Mastering the art of faux bangs

Well I haven't really but I am getting there. 

Alone the expression "faux bangs" is just great. A French and American fusion of words. In the world of hair on your forehead there are many different expressions - the Brits call it "fringe" (fairly obvious why) and the Americans "bangs" - which I like better but I wanted to know why. I am always keen on etymology so of course I had to look it up - this is what I found:

    The term bangs, always used in the plural, is, as you know the fringe of hair usually cut squarely across the forehead.  According to etymology scholar Robert Barnhart, the term is strictly American in origin first surfacing in 1878.  It was  believed influenced by the adverbial use of bang in the meaning of abruptly, as in hair cut bang off;  some sources offer a relation to earlier bangtailed (1861) of a horse's tail that has been cut horizontally across.

The Germans call it a "pony" - the German word for pony (the neighing kind) is the same word as in English so because of the resemblance of a Pony's fringe it's called simply a pony! And I guess it's not called horse (which would be a much less glamouros word anyway both in German and English) beacuse a pony tail is called a horse taul. Confused yet? Well the Austrians on the other hand call it a "forehead fringe" though I do know Austrians who also call it a pony. I thought you might be interested in this terribly important trivia....

Now on to the actual faux bangs! The photos (click to enlarge) are based on a mix of these two great video tutorials by the swanky FLEUR and the equally elegant CASEY.

Fleur's 40s tut - click

Casey's 50s tut - click

(for some unknown reason blogger does not like me inserting a video link, that's why the videos are posted like that I'm afraid)



I shyed away from faux bangs for quite a while - thinking it would look plain weird having a roll on the forehead. I guess because I do think it does look weird if it's not well done and I have seen some pics that must have put me off. But I take it all back, it looks fantastic if I may say so myself.



The back is based on the first part of Casey's video but I used a rat like in Fleurs video. I crochteted myself a small and short rat as I have currently a growing out fringe/bangs so I can't roll a big section of my hair.



Different day and this time the back is based on the latter part of Caseys video but again I used my now much beloved little rat.



And of course soon I have to try this iconic Dita look with a victory roll on either side!

And while I am at it - can someone tell Nicole Scherzinger that she's doing this exceptionally badly - she looks like a superhero gone wrong. Dreadful!

This is a superhero doing it well!
Carla Gugino as Sally Jupiter in Watchmen.

Outfits'n'hair

I am showing these outfits not because I think they are so great - by golly I really don't - but because it amazes me what I can find in my wardrobe with a bit of rethinking. It's the wardrobe of Narnia! I find old forgotten pieces in there and pieces I wanted to throw out but deserve new love - all kinds of things. I really consider my hesitation to go full time vintage (inspired) so silly. For years I would always don a full skirted dress with a petticoat and 50s hair for occassions but never dreamt of the possibility to do it every day. All it took was some rethinking, some "new" vintage jewllery and of course the hair. I still think that is what makes or breaks the outfit.

(click to enlarge all pics)

I really liked the pink number, not so keen in hindsight on the navy-red combo (in the mirror the 2 navy tones didn't look that different) and I have never been fully convinced of the teal cardigan. I think I just need to find an ideal item to wear it with.

As mentioned before I started selling bits of my wardrobe to fund new vintage or vintage inspired items. One of my first treasures is this pair of grey M&S high waisted trousers. Blimey do I love them. I live in them at the moment. Currently I am trying to hunt down a navy pair on Ebay. These grey ones were in mint condition and cheap as chips.  

The floral cardigan from Primark is also a newer aquisition via ebay and the leopard print one I had for a while - also Ebay but originally Next.

2 brooches from my vintage jewllery treasure chest

I thought my hair is also blogworthy

These were taken the day after the vintage event in Letchworth after the hairdresser told me to roll at the base around 2 fingers. I managed to get the victory rolls more standing up but I still have not got the hang of it.



I crocheted myself a rat - what a difference! I love it how neat and tidy the back looks now - and when I am in not such a rush in the morning I could also try hiding the pins...



I absolutely love this pic of my lil' man and me.

The little scallywag always tries to hog the limelight - here's the proof!

Add caption



Pimp my coat

For months I'd been trying to hunt down a nice vintage coat for a reasonable price. Always unlucky - lost the auctions, wrong sizes or wrong cuts. I do love the look of swing coats but in reality they just don't suit me, I need something more tailored. If my waist is not cinched in I look like I'm wearing a tent. Tough luck.

So here's my solution. Take my old but well fitting dreary Primark coat with only half of the original black plastic buttons (I kind of lost one a day in the last few weeks) and exchange them for some vintage buttons!

