Used & Abused Vintage

Oof,,, What a Lovely Wedding!

2011-07-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Hello lovelies. Want to see a little bit of vintage magic? Yeah you do...

This pinged into my inbox this morning - the first picture's from All Wrapped Up's recent 1960s themed wedding shoot. Colette from AWU, a Manchester based wedding boutique and event planning company, got in touch with me last month after my vintage wedding was featured in Vintage Life Magazine.

She was after some vintage dresses from my 1960s Bride shop for this gorgeous themed shoot and of course I was keen to help. It's great to see the dresses looking so super - I just love the colours. And the flowers. And the hairdos. In fact the whole kaboodle.

You can see more pics from the fab shoot here...

Mia x

This Old House...

2011-03-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's official guys and gals - I've got OLD. I've got a husband, a proper grown up job, a slow cooker and a pension plan. CHECK ME OUT. It's only natural, then, that I've become an obsessive vintage homemaker. It's true, there's more to life than dressing yourself in lovely kitsch oddities - you can dress your home in them too.

Over the past couple of years I've spent increasing amounts of time trawling ebay, car boot sales and charity shops for anything formica / flammable / weird / all of the above. I don't want you to strain yourselves trying to imagine the multicoloured swap-shop in my flat so here are a few little glimpses...

So imagine my excitement this weekend when the Vintage Furniture Flea rocked up in London town. It was the second time the event - a huge market featuring mid-century furniture and home accessories - has hit London, and I was extra excited since I managed to miss the first last year.

Not one to be trusted at these kind of shopping events alone, I managed to persuade my lovely hubby to come along with me bright and early on Sunday morning. I think I mainly managed because he was still drunk from the night before. He was confused. I was giddy. So much kitsch in one room - look at all the loveliness!

As you may have guessed vintage homewares with animals are my absolute favourite thing right now!

Bethnal Green's York Hall was a feast for the eyes - filled with Eames and G-Plan furniture, brightly coloured fabrics and furnishings, kitsch cocktail shakers and picnic sets and of course fresh cupcakes (now the staple diet of the vintage shopper).

Traders were really knowledgeable and the prices were certainly cheap for specialist vintage items. Having said that, I'm a real believer in the joy of the search and love nothing better than hunting out cheap treasures - if you don't mind a bit of a trawl and you don't mind your vintage needing a bit of TLC, you can certainly find cheaper at a good car boot sale. But if filling your home with mid-century paraphernalia without spending hours sifting through junk appeals this event is definitely for you! (I'm still hunting for my dream G-plan dining table and chairs - I will find them, I will.)

I was on a tight budget this weekend but still managed to come home with a few lovely pieces for the flat. Wanna see? Yeah you do...

1: 1970s tin wastepaper bin £7
1970s flower designs are my absolute favourite. They remind me of my mum and dad's old curtains!

2: 1960s atomic planter £10
I didn't have a plant for this so popped to the garden centre on my way home and picked up this lovely... oh no, I've forgotten what it's called already. Anyway I've named it Frank and kept it alive almost a week, a new record (told you I was old).

3) And finally this 1970s glitter lamp £20
I've been coveting a new lava lamp for a while. This lovely original one is really unusual, with copper coloured casing and it looks fab when it's on.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with myself, definitely an event worth checking out next time it's in town.

If you are heading along my top tips would be:

1) Get there early - we arrived at opening time and most of the lovely furniture was sold by the time we'd been around the room twice.
2) Make a list (even if it's just in your head) of items you'd like before you go. With so many lovely things on display events like this can be a bit overwhelming. If you know what you're looking for you'll find it much more easily.
3) Set a budget and take it with you in cash. This will stop any ill-advised visits to the cashpoint or credit card transactions! Even the vintage homemaker has to eat you know!
4) Don't take your husband, especially if he's drunk. (He had a little strop but don't worry I appeased him with a cupcake).

There's no place like home.

Mia x

My Vintage Wedding Shop

2011-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hi lovelies!

Just a quick one to let you know about my latest venture. It feels like a million years ago I had my perfect 1960s wedding (though it's not yet 6 months), it's just like an amazingly vivid dream.

Like many former brides I don't want to stop thinking about weddings just yet, which is why I've opened the 1960s Bride store.

I accidently gathered quite a collection of vintage dresses in my search for the perfect wedding look, so I've started a store on etsy specialising in 1960s and 70s wedding and bridesmaid dresses and accessories. It's a great excuse for me to keep shopping for lovely things, and a chance to share tips I've found with other retro brides. I'd love to know what you all think.

You can access the store here.

It's got a good selection of vintage bridesmaid dresses in and I'll be adding to it all the time, and if there's anything you can't find just ask, I'd love to help.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the dresses in store right now:

Mia xx

My Favourite Vintage Fair EVER

2011-02-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make. It's a bit controversial coming from a sometime vintage fashion blogger and london city dweller. You might want to sit down and prepare to be shocked to your vintage girdle.

For the past year or so, i've been completely disillusioned with vintage shopping in the capital. I've been obsessed with vintage since my early teens but lately have been spending increasing amounts of time in Topshop and less and less time trawling through boxes of lovely, musty vintage. Before moving to the Big Smoke I used to really look forward to trips to Brick Lane to buy up bagfuls of vintage goodies, but lately the shops just aren't cutting it for me. I guess it's only natural there's a limited amount of stock in the world and as more and more of us fall in love with old fashioned fashion there are less gems to be found and more tat to pad out the rapidly emptying rails of our favourite vintage stores.

