Most FAQ-ed: My Magazine Scans...

I filmed the video below and uploaded it on November 2009 explaining the source of my Picture Tutorials, how I go about editing them and how I store them thereafter. Therefore, there is FULL DISCLOSURE that these materials are NOT MINE, and I have NEVER claimed them as such.

Please watch the video below if you have not. Many thanks.

Recently, I have been getting more questions about the EXACT magazines I use and WHERE I download them from.

To address the former (please read the "Guide to Japanese Fashion Magazines"), I lean towards [1] OL/Onee-kei and [4] Casual; some [5] Street/Urahara if I like the content - guesstimate, 85% of my tutorials are from the above-mentioned magazines. I do not use every single one of those though, because some of them are extremely fashion-oriented; I am no fashionista, although I am beginning to delve into making an occasional fashion video for you guys ^_^ I do not find it fun making them, honestly. (Edit: Except Raid Your Wardrobe: Fall Outfits for Interview & Work simply because I am ancient and I like classic pieces for work ;) )

As for the [2] Gyaru genre, I rarely use them. If I do, I would go for Jelly, Happie Nuts (yes, it is called HAPPIE NUTS! ^_~) and SCawaii (if I have too). I do not like SCawaii nor PopTeen much because the models look too "dolly-like". In fact, todate, the only videos I made from those are PicTut: Sexy Smokey Eyes with Lotsa Falsies (Mana Honda, Tomoe Ogoshi) and PicTut: Tsubasa Masuwaka's Signature Look/Makeup due to requests.

The bottom line is, I learnt from the [1] OL/Onee-kei, [4] Casual and [5] Street/Urahara because they are VERY wearable to school and work. I am STILL learning from them; thus I choose to share these with you ^_^

Furthermore, there are countless tutorials out there if you are a hard-core Gyaru fan, no? :D I am just not one of them.   

Edited: Yet another Guide (and online magazine shop) HERE!

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Guide to Japanese Fashion Magazines (extracted from HERE!)

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[1] OL/Onee-kei

Akamojizasshi (Red letter magazines)

These five are the big boss of fashion magazines in Japan and they received the name because they all use red for their names on the cover. Sophisticated and mature style with elements of romantic/sweet/sexy style depends on what's popular that season, target towards university students to early 20s OL.

• CanCam
• ViVi
• JJ
• PINKY
• Ray

Sames as the Red letter magazines, except not as popular. Might be more mature/simple/glamorous depend on the magazine itself, but mostly aim towards university students and OLs as well.

• MORE
• with
• Oggi
• MISS
• CLASSY
• AneCan
• UNI.T
• Steady.
• BAILA GINGER
• GLITTER
• InRed
• sweet
• GISELe
• GLAMOROUS
• 25ans (towards expensive brands)
• ENVY

[2] Gyaru

Late teens to 20s. Girls who have the stereotypes of wearing heavy make-up, wear sexy clothes, noisy, etc. Most gyarus are tanned back in the days, but there are lots of "shiro gyarus" now

• egg
• Popteen
• SCawaii!!
• BLENDA
• Ranzuki
• JELLY
• Happie Nuts
• LUIRE (B-girl style)
• Woofin'Girl (B-girl style)

[3] Hime Gyaru

Girly and princess type of gyaru, started during mid 2000s.

• Koakuma ageha (Really popular right now within young girls, but it's intended to target at hostesses)
• Hime Style

[4] Casual

Late teens to 20s. Very simple and casual, with some romantic/sweet/cool elements depends on what's popular that season

• an an
• ar
• InRed
• mina
• non-no
• Soup.
• spring
• sweet

[5] Street/Urahara

People from late teens to mid 20s. Mostly wears indies brands, vintage, not following mainstream

• CUTiE
• Jille
• mini
• PS
• SEDA
• Zipper
• FRUiTS (only street snaps)

[6]15-18

High school students. Mostly sweet/cute/casual with some sexy to lure the boys:)

• Elle Girl
• SEVENTEEN

SOURCE of my downloads. Now this is a touchy subject. Please do not misunderstand that I am being selfish by not sharing. I mean, come on. You can Google these magazine names and score thousands of hits! To make it really clear, the reasons are:

[1] I have yet to find a SINGLE website which contains all the magazines I want, and I Google just like the rest of the world. I do find a lot in LiveJournal, so look around there.

[2] {{ MOST IMPORTANT }} I have NEVER never NeVeR, nor do I ever INTEND to download these with my home/personal PC/laptop - I ONLY download them in a super secure virtual environment, with a full-fledged firewall and corporate-level anti-virus software. Why? Ever heard of malicious payload (i.e. viruses, Trojan Horses, etc)? It is NOT worth risking the contents of your laptop/PC for just a magazine scan, and I know many of my subscribers are students (your thesis goes poof?) In fact, just yesterday, 2 of the compressed files I downloaded contain Trojan Horses. ~_~

Hope this post answers your questions...For now... :)

Note: With this Blog, I think I may just upload some Un-Edited scans to save time :P