Pin Curling!

I remember many years ago when I first started researching how to pin curl; there really weren't as many resources for this hairstyle technique on the internet, or I just didn't know where to look! Either way, currently there are just so many YouTube videos, picture tutorials on blogs, and hairstylists websites and books at your advantage!
Here is a collection of different resources that I believe are IDEAL for the first time pin curler, and how helpful they are in the certain aspects of pin curling that you need to know. So off we go!


1. Lisa Freemont Street on YouTube and her blog Lisa Freemont Pages

This lady is definitely a vintage hairstyling guru; and one of the best I've found. She can be requested and can recreate just about any hairstyle that I've ever wondered 'Gee, how does that work?'
Her video on pin curling needs to be listened to completely, don't just skip over her talking, because she really does have some seriously good advice and ideas on pin curling that is very useful when you have no idea what your doing.
This video is rather old for her videos, and you can see her pin curling other styles in her many other videos, especially if you want a specific style in mind. She also has had many other videos with different lengths of hair; from short to long, and you are BOUND to find a video with your length of hair.

A few things I learned from Lisa Freemont Street:

- Using a spray bottle rather than straight out of the shower wet hair.

- When brushing out (Seen in Part 2 - I think she's got it linked in Part 1)I learnt in order to get the shape I want, to brush against the hand.

- Using Pin Curl Clips compared to bobby pins. I usually use a combination of both, simply because I don't have enough of pin curl clips - but bobby pins tend to distort the curl and sometimes I end up with almost zigzagged curls (oops!)





2. Vivid Makeup

This is my favorite video for the brushing out process; although I believe this woman has practically the greatest healthiest most wonderful hair ever. (getting rid of frizz is not fun with bleached, dry, unhealthy, constantly overworked hair)
This woman makes everything so clear and makes it very easy to understand!

Things I learned from Vivid Makeup

- Do NOT be afraid to brush too much through pin curls, they will stand through just about anything until you get the desired style!

- You will most likely get so much more frizz than her, I'm pretty sure she has magical hair, so PLEASE don't give up and keep BRUSHING!




3. Primped Preen N' Peachy

This girl is just adorable; and this video is so helpful, for people who have tried their first pin curl set and it didn't work out as well, or expert pin curlers who didn't get everything perfect (and who does?).

Things I learned from Primped Preen N' Peachy:

- When things don't go as well as you'd like; go with the curl direction, and don't go against it, it will work much better that way.

- Grabbing smaller sections rather than big chunks when you've messed up to brush.


4. Vintage Hairstyling By Lauren Rennells

This book, is definitely a must-have for vintage enthusiasts. Lauren Rennells makes vintage hairstyling SO EASY, and although I knew a lot of what she put in the book already, I learnt a lot about heat styling rather than my beloved pin curls.
She does however, have an incredibly clear wonderful few pages on pin curling, directions for the curl, what happens when you brush, how to brush, what kind of brush, oh my, it's just too wonderful.
The images and everything in this book is just pure perfection, and if you don't go out and buy it right now, I'll go and cry a little bit for your loss.

You can buy the book from here.

Or read Rennells' blog 'The Bobby Pin Blog' here.

Do it. Do it now.




I hope this blog post was of some use to you, with these fabulous people and their expertise; they sure helped me!




xo

K.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Hi all! I have updated my blog seriously, as I have decided to revamp the look, work it and start adding more to it! So hopefully I start receiving a lot more love over here as I start paying more attention to it!

Today myself and my dear sweetheart went for a walk around our town, looking around at all the historic architecture, checking out our neighbours Christmas decorations.
We ended up taking a few outfit photos, where I got all christmasy in my colours!












We were giddily interrupted by a couple of lovely friendly border collies, who skipped on over to see what we were doing, wagging their tails happily.







I do so miss my beautiful Tigger, he is the happiest little king charles/beagle you'll ever meet. I do love animals very much, and not being able to have them around in a rental home is getting hard for me to deal with. But we must sacrifice things we love, I guess!


The pinafore trousers I am wearing are from Vivien of Holloway and I've blogged about them before. I bought them many months ago when they were on sale, and they really are comfortable and beautiful garments. I do assure short girls that I'd want to make sure that you shouldn't worry about the length of the legs and straps for the arms, as everything else fits me but those- the length in the legs for short girls is RIDICULOUS, and if you are like me, you need a little help keeping the straps on your arms! A little altering won't stop you enjoying your pinafore trousers though; they are just so easily put on with a cute top underneath to look vintage without even trying.
Looking vintage isn't really that hard, it's just all about finding pieces that ladies would have worn in the era you have warmed to the most. These trousers are actually made from 1950's patterns, so they are in the exact size that ladies would have had back then- a pre-warning, don't feel huge if you are buying a size above what you normally get, as the waists on these are teeny tiny as you can see in my photographs!