Add to that the number of disappointing vintage events I've been to in the capital - kilo sales where you can fill a bag with holey crap for £50, overpriced designer vintage fairs where you're afraid to breathe too near the clothes in case you cause some sort of irreparable damage and have to pay the £500 price tag, and clothes swaps where not many people donate their not really vintage clothes - and I have to admit I've gone a little bit sceptical about the whole scene.

Do I sound bitter? Well it's not all doom and gloom. I still love to stock up on vintage whenever I'm outside London. You get a better class of clothing for less cash and you can feel smug when people ask where your latest find is from. 'oh this? it's just something i picked up in blackpool at the weekend...' sounds so much cooler than 'yeah it's from Beyond Retro.'

Anyway the point that i'm getting to (in a horribly long-winded way) is that today I had a lovely surprise in the form of Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair.

The travelling fashion spectacle arrived in Bethnal Green's York Hall this weekend, and it couldn't have been more perfect. What sets this apart from other vintage events is that sellers at the fair come from all over the UK, not just London, so you get more variety, a better class of vintage, and most importantly lots of bargains. And it's a touring event so sure to be landing in a city near you very soon.

Always keen to impress (do other people dress up to go shopping or is it just me?) I put on one of my favourite 1960s mini dresses and set off to meet my friend Christina (you can read about her adventures here). Here she is wearing a lovely stole she picked up at the fair.

York Hall was filled to the brim with lovely fashion - all great quality vintage and accessories, and all very reasonably priced. I could barely contain my excitement.

I was particularly taken with the super-cute accessories on Now, Voyager's stall. The colours make my eyes bleed! I love it all!

I left with a new birdy friend. His name is Arthur. I'm not sure what occasion will befit me wearing a bird head adornment, but rest assured, i will find one.

Naturally I was also taken with this...

All events should have tea and cake, ALWAYS. (Christina described her cake as tasting like a granny had made it. This is a GOOD thing.)

OK so I know you're DESPERATE to see what I left with. Here's my little haul:

Everything cost around £10 and it's all in great nick. I'm thrilled, thanks Judy!

I found this lovely hooded camel coat...

This cute crocheted cape (two thumbs up)...

This lovely little pinafore dress (LBD FTW)...

My absolute favourite find - these ace velvet shorts...

This cute cut-off leather skirt...

This super-psychedelic flower power blouse (shiny happy face)...

This lizard top / mini dress is Mr Used and Abused's favourite 'because it's weird'...

And a couple of lovely scarves too...

The next event's in May and I will be there with bells on. Judy, I salute you.

Mia xxx

DIY: How to reupholster chairs

2011-01-16T03:58:00.000-08:00

I'm moving house very soon so I'm constantly on the look out for vintage furniture that I can add my own personal twist to. I bought a teak dining table and chairs for £50 on eBay and set about adding vintage fabric to the chairs to make it look more original. The fabric is thick vintage curtain fabric that I picked up in a charity shop for £8.

What you'll need
♥ A selection of old dining chairs with removable pads
♥ Screwdriver
♥ Staplegun (I got mine from amazon.co.uk)
♥ Enough fabric to cover your chairs
♥ Staples (and tacks if you're using thick fabric)

How to DIY
1.) To start you need to turn the chair upside don and remove the chair pads using the screwdriver. Usually there's four screws holding the pad in place.
2.) Remove the pad and place upside down on your piece of fabric (with pattern facing the floor). Measure around the fabric leaving enough excess so you can comfortably fold the edges in and staple down. Usually about 3 - 4cm is enough depending on the fabric you're using.
3) Now fold the edge of the fabric in and staple to the chair seat - do this on all four edges pulling the fabric tight so that there's no wrinkles or folds.
4) Cut the corners off and fold in to staple, this gives each one a nice neat appearance when you turn the chair over.
5) Screw the seat back on the frame and voila you have some new seats!

Corinne x

Vintage Hair Experiments #2

2010-11-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Hello again! I got up super early this morning to make a real effort with today's vintage hairstyle. I went for simple curls using my straighteners, loads of hairspray, and some Aussie Take the Heat protection spray. I was pretty pleased with the result! Then I went outside in the rain and it got ruined. Nooooo!

Corinne and I had a lovely night out last Friday with the Aussie girls too -more on that later...

Mia x

Clothes boys hate #1

2010-11-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

I have a thing for ugly shoes that my boyfriend hates.

These loafers purchased from my local Cancer Research have more than a little 'corrective footwear' about them but I still really like them. Oh dearz.

Corinne x

Outfit-Post-arama

2010-11-10T11:47:00.000-08:00

In an effort to try and blog more often, I've rediscovered Weardrobe and am forcing myself to do daily outfit posts. I've managed two so far. If you're on weardrobe too come find me here. Here's a sneak peak of today's outfit - the skirt is an original 1960s suede mini which my mum gave me as a wedding present. She used to wear it when she first met my dad and I've been coveting it for years! Mia x

FOXY!

2010-11-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to share my latest discovery with you all. You may know I love clothes with animals on, and foxes are my absolute fave. So imagine how excited I was to discover this sexy mofo nestling at the back of the accesories section of H&M last night. He's the super-cosyest foxy scarf ever and i'm head over heels in love with him right now!

