Cake It On!

Blitz Party Special (Avon Campaign 10)
Turning off the main roads of Shoreditch and onto Leonard Street, you begin to feel the hustle and bustle of the City slowly fade off into the distance. Then, stepping over the bright red threshold of the cosy Crimson Heart vintage shop, you've finally reached your oasis of calm. 
Descend the stairs like Alice in a retro Wonderland, and all the delights of the tea-shop await. For this particular Cake It On! which had a theme dedicated to the upcoming D-Day special of The Blitz Party, those delights included a soundtrack of fabulous 40's female singers and foam rollers aplenty as well as the usual fabulous ambience and decor.

The purpose of the event is to allow women to chat and have a laugh over a cuppa and a cake, while perusing the Avon catalogue and asking the Avon Lady (me!) any questions about the products. It's nice to be able to try the samples and get recommendations, not just from me but from the other customers, which products are the best. I also like to include some Avon history during the course of the evening and this time it was the fascinating story of their company (and other cosmetics companies) during the war. Half of Avon's factories became weapons manufacturers during WWII for example, and their mosquito repelling formula (which is now found in Avon 'Skin So Soft') was manufactured originally for the troops.

Courtesy http://www.hagley.org/library/exhibits/avon/

However, my passion is for vintage style so I like to offer tips and tricks on how to achieve that look, as well as inject a bit of fun into the proceedings
This time I opted to do a Victory Roll tutorial (in-keeping with the theme) with the help of my lovely models Ella, Kayleigh and Paola. Anyone going to the next Blitz Party, take note!

Modelling my own rolls while hard at work

The tricky part is trying to get the 2nd one symmetrical!

I used a simple tong method in those pics but for more hold and authenticity I'd certainly recommend sleeping in pincurls for rolls that will withstand any bombing! ...Or withstand an energetic evening with the boyfriend... haha ;)
I also created a little 1940's pin-up quiz for ladies to fill in the blanks: on the list, some first names were left blank, and others had blank surnames. I think the funniest thing was people adding the first name that came to their heads! The the first one was meant to be Lana Turner - instead I received different variations including Tina and Anthea! I also got Gene Simmons instead of Tierney and Lily Savage instead of Anne... We did have a winner though, and she received a free 'Vintage Glamour' shower gel from Avon - can't complain :)

We were naughtier than usual as it was a Friday night, so we brought along our own bottles of bubbly and just paid a £3 corkage. We whiled the rest of the night away with Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and lots of cake. 

So get yourself down to Crimson Heart on Tuesday 12th June for the next event! If you have any questions or any requests for tips/tricks at the next one you can e-mail me at theteasemaid@gmail.com or leave a comment on here. Until next time! xox

See http://www.theblitzparty.com/ for information on the next Blitz Party

Tuesday Tip #5 - Red Lips

The Perfect Red Lip
I may be an Avon Lady but that doesn't mean I'm only going to push my own products as one company can't possibly cover all bases. 
For example, one of the things I really hate about wearing make-up is lipstick! It doesn't matter if you buy a long lasting one and blot a few times between layers and put it over foundation and maybe set it with powder...the fact is it comes off! On your teacup, on your food, on someone's face...whatever.
I have one tip for this and it's to use a product like Maybelline Superstay 24 colour:

"Red Passion"

I used to use this all the time and was sure they discontinued the red I like (above) but in Superdrug the other day I found it. I tested it on my hand to see if it was the right colour then toddled off home excitedly clutching my new lippy. I spent the rest of my night relaxing and had an hour long bath with oils and bubbles and everything...and the below pic is the same dot of colour on my hand after all that!!

I'm certainly not an expert on make-up but I know when something does what it says on the tin and honestly this lip colour is food, drink, wine, kiss...and anything else...proof!

Avon do a similar product but as yet there isn't a red (which you need for vintage) so until they introduce it this Maybelline one is definitely my favourite and considering you can get it between £7-8 it's also a bargain! xox

It's finally Friday..!