Actually already not so dreary anymore with my beautiful vintage brooch pinned on.

Successfully I found these beautiful original 50s buttons on Ebay.

The buttons I used for the coat in detail

Et voilà - a perfectly fitting coat with a vintage twist!

The other day someone asked me if I found my "vintage" coat on Ebay. So I guess - result!

Finally the review of the vintage event in Letchworth

Finally!

THIS event was indeed very interesting!

The beautifully restored Mrs. Howard Memorial Hall in Letchworth was the perfect setting for a very pleasant but a tad quiet evening organised by the FIRST GARDEN CITY HERITAGE MUSEUM. Mellow 1940s music in the background, homemade cakes to die for and endless servings of tea - served on the most beautiful vintage crockery.



Beautiful ladies of Buns and Buntings



 Please do have a look at http://bunsandbunting.blogspot.com/ - what a wonderful local vintage catering service! Just to look at their wardrobe, swoon over the crockery and not least of all indulge in their cakes was worth going for!

Weird pic of myself but the only one we took of the crockery! And one of my victory rolls was drooping!



 The other very interesting part was the vintage stylist DANI RICHARDSON. She gave an informative presentation of 2 40s hairstyles and daytime make-up and did not leave interesting historic facts regarding rationing out. I also took away a very helpful tip (of course she spotted my dropped roll straight away) - to roll at the hair base around 2 fingers instead rolling the hair from the tips down. I still have not fully worked it out but I am getting there!

Dani and her model

There was also a stall run by JOLLY BROWN, a vintage shop in Hitchin!

Apart from maybe too quiet music there was one major hiccup - even though I love love love the idea of "SWISHING". It was advertised as a vintage swap shop. So one could expect that you actually swap vintage, couldn't you? Well there was not much vintage (no obvious vintage enthusiasts as guests either) and I even spotted a Tescos t-shirt with it's tags on. I would have been gutted, really gutted, if I would have brought anything to swap. So my advise for next time is to actually police more what people put into the swishing pot - or not proclaim it as a vintage swap.

My own outfit I wore

Pretty sure it is a 70s dress but I love it anyway. Found it via ebay (it's one of my fist purchases I got with the money I got from selling bits of my old wardrobe - so it's part of my very own swishing!). Cardigan is my trusted Primark one and the Mary Janes are from Peacocks - but years ago.

And my hair in more detail - no roll dropped yet on these piccies!



 2 more reviews of the event:  http://www.gardencitymuseum.org/blog/swap_shop_fun_and_upcoming_events and http://bunsandbunting.blogspot.com/2011/02/vintage-swap-shop-success.html



Happy belated Valentine's day!

I hope you all had a loved up day!

Mine was full of shopping (for food, not that exciting), baking and cooking. And the always working Mr. Bossy managed to come home at a reasonable time to appreciate cakes and one of his favourite meals.

I love my cakes - so pretty.

Red food colouring is notoriously the worst of all and as I am the proud mother of a highly energetic toddler (a friend dubbed him the cannon ball child) it's really not something I want to give him voluntarily. These cakes look amazingly pink but it's all natural! We love beetroot!

The recipe is my trusted favourite cake recipe - blogged about HERE, just substitute the bananas with grated beetroot (I used 2 pre-cooked beetroots) and added about 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (1-2 because I nearly dropped the bottle and it overflowed...). The dough itself was a vibrant raspberry pink but when baked it looked rather golden with pink speckles. They do taste nice but I personally prefer beetroot in combination with chocolate - yummy. Blogged about HERE.

The icing contains about a ton of sugar so not all healthy cakes - but never mind. The recipe is taken from THIS lovely book:

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

60ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

500g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I substituted some of the milk with beetroot juice - how much is utterly up to you. I think I used at least a good 20ml and they came out such a vibrant pink - but you cannot taste it.

Whisk all together until smooth and ice the fully cooled cakes with a palette knife. If you have any decoration put it on the minute you iced the cake as it hardens up fairly fast. The red hearts are shop bought and do propably contain artificial colouring - my son had a cake with only one heart on it and I suppose he'll live!

I love baking anyway - but themed baking is even better!

When I woke up yesterday morning this was waiting for me in the lounge.

That was a lovely surprise which I did not expect at all. My child was nearly hyperventilating and could hardly contain himself and then told me all about it that they bought this at the shop! According to Mr. Bossy the great big balloon was Bossy juniors idea. Now who would have thought that!

Photoshop up but camera down!