Mia x

The Uniform Project: One Dress, One Month, One Cause!

2010-11-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Corinne here! How are you all? I've not been blogging for the last week or so because I'm in the process of selling my flat and buying a new one with my boyfriend (very exciting but extremely time consuming!).

I wanted to write a quick post though to tell you all about The Uniform Project. My friend Angie (from I Heart Norwedgian Wood) is currently raising money for Free The Children by wearing the same dress every day for a month. The SAME dress for A MONTH? Yep, you read that right.

The magic of this project is that she's managing to make the dress look totally different each day. Whether it's pairing it with other pieces from her wardrobe or subtly miss-matching the buttons to create gorgeous volume. Angie has people checking the site every day to see what she comes up with, which is pretty crazy when you figure she's actually wearing the same dress!

Not only is this project eco-friendly and raising money for an important cause but it's also style inspiration GOLD! It's unbelievable how versatile one dress can be! It makes me feel guilty about those days when 'I have nothing to wear' (despite having a wardrobe packed full of stuff). Seeing this project has challenged me to think about how I can really get the most out of my clothes. Sometimes the constant temptation for new things can really stifle creativity and it's only when we have to manage with what we have that things get interesting.

To donate to Angie, visit The Uniform Project

Vintage Hair Experiments #1

2010-10-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm always so jealous of girls with perfect vintage hair. Those girls who look like they've walked straight out of an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart with immaculate curls and super shiny bouffants. I may have mentioned before that I'm lazy, disorganised and impatient. So when I try to do something special with my hair it rarely lives up to my ambitious expectations.

Among the many amazing wedding presents we got last month was a brilliant book from our friend JoJo. It's called Style Me Vintage and it's a step-by-step guide to creating your own vintage updos. (Admittedly it was more a present for me than Matt, don't worry he's watching Match of the Day, he's fine). So today I decided to have a go and I thought I'd share the results with you. I should probably warn you now it wasn't a huge success but I can only get better!

I decided to go for The Poodle - that classic 'I Love Lucy' look that constantly baffles me with its amazing anti-gravity abilities.

Only I decided to simplify the instructions a bit to save time, if I was doing this for a proper night out I would certainly follow the instructions more closely! I didn't need much in terms of equipment - just a tailcomb, hairbrush, straighteners, claw clip to keep my hair out of the way and a load of kirby grips. I also used some Aussie Take the Heat protection spray, which the lovely girls from Aussie were kind enough to send me last week, and loads of hairspray.

I started by spraying Take the Heat into wet hair - to prepare it for serious straightener torture, then blasted it with a hairdryer. Then I backcombed it and filled it with hairspray to make it super-big.

Next I used the tail comb to section off a horseshoe shape right around the top of my head, and clipped the rest of my hair (the back and sides) out of the way with the claw clip. I used my straighteners to curl all the loose hair on top of my head. I prefer using straighteners to regular tongs, I don't know if it's just that my tongs are really old and don't work properly, but i find it really easy to curl my hair by wrapping the part closest to my scalp around the straighteners and just pulling them through to the ends.

I think maybe I should've stopped at this point. The curls looked cute. But like many things I attempt in life I peaked and then just carried on... So I unclipped the back and sides of my hair, backcombed it and caked it in hairspray, then separated it into three sections and twisted and pinned each at the crown. This is the point when you definitely don't want anyone to come to the door...

Luckily noone did. Next I used my straighters to curl all the mad loose ends, but I'd back combed them so much them didn't take shape very well.

So the final step is to take a bunch more kirby grips and pin all your curly loose ends on top of your head. I wasn't very good at this bit. I think it ended up looking nice but a bit like I'd done it in 3 minutes (shamefully it was more like 30).

Unfortunately it doesn't photograph that well. Don't worry though, this is only my first go. I promise to do better next time. If you have any vintage hair tips send them my way, I need them...

Mia x

My 1960s Wedding (finally!

2010-10-29T05:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Mia here. Sorry for abandoning you all for so long and leaving Corinne to do all the hard blogging work. You probably know that I've been super-busy getting married. Well before I get back to the business of obsessively trawling ebay for modette mini dresses and trying to perect my vintage poodle updo (more on that soon), let me share a bit of my big day with y'all...

On 25th September 2010 my husband (that's still weird!) and I went to the best party ever. It weirdly didn't feel like a wedding. It was ramshackle, informal, fun, silly and really, really happy. Which is exactly what I'd hoped it would be. And just like everyone says 6 months of stress and planning evaporated into one very short very sweet day of wedding bliss. I wish I could go back and do it all again, and I wouldn't do a thing different.

I spent so much time in the lead up to our big day worrying about seating plans and canapes that by the wedding morning itself I was completely calm. Which is highly unusual for me. I'm the type of girl who can lose her keys three times in the space of ten minutes, I'm always late for everything and of ten end up getting dressed in the dark to much regret.

But on the day itself - largely thanks to my amazing family, bridesmaids and friends, and partly through sheer exhaustion - I was cool as a cucumber. My bridesmaids had a sleepover at my house the night before and we all lay wide awake with excitement, taking it in turns to go to the toilet and wake each other up again. At one point, I woke Corinne up by saying 'Why am I Awake?!' which she was really pleased about.