Is it Wine O'Clock yet??
Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love my job, but I feel like I havent't stopped these last few weeks! Strangely, I missed out my 'Tuesday Tip' this week because of course it was a Bank Holiday on Monday and in general I just seem to have no idea what day it is. And I have no idea why I'm so shattered if it's only been a short week anyway...? All I know is I will be trying to get some quality time by myself this weekend for a bit of pampering and a cocktail or 2....
Last Cake It On! I gave away some cocktail vouchers for B@1, a bar which you can find all over London, and it was with the intention of getting people to go out and ask for these cocktails named after some of our favourite vintage stars:

Hopefully I shall partake in some myself this weekend, with an old movie or two and a bit of me-time. You can do the same thing, especially after the next Cake It On! as I will be giving more of these vouchers away :)
have a great weekend - until next time....xox

The Blitz Party

Saturday May 5th - Shoreditch

No self-respecting 40's obsessive (like myself..) would be able to live in London and not go to The Blitz Party! I just thought I'd add a few pics of my hair and make-up etc to this blog and maybe next time we can do a 'Blitz Party' Cake It On! Special if anyone else has tickets for it and want tips on how to achieve the look.
So the clothes are pretty important and I was so pleased to pick up this Tara Starlet dress at their sample sale last weekend. The lovely Tara Scott, who is a committee member of my W.I, basically is Tara Starlet and her company make reproduction clothing from original vintage patterns...and they do it all ethically - it's well worth checking out their website:

http://www.tarastarlet.com/

Then of course the second most important thing is hair and make-up! I used my usual trusty tools for the hair: setting lotion (about £1.50), hot rollers, kirby grips (about 99p) etc (Ooh my nan would be proud...! All those old fashioned products and cheap too! Well, there is a war on...) 

Now the make up was mostly my usual stuff ....

Liquid Eyeliner

Red Nailpolish

Red Lippy - no that's not mine on him!

But I have a new foundation which is AVON 'Calming Effects Illuminating Foundation' in Ivory and it's fantastic! I love being able to buy little tiny ones to keep in my handbag, and that way I can try the shade before I buy the big one too...it's win-win! (unlike the war which was just WIN...by England). 

Anyway, back to make up.

One thing I also got was new lipstick samples and I really wanted to wear one for Blitz Party so I tried these two on:

"Really Rosy" and "Charged Cherry"

I'll be honest with you, they were lovely colours but the consistency wasn't right for an event like this as they're actually quite sheer and you need gloopy matt lipstick to recreate vintage looks. However, they'll be fantastic summer lipsticks and I'll definitely be wearing these as a 'day' lip, even at work I'd get away with it.

It was such a great event to go to and I know there's one again in June so if you want any tips on how to do Victory rolls then let me know

Right I'd better go - those socks aren't going to Make-Do and Mend themselves...xox

Tuesday Tip #4 - Eyeliner

Glamorous 'Retro' Eyeliner
The easiest thing to do to give yourself a little vintage glam is the eyeliner flick which got progressively bigger from the 40's through to the 60's. No matter what other make up you have on your face or what you're wearing, this is a nod to a bygone era which will change you from 'half asleep' to 'hottie' in seconds. 
I wear this look for myself, not because I want men to 'fancy me' but because it's my own little homage to the women of the past and it's the one part of my personality I can get away with displaying at work (more than I can with hair and clothes).

But it's worth noting that the look can really only be achieved with liquid eyeliner that has a brush attachment, or a brush and an eyeliner pot - don't buy those crappy pointy foam wands (like the one below) which are meant to make life easier because they just won't work. It's hard to tell from the pics but this is too rigid...

I bought this one by mistake once when I wanted a brown liquid eyeliner, but I kept it as it does have a use even though it's not it's intended use: I think it's really good to use to put a beauty spot on when you're doing vintage looks like Marilyn or Jean Harlow. Pencil is a bad idea for that - use one of these instead.
Anyway, the liquid eyeliner I use at the moment is a Rimmel one that looks like this...

as it's one I bought ages ago. Now that I'm selling Avon I've ordered an eyeliner brush and Supershock Eyeliner so I'll let you know how I get on with those when they arrive. (I think it'll be better for late 50's looks more than anything, as eyeliner got thicker then) but I'll give it a go so I know whether to recommend it or not. The basic idea is that the bristles are what allow you to 'glide' and create the winged effect, so anything too rigid is just more hassle, not less. Also, take a look at the below pic:

Any Marilyn Monroe tutorial that tells you to use a black liquid eyeliner is totally wrong - she wore a brown pencil! I'm not a pencil eyeliner user (in general) but I've ordered an Avon one, especially because Pixiwoo recommended it (below) and I'm going to show you how to recreate the Marilyn look at the next Cake It On. 

It's soooo interesting the lengths she went to with her make-up, and last time I re-created the process it did make me look quite like her!

Just as a final thought, Pixiwoo are usually really incredible at doing vintage make-up tutorials such as Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich so check them out on their YouTube Channel :) See you soon xox