Pinup Halloween: Witch

We’ve reached the final Halloween costume in my series of outfits that have a pinup spin. I debated whether or not to even bother including a witch in the series, as it’s widely regarded as one of the laziest of Halloween costumes, alongside the devil and a black cat. That though, I decided, was the beauty of it. If you put a lot of effort into them, even those over-used characters can produce a great costume. You can go to town with intricate makeup on a level akin to face painting, you can craft and create detailed accessories that flesh out the character. Or you can do what I did, which is grab a bunch of black things out of your wardrobe, add an old broom you had lying around from a Harry Potter costume for your niece a few years ago, and a 50p witches hat from Asda. A pinup witch is an excellent option if you’re on such a strict budget that you don’t want to spend out anything at all to make your costume, because I bet you have enough black pieces in your wardrobe to put something together, and also a great option for a last minute costume you weren’t prepared to need.

Personally, even though it’s predictable, this was my absolute favourite costume of the bunch. There was something so fun about layering as many black items of varying texture as I could to make this costume, probably because I’m typically a girl who loves to wear bright colours and tends to overlook plain black pieces as they can feel more formal to me. I enjoyed the change to take on the bad witch character in contrast to the sweetness of my other earlier costume ideas of Snow White and Dorothy from Oz, and that is something else I feel recommends the witchiness; in addition to being easy and cheap (how dare you!), with this costume you get to be as mean and bad as you want. Which is fun. And you also get to cackle. Which is also fun. Plus there’s this.

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Pinup Halloween: Beetlejuice

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You know how it goes. Bettlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

It was such a cult classic movie that those of us who are old enough to have seen Beetlejuice during the late 80s or 90s tend to associate chunky black and white stripes with the character. I own a bold black and white striped Jenny skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing that almost always spurs people to say ‘Beetlejuice!’ at me whenever I wear it, no matter what other colours I add into the style. Because of that, I thought I’d add Beetlejuice into this pinup Halloween costume series as I know a lot of pinups have a passion not only for vintage style but also for all things dark, spooky, moody and creepy.

beetlejuice Halloween easy costume pinup vintage Continue reading

Building a Pinup Wardrobe from Bargains

Building a pinup wardrobe from scratch can be an expensive thing, not merely because replacing all your clothes with a specific style means buying a whole wardrobe of clothes is a lot of pieces to be purchasing, but also because good quality reproduction clothing costs. It’s a niche market, automatically making costs higher, but also because most repro clothing companies like to invest in good quality materials, a thorough fitting process during the design process, and ethical labour costs often based in-country rather than sent out of country to continents where labour laws cost the workers and not the companies.

There are pinup brands for every budget, but there are also ways to build your wardrobe with items you love without having to bust out coin you don’t have. Here, I’ll be laying out every trick I’ve learned over the past 3 years to get the best deal you can in your retro shopping.

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Sign up: Every company that sells their owns goods online will have a ‘sign up for our newsletter’ option on their website. Do it! Not only do a lot of companies offer you a free gift or a discount code just for signing up to their newsletter, but the newsletter itself will give you a heads up on any sales or discount codes they’re offering, delivered straight to your inbox, sometimes with codes or sales held only for newsletter recipients. Continue reading

Makeup Faves: Edition III

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It’s been a long time since I’ve done an edition of my newly discovered makeup faves, but there hasn’t been a lot to update you on as I’ve been mostly using my favourite products from the last editions on repeat. I have found a few good new products here and there, though, so it’s finally time for another round.

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The Cardigan With Attitude [Voodoo Vixen Iris]

Cardigans are useful little things. For those of us who live in more temperate climes, they make an easy go-to for adapting an established outfit for cooler days rather than having to dig through your winter wardrobes for anything heavier or sleeved. For those who have confidence issues with their upper arms, or even their middle section, it’s an easy way to shroud your insecurities without sacrificing your outfit on the whole to said quibbles. They’re normally cute, sometimes plain, often simple. Rarely, though, is the useful cardigan sassy and sexy.

Until now. Say hello to the Iris cardigan from Voodoo Vixen.

Voodoo Vixen Black Iris Cardigan Continue reading

The Best Things Come In Green [Voodoo Vixen Joanne]

There are a few colours I love ardently and without waning passion; navy blue, rich ruby red, and emerald green. For some reason you don’t see a lot of emerald green clothes, let alone dresses, so I was pretty taken with the Voodoo Vixen Joanne dress when I found it recently.

