down.

Now grab a section of hair on the side and brush it up and back. Fiddle with it until it covers all the messy bits of the teased part.

Once you have it right you can pin it down and spray it in place. It should look something like this:

Now do that to the other side and you’re almost done! If you have a few stray bits like I do in the photo below just spray the area and smooth it down with your hand.

Now we’re ready to decorate! Pick out a nice big bow for the front and if you want to try out a side swept fringe then this is the time!

Side swept doesn’t look very good on me but I bet it looks awesome on you!

Now make sure you have a bow or some flowers handy to cover up all those ugly bobby pins in the back! Just pin it straight into the quiff, if you make sure to pin through the teased part it won’t go anywhere even on the windiest, rainiest, craziest day where you’re stuck on a train with your head in some guy’s sweaty armpit and you’ll be all ready for that photoshoot for Jesus Diamante!

Taadaa! All done Make sure to cam-whore it up, you just spend 923810 hours doing your hair, people should bloody well notice!

If you want, you can add hair extensions, I love them but I don’t wear them every day. Too cute!

Before you go and try it yourself you should probably see how horrible it is to take out at the end of the day *_*

Ow! Pins hurt!

Oh noes! My brush is stuck in my giant knotty tangle of hair *_*

Have fun brushing it all out! Let me suggest this, don’t just dry brush it… GET LEAVE IN CONDITIONER! This will help de-tangle it. Also you should make sure to wash and condition the hair afterward or give it a moisture treatment! If you wear your hair like this often it really needs it!

I would love to see photos of you wearing Hime Gyaru style hair! Let me know what you thought of this tutorial

Thank you for reading!

God I love Jesus Diamante! I just can’t wait until I can get into that store for real and spend it up! Then again I think most of my money is going to be blown in AP or yummy food shops.

Mmm I can’t wait for those yummy pieces of meat on a stick and the deep fried dough balls.

I’m really into tartan at the moment, it’s nice to see Hime Gyaru without a pink overload! I think I’m going to make some little bows like this tonight. Man I need more cardigans to decorate!