I could easily bore you all with pages and pages of minute detail about our big day, but I think maybe it's best to let the pictures do the talking. Having said that there were some key events. You need to know about:

Top Wedding Fails

1. On the way to the church, in my beautiful white dress, I decided to have a snack. Not just any snack. A chocolate snack. When I looked down and spotted a few flecks of chocolate on my dress, I naturally brushed them away. And naturally (to anyone who knows I always have food on my clothes) it spread. Like an episode of 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'. So (naturally) I asked my sister and chief bridesmaid to spit on a hankie for me, which I proceeded to rub on my dress and make it worse. FAIL.

2. I don't know if I've ever laughed as much as I did during the actual church service. This was due to a comedy of errors which included the priest reading the wedding vows wrong, me putting Matt's wedding ring on the wrong hand, and a ladybird landing and becoming trapped, somehow, under the chiffon cape of my wedding dress. FAIL.

3. Having just arrived at the reception, Matt disappeared with the groomsmen for a photo opportunity and some jiggery pokery. Within five minutes he'd split his trousers in some sort of 'climbing on the Best Man's back' incident. Not just a small split, a full on, arse out, split. Thankfully lovely Simon the usher donated his suit as an emergency replacement.

4.Forever to be known as 'Goldfishgate'. At 3am, tired and emotional and having danced my little legs off, I decided it was time to hit the sack. Matt and I were very lucky to be staying in the venue's honeymoon suite, complete with jacuzzi bath. We found a little present in our jacuzzi bath - a goldfish! And no water. Just a tiny goldfish, desperately gasping for breath (if that's what they do). At first I thought it was a horrible prank but it soon transpired that, earlier in the day, all our lovely friends had piled in to our room to put their lovely gift to us - the goldfish - in our bath. Little did they know the plug wasn't good and poor Lazarus, as he's now known, watched as all the water in his new home trickled away. So now at 3am it was down to my sister and me to try and revive him. The problem with a jacuzzi bath is it doesn't have taps, just a gentle, trickling waterfall, so soon we were filling wine glasses to douse him in water. You'll be pleased to know Lazarus has made an (almost) full recovery, and apart from a slightly gammy eye is good as new. FAIL/WIN5. The day after the wedding Matt and I were presented with our wedding certificate, only to discover that due to an admin error (ie. everyone signing in the wrong place) we had, in fact, witnessed the wedding of my sister and Matt's brother. They were horrified, and we had to pay a quick visit to the priest to correct the mistake...

Top Wedding Wins

1. On the morning of the wedding getting a beautiful engraved silver locket from Matt (pics to follow).

2. My Uncle Nick, who doubled as toastmaster for the day, hosting a hilarious quiz about the bride and groom. My friend Kate from work won, which I think means we spend far too much time together.

3. The first dance - to Fire in My Heart by the Super Furry Animals - featuring a recorded introduction from our musical hero - Gryff Rhys - which our amazing wedding photographer Andy Dunn had set up as a lovely surprise.

4. The best wedding disco of all time. Ever.

5. Having the most amazing friends and family to share our special day, they rock. (cheese overload).

Show and tell

2010-10-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on the scarf my mum made me! I told me mum all about them and she was very proud of her knitting work! She's also thinking of setting up an Etsy.com store so I will let you all know if she does it.

I have a cold so I'm downing Lemsip as I write this! Currently I'm watching Darling Buds of May and waiting on a roast dinner sat under a blanket (Bliss!). I've been away all week touring with Radio 1. I produce all the online content for Fearne Cotton's show so things like the What's Fearne Wearing Today? gallery, and anything you see of radio1/fearnecotton are produced by me! You can see all the photos and videos, and listen to all the shows from the tour on the snazzy Student Tour pinboard! The week was really good fun (although everyone is totally exhausted from a week of traveling to student unions across the UK!).

On the weekend I stayed with my sister in Cardiff and had a lovely time. I happened upon the first day of the Topshop sale and went a bit nuts! Everything was sooo cheap! I managed to pick up two pairs of shoes for a tenner (I couldn't believe how cheap they were and got a bit worried there had been some mistakes with the label maker!). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised! They're pretty summery but I intend to wear them in the winter with tights too!

I spent about £70 in total and walked away with a black playsuit with lace detail, a black stretch maxi dress, a knot sweat top, a jersey cardigan, a long net black skirt (for layering) and two pairs of shoes! Not bad eh? The black playsuit is the one that sold out online so I was really surprised to see it in the sale! It was reduced from £50 to £30 aswell. It's this one. I felt sooo lucky when I walked out of Topshop! I think this will be my last big spend for a while, especially since my boyfriend and I are planning to move very soon (fingers crossed).

Speaking of lucky, I also wanted to show you this amazing tiger necklace I won on Twitter from Temporary Secretary. Make sure you follow them if you can, they have tons of giveaways and lots of really cute jewellery. Thanks tempsec!

Finally, I wanted to show you all this absolutely amazing retro chest of drawers by Schreiber I found near my house with one of those 'please take this' signs on it. I absolutely adore vintage furniture and this is definitely no exception! This chest has the curved drawers that Schreiber was known for and it's the perfect size for our bedroom. It was definitely built to last too! (much better than crummy Ikea stuff!)

