Category Archives: Hair & Make Up

Pin Up Style, Part II

Leave a reply

My previous blog post is about the pin up shoot I attended last February. Here are some of the photos from the shoot I did with Cooper Griggs.

Of all the photogs, I think my funnest shoot was here with Cooper. He gave me a lot of direction in addition to lots of positive feedback. We goofed off a bit, and I appreciated that we worked more as a team, combining our ideas. Overall a fun and easy shoot!

I got my dress %50 off at Blink (a store by Wet Seal). I love this dress because its simple, classy and timeless. Also the entire look of the dress can be changed depending on accessories. I liked this dress so much I got it black and mint green. I have an older post with the mint green dress, you can see it here.

My shoes are some sky high stunners! I adore these sexy librarian shoes and found them at Ross years ago for less than $20. The faux fur stole I found attached to a clearance sweater at Forever 21. My beautiful gold belt and chain link necklace are both vintage pieces. And the icing on the cake… the fascinator. This fascinator is handmade, and from Etsy.

Thanks again go out to Cooper Griggs, the photographer and artist of this photo set! Cooper is also the director and editor of a new online series called Finding Normal which you can check out HERE.

Pin Up Style, Baby!

2 Replies

Remember I went to a pinup shoot a while back? (In case you missed it, you can read about it HERE.) I helped style some of the girls, and I got a few sessions of my own in. Of the four different looks we shot, I’ve received the sets from two of the photographers that day. They came out so great and I am one lucky girl getting to participate in the day’s festivities.

This set was shot by professional photographer, Isaac Suttell. Please see Isaac’s website for more of his phenomenal work!

Isaac’s photos came out absolutely stunning and I couldn’t be more honored to have had him shoot me. On a personal note, I’m not one for being tan, however this particular set of photos inspires me to get a little more sun this summer! Hehehee. Although I must say, Isaac captured me as a porcelain doll. Thank you Isaac!

This is one of my most favorite ensembles I’ve ever thrown together. It’s classy, elegant and has that racy, vintage pin up feel to it. Now let me blow your mind from where it all comes from…. Would you ever guess that beautiful dress is from ROSS?!! I think I paid $13 for it! My leopard heels are some cheap (and uncomfortable) heels from Wet Seal that I’ve had for years. The pill box hat is from Hot topic, and the lace gloves are actual vintage pieces that were gifted to me. The nude fence net stockings are essential for pin ups, and I found these for $1 at a costume shop in Hollywood. All the jewelry is costume jewelry that I’ve collected over the years. All this plus red lips, faux lashes, and a smashing photographer and viola! Pin up style baby!

Stay tuned for my photo set with Cooper Griggs!

Do What You Love.

2 Replies

Bindi: a decorative element worn on the forehead; traditionally worn in Southeast Asia for a number of reasons including religion, marital status and for fashion.

I remember a time when I was in 9th grade and I walked into class wearing a bindi. My sassy, sarcastic, gothic English teacher pointed me out to the class and said in the driest of tones, “What is that a bug on your forehead?” Of course the whole class laughed and she just sat back looking all smug because she had just “punked” one of her “stupid little freshmen.”

As a noob to high school and standing up for myself, I just let it happen. I probably dished out some major eye rolling but I can’t recall having a good comeback. No worries though, I was lucky enough to have the same teacher again for my senior year, and by this time I was a loud mouthed, confident, sassy and clever girl and I sure did giver her hell (along with many others teachers.)

I may have been “punked” then, but it never stopped me from enjoying something I loved. Some people just don’t understand.

Wearing:

Hat and necklace: Forever 21

Jacket: Goodwill

Shirt: Nasty Gal

Pants: Almost Famous

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Watch: Michael Kors

Flea Market Fun

1 Reply

 

Is that a cut up, studded pajama top I’m wearing?!?!? ;)

Aren’t these amazing?! Hair picks from my one of favorite accessory designers, Antickquites. You can find her link at the bottom of the post.

Who doesn’t love flea markets?! If you don’t, you’re crazy…. UNLESS its the “flea market” in San Bernardino… then I get it. The San B flea market is more like a giant outdoor grocery store selling Dial soap and expired bags of Funyuns. If you’re lucky you might be able to get a new garden hose at a decent price, but other than that… chances of finding vintage or unique items are better at other flea markets outside the Inland Empire.

Luckily the fabulous city of Long Beach has a really big one held once a month a few miles from where I live, so my girlfriend and I decided to check it out. I was feeling gold hardware on this day so I had to bust out my JC spiked Lita’s!

I was really impressed with the Long Beach market. I was in heaven with all the vintage booths selling arrays of vintage jewelry, hats, furs and clothes. I even came across a beautiful Christian Dior fascinator style hat from the 60′s! I actually got a bunch of cool photos of “stuff” but then I accidentally deleted them all off my phone. Booooo.

I did manage to save one photo that you may have already seen posted on Instagram. As I was combing the aisles, this necklace came into vision and my eyes focused in on it while everything else just blurred around it.

This necklace oozes glamour all over! I loved it! It also reminds me of the necklace that Caroline wears on the hilarious television show: Two Broke Girls.

