Shironuri

Shironuri

Shironuri style tips. Take the loveliest outfit imagineable and what do you do? Paint your face ghost white and add scary costume contacts, of course!

Imagine a beautiful outfit, the loveliest you could ever dream of wearing. Maybe it’s a gorgeous princess dress, or a suit like a Victorian vampire, perhaps layers of lace and victorian prints, with flowers in your hair, or a puffy tutu, bright orange hair and neon-coloured beads everywhere?

You have this wonderful, perfect outfit in whatever style you choose, you’ve got the perfect shoes and accessories to match, and then what do you do? You paint your face completely ghost-white and put in scary-looking monster contacts or neon falsies, of course.

And what you get is Shironuri.

Yes, Minori is lovely, isn’t she? And she likes Shironuri so much she even made a video!

This is a currently very popular make up trend in Japan, reminiscent of the makeup worn by geishas. As the name, which means “white face” suggests, it’s about painting your face white, and usually this is combined with an otherwise very elaborate make up and outfit.

There are many ways to achieve a Shironuri look, and many different people who do it in their own way. This article will provide some ideas for those who want to try!

Maybe try looking like these cool, Hangry&Angry-loving kids?

Or like these awesome cyberlox-wearing girls?

White witch, white witch, what’s in your cauldron?

First, you must of course get the proper tools. A lasting white face is best achieved with theatre-make up greasepaint or foundation, and powder to set it.

Apply the foundation with a makeup sponge, or a foundation brush if it suits you better, and then dab on the powder softly in order not to smear the paint.

If you’re planning to wear your Shironuri makeup often, or for long periods of time, try to get good-quality make up that doesn’t clog pores too much or leave a residue. Avoid the cheap children’s Halloween stuff!

Gothic and Loli, sitting in a tree…

S-h-iro-n-u-ri.

Flutter ’em like you mean it

Who doesn’t love false eyelashes?

Personally, I hate the little fuqkers. Although as a model and loli, I’ve had to learn to wear them anyway. I can attest to the fact that they really make a difference!

For Shironuri lashes you’d want something fancy but matching your outfit. Early Shironuri girls (and boys – Shironuri is by no means a girls’ club) often wore falsies made of feathers. Minori, who is no doubt the Shironuri trendsetter most well-known outside Japan, often glues long, theatrical falsies together with shorter, everyday-wear ones, or dyes them in different hard-to-find shades.

Some people wear falsies in neon colours, or with little crystals along the lashline. Or striped or spotted ones, or layer several pairs in different colours.

There are really no rules for falsies, as long as they make your eyes pop and your outfit come together. Just don’t forget to add falsies to your lower lashline as well.

As for contacts – they, too, can make a world of difference. What better way to make your eyes pop than turning them a neon colour, or scary monster red, bright white or maybe just a nicer shade of your natural colour? Again, go with whatever best complements your outfit. Just be careful when putting them in if you’re unexperienced; the cornea damages easily. If you’re new to this, Mookychick has a couple of articles about choosing, wearing and caring for costume and colour contact lenses.

Lhouraiili, who cites Minori as her main source of inspiration, made these cool lashes by cutting up a huge feather and glueing the pieces to her falsies.

A World of Choices

Now that the basics are covered, what more to add?

This is really up to you and your choice of theme.

The aforementioned Minori’s look is one that many take inspiration from, and since her fashion tends to be Mori Girl or Cult Party Kei-inspired, she includes floral elements in her makeup, such as glued-on flower petals, or twigs and leaves drawn in eyeliner.

Shironuri lolis and Fairy Kei-girls have been known to glue lots of crystals to their faces or dust glitter on their cheeks, and Shironuri Decora girls can use colourful stickers or even beads and buttons. If you’re going for a monster or horror look, some stitches, fake blood or big-mouth-full-of-teeth on one side of the face like Kuchisake-onna are great ways to spice it up!

Lots of eyeshadow isn’t overly prevalent in Shironuri, unless it’s black eyeshadow in attempt of a gothic look, or red in attempt of a horror one, but it’s definitely not unheard of, if it works with the outfit.

And why not write something on your face? Some Japanese Shironuri have written names, numbers, even poems, all over their faces, which makes for a really striking look!

The incredibly cool No.96, who makes all her monster masks and props herself, invites you to try horror-inspired Shironuri!

The adorable Decora-style Uri shows that Shironuri is not just for elegance or horror. Or girls.

What to wear, what to wear?

The question that never dies…

Well, in this case, the answer is “anything”. Shironuri is, for better or for worse, a make up style rather than a fashion one.

Many of the most popular Shironuri icons such as Minori, Uri, No. 96, Shioka, Baabara, Kaze Taka or Tsunoshi pair the makeup with their own, vastly different, individual styles. Aside from the obvious styles (gothic and horror) there are, however, some general style elements popular among the Japanese Harajuku kids that lend themselves very well to a Shironuri look. Most of these, like the makeup themselves, take inspiration from traditional Japanese looks, especially from the Showa period (1926-1989). Geishas, for instance, and therefore kimonos and kanzashi flowers. “Rising sun” imagery and the colours red, white and black are very popular, as are flags and school and military uniforms. For these looks, the hair colour is usually black. But many people also pair their Shironuri make up with huge, colourful wigs!

Shioka does a great job exemplifying everything I’ve written in the last paragraph. And looks fabulous while doing it.

And these kids look fabulous, too.

Go on now, be inspired, be Shironuri!


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