Category Archives: Pinup on a Budget

DIY Project: Dita Von Teese Inspired Cardigan

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The collaboration between Wheels & Dollbaby and Dita Von Teese has to be the most beautiful piece to grace the category of knitwear of all time. Featuring a peter pan collar, embroided flowers, velvet buttons, pretty pleated contrast satin ribbon trim and a sexy yet classy keyhole, it is beauty unto itself. Which makes it kind of a shame that at £120 it is well out of the budget of your average girl looking to buy a cardigan. I’ve coveted the original blush and black colourway for a long time, and have a lipstick red look-alike blouse that I ordered off eBay forever ago and have since grown to feel dissatisfied with not merely because the craftsmanship is so shoddy that I lose a button everytime I leave the house but also because I’ve grown to feel very uncomfortable with just how blatant a rip-off the design is of the original. But I still can’t afford to justify spending £120 on one cardigan. That’s crazy money for a sweater. It would pain me to figure out how many hours I’d have to work to spend it on that alone.

And yet.

And yet I lust, Dita. I lust. Continue reading →

The Sweetheart Pinup Top by The Oblong Box Shop

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I’d seen The Oblong Box Shop Sweetheart Pinup Tops online a few weeks ago when reviewed by the gorgeous duo Junebugs and Georgia Peaches, otherwise known on Instagram as modernjunecleaver and ameliajetson. At the time I loved the idea but didn’t want to pay for the international shipping for one top, which is all I had left of my monthly budget.

Not long ago I thought of the tops again and went back to the site to check them out. At $20 a top with the current USD to GBP exchange rate that puts each top at £12-thereabouts, which is a downright bargain. Considering I was tempted by about 5 colours and that the international shipping was now being offered at $17 flat rate USPS, I decided to place my order.

Available in 9 colours, I narrowed down my lust list to the canary yellow, cobalt blue and white, resisting the urge to pick red, black or navy, as would be my usual default wardrobe staples. I was trying a new product from a new brand, so why not try some new colourways. The USPS shipping said it could take up to 21 days and was untrackable, so I placed my order and prepared to wait out the full term.

pinuptopall Continue reading →

A Beginner’s Guide To: Bedazzling

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Whether you want to bedazzle a pair of shoes, a phone case or a headband, you’re going to need the same materials and the same methodology. Hopefully by the end of this post you’ll know what you need to know in order to get gluing and glittering all over town. Let’s get to it.

What you’ll need:
– Glue, specifically made for bedazzling. I use GemTac, but you can also use E6000 (which must be used in a well ventilated area and preferably while wearing a mask, as there’s links to cancer with this glue. Part of why I prefer GemTac.)
– A gem picker/jewel setter. Typically a wax end picker, as pictured below at the bottom of the equipment image, but I prefer to use a pencil picker, as pictured at the top.
– Your shoes or accessory of choice, clean and dry.
– Flat backed crystals, obviously. 

bedazzlingequip Continue reading →