I hope you ladies and gents are having a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Our little tree says hello to yours!


xoxoxo

K.

Fashion Week!

On Thursday, on behalf of Cointreau, one of my best friends, and definitely the most fabulous of all my friends, Liam, won a couple of VIP tickets sponsored by Cointreau to Melbourne Spring Fashion Week.
We spent a while in the VIP Sparkling Bar, where we sipped champagne, some amazing cocktail that tasted like honey, and my newest favorite to the Cointreau team, the Cointreau "Blush".



Liam had invited two other lovely friends Natali and Jay, and so the four of us, dressed to our best, headed off to the fourth fashion show of the week at 9: MSFW Designer Series.
Although I am, as you all know, a vintage advocate, I could find a few tailored and almost vintage inspired pieces, as that is of course the eye I have.
I am unable to get any good quality photos from the show of MSFW's flickr, but I can link you to them here.
My favorites were a lovely tailored suit- like combo in white and this amazing Jack London ensemble that was very 60's inspired.

I wore a beautiful tailored deep green dress from Quick Brown Fox, my brooch was from Diva which Phil turned from a hair comb to a brooch, and I wore, believe it or not, shoes from Rivers!

Here's a few very low quality, very blurry pictures of us; I honestly wanted a lovely picture of my outfit to show you, but these are all I got! :(







Thanks so much to Cointreau; my favorite drink for many years now!

Xox
Kay

I'm thinking of...

making a tutorial on simple hairstyles like this one:



As some girls getting into pin up and vintage just don't have any idea where to start, and i think that these hairstyles, paired with a lovely dress, are so easy to create, and I get so many compliments, and people asking me how long it takes me to do my hair!

Continuing on another topic, which is one that is troubling me lately. Is the topic of compliments:
I'm one of those girls who used to be labeled as "goth" or "emo" when I was a teen. I have constantly been criticized as to how I look, so it's very difficult for me to believe anybody when they say they like the way I look, I usually take it as being sarcastic, or mean, or spiteful. I also happen to constantly look like I'm grumpy.
So, when someone genuinely says that they think I look nice, I instantly think "Did they mean it?" And when I believe them, it's a rare thing that can lighten up my day.
However, since I went blonde, it's been painfully obvious the amount of compliments I receive. I can go into the city for a spot of shopping or a cup of coffee, and the average amount of compliments (genuine or no) is around five. Mostly from women. I do not ask for them, but after the fifth, it becomes rather tiring. Sometimes I'd like to shrivel up and pretend they didn't see me. Of course, I wouldn't change the way I look for anything, it makes me happy.
Obviously I don't take the compliments for granted; but somehow I get frustrated by it. But then, I would rather have people come up to me and be lovely to me, than to stare at me and to have me assume they are being rude.


What do you think about people who raise their opinion about your vintage dress? your pin curls? Would you want to be different to them, or would you want to blend in with the crowd?

xo
Kay.

New Pictures!

Today Phil and I took some pictures whilst the lovley sun was out, I don't look all that vintage, but I've got pin curls in, and wearing a long sleeved 60's dress.
Enjoy!












Loving my new platinum hair; well, almost platinum. I'm using a John Freida purple shampoo to help my hair get along in brightness, hopefully I'll be able to bleach it again later to make it a bit brighter at the ends :)

Vivien of Holloway!

Just found the "sale" part on Vivien of Holloway's website, and decided I'd try their pinafore trousers! Hopefully all goes well, and I shall be blogging about my new purchases soon! I shall be letting you know the good AND the bad, if there are any about my purchases :)

xo

Retrostar $5 Warehouse Sale

Myself and my friend Katie ventured to Retrostar's Warehouse closing sale, as they were moving warehouses. We got up at five AM, getting to the sale at seven.
Extremely tired and wishing that death would come upon us, we joined the long line of hundreds of people waiting out the front to get in.
A lot of hopes were up, mostly amongst the indie kids looking for hideous floral dresses, as they piled into the small warehouse.
I was looking for nothing specific, but I did scrounge out a lovely pencil skirt, a polka dot shirt, a blue ruffle collared shirt, a completely 90's jacket/dress, a lovely baby blue 60's dress and a nice 60's checkered dress; which looks like a fifties dress, but it's obviously 60's thanks to the over-locked seams.

Here is a few of the nice items I bought:






Overall, if you're indie, looking for indie things, this sale wasn't for you. However there were a couple little gems if you looked hard enough, and weren't picky. I think a lot of people had high hopes for the sale, but to be truthful, they were just trying to get rid of the stuff that wasn't good enough for the store.
I was glad to get a bunch of clothes on the cheap though, makes for a happy girl!

xo.
Kay.