Pinup Picnic In The Park!

Thanks to the wonderful British Belles for such a beautiful picnic event on Saturday in Hyde Park; what's not to love about a day full of beautiful pin-up ladies (and some men too which was nice to see), finger sandwiches, snacks, and copius amounts of Pimms? Nothing! 

The day started off by meeting up by up at Marble Arch at 11. I was having a total nightmarish morning because I did not sleep well the night before so I woke up running and late and MY WET SET DIDN'T DRY IN TIME; I honestly felt like crying! I didn't like the way my make-up went either because I was rushing so I felt like screaming...I mean why do my wet sets always turn out amazing when I have no where to go?! Total #pinupgirlproblems I know!

Picture by Nicole - Cocovonvintage

I was delighted to meet all of these wonderful ladies when I arrived at Marble Arch. I thought I was running super late but in perspective I was quite early as we were hanging about this area for the good part of an hour. I liked this though because I was enjoying seeing people arrive. The oddest part had to be when tourists were walking right up to us taking photos and not even giving a damn in the world. It was pretty funny and people were admiring our style which was lovely.

Eventually we all moseyed on over to the Marble Arch section of Hyde Park, where Taylor Swift also happened to be playing that day, so it's safe to say there was quite an atmosphere about. We sat down to enjoy some drinks, snacks and sandwiches and I had gotten full very quickly so I ended up drinking quite a bit of Pimms. I'd like to say that all the food I'd been snacking on had soaked up the alcohol but nope, I was tipsy!

Holly had the absolutely cutest bag as you can see above! All of the women looked absolutely amazing and it was so nice to chat and get to know people I've met over the internet, in person. 

This photo of Blaire - www.oldisnowvintage.com, is probably my favourite of the day, she looks so gorgeous! I was definitely most envious of her Vivien of Holloway dress too.  

Photo by Tanya at Secret Plus Size Goddess

It was so great to me Tanya and Kayla both whom I discovered through Instagram. I think we had such a laugh, especially in the afternoon when we all had to move towards to shade because it had gotten far too hot. 

The day overall was just simply beautiful, you couldn't fault it at all; the sky was clear blue with no clouds in sight. Ladies and gentlemen alike were slathering on the sun cream to stay protected. It was also nice that there were a few photographers floating about, it felt really good to have a photo taken. 

It was also wonderful to meet some of the Belle's too, who looked even more beautiful in person; they really did organise an incredible event for so many like minded people, I couldn't of wished for a better day. So thank you Belle's for bringing together so many lovely people! Moreover, the event in total raised over £1000 for Macmillan cancer which is astounding so we all got to have incredible fun whilst raising money for an important cause. 

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Review: Pinup Girl Clothing 'Harley' Dress

Last weekend, I took my Niece out, along with one of my friends, to Bromley; we had a lovely afternoon of lunch and shopping. I managed to pick up a few bits and pieces in Primark, who are doing an incredible amount of pin-up inspired separates at the moment; you'll begin to see these more and more over my next few outfit posts.

I'm not sure if I've shown you all my Pinup Girl Clothing - 'Harley' dress yet - well I know I haven't done a proper review of it yet. It's a lovely bright yellow - a colour which reminds me of Belle's ball gown at the end of Beauty and The Beast. I've always admired this dress as I love the neckline, something just drew me to it. I wear this dress without a bra - one of the advantages of being small busted. My only criticism of this dress is that the waistline sits far too low on me. The belt should sit higher up on my body but I can't do that as it shows the line between the body and skirt; so what I've done is pull the skirt up and tucked it into the belt. It gets annoying as I'm constantly readjusting myself, but I don't really mind all that much.

Paired with the dress is the cropped cardigan which I found at Primark. I'm pretty sure it's not meant to tie up as it's an 18 it's a bit big for me so I used it to tie up at the front and I think it looks great; and for less than a fiver, what a bargain!

The sandals are what I went into Primark for; I've seen other vintage bloggers post about these and they're amazing! I wanted some other colours too but these were the only ones in stock in the Bromley store. I'm definitely going to be popping in for some other colours at some point.

Finally, I'm also wearing my dancing flamingo necklace that you may have read about in my post yesterday. It's gorgeous and unlike other necklaces I've worn and that have gotten on my nerves, this one stays in place and doesn't keep flipping.

House of Satin retro lingerie.

House of Satin are a brand I've discovered through Instagram. Oozing with pin up and retro vibes, they create handmade pieces right here in Britain. The thing that surprised me the most though, is the prices; I've yet to find a retro lingerie company that creates underwear at affordable prices, which I've never really disputed as I know it takes a lot of time and money to go into lingerie that is both beautiful and well made. 

