Edit: I had this in my drafts for some time now. I wanted to edit it for longer but currently I am not really active on xhs. Since I am facing a writers blockage today I decided to finish this post instead.
Today I will be babbling a bit about xiaohongshu, or as many call it "RedNote".
While I answered ki-rin on my I quit post I noticed how damn hard it is to explain what is going on in my head. I figured it will be easier to show.
But now as always, when you want to show somebody examples of something they won't show up and you have to dig really deep for the content you were intending to show haha.
So I will gather these over a longer period I think.
Also it will be heavy with screenshots...a lot of users on xhs don't allow downloads.
First things firstI personally see a lot of parallels between xhs girls from china and the kawaii gyaru look that was popular around ca. 2010-2012.
Even though I have dressed modestly the past 2 years, I also liked the shorter looks and can see myself wearing them in the future.
I had most of my inspo from the platform and even after wanting to wear gyaru-style more often I can see myself wearing a xhs kind of gyaru style.
Like mixing them together...
Funnily, I think the girly makeup styles from xhs look more gyaru than the gyaru makeup looks from xhs girls. Very paradox haha.
Lifestyle
The content on xhs is very broad..I like to view lolita and recipe content as well on it.
But there are sometimes posts for example where they show their apartments or inside of cars etc. that have a vibe that reminds me of what gyaru lifestyle looked like.
It's the playful and cozyness that I love and the content can be sanrio-heavy as well.
There are a lot of girlys out there and I think that's why I found my place there
Look at this super cute bathroom!
The slippers and the pajamas look so cozy <3
Tempted to get sanrio-related dishes and only cook cute in my kitchen.
I thought about getting a pink kitchen for a bit but decided to make a black one now..I absolutely love black kitchen but this one is also very cute.
Makeup
I can't believe how hard it was to find matching pictures.
Like I said, as soon as you need the content you don't find it.
When looking for makeup content I was mostly shown creative makes that did not properly show my point.
The makeup techniques are similiar to how gyaru makeup was done.
The jump between xhs and gyaru is not much after all.
What certainly is different are the lashes that are more natural and the drawn on bottom lash look they prefer (that I absolutely hate on myself lmao).
I've been following her for quite some time now for example.
I think her eyemakeup has that kawaii girly vibe to it that was featured in Popteen and Ageha etc.
less lash intensive but I love how in xhs makeup different color combinations are tried out.
This is what bothered me about gyaru makeup for a while.
At some point they stopped experimenting too much.
Especially in ageha (also because I own mostly ageha) the makeups look all the same at some point, and they only used brownish/nude shades.
Another girl that reminds me of that girly gyaru vibe.
However she uses a lot less makeup.
Kiki is like THE girl on xhs that made me instantly go "oh, that looks like gyaru".
Her makeup is a lot heavier than what mosts girls wear on the platform.
Here another example with the colors..
Her makeups are so damn cute.
She manages to have that cool dolly look without having to do much to it.
Also her style is leaning more towards a rock vibe.
I had to be very strong when seeing this picture.
It makes me want to go copper so hard!
She is like a mix of late gyaru and early larme in my eyes.
I love her cute hairstyle.
I should not cut bangs again tho...pls help me.
(Edit: I have cut bangs at this point)
Nails The nails are a lot lighter but can be long as well.
What I noticed is the shape is a lot more rounder on xhs.
However I get my "gem"-inspo from there haha.
I was in loooove when I have seen this design around christmas time.
I would have loved to do something similiar but I think it was done partially with airbrush to get effects like this and I don't own airbrush, or could do this with one hand I guess.
Another suuuper cute nail design.
The nails on xhs are again a lot lighter, rounder and they like using glitter or cateye polishes.
Rarely but sometimes they are matte and candy-like like the ones on the picture.
Another cute design.
Fashion Here I had troubles showing what exactly I mean.
There are a lot of lolita and fairycore content on it but they also have outfits that can be applied to gyaru-terms.
Here is just a collection of things that inspired me:
This outfit is super duper cute!!!!!
I am in LOVE <3
long skirt here but this is similiar to the stuff I mainly wore the last years.
I also like how they add sanrio charms to their bags that gives it this playful vibe.
Like here as well.
xhs has a lot of it's preppy content too and I thought this was very pretty and elegant.
And here as well a lil hello kitty charm on the bag haha.
I could literally tag her whole account.
I love every single outfit.
I can definitely see a Tsubasa or a Ranzuki/Popteen-model in this.
I think this has these playful vibes as well.
Give her blonde curly hair with gyaru makeup and it could make its performance in Ranzuki!
Not specifically with a gyaru vibe but this is like 99% my style in summer.
I can't put into words how much I like these kind of dresses.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them SOOO MUCH.
Another one from Asano...these girly looks are my absolute favourite kind for spring/summer weather.
I love this outfit so much <3
I hope I could make myself a bit clearer and maybe you liked some what I have shown you as well.
Yes, a lot can be considered casual lolita or something but like I often already mentioned during the peak kawaii gyaru years (at least when I got into it) it has always been more fluid...it was the kawaii-j-fashion-scene and if you are into it but feel like the vibe from the old days are gone, you might find a similiar new vibe there.
I am currently back on xhs more often and I love this place sm.
I have my own little bubble there <3
First things first
