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. 

Hair make-over!

I haven't dyed my hair for about 5 years now. The last time I did was in 2010 where I meant to dye my hair brown for my mum's wedding but it went a dark black. I wasn't really into having black hair at the time so I was quite upset. So since then, I let the black fade out to brown and it all grew out! I'm not sure how I had the patience to grow out solid black hair but I did and my hair came out so so healthy from it.

After having my hair chopped off last year, my hair has been all natural as you can see above. As it's been so long since I last dyed it, I've been very wary about what colour to go for next. I knew I didn't want to stay my natural mousey blonde as I find it too boring. 

I find redheaded women such as Christina Hendricks, Isla Fisher so inspiring in their style and their hair. They are both such pin up dreams. 

Ugh just look at them both!

So I finally took the plunge and booked in with Lucie Luella, who specialises in vintage hairstyling. I'd already seen many of her pictures of her clients through instagram and I honestly couldn't wait to book an appointment. 

This is the end result!! How fantastic is it? It's such a change and still a little shocking to get used to since I haven't dyed my hair in such a long time but It's everything I want. I love having Bettie Bangs!

I would totally recommend booking in with Lucie, she works out of Hula Nails (who do INCREDIBLE NAILS) which is just near Old Street station. It's a fantastic experience. It's the little touches like the sweet tea whilst you're being styled and the super cute pin up girl/tiki decor which also makes the experience great.

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. 

Retro winter fashion selection.

Looking for some retro and pin up clothes for the winter? Here are my top choices. 

There are some incredible vintage reproduction brands out there and they are doing excellent bits for the winter season. My particular favourites are from Collectif Clothing, who are consistently brilliant. 

I've been really surprised with Miss Selfridge's winter collection this year too. They've had some excellent retro and pin up style coats and knitwear, a surprise for me to find on the high street. 

1. Pippa cardigan by Voodoo Vixen

2. Phyliss velvet pencil dress by Collectif Clothing

3. Camel faux fur collar cardigan by Miss Selfridge

4. Pearl coat by Collectif Clothing

5. Florence Noelle check skirt by Collectif Clothing

6. Retro seamed stockings by What Katie Did

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

October wishlist: Voodoo Vixen!

If I had the money, I would a 1000% buy the entire contents of this website, in my size, and wear nothing else ever again (okay and Collectif Clothing too).

My mind has been pre-occupied with staring at the clothes on the Collectif website really, that I'd forgotten about other vintage reproduction sites.

The first items that made me internally scream "I must have this now, right now" are the Isabella and Marietta cardigans.

They're so pretty and would make an amazing addition to a lovely flowing skirt. 

Keeping on the theme of red and black, this Connie dress is so beautiful and I don't have anything like this at all in my wardrobe. I am so in love with the kitsch glasses design, and I love a dress that covers the shoulders as I'm not a fan of mine at all. Essentially, I'm all about dresses that you can nip in at the waist with a lovely little black belt.

Finally, the final item on this wishlist is the prettiest and summery (alright I know it's October but it still feels like summer outside) Finley dress. The colours are incredible, yellow and purple work so well together. I feel like I don't own enough clothes with colour - this is starting to change - as I mostly feel more comfortable with navy, black, light blues and so on...this dress would be perfect for bringing me out of my comfort zone.

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

A lovely walk around Greenwich Park

I went for a lovely walk around Greenwich Park on Sunday as I had a day off and we decided to take my brother's dog for a walk...this babe:

She's a Miniature Schnauzer and just about the best thing in the world to me. 

In the top left photo is my crop top and skirt set that I bought in the Tara Starlet sale. It's absolutely gorgeous and I was planning on just saving it until I went on holiday. However, on Sunday the weather was just so nice, it seemed like the perfect outfit to walk around in London's best park (not biased, it's beautiful).  I'm wearing my beautiful pink patent shoes I got in the ASOS sale, the outfit is just cute as pie. I didn't have time to do my hair so I just stuck it up in a simple ponytail for good measure. The belt is just a simple Primark one, only costing £3 but really added to the outfit and helped nip in my waist, just a tad. 

I later added a white cardigan, which I may or may not have stolen from my mum on a temporary basis. I really feel like my vintage and pin up style outfits are really coming together and I love seeing the transformation I've been making over the past few weeks. Writing these blogs have certainly helped with that as well, so my self esteem is on the up! yay.

Ooooh and now my baby; the bottom right hand corner is a photo of my new coat from Miss Selfridge. I have a beautiful mum who surprised me with this coat by ordering it for me!! It arrived today and was waiting for me as I arrived in the door from work. Obviously, I look a little worse for wear, but the coat is magnificent. The faux fur lining is to absolutely die for and the belt at the waist accentuates your figure, and so to me, is the perfect winter coat.

The question is now; do I order the pink one and be greedy and have both colours? I just love both colours so much but I'm not sure if this would make me irresponsible or not, ha. 

Finally, I must apologise for the poor quality phone pictures. I will start taking pictures of my outfits on a high quality DSLR soon :)

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