Sale!

Hello lovely, lovely people.

I'm selling off my 50s gear on Etsy.

10% discount to anyone who reads my blog. :-)

Sunday Sale and Social - part 2

Hello my lovelies.  I hope you are all feeling better than I (stuck indoors with some kind of virus...ugh).

Anyway, I just wanted to remind those of you in London that the second Vintage Mafia/Love Shake sale and social is happening this coming Sunday.  We even made Time Out's top 5 things to do!

The Love Shake is a gorgeous little retro diner close to the vintage hub of Brick Lane in London's East end.  Myself and the girls will be selling our wares from 4pm to around 7pm and this time we have a guest seller, the lovely Redlegsinsoho who has some amazing frocks for sale.


Personally, I'm a little short of funds this month thanks to vets bills, a broken oven and just generally being a spendthrift, so I'm reducing my prices hugely.  There might even be a Swirl or two...if I can make myself part with them.

We have clothing from the '40s to the '80s, some top quality repro,  vintage bags, shoes and jewellery.  Come along and treat yourself, or even just join us for a milkshake or a hot dog.

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Birthday presence

I have to say that this year I have had the best birthday of my life so far!  My actual birthday was Friday 12th but I met up with almost all of La Maf on Thursday for art gallerying and dindins.

We went to see the very amazing Glamour of the Gods exhibition at the National Gallery, featuring some of the most stunning Hollywood portraiture from 1920 to 1960.  It was an absolute treat, especially the side by side pictures of Messrs Brando and Dean..I didn't know where to look. *fans self*

The exhibition is on until 23 October and I highly recommend it.

The girls spoilt me with a collections of amazing gifts - bakelite bracelets, a fakelite brooch, vintage buttons, gorgeous old knitting needles and a Stitchcraft I don't yet have plus a lovely roll of make up brushes to complement the course I had taken earlier that day (more about that later this week).  Just look at my present haul!  I swear I've never had as many presents before.  Thank you angels!

We then had a lovely dinner, and I broke my very strict diet.  Omnomnom.

To top it all off I went home to find a huge bundle of yarn had arrived.  I can strongly recommend Yarns4Less, excellent prices and amazing service.  Look at all my lovely, lovely yarn!

Marlon liked it too.

On my actual birthday my very dear friend Naomi took my out for dinner and wine, it was lovely.

Saturday was my birthday picnic - I met my chums in the park at 2:30 and we stayed there supping boozes and eating cake for a good long time, with the survivors heading back to mine for a party that went on until after 4am!  I'm still suffering the after effects today.

Here are some fairly civilised pics the amazing Ms de Guerre took in the park:

And here are the bottles left in my flat the next day....oops:

It was so lovely to spend the day and night with so many of my very favourite people!  Thank you all for making my birthday truly smashing.


I should write more eloquently, put more links in, crop photos etc - but I'm STILL hungover, so I'm using that as an excuse.  Sue me.  :-)

I'm off to have a bath and an early night, I'm getting on in years now you know!

New knitting books!

Morning all!

Just a quick post here to share with you some new knitting purchases I made.  The first is one of those marvellous things, an 80's book of vintage patterns.  Some of the pictures are a little blurred, I'm still getting used to my new camera so apologies!

 Blurred but just look at that scarf set, ha!

 I might actually make this one.

A proper "Herbert"

I also picked up this original 1939 knitting book from Amazon for just £5.  Amazon is a great and cheap source of vintage knitting books - always much cheaper than eBay or Etsy where the same publication is being sold for over £20!

 I just love this book, 1939 is probably my favourite year for fashion so I cannot wait to get started on these, though I'm not sure I have the patience to knit that incredible dress!

Seeing red

'Allo there

Sorry I've been quiet lately, I've got stuff to write about but am lacking the motivation to do so for some reason.

So, to update you on my goings on, this last week has been marred somewhat by the riots across London.  I'm not going to talk about why I think it happened or what people could do - that isn't my interest - but it has affected day to day life somewhat.  My home is right in the middle of one of the main riot areas, the air smelt of fire and was full of the sound of helicopters, sirens, breaking glass and angry shouting.  I've been through two riots in my life - the first in Harringay when two men were shot on my doorstep following a clash between two local immigrant groups and the second this.  I have to say this was more frightening as I was on my own.  I even had the cat box and a suitcase at the ready.  Ugh.

Still, in true Blitz spirit, the country has rallied and by the time I woke at 9am my local area had been cleaned, the only signs that anything untoward had happened were scorch marks on the roads where the burnt out cars had been and the occasional smashed window. 

In the absence of anything useful to do locally and a medical appointment taking up my afternoon time I head over to Islington for a little vintage pottering and managed to find myself an amazing little birthday present in the shape of a red gabardine 40s skirt and a red and white hat of a similar age (but which I think would work well with both late 30s and 40s looks).

Look at these lovelies:

I have a lovely blouse that will work so am just hunting for suitable shoes and perhaps I'll knit a little navy cardigan too.

I'm thinking these shoes from Rocket Originals:

Happy early birthday to me!