The necklace was beautiful and grand sitting there just begging me to take it home. Unfortunately $75 dollars was not in my budget for a necklace. Oh well. Perhaps it will come to me later in life.

I did end up finding a black mourning hat made of wool and with a netted veil for $5. I will most likely alter the hat so it’s not so depressing looking. Perhaps I’ll remove the veil and add some colored feathers into the band. I also scored this gorgeous vintage, chunky gold link necklace from a seller for a negotiated $8.

A fun and successful day at the Long Beach flea market!

Wearing:

Shirt: Glam Dollz

Pants: Denizen from Levi’s (for Target)

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell (Spiked 2 Litas)

Bag: Big Buddha

Hairpicks: Antickquities

 

Stylin’.

1 Reply

Last Saturday I went to an all day pin up shoot at Nick Boswell photography in Pasadena. It was a grand time. About 20-25 girls, 6 or so photographers and a whole lotta costuming going on. Some of the time I couldn’t tell if I was actually in a photography studio or a major studio costume department.

I knew in advance that some of the girls wanted help with hair, makeup and overall styling so I took the opportunity to lend a helping hand and packed up  my beautifying arsenal of weapons.

As soon as I arrived I went to work on a few of the girls hair and makeup. I am not very experienced at making up other women, because I normally just do me. This was good practice for me, but also there was no room for messing up, because they were going to be photographed. I did my best and the girls appreciated it. Although they were thankful for my help, it truly was my pleasure and even beneficial for me to get practice.

A few of the lovely girls I got to practice on. If there is one thing I’ve learned to appreciate more after this day, it’s the art of liquid eyeliner!

Luckily, I was able to get behind the camera a few times myself in a few different looks. Because the day was so fast and overwhelming, taking my own pictures (with my cam) was not on my mind. And as I sit here and type this up, I am regretful I didn’t get more photos of all the action.

Hopefully sometime in the future, the professionally taken photos will start to pop up. One of my favorite looks of the day:

Overall, an awesome experience and I can’t wait to do it again! Practice makes perfect! Thanks for reading lovelies!

 

 

Festive in February!

2 Replies

February is sort of a drab month for me. I never felt too great about the month you know? January is cool because everyone’s all excited about a new year, new changes, and wonder what adventures await them. Then February rolls around and you stop going to the gym, the excitement fades and  the reality sinks in that it’s just another year. But on the bright side, February does offer up Pisces (Love all you Pisces out there!) and two fun, festive holidays: Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day!

This was my look for last year’s Mardi Gras (2012)… I didn’t celebrate, I just did this for work. Hair picks from Antickquities.

Below is my look for last year’s Valentine’s Day as well. Again, this look was for going to work and being festive.

I didn’t get many pictures from this year’s Valentine’s day, however after spending a nice chunk of time on my hair, I had to capture this:

Gotta love that pin up look for lover’s day! I’ve received many requests on doing a hair swirl/pompadour tutorial and I’ve actually made attempts at this project, but it has yet to be perfected. Maybe some day…

As for Mardi Gras this year, I went all out. I was going to be volunteering at a booth from an on campus club I recently joined, the Student Communication Association. Our club was amongst a plethora of clubs offering Mardi Gras related activities, club information and general recruitment.

I made my top hat last year and never got an opportunity to wear it, so I styled my Mardi Gras outfit all around my hat. This hat took me over 7 hours of hand gluing Swarovski crystals and it needed to shine!

The night before I constructed the feather and beaded epaulette on my right shoulder, and my vintage gold sequined skirt and Jeffrey Campbell Damsel’s completed the look! Head to toe festive and FABULOUS!

My friend April joined the party also dressed head to toe in fabulous festive Mardi Gras garb, with her own personal flair. We were definitely the best dressed on campus that day, and we rocked our ensembles throughout the entire day.

All Black Everything.

3 Replies

Ahhh the color black. What a deep, mysterious, and sumptuous shade. Anyone and everyone looks good in black and it goes with practically anything. Head to toe black can range from elegant gothic, to New York chic, to glam noir and most definitely edgy and fierce. <3 All black everything.

This look is definitely hitting on that edgy, fierce look that I love! My only suggestion about doing head to toe black is to utilize different textures and black on black prints to make the outfit pop.

I love that the top has this back detailing. Often times those trendy, billowy, shapeless tops make girls look bigger than they are because they don’t shape to their figure. These little buttons on the back, pull the top tighter around the waist and create more of a flattering shape. Why don’t all those billowy tops have this detail? I demand more!

 

 

 

 

 

These awesome, unique steampunk hair picks were sent to me courtesy of Antickquities, an Etsy shop that specializes in accessories made from clock hands. Her designs are so unique and very affordable! I have a few different styles of her wearable art, and I love them all!

 

 

 

And as many of you already know, thigh highs are waaayyyy trending right now! Not just thigh highs, but thigh highs over other stockings, or garter thigh highs. I recently ordered some really cute ones off eBay, just waiting for them in the mail! Upper thigh is the new upper arm. Ha!

Bag: Big Buddha

Top: Nasty Gal (bought on sale)

Stockings, necklace and ring: downtown LA boutique

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell Stinger (also bought on sale!)

Hair picks courtesy of Antickquities (check out her shop!)