I loved what I was wearing yesterday so wanted to share it with you here... I felt really flirty 50s, put together and swirly but was still able to run around after my two year and feed my bubba. So a winner for sure!
The only downside was my Tiffany charm bracelet kept catching on my skirt and I've lost my beloved snowflake charm *ugly crying face.* I got the bracelet on our honeymoon in New York for my 30th birthday, including this charm, so it has a lot of sentimental value. Fingers crossed it turns up but no luck so far.
I bought this lovely navy coloured midi skirt from New Look. It has two layers; a satiny underskirt and a mesh striped layer on top with a stretchy waistband which means it fits close to your waist. It's lovely and swirly and I really like that the underskirt is shorter than the top layer as a midi skirt can come up too long on a short arse like me. It comes in six different colours on the site and it's far too tempting to buy a few of the other colours... Better keep my shopping trigger finger away from their website.
My hair was a simple suicide roll with a ponytail which I accessorised with a red chiffon scarf. I recently purchased several of these scarves from Amazon in a variety of colours so expect to see a lot of them in the coming posts, haha.
My ponytail did a pleasingly neat curl under. Along with my charm bracelet *still ugly crying* I had my new trusty tortoise shell style stud earrings, usual Converse glasses, comfy but cute Clarks 'Henderson Luck' tan sandals and my old small tan Accessorize satchel bag which I bought an age ago. They don't have my exact bag anymore but there are plenty of small satchel type bags on their site.
I really enjoyed wearing this outfit so I imagine I will wear it again!
It was National Selfie day yesterday (like I need an excuse) so I did my first car selfie before I had to rush off. I'm sure if any of my neighbours saw me they must have thought I was a right narcissist. Which I suppose I am these days :D
In my last post I created a large barrel roll coupled with my first attempts at a French Twist and finished it off with a grey bandana.
I then decided to create a second look based around the big top roll I had managed to make as it seemed such a shame to waste something that had taken so long! I quickly run through the second style here in this post:
This time I added to the large front roll by pairing it with two victory rolls and simply pinning the rest of my hair back. I then added in a gorgeous slide of multi-coloured flowers I bought recently on a big floral hair accessory splurge from ASOS.
Also, I'm wearing my new favourite square stud earrings in a tortoise shell style finish... also a purchase from the faberoo ASOS. They just seem to go with everything and have that simple retro feel to them.
It's so messy when I look back at it in these photos. I have a lot of practice before I get those lovely smooth finishes I've seen on Instagram and on the internet but it was fun to switch up the style from one to another - these few changes really took the whole look from Rockabilly to Forties. I've still to experiment with pomade at this point and from what I can tell, it will really help to mold the hair style and give a better finish than hairspray does.
I then unpinned the back of my hair and clipped it all together with a large gold barrette. I think this suits me better... I always feel so severe with my hair all up and away from my face like this. I love how this turned out - it's so colourful and vintage feeling.
And that's it for today's post... will be back tomorrow with another experimental vintage look.
I took a break from the blog over the weekend as my Husband was off work for a whole two days and it was Father's day on Sunday. That hasn't stopped me playing with my hair, make-up and clothes and generally obsessing over my Instagram and everything Retro, Vintage and Rockabilly though.
There's been a few looks I've thrown together and photographed over the last week or so that I haven't put up on my blog yet so I thought I'd make a start on showing them to you today... It's a horrible, grey & rainy 'Summer' day here and I'm still sat in my pyjamas with my two year old. I've distracted him with a bowl of snacks and an introduction to 'The Wizard of Oz.'
Dorothy and her ruby slippers forever
Before I get started, I mentioned in a previous post some 40s style suede shoe boots from Clarks and a trusty old star shaped bag from River Island... I took a photo of them with my Nikon and efficiently forgot to add them. So here it is in case you wanted to see what they were like. This bag is my default going out bag and it's starting to show. It's very pretty and has garnered many an oooh and aaah from other ladies but it is rather impractical for carrying anything larger than a lipstick due to it's shape! The shoes are really comfy and the 'V' shape at the front is really flattering as it shows off a well turned ankle - very forties.