Speak soon
Corinne

PS: Mia is going to start blogging on here again soon too so you won't have to just put up with me anymore ;)

Autumn - DIY link scarf made by mum

2010-10-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you all the scarf my mum made for me last year. I mentioned it a few times on the blog but never got round to doing a post on it! It's a link scarf which she made by knitting lots of brightly coloured squares sewed together. I'm wearing it with my new H&M cape, which I bought with the vouchers I won in their twitter competition a few months back. I was going to take a better picture but this one amused me so I thought I'd use it anyway! Something to do with the fact my head is missing, I'm wearing slippers and there's a wolf hand puppet next to me... F.A.S.H.I.O.N.

Corinne

Matt and Mia's Vintage Wedding: The Bridesmaids

2010-10-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

You've waited long enough! Here are the bridesmaids in their dresses at Mia's wedding. As you can see we all put a thin white daisy trim along the edges of the dresses to make them match. It worked really well and you'd never know that originally they were all quite different dresses. They were all purchased from Etsy.com and Ebay and the trim was from eBay also. It was such a lovely day and the sunshine really brings out the colours of the dresses. Gorgeous!

Vintage picks - Mama Stone Vintage

2010-10-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Every week I've decided I'm going to pick out one of my favourite online vintage stores to write a post about. Hopefully this'll be a chance for you to find out about new vintage stores that you never knew existed!

This week it's the ever so fabulous Mama Stone Vintage, which has been selling on eBay for quite a while now. It sells absolutely gorgeous vintage clothing that's totally unique. It really has something for everyone. I know some people don't trust eBay but I've never had any problems with vintage clothing businesses like this one. They're always very concerned that you have a good shopping experience and rely on good feedback to be successful.

I've never actually bought anything from Mama Stone but I intend to in the future! It's one of my favourite eBay stores to browse but I almost never win anything because of the time difference between here and the US! I'm especially in love with the beige coat a few pictures down, which matches my dream coat in this post!

Check out some of the items they have for sale now and make sure you bookmark them for updates...

I love these floral leggings, they remind me of Andie in Pretty In Pink!. And the crop top is so unusual. The fabric is awesome:

You can also visit their official site and sign up for their newsletter to hear about new stock! The ship worldwide so get saving!

In local news...

a.) I'm still on the search for the V necked H&M leopard print dress that's all over Lookbook.nu. I originally bought this dress in a size 8 because they only had one left... but that was too small for me so I had to take it back. It's actually ridiculous now. The other evening after work I went to FIVE H&Ms. That's right, FIVE. Not one of them had the dress! Then I went back the next night and found it in a size 10, I was soooo happy to finally find it in my size! But then it split under the arm and frayed really badly! I returned it this morning but I MISS IT. Please H&M bring back this dress so I can own it once again! SAD FACE. Oh and to make matters worse a girl got on the tube yesterday wearing this dress and looking fan-bloody-tastic in it. GRRR.

b) I will find some pictures of the bridesmaid dresses soon! I promise. I need the originals of the images as the ones on Facebook at the moment seem too low resolution. Facebook basically destroys photos. Evil Facebook.

c) Finally, I've been shopping A LOT on Etsy and eBay lately and I've decided to have a ban for a few weeks. Also my boyfriend and I are thinking of selling my flat and moving to a two bed place so we'll need all the savings we can get! An estate agent is coming to take pictures of our flat tomorrow so hopefully the offers will start flooding in (eeek!).

Think that's pretty much it for now!
Speak soon!
Corinne

Growing hair long

2010-10-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

Hairspiration from 1.) Kylie from Nice And Shiny, 2.) Tara K 3.) Virgin J 4.) Nina R

Hello! Sorry I have been so crap this week updating this thing! A mix of illness and loads of work has led to very little blog activity this week.

Now then, those who know me will already be aware of my barnet obsession. You can't shut me up when it comes to hair styles. I've had short hair, long hair, that tricky middle length... I've dyed my do' red, brunette and every shade of blonde you can think of. My boyfriend has even accused me of 'nuking' my hair.

I've come to the conclusion that while I do like short hair I might give this growing it long thing a try (again). I've even had my hair dyed a more natural blond colour in the hope my roots won't show too much. I was also talking to Sarah from Sarah Scribbles last night who is in a similar predicament to me. We both have short hair at the back of our heads and longer at the front. Sarah has been bet she will get her hair cut before 9 months is up so she's determined to keep focused! I kind of wish I had a similar incentive as chances are I will itching to go to the hairdressers when I start rolling into crazy mullet territory!

Anyway, in the light of my new decision to grow my hair longer (fingers crossed). I thought I'd share some tips with you on how to grow healthy hair.

