My First Giveaway: Vintage Beauty Bag

Wow, I can't believe I already have 100 followers! You all make me feel so loved! (*mmmm, warm fuzzies!!*)
I've been wanting to host a giveaway for a while but now that I have 100 followers, I think it's time!
The lucky winner of my first giveaway will receive this purse which contains:
-a vintage lipstick container, refilled with brand new lipstick in "retro red"
- two red vintage cosmetics containers, refilled with loose eyeshadow in dusty pink and cream
-New L'Oreal Paris Lineur Intense felt tip liquid eyeliner in "carbon black" (see close-up photo of my liner for felt tip detail)
-A lovely Vintage Avon powder compact with rhinestone closure with instructions for refilling the compact with your shade of pressed powder.

How do you enter?
1.) be a follower of my blog if you aren't already
2.) Leave a comment below telling me who is your favorite vintage beauty (actress, model, singer, etc.) and leave your email address so that I can contact the winner

For an extra 2 entries, leave a link to my giveaway on your blog!

This giveaway is open world wide and will end on Tuesday, April 6th. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 7th. I will not make any posts until the contest ends.

Good luck to everyone and thank you for reading my blog!! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on Va-Voom Vintage for other fabulous giveaways!

It was the Wurstfest

The quaint German town of Hermann sits in the picturesque wine country, right off the banks of the Missouri river. It was founded in 1837 by the German settlers because the sparkling river and rolling, dark-soiled hills reminded them of their homeland. To this day, the town is bustling with business from specialty shops, the railroad which runs just along the riverbanks and of course, the famous wineries. Today, Pj, my mother in law, Tracey and I met a fellow stay at home mommy and her husband for the annual Hermann Wurstfest (sausage festival) at the Stone Hill Winery, one of Missouri's best wineries. Pj grew up in Germany while his father was in the army, stationed in Butzbach, which is just 45 minutes outside of Frankfurt. Pj, his mom and sister always have wonderful stories to tell about life in Germany.




The weather was supposed to be in the 60's but on the highest point of the town, we were caught in a chilly wind. It turned out to be more of a sausage "tasting" than a festival. We spent the majority of the day standing in a line, waiting to taste some tiny niblets of "just okay" sausage. The only musical entertainment was a very talented little lady playing the accordion. Fortunately, our friends brought some wine and cheese curds so we ditched standing in line and found a spot to sit, chat and be merry. Sad as dead animal heads on a wall can be, this kind of made me laugh. When I was a kid, my grandma had a wildebeest head on her mantle. They told us that his name was Willy the Wildebeest and he ran through the wall of the house and that his back end was hanging out the other side. The inside of the winery was loaded with taxidermy heads of various beasties and it made me wonder if the other side of the wall was covered in furry beastie butts....


We made a pit stop to the town sweet shop on the way out....what delicious truffles they had. On a warmer day, I will be exploring this little town in more depth. There -has- to be a great shop with vintage treasures in this place!!
On the way to the winery, we saw a sign for a church rummage sale. We were unable to find the church at first, but my mother in law wouldn't give up the hunt for a rummage sale, so we made many turns and climbed a few steep hills till we finally found a tiny church nestled in with some houses with a sign "rummage sale today". It wasn't much of a rummage sale....more of a "rummaged sale". They only had a few tables with miscellaneous garage-sale items..no vintage, no fun! :( Luckily we spotted a garage sale on the way to the winery and I picked up a cardigan and vintage blender for a few bucks! *yay*


My outfit today was a dress that I just finished sewing. I used a modern Butterick pattern B5417. I love the detail on the sleeve and overall 40's vintage style. My shoes are my favorite part of this outfit, though. Pj bought them for my birthday while we were on our honeymoon in St. Augustine, Florida (just 4 days after my 23rd birthday). While antiquing in uptown, St. Augustine, we found a really chic little shop carrying lots of colorful scarves, silky skirts these shoes and a bunch of boho/hippie type clothes. I fell madly in love with these wooden carved fish shoes so my sweet new husband let me bring them home with us.