Look of the day
So, I had my first attempt at a french twist - I have never tried this style before and in truth my hair is still too short at the bottom to really get it right. But, I'm still pretty happy with this and have Lauren Rennells and her fab book 'Vintage Hairstyling' (pg. 122) to thank for it. The trick is to brush your hair over to one side and then insert bobby pins flat against the head and then roll the hair over them and then pin the roll in place. Those first pins then give the second lot of pins something to grip onto. My mind was blown, hahaha. I never knew this technique and it really works. Can't wait for my hair to grow so I can try this with more of a beehive element.
Hair is too short - boo.
At the front I wanted to go for a large barrel roll and wanted to go pretty big as my previous rolls have been on the more sedate side. I also added in a grey bandana and then did my make-up and added some black plastic circle stud earrings.
Make-up wise I did the usual and used the good old Eylure falsies to keep it fun and flirty. I decided to try using a dark red lipstick. It's a NYX matte lippy called 'Siren.' I'm not entirely sold on the look on me but I did get some positive feed back on Instagram so maybe I just need to get used to it!
I'm not a fan of wearing my hair so far up and away from my face in real life so don't think I would incorporate this in an everyday look. But, I have had a lot of fun doing it and anything that is experimental and hopefully improves on my technique is a bonus. It could be neater and it's full of hairspray (which really dulls the hair) but I think it's ok over all.
I decided to try and improve my eyeliner technique today - or rather perfecting the flick. I've been winging my eyeliner for years but have always just drawn it on freehand with varying success. If there's a trick to getting the flick on point without hours of obsessive drawing/redrawing then I'm in! Anyone else who is obsessed with this makeup style knows the liner itself makes all the difference and I've still to find my perfect one... I'm currently liking my Barry M in plum - I bought it in black thinking it would be just as good but for some reason the brush seems to be different and I don't like how it draws or the result I get with it.
The search continues - if anyone has any liners to suggest please do leave a comment!
Some of the many others I've tried and liked:
One of my all time favourites has been the YSL shocking false lash effect eyeliner but at over £25 a pop it's not cheap.
I started out with the Boots own brand '17' eyeliner pens which were fine but smudged at the drop of a hat and didn't last well through the day. It's been a while since I used them though so it may well have an improved formula these days. They are significantly cheaper and I think a good one to begin with if you're a newbie and not sure it's a look you'll do a lot.
I also quite liked the Bourjois waterproof Clubbing eyeliner for festivals but it does have a tendency to flake once it gets wet (or very old).
I've also tried a gel liner (which comes in a little pot with a tiny liner brush separately). I can't remember for the life of me what the brand was now (I want to say Chanel but can't be sure) but it was gifted to me & had one half of the pot in navy and the other in black. I quite liked it but found it drew a very bold line and sometimes you want something more delicate. I also found it harder to draw a nice precise flick (although with this hack it might be a lot easier to achieve). If you're interested in reading further on the gel liners out there there's a good Independent article on the top 11 gel liners here.
The flick hack
The basic principle of this hack is to use tape to guide where the flick goes. I've seen it a few times on Facebook and elsewhere but have never tried it and as I'm getting back into my make-up I thought now's the time. I've seen one woman using Sellotape but to me that seemed a bit harsh on the skin - especially around the delicate eye area so I went with some low tack masking tape we have around the house. If you want a good tutorial video to watch here's one from Tina Yong and she uses surgical tape that you can pick up from your local chemist.
As this was more about the flick I decided to draw on the rest of the eyeliner first (please ignore my ungroomed eyebrows!):
Then I applied the tape. Where you position it depends on the angle of the flick you want - I try to continue the line up from my bottom eye rim (if that makes sense).
This feels a bit like I'm trying to tape my crows feet back or something, haha.
And then I drew on the flicks...
The tape's come away a little here - you need to make sure it's stuck down before you draw or it won't work well
What is this face?!
Because the tape is there you don't have to be too precise - although you do of course have to make sure the top part is neat as that's not going to change when the tape comes off. I also joined the flick up with the rest of the eyeliner more to get the classic cats eye look.
I let the liner dry and then peeled off the tape and here's the results:
As you can see from below I was really pleased with the outcome and will definitely use this hack again.