1.) Don't bleach or dye - it's almost impossible to grow hair long if it's bleached (which is why I decided to have a more natural tint put on my hair during my last visit to the hairdressers). It's also a good idea to lay off the hair dye. When I last grew my hair long it went through several different colours and by the time it was long it felt rubs so I ended up getting it cut off again!
2.) Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Olive oil is your best friend. If you have dry hair like me then olive oil is a fab way to inject a bit of moisture back into your hair. Even the cheapest olive oil will work wonders if you use it correctly. Usually the best way to do this is to heat it in a coffee mug in a microwave till it's warm (don't scold yourself). Comb it through dry hair making sure it's covering the ends of your hair well. If there's any left then chuck it on your hair. Put a shower cap on your head and you can either leave this on for an hour or or so or have a nice hot shower and remove after five minutes (the steam in the shower will help the oil to work). You'll need to shampoo the oil out pretty thoroughly as it can be hard to shift, but you won't need to condition! *if you don't have a shower cap try wrapping a bit of cling film round your hair (crazy but it works!)
3) Coconut Oil - This is another great natural product that can be applied to dry hair. It's great for putting a bit of moisture back into the ends of your hair and can help with frizz too! Find out some really useful tips here . There's loads of different ways to use this product and it's available really cheap on the high street. It's also a great moisturiser for your skin.
4)Vitamins The right vitamins and minerals have a big part to play in keeping your hair healthy. Skin, Hair and Nails vitamins are a good way to make sure your hair gets enough protein to grown strong.
5)Deep condition I use conditioner on my hair every time I wash my hair but this might be too much for some people. I try to deep condition my hair with a hair mask once a week. At the moment I'm using the TreSemme Thermal Recovery Repair tub I don't use hair straighteners much but this is just a conditioner I've had for a while that I won in a competition! Pretty much any deep conditioner works!
6) Hair straighteners Try to let your hair dry naturally. Hair dryers and straighteners can be really damaging to your hair. If this just isn't practical (like for me!) buy a heat protection spray for your hair. Loads of companies make these and they help to give your hair that little bit of extra support that really makes a difference.
7) Get your trim on Now and then it's important to get your hair trimmed. Make sure you go to a hairdresser you trust and ALWAYS tell them you're growing your hair. If you don't they might take off a bit more than you expected and you'll be gutted!
8) Be patient Growing your hair long is super tricky but try to enjoy each stage of it. My hair is super thick and a total nightmare so this'll be incredibly tricky for me! Just stay positive...!

I promise to blog again soon.
Corinne x

Mia and Matt's vintage wedding!

2010-09-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hello! I've been bridesmaid at Mia's wedding this weekend, which explains the lack of updates this week! My boyfriend and I just got back from Newton Abbot where Mia and Matt were married on Saturday. We had an absolutely fantastic time and everyone looked so wonderful. Especially Mia:

Mia organised everything down to the last detail - even the table plan was animal themed!

I will definitely do another post soon with bridesmaid pictures as I know a few of you want to see what we were wearing. I didn't have my camera to hand for most of the day so I only have a handful of snaps (none of the bridesmaids!)

Corinne x

Desert Boots

2010-09-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know I'd become officially obsessed with tracking down a pair of desert boots with a wedge heel. I didn't mind what colour or where they came from just so long as they had a heel that wasn't too high. I hunted for the coveted New Look desert boots but they'd sold out on the New Look website so I'd pretty much given up on ever owning them. I was dying to get these Clarks ones, but at £99 quid a pop I couldn't justify the purchase.

I really like desert boots and could easily have bought a classic flat pair like Gem Fatale always wears so well. But there was something about the wedge heel that I really loved. I have quite large feet so the opportunity to make them look a little bit smaller with the help of a heel is always much appreciated! I also love that they're so versatile and you can wear them with pretty much anything and look good.

Anyway, you'll imagine my GLEE when I spotted a few pairs of desert sand boots in New Look today. They were the very last pairs of the boots available and all of them were a size too big. I thought I'd try them on anyway (perhaps I could stuff the toes with tissue and hope no one noticed my giant man feet). Fortunately the New Look sizes for this boot seem to come up quite small. They didn't look massive like I had feared and they're really comfy!

When I got to the till the lady serving me realised there was no product number on them and no price! I guess this is because they were one of the last few pairs? I waited for a while and they guessed the price at £39.99. Looking at the website it seems they were £40 (so I made a huge 1p saving). I also really liked these furry boots too but the heel looked slightly too high for me. Worth a look though if you need new boots. New Look seemed to have loads of amazing footwear this year!

I also wanted to show you this amazing cameo necklace I got from my mum. It belonged to my grandma...

Luxe lovin': Velvet

2010-09-19T04:29:00.000-07:00

There's something about the colder weather that makes me seek out velvet. I realised this when I returned from my favourite charity shop yesterday with a long black velvet maxi skirt and a pair of red velvet trousers. I then looked in my wardrobe and remembered I'd recently bought a blue vintage velvet dress. There we have it, I'm addict.

The red trousers were by Ghost but they had that mumsy evening out vibe to them so I turned them up and made them into shorts. I really wanted to use the fabric I cut off to make some cuffs for the bottom of them but after a few hours of trying to sew the velvet I gave up and decided to roll up the seems and hand sew them instead. I think I probably just needed some interfacing or something to stop the velvet from stretching under the foot of the sewing machine... or perhaps I was using the wrong needle or stitch. Who knows. Anyway here's how they turned out. Not bad for £8.50 *expensive but they are made by GHOST so...

Next up is the long velvet black skirt. I nearly didn't buy this but I'm so glad that I did! It has a bit of movement to it and although it's a size 14 it works really well on my size 10-12 frame (it sits on the hips and gives me the maxi length I need!). It was £6 I think... I'm wearing it with a (really creased) Topshop boutique top I bought last year. There's something really great about mixing these pale fabrics from last season with darker moodier fabrics like velvet. My Bertie boots are also making an appearance... (I wore these to work the other day and they didn't hurt my feet one single bit... they are actual DREAM boots).

