Thursday, April 5, 2012

Miyavi Cosplay Tips!

MIYAVI COSPLAY: Tips and Tricks from Gen


So you wanna cosplay the meevster, huh? Well, maybe I can help by sharing my experience cosplaying the world famous NEO SAMURAI Japanese guitarist.

'Who the f*** are you?'
I'm Gen. Hi. Due to a few years of excessive fangirlism, i managed to pull together a few Miyavi cosplays and created a successful fanpage because of them. I've been featured in music Japan plus, Five For magazine, and am generally well known for my unabashed camwhoring, cosplays etc. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the response i've gotten!!

I won't be able to cover ~EVERYTHING~ but I might do a second post if there is a demand.
I kept this stuff to myself for a long time, mostly because I was lazy and also because I was afraid people would judge me when they saw how obsessive and meticulous I was @_@

I should also mention that I don't cosplay Miyavi anymore, so if you want to know about future myv cosplays i'm planning dont get your hopes up kay? ><''

Lastly, this is by no means the only way of cosplaying. I encourage experimentation! I didn't like the tutorials I found online so I built most of my cosplay through trial and error.

aaaanyways tl;dr


#1 THE LIP PIERCING


It took me three different attempts to find the right spiral lip piercing. I'm not kidding.. it was really difficult lol. The reason is, most of the twisters always spiral the wrong way!!! Make sure you pay close attention before you buy, because most of the time they aren't cheap and you wouldn't want to waste money.


CORRECT
INCORRECT


I bought all my piercings from Body Jewellery Shop, which i highly recommend for their affordable prices and fast delivery :) (and no, they didn't pay me to say that)

My lip piercing is gauge 14, black titanium. I am unsure of the internal diameter, so I wont write something that could potentially be wrong :P

MYTH: I once read somewhere that Miyavi has a vertical labret piercing. Meaning, not like a normal lip piercing but a little closer to the surface. I don't believe this to be true ><. It may look this way in some pictures, but really... its more likely just a regular lip piercing that migrated a little over time. Piercings due that on occasion, so I dont believe whoever pierced him originally made a mistake etc. etc.


#2 HAIR



Okay okay, so Miyavi has had every fucking hairstyle under the sun -- and then some. So I'm just going to focus on his moehawk for now ^^;

Honestly, having my moehawk was the best :D Since my hair was quite long, I could hide my shaved sides whenever i needed to be proper, and then put it up in a ponytail to spice things up. It was such a versatile and unique haircut, I loved it very much :']

When i got the first side done, the shaved section stopped above my ear. I later noticed that Myv's moehawk goes past the ear and behind so I corrected mine to be more accurate lol. Just a tiny detail incase you care that  much :P


When I put my hair in a ponytail I used clip in human hair extensions to give it more volume since my hair wasnt that long. I positioned the clips directly under where the ponytail would be so as not to show.



I also could reuse the clip in hair extensions (including the hand dyed ones) to make Miyavi's loose hairstyle (when he was on tour and travelling etc.)




Temporary color hair spray can also be used since his hair had silver-ish accents. I sprayed some lightly on my ponytail and then separated chunks to make it look more like highlights instead of one big spot of silver :P 
Pink and blue spray can also be used since he has those colors as well. However, I hand dyed some blonde human hair extensions and used those instead (its less messy and faster in the long run)

I eventually accumulated a whole collection of temporary hair color sprays, since I also used them for my Freedom Fighter Cosplay.


Be warned: This stuff is MESSY! and it smells nasty too. It's best to do it outdoors. 



#3 CONTACT LENS



I spent a long time trying to find the right style.

My first and favorite lens was Neo Vision's 'Sunflower' series in grey. Boy did they ever sparkle!! I had been looking for something with a thin black limbal ring and that didnt enlarge. i also wanted a design that showed the flecks and lines running through the eye as opposed to flat opaque color. 
 (Once again, I was major perfectionist when i first started cosplaying xDD)

In later cosplay, I opted to use EOS's 'Adult' series in Grey. It also has an almost unnoticeable enlarging effect and give the eye that 'sparkle' look because of it's shimmery design.






I hope that helped a little!! Feel free to ask me questions~
I may or may not make another post. I still have a lot of tips to share regarding;
  • Tattoos
  • Other piercings
  • Clothing
  • Makeup
  • Possibly other things lol

Happy cosplaying~!

-Gen Ishihara

5 comments:

  1. nice to see that you have a blog over here (now u have one follower more ;) )

    just have to say one thing: i have my lower lip pierced on the right side, just like him. and when i was kinda new into this j-rock-stuff, i actually wore the same piercing as miyavi and first thing ppl said when they met me first time "omg you have a miyavi piercing!!!"
    and i was just like " Wtf? i had this piercing before i even know him" LOL

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    1. yaaay I dont really post much though pffff

      hahaaha thats cute :3 did you know who he was at that time?

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  2. I was wondering where can I find Miyavi's talon plugs or maybe something that looks similar? ._.
    One of your pictures have you wearing one and I'm wondering where you got yours. Please help me out xD;; <3
    Much love

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    1. ohh yes, i've actually completely forgotten where I got them since ive had them for so long >_< I might've gotten them from the body jewellery shop, same as my lip piercing. If I remember or find out for sure I'll let you know or post it in my next entry!

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  3. homg <3 I LOVED this ive been wondering which piercing would be best used for miyavi <3 thank you so much for making this!! I plan to dress as miyavi when I go to see Angelina's movie he's in, "Unbroken", when it hits theaters <3 > u < you're so awesome!!! THANK YOU!!!! ~Nyaa

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