My newest distraction/obsession

You may have noticed the common thread between the three of us is our love of Japanese pop culture and fashion; we all studied Japanese throughout high school and college. I was the last one to go this September.

On what seems like an unrelated note, I love the outfit photos that pop up on blogs like Style Bubble and The Coveted, as well as the Face of the Days at Specktra, but I barely have any time to hone the perfect outfit and/or face more often than not, let alone set up my camera or snag someone to take a picture of me.

So it's no surprise that my newest, most favorite thing is Pupe.jp, the adorable Japanese fashion and beauty networking site. Here's how it works: you sign up and create your Poupeegirl -- a little avatar that looks like you. (That's me in today's outfit!) You earn "ribbons", the site's currency, by posting pictures of your own favorite clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty products -- anything that you can buy and wear. Then you cash in your ribbons for items for your Poupeegirl. You can also sell any items you don't want (anyone want a pair of camo leggings? I'm selling them for 10 ribbons!). In addition, you may receive shells that you can redeem for prizes at the shell fountain.

It's also a social network in that you can see everyone else's uploaded pictures and click the "suteki" button (the gold button underneath the photo) if you like it, and you can add them to your friends list. If you post or receive a comment, you get a ribbon!

It is a Japanese website, so there are some parts of it in Japanese, but it's not all that hard to navigate. The one that most people would be concerned about is the dress-up section, where the categories are all listed in Japanese. The list goes "hairstyles - outerwear - tops - bottoms - dresses - innerwear - bags - jewelry - shoes - accessories - make-up - events - etc.". To take a "snapshot" of your Poupeegirl's outfit, click the first of the buttons on the bottom of "dress-up" page -- the one with the camera icon, not the cell phone icon. (And, of course, if you need any extra help, you're always welcome to ask me!)

So check it out, and add me as your friend! If you want some extra ribbons to start with, you can email me or leave a comment to be invited, and I'll send you one!

image from pupe.jp