Finally, here's my sneaky eBay buy (I'm banning myself from eBay for the next month or so). I was a bit miffed when this dress arrived because I realised it needed repairing a bit (the seller didn't include this in the advert). But I'm so pleased with the fit that I'm trying to forget that! It was £30, which is a bit more than I usually like to spend on vintage items on eBay but I know that this will be a dress that I'll keep for life and it's so wearable that I can see myself wearing it all over the place).

My only worry with velvet is the dry cleaning bill! Oh and also that I had a gorgeous velvet dress I wore to a work Christmas party last year that got irreversibly splattered by someones red wine. It totally ruined the nap of the fabric down the front of the dress and it'll never look the same. SAD FACE. Lesson learned - do not wear velvet to work Christmas party.

So, what do you think of velvet, something that's best left in the 80s?

Fearne Cotton SS11 Collection LFW

2010-09-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night I was lucky enough to attend Fearne Cotton's Very fashion show at Victoria House in Bloomsbury. I was really excited and intrigued to see what Fearne had come up with in her fourth collection.

Very is a catalogue brand so I hoped that there would be models of all shapes and sizes gracing the catwalk. Unfortunately this wasn't the case; they were all super skinny. This seemed like a missed opportunity to really push exactly how the items could be worn by everyone. Especially since the range actually caters for most sizes. It would have been good to see how the dresses coped hugging some real life curves.

All the items were extremely wearable, and a theme seemed to develop (albeit a subtle one) with the big bows, sheer fabrics, pretty pastels, faded denim, lace and crochet details. I was also pleased to see a bit of fringing making it into the collection! My favourite item was this sheer cape dress, which was layered over another dress in the collection. I imagine wearing it over a bright coloured shift dresses or a textured maxi dress. It instantly made me think of the dreamy soft focus shots in Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. which is probably why I love it so much!

Before the show I arranged to meet up with the lovely Gem Fatale, Fiona from Save Our Shoes and Emily from My Fashion Life. I feel like I've met so many really lovely people this week! We had such a good time and I felt like I'd know them for ages (especially Fiona who was hilarious!). We shared a few giggles and drank a few glasses of pink gin...

To see the full collection make sure you check out Gem Fatale's Flickr account!

My favourite make up products

2010-09-16T08:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today to tell you all about my current favourite make up products. Every now and then I like to change what I'm using because I get bored or it stops working on my skin. I don't really have any brand loyalty at all but tend to use the same brand of foundation for a year or so, or until I find something better!

I am very pale and find it difficult to find foundation that doesn't leave the tell tale line across my jaw. I purchased Maxfactor Colour Matching Foundation and I'm really pleased with the results. It's also really soft and blends in really evenly.

Before I apply my foundation I've been using L'Oreal Paris Studio Secrets Smoothing resurfacing Primer, which makes my skin really soft. It creates a really nice base for my make up and helps the foundation go on smoothly. Boots have an offer on at the moment so I got the L'Oreal Paris Touche Magique concealer pen free. The pen is really light and adds a bit of a brighting glow below the eyes (great if you're tired or have eye bags). I've been using Benefit's Erase paste for a while but much prefer this. The L'Oreal pen is much thinner than the Erase Paste and adds a translucent layer under the eyes that doesn’t clump up or sit in wrinkles.

I've been using Koji Dolly Wink Liquid Eyeliner (from eBay) in black on my eyes - it has a tiny nib on the pen so it's really easy to apply!

I also ventured into the Topshop make up department for the first time this week and purchased the skin tint and some bright pink blusher. I'm really pleased with them both and the packaging is so pretty! The blusher doesn't go on quite as well as some that I've tried but it does instruct you to blot rather than dust it over your face, preferring you to blend with your fingers later. I'd be interested to hear what other people think of Topshop make up as I've only used these two products.

I'm off to see Fearne Cotton's Very Collection this evening, I'll let you all know what fantastic things she's designed for 2011. Hoping to see a few other fashion bloggers there including Gem Fatale and Fi from Save Our Shoes. Will tell all soon!

Bertie bloggers event

2010-09-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended the Bertie Bloggers Event at the new Bertie Shoes store on South Molton Street (near London's Oxford Street). It was an opportunity to try out the new Autumn/Winter collection and meet bloggers Ellie, Amy and Jazzabelle for the first time! What lovely ladies they all are! I felt really inspired by them and their genuine love for fashion and blogging. Hopefully it won't be too long till we cross paths again.

It's the first bloggers event I've ever been to so I was really pleased to see my friend Christina there too! We were all very kindly allowed to take one pair of shoes home with us, which was like some sort of awesome dream! Christina and I spent a good 15 minutes walking up and down the store together trying to figure out what shoes we really wanted and getting slightly stressed. There were so many beautiful shoes and boots it was really hard to pick! In the end I went for a pair of heeled clog boots with zippers and laces.

As you know I usually opt for flats but I wanted to be adventurous and these boots just seemed too perfect to leave behind!

Annoyingly I didn't have my camera at the event but there's tons of photos on other blogs. I did a search earlier and found I was stood right in the middle of quite a few photos blabbing to Ellie like an old fish wife (I'm so fashion).

In other news, remember I said I wanted those Edie Sedgwick earrings? I had some made on Etsy by the lovely Tatania Rosa. They are absolutely amazing and I can't wait to wear them!

Corinne x

The search for the perfect winter coat

2010-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

Source: Kennedy H

Source: Fashion Infusion

Source: Annika M.