I've mostly had to adore lingerie companies like What Katie Did from afar as I've never been able to justify spending over £100 on a lingerie set, I totally understand why others do though. 

So upon discovering House of Satin, I thought surely something must be up! From looking at their pieces on their website, everything seemed so beautiful and the prices were so affordable! 

I opted for the Powder Blue satin set; the bra, knickers and the suspender belt set me back just £29. Incredible value.

Here's a quick snap from the bathroom at work. The stockings are seamed down the back from Ann Summers. I love their stockings personally, they always last a while for me and hold up better than some other brands I've tried.

So I eagerly awaited the arrival of my set and I could not wait to try it all on. The quality is AMMMMMMAZINGGGG and I do not say that lightly. I absolutely cannot believe how much they cost! The thick bra straps (although I do not need much support as I am smaller chested) make you feel more comfortable and supported, whilst the satin feels so lovely against your skin. Although it is a soft cup bra, for me personally it still has the support there and I don't get the annoying 'bounce' when walking that I get with other soft cup underwear sets, I tend to fall out of them as well, so you're very well protected. I couldn't possibly comment on a bigger bust as I don't know what it's like. 

I feel I should have ordered a size down in the suspender belt, but sometimes I worry too much about being too "big" for things so I always size up. It's not too much of a worry here, but if I was to be a perfectionist, I'd size down. The suspender belt is perfect for me, I love having six straps on because you do feel more supported. The clips go on and hold the stockings with so much ease, it's a relief. I mean, I cannot STAND suspender belts with just 4 straps as I always find myself coming undone half way into my day and moreover, I cannot stand suspender belts with clips so difficult that you stand around fiddling for half a bloody hour before they eventually clip on to your stockings!

I realise you cannot really see the knickers so I'll show you the picture from their website. 

They are really cute, comfortable and have such a luxurious feel to them. You would never believe that they cost only £5.50.

I really believe House of Satin are my new favourite lingerie brand. I've already put in a new order for their longline bra in black and the powder blue satin high waisted knickers just to mix up this set again. I've also ordered a girdle. So I'm sure to make another blog post on House of Satin again soon!

Bra - £9.50

Suspender Belt - £14.00

Briefs - £5.50

Welcome to adulthood.

Saving up for a house deposit isn't easy. I've had to stop spending my wages on beautiful clothes and sensibly put it all into savings until next year when I can buy a house! Obviously, this will always be worth it but as a person who has never managed to save and has a strong lust for vintage reproduction clothing, it's been a struggle.

Thus, there have been less outfit posts on this blog than anticipated. I want to build my wardrobe up but at the same time I cannot afford to. 

I thought instead, I'd make a sort of "wishlist" of clothing I have recently been eyeing up and mentally storing away for a later date.

1) 1940s Swing Trousers Denim, Vivien Of Holloway  -£45

2) Fairy Summer Bouquet Print Doll Dress, Collectif - £55

3) Chelsea Dress Navy Lilacs, Bernie Dexter - $156

4) Curve Rockabilly Handbag, Glamour Bunny - £50

5) Ione Precious Blue shoes, B.A.I.T Footwear - $67

1940s wavy hair.

I made my first attempt yesterday at doing a 1940s classic wave hairstyle. 

This isn't really a tutorial, I'm still learning how to do it but I was impressed with the outcome, I thought I'd blog my process. Maybe it's not that good - maybe I just have low standards! haha

For this I washed my hair, towel dried it and ran setting lotion throughout my hair. I picked up the setting lotion from Superdrug. 

I divided my hair into sections and used bendy rollers, which I picked up from Poundland. There is literally no point spending any more money on this as the Poundland ones are perfect. 

(Note: the picture below I've taken tonight with my hair dry as I've re-set my hair, I forgot to take a picture when I wet set my hair)

As you can see I've used LOADS of bendy rollers - this is because I have extremely thick hair. I think I've used about 3 packets on my hair alone. 

Sadly, I don't look classy AT ALL with my bandana on. I have so many rollers in, it struggles to protect them all. Nevertheless, the bandana is essential for me in protecting my rollers all night. I've found I've woken up and all rolls are still perfectly intact - as silly as I might look.

Next morning - result

When I took the rollers out the next day - this was the result! As you can see, the rollers create really tight curls. 

