Lovebirds Vintage: June 2013

I was going to go out today (Sunday, at the time of writing) but it's currently raining cats and dogs so I don't know if I will make it out after all. So far I have been doing some internet shopping (or rather, internet window shopping since I haven't actually bought anything) and debating having my hair cut short. It's pinned up here but I quite like the look of it.

leopard and emerald 1940s outfit via lovebirds vintage

Dress - Collectif | Shoes - Dorothy Perkins | Skull cap - Etsy

Jewellery - various

Don't mind me looking a bit cross-eyed, it just turned out that way. I am going to blame it on being tired from working hard recently!

I am away again this week at the LBA and then off again somewhere else after that so posting may be a bit sporadic (like it's ever very consistent...) but I will do my best not to abandon my blog completely!

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Don't forget you can also find me on Facebook, Tumblr and Bloglovin'.

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This week and next I am working at the Lepidoptera Breeders Association, helping out with breeding butterfly and moth livestock.

The study of insects (entomology) is a huge interest of mine and something I'm working towards as a career, so I have been really enjoying getting the experience and gaining lots of new practical and theoretical knowledge of insects that I haven't had the chance to work with before.

Since I have been working outside a lot, I have only been wearing practical clothes so there are no photos of myself to share - I hope you all enjoy these lovely caterpillars, moths and butterflies instead.

Chinese Oak Silkmoth caterpillars (A. pernyi)

Male Purple Emperor butterfly

Swallowtail caterpillar

Garden Tiger caterpillars

Eyed Hawkmoth

Underside of a Purple Emperor

Comma Nettle butterfly via lovebirds vintage

Comma butterfly

Examples of set specimens

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On Saturday we celebrated the wedding of my cousin Carl and his new wife, Jessica. They were married in a very pretty historic hotel. I love weddings but I haven't had the chance to go to one for ages so I was pleased to have the opportunity to dress up, celebrate with my family and have a lot of fun dancing at the reception.

1950s inspired wedding outfit via lovebirds vintage

Dress - Collectif | Pashmina - Matalan | Fascinator - Claire's Accessories

Shoes - Deichmann (they have a matching bag not seen here)

Umbrella - brolliesgalore | Pearl necklace - 50s vintage

Petticoat - self-made from this tutorial

I'm pleased to be able to say that my hair stayed in place all day (with the help of plenty of hairspray and bobby pins). It's a little more vintage-inspired than it is vintage, what with the asymmetrical quality, but that's okay.

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My latest museum visit was to the Space Centre in Leicester.

space man astronaut at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

I am a huge fan of science fiction and the lovely Mr Bowie, so I had a grand old time pretending to be a member of Star Fleet and singing all the space-themed Bowie songs.

russian space capsule at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

mars rover at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

war of the worlds tripod sci fi at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

Above: A tripod from War of the Worlds. The green laser fires and makes a sound as you walk underneath - I needed about 6 goes at walking underneath before I was satisfied that I'd seen it enough times!

moon walkers old television at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

salute at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

space cadet at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

Doing my best Uhura impression - "Hailing frequencies open, Captain"

And this outfit was good the last time I wore it sooo.... I wore it again.

space rocket thor at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

le voyage dans la lune jules verne h.g. wells 1902 sci fi film at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

The above image was taken in a small cinema at the centre where you could watch Le Voyage Dans La Lune ("A Trip To The Moon") from 1902. It's a film based on From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne, and The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells. I love H.G. Wells but I have never read any Jules Verne - I must get some sorted out for me to read.

the moon voyage by jules verne at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

the first men in the moon by h.g. wells at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

I found Le Voyage Dans La Lune in its entirety on Youtube, and you can watch it for yourself in the clip below. I highly recommend it - it's a charming film and I found it really interesting to see some of the science fiction ideas of the time rendered on film. In the story, some astronomers decide to take a trip to the moon in a capsule which is fired from a cannon. If you are interested, there are also several other versions of the film on Youtube which use different music, and there are some hand-coloured clips as well.

rocket blast off at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

rothwell alien autopsy head hoax at leicester space centre via lovebirds vintage

Above: this is the head from the Roswell Alien Autopsy. I am not sure if it is the real head from the film or if it is a reproduction, but you can watch the autopsy clip on Youtube here and read about the hoax on Wikipedia here.

As much as I enjoyed all the space things, I will leave you with my favourite photos from the visit. I was super excited by the 1969 living room, which they had set up to show how the first moon landing would have been seen on television.

1969 moon landing atomic psychedelic living room via lovebirds vintage

1969 television test card via lovebirds vintage

1969 living room desk typewriter office via lovebirds vintage

So did I have fun playing with all the cool stuff in this awesome dream living room? You bet your buttons I did.

Don't forget you can also find me on Facebook, Tumblr and Bloglovin'! I have also added a tab to the menu at the top of my blog where you can view all the posts from all my days out.

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I am going to my cousin's wedding in just under two weeks time. I have my outfit sorted; I am going 50s style and I would like my hair to match, in order to complete the look.

If you have read anything on my blog before, you probably will have noticed that I complain about my hair with an alarming degree of regularity. I have very fine, very straight hair which is ridiculously difficult to curl. Of course, I would like my hair to look as good as possible for the wedding, but I am just not sure how to achieve that.

Recently I have been using a set which, on a good day, seems to produce nice results. On the other hand, the results are very hit and miss, and seem to look different every time even though my hair has been curled exactly the same way. These results were all achieved using the same set:

These are all fairly good results, and although they're not exactly the same, they all look at least vaguely similar.

The most common bad result for me to get is one where chunks of my hair have inexplicably remained straight (or at least more straight than the rest of my hair), despite being treated the same as the rest of my locks. This results in this kind of half-straight/half-curly rubbishness:

You can tell by my face how unimpressed I am with my hair.

I wanted something for the wedding that might be able to guarantee me at least a halfway decent result, instead of taking it out on the morning of the wedding only to find it looks like my hair in the above picture... I decided to try the Marilyn set from the Style Me Vintage book, but I have found largely the same problems.

I used it here and it came out okay (although they don't look like Marilyn curls), but I tried it again today and it came out looking somewhere between Kesha and an 80s poodle perm. There are some huge straight chunks and some very curly parts which just won't brush out no matter what I do with them. I have said screw it, and thrown it up in a ponytail for the time being.

I have a good idea of what I want my hair to look like for the wedding and I am just really hoping my hair has a good day that day. If only I could make it look like this!:

[x]

Oh well. I can dream.

Side note: perhaps I should dye my hair blonde as I seem to be mostly interested in blonde ladies today.

How about you - any good hair tips/ideas on what I can do with my hair for the wedding to overcome the problem? Who are your vintage hair icons?

Edit: I have had some great advice from Retro Chick in her hair clinic post and I am going to try an updo for the wedding. Any other tips or advice would still be gratefully received though as I am bad at styling my hair!