Seriously. Is this sod's law or what? I have now photoshop on Mr. Bossys PC and will upload a good handful of outfit and hair posts of recent weeks over the next few days starting tonight - but now my camera is down! My toddler - again! - broke off the capture button. Seriously. I need to get a new camera. But first I hope Mr. Bossy can fix the old one again and Bossy junior needs his own camera!

And my phone takes dreadful pics, look at this!

But I rather love my "new" vintage scarf which I think is genuinely 50s. Also in the background you can spot a little teaser for the upcoming give away!

Tweet Tweet

For years now I have been refusing to tweet. I am totally aware of the fact that it is propably quite addictive but so far I was happy with exploiting myself via my Facebook status updates.

I want to keep my Facebook profile private but still muse and ramble on about terribly important vintage related thoughts. Obviously I have to have Twitter now. Obviously.

I am just now trying to get the hang of it. So please FOLLOW ME - needless to say.

Home is where the vintage heart is - Vintage fair in Northampton

My vain little self misses pictures of me on here! As this is a long term problem with my laptop I just have to give in and install photoshop on Mr. Bossys PC and beg for some online time. So hopefully soon lots of outfit and hair posts.

I had a lovely time today at the vintage fayre in Flitwick!

(Blogged about HERE)

 I met fellow vintage ladies in the flesh who I had met online before - 2 shops I will soon tell you about! The fayre was full of beautiful vintage crockery and a bit (enough for me!) affordable clothing (picked up a few dresses myself). Not to forget plenty of vintage haberdashery stuff and all the crafting!

And talking about vintage fairs - there's another one coming up! This one will be in Northampton on the 19th of March. I won't make it as I will be back home in Austria for a few weeks but they have more dates coming up. Check out the blog!

http://northamptonvintagefair.blogspot.com/

I absolutely adore this flyer!

So many vintage events in the area - my head is spinning with excitement!

Style Icon on screen - Charlotte "Chuck" Charles

Pushing Daisies is in my opinion one of the best series ever made. I intsantly fell in love with all the characters and could not help smile all the way through every episode. Unfortunately there are only 2 seasons. It got such praise by the critics, many emmy nominations and wins but the ratings dropped. Why? 

What a shame!

Costume designer Robert Blackman and the whole creative team did such an inspiring job - it's a colourful feast for our eyes! Indeed it's a visual explosion of bright colours in warm tones - the majority is shown in reds, oranges or yellows and there's virtually no blue seen. Often you can see circular background shapes and round windows - they even shot most frames within circles - it was all done reminiscent to storybooks. Absolutely beautiful I say.

And then there's my own personal highlight. Chucks wardrobe.

Charlotte "Chuck" Charles (nearly all characters have aliterative names) is the female lead and has a distinctive eye for a vintagey wardrobe. She especially likes the 50s and occassionally dabbles in the 60s but is always such a gorgeous little thing to look at. The actress Anna Friel is one stunning woman!

(My laptop is broken - remember? So no picture collages, just a few plonked on here - just like that)

If you haven't seen Pushing Daisies yet - go on and watch it! This is a very limited selection of her wardrobe - I promise Chuck Charles and her bright dresses, her perky demeanor and quirky ideas will make you smile!

Home is where the vintage heart is - Vintage fair in Harpenden

I have a 100 followers! Unbelievable!

Promised give away will follow - soon(ish)!

My laptop is down and my child a bit under the weather - so hardly any online time and no photoshop on the "big" PC here equals hardly any blogging. Crap, I know.

But there's another very exciting event to promote!

Please have a look at the website http://www.hertfordshire-vintage-fairs.com/ - really exciting stuff!

 Looks like paradise to me.

The upcoming event in Harpenden is still in reach for me from where I am based - so I'll be there!

DIRECTIONS to the location

Home is where the vintage heart is - Vintage swap shop in Letchworth

I am currently having severe technical difficulties with my laptop. I've got a few hair and outfit posts lined up but no laptop to upload pics.

Nevermind because this brilliant event was brought to my attention by a friend and I have to share!

On Saturday the 5th of February there's a vintage event in Letchworth, Hertfordshire!

Vintage Swap Shop, Howard Hall, 5pm-8pm

Get swishing - bring along some vintage clothes to swap

Buy vintage styles & accessories (from a stall run by local vintage shop, Jolly Brown)

Get professional vintage hair & make-up tips (from Dani Richardson)

Enjoy Tea & Cakes on vintage crockery from local newcomers, Buns & Buntings!…

Hop to some 1940s music

Bring along some friends and meet other 40s fashionistas!

Taken from the official announcement HERE.

Not sure if I can make it (who wants to babysit?) but obviously I really want to go.

DIRECTIONS to the location