I brushed out these curls, until they became waves. The setting lotion I put in the night before really helped to style my hair so it fell in place. When you first brush out the curls, it goes into this big FRIZZY MESS. That's normal. Just keep brushing and styling with your hands until it eventually falls into waves/ 

So TA-DA! that's my attempt at creating old-hollywood style style waves. 

Clearly not perfect but I'm SO CHUFFED for my first attempt. 

Guys, YouTube is incredible. I got this tutorial from Alice In Retrospect who does fantastic YouTube videos. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all, I hope you all had a fantastic 2014 and Christmas and I hope 2015 is brilliant for you all!

I've refrained from posting over the past couple of weeks just because I wanted to photograph my new outfits with the DSLR camera but I had to wait until I got a new camera charger (boring); anyway, I did! So here we are....

Okay, so not particularly the greatest of photos; I did rush my mum into taking them for me. I really struggled with my hair today, it just didn't want to curl and my fringe is becoming a nightmare. 

I was in Bedford town centre about a week ago and I couldn't believe I found a Vintage Reproduction store! In Bedford of all places. They stocked the likes of Voodoo Vixen and Banned, so I picked up this Anchor cardigan as I love the nautical theme. The cardigan is by Banned, a brand I haven't tried before, but the cardigan is so soft and lovely. I don't bother wearing a top underneath it (I have small boobs so I guess this allows me this much) as I feel the cardigan covers me well enough. The only downside I have with it, is that the sleeves are slightly too long. I like to try to avoid pulling up my sleeves as I don't want to stretch the cuffs. Apart from that, the colour and the design is absolutely gorgeous. 

I'm also now wearing these specs - no I'm not a glasses wearer, I'm a fully fledged fake. I bought these on ebay and I love them so much as I feel they add an even bigger vintage feel to my look. Ebay is such a great place to find cute little accessories like this. 

Now the belt is from Primark, this is a size small but I consider myself plus sized, being somewhere between a 12, 14 and 16. Waist belts are supposed to be small and stretchy but despite being a "small", it still has so much room to it. Shops sizing methods are weird. 

The skirt is by a budget favourite Lindy Bop - who are great for vintage style clothing at a cheap price! I bought this skirt in the sale for £20 and I probably would have paid more. The quality is brilliant (the last dress I bought from LB unfortunately fell apart) so I'm glad I gave them a second chance. I love the long length and the floral pattern, you just cannot go wrong with the price!

Best Christmas ever! I was gifted the Tilly dress and the matching Eleanor cardigan for christmas after lusting after them for so long. Safe to say I was and am a happy girl! 

The first thing I loved about this outfit was the colour. The greens and pinks mix together so well, and the floral patterns are so vintage and girly. The cardigan is a great fit, and the sleeves aren't too long (yay), the size is large and fits well when buttoned together. I would say size up if you have a larger bust. The dress is also in a large, a perfect fit for me. With it being sleeveless, with some dresses like this the dress can cut into your arms/pits, but there is plenty of room and is very comfortable. I'm very fussy about dresses having well fitted buttons and zips. I've owned so many clothes where the zips just break and the buttons fall off after a few goes. Thankfully, the dress and cardigan are of very high quality and you can feel they are very well made. For the price, you absolutely cannot go wrong and this why Voodoo Vixen will remain one of my firm favourite brands. 

I'm also wearing a petticoat underneath both dresses which is by Lindy Bop. 

Sarah does make up...sometimes.

I got a little bored after coming in from work this afternoon and I decided to try out some make up looks. I'm not very good at doing eye shadow, I find it quite complicated sometimes and I end up looking like a bit of a mess; but I recently purchased some new make up and I've been keen to try it

This is the first time using the brand Revolution; I've heard some good things about them and with this palette at only £6, there couldn't be any harm in trying it out. 

The palette I picked up is called Salvation Palette: What You Waiting For? I picked this one up as the light and rosy tones of the shimmer shadows appealed to me. I quite like lighter, shimmery eye shadow; however, it also comes with more brown and earthy tones too if I also wanted to create a smoky eye effect.

So I used the Scary Conversation shadow for the base. For just £6, I am incredibly impressed by how pigmented the shadow is. I lightly went over the shade with my brush and it came out so well on my eyes. It's worth mentioning that beforehand, I did use the Benefit - Stay Don't Stray primer on my eyelids and just below my eyes. This is an amazing product in itself, it always keeps my shadow on all day. I also sometimes use the MUA Pro-Base version which is incredibly cheap and also does a good job.