Featuring emerald green lace layered over a black underlay, a square cut neckline with wide cut straps and a gently flaring skirt, this dress is a simple and pretty piece that I knew would work well with my red hair and pale skin. Lucky me that Voodoo Vixen were happy to send one my way so I could review it for you.

Since this dress is both simple and eye catching at once, thanks to that lovely green, I decided to style it up as if I were wearing it for an evening out. Adding some jewellery and a fascinator would even make this a sweet, appropriate dress to wear as a wedding guest, perfect for the upcoming wedding season.

Voodoo Vixen Joanne Dress Continue reading

DIY Project: Cinderella Shoes

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A while back I saw two pairs of clear sandals being sold on Pinup Girl Clothing, then became aware soon afterwards that Miss L Fire sell Cinderella style shoes in 4 different shades–for £94.99. Dita Von Teese visited Italy and Instagrammed pictures of her perfect newly acquired Dolce & Gabbana Cinderella heels, and a little search online turned up news I had missed that Louboutin made an elaborate pair of Cinderella heels too. The Dolce & Gabbana pair were, of course, exactly what I would want in a dream life where I had the kind of money to drop thousands on what I wear on my feet, which I obviously don’t. I didn’t really like the Miss L Fire heels enough to be willing to part for the near £100 for those either, as they weren’t close enough to the styles I was picturing in my head and swooning over. The Pinup Girl Clothing offered pairs (clear and slightly bedazzled) were closest to what I wanted, as well as my budget, but the clear pair was out of stock at the time and the slightly bedazzled Belle pair still were not quite right. So the usual thought occurred to me: is it possible for me to actually create the precise thing I am picturing? And the answer was yes. Continue reading

My Fave Beauty Products: Edition 2

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I brought you Edition 1 of my all time and then-current favourite makeup products a couple of months ago, but as a makeup addict it doesn’t take long for me to find and develop new favourites. Which means it’s time for another edition of my makeup favourites! Here are the products I’ve found in the last few months that have won me over. Continue reading

The Best Kept Secret In Lasting Lipsticks

I am a long lasting lipstick junkie. I try almost every lipstick or liquid lipstick I can get my hands on that claims to be touchproof, wearproof, budge-proof, kiss-proof…on and on. More often than not they do smudge. And when they don’t, as is the case with liquid lipsticks, they have a tendency to flake off as you eat, which can leave your lips not only patchy but also your teeth covered in little red flakes. Just what every girl wants! Except not.

I’ve covered the Lime Crime Velvetines, their Make Up Academy Luxe Lip Lacquer dupes, and Maybelline 14 hour Superstay lipsticks on the blog before, and these are all great products available across a decent range of prices with brilliant staying power.

I was doing some online beauty shopping the other day and needed to add a couple of quid worth of products to my basket to qualify for free delivery. There’s not much a couple of pounds can get you from the makeup aisle, so I chose a Collection (formerly Collection 2000) Lasting Lipstick in shade Queen of Hearts, thinking that for £2.99 I would at least be getting a nice shade red lipstick even if it didn’t last, as I suspected it wouldn’t.

But Oh. My. God. I am in love. So unexpectedly in love.

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Collection 2000 ‘Queen of Hearts ‘Lasting Lipstick Continue reading

My Fave Beauty Products: Edition 1

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For those who don’t know me very well they might not know that I have a slight makeup addiction. I own far too much makeup for a normal woman who doesn’t use it in any professional capacity, having multiple storage drawers and boxes housing endless lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, mascaras, blushers…it goes on and on. Part of why I have so much makeup isn’t simply that I love it, but also that I have a habit of trying out new products hoping their stellar claims for flawless skin or sky high lashes really will ring true and I will have discovered another Holy Grail beauty product. Often, I’m sure you’ll agree with me, the hype on a new product can fall flat, leading either to total disappointment or simply to a product you like just fine but doesn’t beat out your other favourites.

So for this reason I thought I’d do a post showing you my favourite all time products that I always repurchase as well as some new discoveries I’ve really liked. Hopefully it will clue you in on some good quality products you didn’t know about, or maybe answer questions about products you’ve have heard of but haven’t tried. Continue reading