Dress-handmade by me- modern Butterick pattern B5417
shoes- St. Augustine, FL boutique
Earrings-Creve Coeur Antique mall
Snood-Chad Theatrical

Fashion and Film Friday: Down With Love

Down with love ((for classy and fabulous)) by Edwarlyn featuring Schumacher tops

Down With Love Vikki and Barbara by Va-Voom Vintage featuring Diane von Furstenberg dresses

This is such a cute movie and a must-see for great vintage fashion. Starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, Down with Love is set in 1962 New York. Feminist author, Barbara Novak's  best selling book, "Down with Love" has changed the playing field for playboy, Catcher Block. The book instructs women to replace feelings of love with chocolate and to have sex whenever (and with whoever) they please just like men do! When Catcher's many mistresses ditch him after reading this new manual for love, he goes undercover as an astronaut to try to charm his way into Barbara's heart and prove to the world of women that the author of Down With Love isn't all she's cracked up to be.

The gorgeous mod costumes of this flick were designed by Daniel Orlandi designer for movies Marilyn and Me, Rocketman, Cinderella Man, and next year's Your Cheating Heart. Down With Love is a perfect film to study for late 50's/early 60's hair and make-up as well. And what incredible sets!

For next week's Fashion and Film Friday: Pleasantville

Fore-tunately, no one was hurt!

Last Thursday, for our weekly date night, Pj took me to play mini golf for the second time in my entire life. The sun was shining, the day was gorgeous and the company was very entertaining, as always. We had so much fun, even though I'm a pretty lousy player! This past summer, we visited my Aunt and Uncle in Denver, Colorado where my Uncle Jeremy's golf obsession rubbed off on Pj who hated golf until we got to Denver! I've never seen a beginner drive a ball like my husband! He's like Happy Gilmore, minus the temper!
So, Pj has learned quite a bit about golf since last summer and was able to give me a few lessons. It didn't keep me from having to hit the ball at least 6 times to get it in the hole, though!

The night before I slept in pin curls, which turned out to be the best pin curls I've done so far! They were more like soft curls and waves than my usual frizzy clown hair. This is my new skirt, just picked up on Tuesday from my local Salvation Army thrift store. I really do think that the messier and grungy thrift stores tend to have the best stuff! I also found a cute white cropped sweater and 2 vintage dresses for just a few bucks! A word about vintage shopping- make sure that all zippers are in good working order! Not only should they zip up all the way, but they should also stay zipped up! I needed a brown pencil skirt and when I found this one with such a perfect length and fit, I couldn't say no. It wasn't until Pj got home from work that I noticed that the back zipper doesn't like to stay zipped! Luckily, I can replace the zipper with no problem but do check for things like that to avoid any "wardrobe malfunctions"!
Chocolate Pencil Skirt- S.A. thrift store
Atomic print top- thrifted
Cropped blue cardigan- goodwill
Brown sculpted leather flats-Target

Embracing my Curves

I'm pretty down to Earth when it comes to the facts about my body. Like most of us curvy gals, I'd love to lose some inches. I've done tons of diets and have failed, I always promise to exercise and I don't. I lose 5 pounds and celebrate with chocolate and wine. I'll be honest, as of the moment, my measurements are 44, 40, 43....not so good! Realistically, I can't make my hip size any smaller no matter how much lettuce I eat! Hips are bones...your hip measurement is pretty much dictated by your pelvis and there is no shrinking your pelvis. My hip area is already bony so those 43 inch hips are here to stay. That's cool with me, though. Big hips aren't a bad thing! I've never met a man who doesn't like a gal with big hips. Big hips means you get a more hourglass silhouette when you have a smaller waist. Big hips means a big butt and any Queen fan knows that "fat bottom girls make the rockin' world go round." Pj likes big butts and he cannot lie, so yay for big butts and big hips!

The bust thing isn't anything I can deal with at the moment since I'm still nursing my little one. I must admit, the big boobs are pretty annoying when it comes to shopping vintage. I constantly battle with non-stretchy fabrics and the dreaded button-up gap! -Not- a pretty sight! Hopefully, when I lose a few pounds and as the peanut keeps eating more solids, I'll be able to report a slightly smaller bust but I don't hold my breath on that one! They've been obnoxiously big since middle school. In 7th grade, I flashed a locker room full of girls who spread rumors that I stuffed my bra! The next day, the whole school was whispering "Brittany definitely does NOT stuff her bra!" *hehe* So, I learn to live with it, but supportive bras and try to not knock anything over with them.