I then added the shade "Moving Car" to the outside of my eyes, I added MAC mascara for my lashes and also MAC lipstick in Heroine..the eye shadow looks more purple in person so I thought this would be a good lipstick to pair it with. I finished with a touch of the matte shade from the palette called "Brand New Fans" in my eyebrows and went over it with my Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow pomade in Blonde. I'm also not great with my eyebrows yet. 

I'm in no shape particularly great at make up. I just thought it'd be interesting to write down my process!

I curled my hair and completed my look! I love it here.

I changed out of my work clothes and into a little outfit I threw together.

Top - Collectif

Belt - Primark

Skirt- Primark

I NEED A FRINGE CUT ASAP!

xo

*This post is not sponsored or written in partnership with any brands. All words are my own and products I genuinely love

Hula Nails.

Over a month and a half ago, I visited Hula Nails, just right by Old Street station, London. Initially, I'd discovered them through Instagram (although I can't remember how specifically).

I knew as soon as I took a look at their website, I fell in love and had to book an appointment. 

The decor of the shop is absolutely perfect and a pin up lovers dream, right down to every little detail. 

The ladies there are friendly and super helpful. 

This was my first time having my nails done. I went for the "Heart Tips" Acrylic Gel Extensions Full Set, so overall, this set me back around £60. Although this sounds pricey for nails, the quality was incredible. I believe in paying more for a service where the staff are helpful and know exactly what they are doing, so it's always well worth the money to me. You're also paying for the vintage tiki style experience!

The finished piece of art! How incredible are they?! I went away on holiday feeling like a total princess. 

I've taken these off now as it's been a few weeks and I want to be able to try and grow my own nails. 

I can't wait to book my next appointment.

*This post is not sponsored or written in partnership with any brands. All words are my own and products I genuinely love

Long time no see!

I'm currently sat in bed at 03:22 am, fresh in from work, writing this post and watching The Good Wife. I've been a bit absent from here over the past month; I've been on holiday to Mexico and I've been super busy at work. It was such an amazing trip. As you can see below the weather was beautiful.

This is my absolute favourite dress in my wardrobe. It's the red Jenny Pin Up dress by Glamour Bunny. I have to admit, this is the sexiest I have EVER felt. This isn't the most flattering of photos either but it totally cinches you in at the waist, leaving you with the dreamiest of curves. I teamed the dress with my outstanding Dorothy Perkins heels which I bought from someone on Depop. It feels like the dress and the shoes were a match made in heaven!

This is just where we went to downtown Puerto Vallarta. Visually stunning, it was a great stroll around and we visited to some great places to eat and drink. 

Okay, I'm really getting into poser mode here! Around sunset on the hotel beach, I got Jonny to snap some photos in my bargain Amazon bikini. Just search "retro bikinis" into the search bar and up comes dozens of various pin up bikinis at stupidly cheap prices! Granted, the quality isnt great, but if you're looking for a cheap retro look on holiday, these are fantastic for a one off holiday.

Chilling by the pool. We had alcohol at our disposal the whole day!

One of my favourite evening looks on my holiday. The top is the Dolores Polka top by Collectif Clothing. It's such a snug fit and I found it so comfortable and easy to get into - there's a zip down the side of the top for ease - and it perfectly compliments your torso. The high waisted shorts were another bargain from the Collectif Clothing sale. 

Oop guess what?! Another Collectif Clothing sale bargain outfit. Unfortunately the shorts are sold out so I cannot link to them, as is the top. However, there is a similar style in the top still available on the website's sale.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with this dress. The 'Deanna' dress from Lindy Bop, fits like a dream. However, after  hearing amazing reviews of the site and wearing this dress just once, a couple of the buttons on the dress fell off and I decided to take them all off and wear the dress without the "buttoned" style. The dress still looked great, however, I am a little reluctant to order again. I mean, the prices on Lindy Bop ARE amazing and they are probably one of the cheapest vintage reproduction sites going. Often though, it is worth paying more for better quality. 

This is the first dress I ever bought from Collectif a few months ago, Since then, I've fallen in love with them as you can see from the previous outfits,  

This is the Dora Polka Dot dress and it's currently on sale on the website. It's pretty much the first dress I've ever bought where I didn't feel embarrassed about my body (yes that sounds sad and yes I do have bad body image issues about myself sadly).

The belt and shoes are both from primark :)

I'm glad to have shared some outfit posts from Mexico. I felt so pretty on this 

holiday, for the first time in a long while. 

*This post is not sponsored or written in partnership with any brands. All words are my own and products I genuinely love