This winter I'm pretty sure I don't want to buy into the cape or the aviator jacket trend (SHOCK HORROR). Instead I'm searching for the perfect wool swing coat with fur collar. These coats seem to be available all over Etsy and eBay, which is great because who wants to spend load of money on a coat!?

If you live in the UK like me then you'll know the British weather can be unpredictable. My boyfriend will tell you, I have A LOT of coats. I have coats for light rain, coats for heavy rain, coats for cold days, jackets for days when it's warm enough and giant knitted cardigans that won't fit under coats and usually only get worn in the confides of our flat. I really am the queen of outerwear right now. I'd really like to streamline them but I'm terrified of getting rid of the perfect drizzly day coat and regretting it later.

For me coats have always been a great way to cover up an outfit that has been thrown together in the dark ten minutes before leaving the house. A coat can transform an outfit from scruffy to elegant in a matter of minutes (provided you never take it off!). If you're fond of short skirt a long coat will pervert-proof your curves and add that perfect cover up when walking up stairs/riding the escalators in the tube).

Don't get me wrong, I love capes. They're so quirky and look fantastic on pretty much everyone. There's so many out there at the moment aswell, you can have your pick of colour, fabric, length and style. My only bugbear is the need to wear something under the cape that matches and has long sleeves. When it's freezing a t-shirt under a cape just isn't going to cut it and I never remember to bring my gloves/buy extra long ones to cover my arms. Call me lazy but it just adds a whole load of complication I can do without!

Similarly, I've browsed the sheepskin aviator jackets on the high street but I'm not sold. The best one I've seen is this Next one (£75). It's a great colour and I like the way that the sheepskin is coloured slightly darker and more subtle than a lot of the high street ones available at the moment. The price is also really reasonable. It's just, I really want something that knee skimming and dare I say it, smart. The aviator jacket just doesn't have the versatility I need. There's also something a bit too boxy about the shape that doesn't work for me.

Instead give me soft shoulders, cashmere wool and a warm fluffy collar any day of the week! I'll let you know what I end up with and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this season's coat trends. What are you planning to purchase for the colder months?

Corinne x

A few final notices...

1.) I used random.org to sort a winner of the Gypsy Warrior Vintage necklace today and Ellie from Pretty Much Penniless was the first number to be randomly generated! Congratulations Ellie! Thank you to everyone who entered. I'll be sure to come up with some more giveaways as soon as I can.

2.) Sorry for the delay in writing this post! If you follow me on twitter you'll know I've been home to see my parents for a few days and have a relaxing break. It was fantastic! I went to Vintage Vision where my mum works, check out her blog here and we put together a window display ready for the Abergavenny food festival next weekend.

3.) We've finally sorted my bridesmaid dress for Mia's wedding (we have been through a total of 10 vintage dresses now!). Ironically we went back to the first one purchased! It's bright bright bright bright BRIGHT yellow and I've been reinforcing the seems today with my sewing machine as some of them were beginning to come apart. I will post about it soon but I need to sew some daisy trim to it before it's finished. Exciting! Less than two weeks till Mia's big day. Find out more in her wedding blog: 1960s Bride

Wills Moody Jumble sale

2010-09-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today my boyfriend Louis and I ventured to Euston to call upon the Wills Moody jumble sale. I was originally planning to go Battersea to see Christina, Kristabel and Yishyene but didn't feel up to making the trip all the way to South London in the end. I've been feeling pretty crummy and like I'm getting a cold this weekend but this event really cheered me up! Unfortunately I took my camera but forgot the memory card (duh) so I couldn't take any pictures at the sale.

We'd never been before so didn't really know what to expect. The sale has free entrance and there was a mix of clothes, bric-a-brac, cds, records... everything you can think of! It's all indoors so it's great for the winter months when you don't want to be wandering around in the cold and rain. As well as shopping for clothing you can also sit in the bar and donate £2 to eat from a yummy buffet (all proceeds go to charity). This is particularly great if you have a boyfriend who doesn't like jumble sales (they can sit in the bar and have a beer while you wander around).

It turned out to be a great place to pick up some bargains. Most items seemed to be around the £3 mark or less. You definitely need to have a good rummage if you're going to pick up the best things and make sure you take cash with you because there's not many (if any) cash machines nearby.

My boyfriend actually ended up buying more than me for once - there's loads of cds, records and books for sale. I bought a box brownie camera for £2.50 which I need to find film for (something tells me it's going to be impossible!). I was about to give up on finding anything else but just as I was going through a rail for a second time a friend of the stall owner added this amazing 90s floral dress. I snapped it up right away and only paid £3 for it! It's recovered me from missing out on the fur waistcoat at the Crouch End Bar boot!

It makes me so happy that's it's still possible to find great vintage items so cheap at these events. Especially at the moment when I'm trying to save money. Anyway, here's the dress, I'm wearing it with the DIY rose necklace I made a while back (but I tied it round my waist as a belt.)

Too much floral? Tights are from Topshop, Shoes are Vivienne Westwood/Melissa.

I still want to go to the Chiswick car boot sale and need to set a date to do this. Apparently it's much better than Battersea (which I find hard to believe!). For more details on Wills Moody check out View London. The jumble sale runs from 2pm - 5pm at the St Aloysius Social Club every first Friday of the month.

Corinne x