This morning, I was pouring over some vintage patterns thinking how life would be so much better with a great girdle. I've been drooling over a few of them for weeks now, thinking that a girdle is curvy gal must-have, especially if I'm going to start making my own seamed stockings! I found this one at What Katie Did and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! It even would fit those 43 inch hips...problem is, the waist size is 33 inches...and mine is NOT! So, that's my motivation! I started weight watchers today and began my day with a lovely breakfast of low fat vanilla yogurt (my favorite food ever) a breakfast burrito that I made with a whole wheat tortilla and some fruit. By the end, I was stuffed! So, here I go on my journey of yet another diet but this time, I have vintage fashion as a my motivation for success. No more *yay, I lost 5 pounds, I should go eat some cake!* I've printed a picture of my prize at the end of the race (pictured above) and stuck it on the fridge. Pin up girls don't eat pizza and neither do I! Wish me luck!!
Glamor Girdle above at What Katie Did

Victory Rolls with Faux Bangs Tutorial

For this tutorial, you will need:
bobby pins that match your hair color
hairspray- the cheapest, offbrand hair spray that you can find tends to be best because cheap spray often has a higher laquer content
a comb with a tail
a brush
a rat (if you don't have a rat, see my tutorial for how to make your own!)


I started with unwashed hair with second day pin-curls. It seems to make rolling a bit easier.
1.)Using the tail of the comb, section off the front section of your hair into a triangle, with the top point being directly on top of your head and the other points ending at your brow line as shown:



2.) Pull the rest of your hair back and secure it with a clip so it stays out of the way.
3.) brush the front section out and roll it up in the rat as shown. Make sure to roll the hair up very tightly so the ends don't puff out. This part takes some practice! I roll it up to the middle of my forehead but that's a matter or personal preference.



4.) Pin the rat to your head so the rat forms a "U" shape. Make an "X" with the pins to secure it in place.

5.) Grip the rat in the center and very lightly pull the hair towards the sides of your face so that it spreads evenly across the rat. Be very gentle and make sure to fill in any gaps so that the rat is no longer visible. I use a comb to very lightly brush over the top to smooth it all out (you can see the smoothness in the finished product photos). Finish with a TON of hairspray. Ta-da! You look gorgeous!






Victory Rolls
If you have problems covering the rat with your hair, you can use a bit of hair from your hair brush to wrap around the ends of the rat or if you're freaked out by hair like me, you can buy synthetic hair from any beauty supply store to wrap around the end of the rat.

If you'll notice in the nest photo, my rat is visible on the side. If you place the rolls right over the ends of the rats, the rat won't be visible.


1.)Using the tail end of the comb, section the hair just behind the ears and forward as shown. Pull the rest of your hair back so its out of the way.


2.) brush out the side section of hair so that its smooth and apply a bit of hairspray.

3.) Hold the section of hair up and backcomb/tease it, applying more hairspray as needed. backcombing will make rolling easier, will help the hair to stand up longer and will also aid in the shape and volume of the roll. By the time you're done backcombing, your hair will look a mess, just like this.....yuck!

4.)Hold the teased section straight up in the hair and using two fingers (or just one if you want a smaller roll) wrap the ends of the hair around the fingers. Roll the hair downward and position the roll right where the ends of the rat are. Pin the roll in place. You can also position the roll on the sides of your head.

5.) Use a ton of hairspray and cup your hand around the roll while smoothing the hair out while it dries. repeat on the other side

6.) Finish off with a snood, a flower or just let it be!


If you tease your hair a lot for added volume, and pin the rolls very high, you can spritz on some shine spray and achieve this gorgeous Dita stye:


For more help with victory rolls, see my tutorial for basic victory rolls or leave a question in the comments box. Have fun!

Tutorial: How to Make a hair rat

                   

The traditional method of making a hair rat involved saving hair from your hair brush and rolling it up into a sausage shape. Yes, it's free, it's easy, it's historically accurate and it won't show if your hair slips.

I'm freaked out by hair that collects in the drain of the shower so I personally don't think I could make my rat using my own hair...so for this method of making your own hair rat, you will need


a pair of scissors
fiberfill (used for pillow stuffing)
a fishnet stocking (I use one that is close to my hair color)The fishnet allows for easy and secure pinning

1.) Cut the stocking so it is about 6 or 7 inches long


2.)Roll a hand full of fiberfill into a long sausage shape.

3.)Insert fiberfill into stocking

4.) Stretch the stocking out, rolling it between your hands so that it forms to the desired shape. Spreading the fiberfill throughout the stocking

5.)Add a bit more fiberfill if needed

6.)tie off or sew end of stocking closed. Looks like a strange potato!