Beauty review: Missha Blemish Balm

Thanks to Dita, the vintage look now seems to mean being as pale and as flawless as possible.  Now, I'm all for the flawless, I would love to look like my skin was poreless, smooth and perfect.  I'm not dead set on the pale though, for while pale skin does look lovely on some, tans were popular in the 30's onwards and if you are keeping out of the sun purely to be vintage correct, rather than for health or other reasons then well,  vintage - you are doing it wrong. ;-) 

Personally, I do wear factor 50 every day, I have good reasons for doing so though, which do not relate to being vintage: firstly, being a smoker (still trying to quit), I need to minimise my exposure to other carcinogens as much as possible.  Secondly, I don't tan, I burn and then freckle, and I look about 12 years old when my freckles come out.  Thirdly and finally, I really don't like the platinum blonde hair and tanned skin combination, it is all a little bit too Glamour Model for me. It may work on others but it makes me look terribly cheap.

I just wanted to mention all this before I start my review as these products, Blemish Balms, come from Korea and many are designed to whiten the skin. This is not why I decided to try one.  I am more interested in their multifunctional claims - they say they work as a primer, foundation, sunblock and anti wrinkle treatment all in one. Sounds great huh?

I did a bit of Internet research and the one I most wanted to try was the perfect cover cream from Missha, as it had great reviews and was reasonably priced, so I tracked it down on EBay and bravely bought the palest colour, as colour descriptions online have not been great,

I was impressed with the product straight away - it was beautifully packaged in an expensive looking box and stylish maroon and gold squeeze tube.  On swatching on my hand at work I was a little panicked that my choice of colour, the palest at Number 13, might have been too light.  I couldn't wait to get home and try it out though!

 unswatched and lightly rubbed in, super pale right!

I tested it when I got back and was quite impressed but, as with all bases, you need to see the effect under natural light and so it was in the morning that the real test began.  I applied it over moisturiser, and used the recommended pea sized amount.  A little does go a long way.

So, prepare yourselves, for pictures of my morning face; saggy eyed and without a scrap of slap.  I am posting two each of before and after photos so you can get a real idea of how it evens out the skin.

Before:

Note the very tired eyes, shiny skin and unevenly toned areas around the eyes, nose and chin.

Ignore the double chin and unbrushed  hair.  Oh, you can't.  Sorry!

After:

Everything looks matte and more even.

I was worried that it had the slightly grey cast I had been warned of, but I found that after 10 minutes on the skin the product settled and kind of warmed up.  The overall effect is not as artificial as I had hoped (who wants to look real anyway) but it did even out the redness in my skin.  It was especially good at hiding my freckles and the red spider veins around my nose.  It also smooths and disguises pores beautifully.  It doesn't gather and cake around the hairline / eyebrows either, which is wonderful!

I really like the product, I now use it daily either on it's own for daytime or as a primer for evenings.  It works beautifully under my Revlon Colorstay foundation and this combination makes my skin scarily doll-like - which I love!  It lasts all day and has not caused me to break out at all.  It also smells of baby powder, which I adore.

Here it is smoothing my skin out as part of a full face of make up.

My only real reservations are the lack of colour choice (I understand new shades are being added to the range as we speak) and also the claims of SPF 42.  You really don't use enough product for it to be of any use as sun protection.

It also wouldn't be any good if you were planning to be photographed as the high SPF included doesn't work well under a flash.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this product though, and have added it to my daily make up bag so I will certainly buy it again.  Top marks!h

A homemade beauty day

I've been partying hard the last week, lots of late nights, booze and bad food, and while I have had a fabulous time my skin is looking much the worse for wear (heaven knows what my liver must look like!).  As such, I have decided to avoid the inevitable depression of Vintage by Hemingway and have stayed at home playing with makeup and generally just taking it easy. 

Now it is time to get rid of the make up and give my hard working skin a bit of pep.  I don't have any face masks ot anything in so I decided to make my own.  Most commercial products these days lay claim to being enriched with honey or various plant extracts - so why not go straight for the store cupboard or the garden for your skincare? Also, being a vintage gal I love the "making do" aspect of home made skincare.

My skin issue is that I have large pores on my nose, they really bother me, and so these two recipes are based on pore cleansing and shrinking. 

Pore cleansing egg white facial mask:
All you need here is an egg and some tissue or toilet roll. 

Separate the egg, discarding the yolk (or keep this for a hair mask...!) and then beat the egg white slightly.  Preferably in a mug with a sheep's bum on it.  I personally find this an essential part of the process...

Steam your face or wash it in hot water and then pat dry.  This opens the pores.

Rub the egg white all over your face and then cover with 1ply of tissue.  Then add more egg to soak the tissue. I have weird 30's hair contraptions in the way so I couldn't do my forehead.

Take picture of yourself looking your very best.

Leave the mask for 10-15 minutes, or until dry (you won't be able to move your face at all at this point).  Then slowly peel off the mask. 

You will find this works like a giant pore strip, gently extracting blackheads and tightening skin.  Hoorah!



Lemon and brown sugar facial scrub.

This scrub is just the perfect way to follow the egg mask, as it removes the last traces of egg white and the astringent properties of the lemon tighten the pores after the extracting properties of the mask.   It exfoliates both with the scrubbing of the sugar and with the chemical effects of the acid in the lemon.  Lemon juice also has a bleaching effect on the skin, evening skin tone by fading freckles and age spots.  Wonderful stuff!

You just need half a lemon or, if you don't have one, some ready squeezed lemon juice, and a teaspoon of sugar.

Mmmmmm, brown gloop.

Mix together and then scrub into the face either with fingers or on a cotton wool pad, using a circular motion.  I like to leave it on for about a minute before rinsing with clean water. 

I also like to get a little bit in my mouth as it tastes like pancake day.

Tada!

Clean, healthy looking skin.

I feel much more like myself now.