Today has been a much happier and productive day - I have firmly removed myself from the fug. Thank goodness. It's horrible when it descends and sometimes it can be difficult to see a way out of it but I really think writing a blog post helped me out of it so much quicker than normal. Nice!
My eldest went to nursery today so I only had the baby to contend with. During his nice long nap I did what makes me super duper happy - I organised;I organised the shit out of my make-up & hair stuff. We live in a Victorian terraced house which means the bathroom is downstairs at the back as an add on (obviously they didn't have bathrooms when it was first built so it's a 'modern' addition) and with my youngest still sleeping in our room, both at night and for naps, I quite often have to paint my face and style up the old bonce on the fly. i.e. while one or both of the children are napping. I have a lovely Ikea dressing table in our bedroom that was my pride and joy but I rarely get to use it now and it's become a disorganised mess of God knows what. So, I made the executive decision to sort out my old trolley from Argos and use it to put all my crap into keep it downstairs. As it's on wheels I can move the lovely plastic bugger about as I need to from bathroom to living room etc.
Before
It had seen better days - it needed a thorough clean and a proper go through. So, with a big ol' bin bag to hand I went through each drawer and threw out anything I don't use or which is out of date etc. I'm also trying this 'sparks joy' bollocks I've heard about recently... If it doesn't spark joy you should get rid of it. Not sure I'm going to get 'joy' out of a hair band but I applied it to things like lipsticks and nail polishes. If the colour does nothing for me why would I keep it?
Once I'd baby wiped the whole thing free of dirt (Mums - cleaning the world one baby wipe at a time):
I gathered everything and started sorting it into the drawers. Its really quite therapeutic.
In the flower and accessory drawer I repurposed one of the many ASOS boxes to store my costume jewelry earrings in. The foam that comes with the box is perfect for pushing each earring through meaning I can see at a glance what I have in there, rather than having to do my usual dig through a pile of mismatched studs until I find something, anything to wear.
And here it is after - all sparkly and happy at being useful again
I have also repurposed this gorgeous vintage suitcase I have had for a while now (I inherited it from the house clearance of my Husband's Godmother). I've been desperate to find a use for it. It's been a shame for it to be sitting around doing bugger all. So, in a similar vein to the trolley, I am using it to trug around my hair machines i.e the dryer, curler and hair products. I can never be sure where I will be doing my hair so I need portability and the suitcase keeps it all neatly stored and easy to transport around. Plus it looks flipping cool.
The next things to achieve on my organisational list are;
Wash my make-up brushes (I have never done this *shame faced*)
Sort through all my clothes and give a shit load to charity
Arrange my clothes and accessories in our bedroom so I can find whatever I need - but make it pretty!
I've also got a tonne of new clothes and accessories to play with so I need to find time to do that... I have some fab hats to try and style. I also bought some 40 style snoods from Vivien of Holloway to try out and a tub of pomade to experiment with for the first time (can't help but think of George Clooney's character in O Brother Where Art Thou when I say pomade - "I'm a Dapper Dan Man"). I'm hoping it will help me to achieve better styles and a shinier do as the hairspray really dulls it.
I'm also currently awaiting on my first Collectif Clothing purchase... there are so many bloody sales on at the moment. I have such a terrible trigger finger for online shopping and I couldn't resist this beauty. It's less than £40 down from £150 and so elegant. I just hope it suits me - I have designs on it making a debut on a nice meal out in New York in December.
Speaking of which, I'm waiting on a full skirted tweed Topshop coat I bid on and won on Ebay. Again, with designs on it being shown the bright lights of the Big Apple. I really want to look the part when we go instead of the usual tourist garb. I've also managed to purchase a couple of faux fur collar/scarves which I'm planning to wear with this to give it more of a lux 40s/50s feel. I completely feel in love with the Collectif Pearl coat but not only can you not get hold of it for love nor money but it's expensive... so I've tried my best to come up with my own version.
I also want to do my homework on where to shop in NY... there must be scads of amazing vintage possibilities. Oh my God I'm getting so excited already! We're going for my beautiful sister's 30th birthday and we both love the same style of clothing so we could have some real fun shopping together. If anyone reading this has any suggestions please do leave a comment.
Anyway, I could witter on and on for hours about ALL THE THINGS. So, I'd best be off or I'll have nothing to write about tomorrow.
