Lovebirds Vintage: October 2013

Have you discovered Vintage Gazer yet? This new site is run by the lady behind We Heart Vintage and is a great way to view and share vintage photos from around the web.

If you'd like to have a look at my profile and see what I've posted you can do so here and you can join up and add your own photos by clicking here.

Here are some of my favourite pins so far:

Vogue 8811: A Vintage Halloween Novelty Print Dress by Rosie Wednesday

(find Rosie Wednesday on Vintage Gazer here)

a charming knitted cape by Cici & Marie

(find Cici & Marie on Vintage Gazer here)

Besame Cosmetics by Paper Mothball Vintage

(find Paper Mothball Vintage on Vintage Gazer here)

Thursday Thrill - Vintage Hooded Scarf Tutorial by Chatterblossom

(find Chatterblossom on Vintage Gazer here)

Stella Carol, 1915 by vintagegazer/We Heart Vintage

4 comments

When I was away in Oxford I visited the Urban Decay counter with the intention of replacing my concealer, and came away with a new concealer as well as a product which was completely new to me. I am a huge fan of Urban Decay products, so I didn't need any convincing to give this a try.

Lip Envy is a lip stain that comes in two colours: Envious and Greedy. The lady on the counter applied it to my cheeks and lips using the colour 'Envious', which she said was best suited to paler 'English Rose' type complexions.

In the photo above I am wearing it blended onto my cheeks and a single coat on my lips. It gives a pretty, natural flush on my cheeks and a sheer medium pink colour on my lips. It is vanilla scented and dries to a mostly matte finish. I do find it slightly sticky once it's dried, but this isn't a huge problem for me. I prefer the slightly sticky texture to some other lip stains I have tried which are very drying.

In terms of wear time, I would classify this as medium to good. It lasts longer than a lot of other lip products, and wears off evenly. There is no problem with it peeling and becoming patchy, as is the case with many other lip stains I have tried. It can be worn with a gloss over the top if you wish, but I love the more matte finish.

It's easy to layer up and can be built up to a much deeper shade of raspberry, as shown below:

On the whole I would really recommend this product. I would love to see a wider range of colours, but I am happy with 'Envious' for the moment. I haven't used any other Urban Decay lip products, but I would definitely try them now that I've had such good results with this.

The packaging is pretty and edgy in true Urban Decay style. The bottle is shaped like an ink well and comes with a doe foot applicator.

urban decay lip envy in envious via lovebirds vintage

Vegan? Yes

Paraben-free? No

Price: $17/£12.00 for 8.5ml

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Acrylates Copolymer, Styrene/VP Copolymer, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Propylene Glycol, Fragrance (Parfum), Methylparaben, Sodium Saccharin, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract,
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Tocopherol.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Urban Decay. This product was bought with my own money and all opinions are my own.

2 comments

floral dress and boots via lovebirds vintage

Dress: Peacocks | Coat: Primark | Leggings: Tesco | Boots: Matalan | Beret: self-made

I always get excited when the pumpkins come into the shops in October. It's all too short a season for me! We bought two huge ones and so far we've made pumpkin pie, roast pumpkin and roasted pumpkin seeds. I've found a recipe for pumpkin jam that I want to try and I think I'm also going to make this pumpkin butter recipe from A Beautiful Mess. My hair started off curly on the day I took these photos but the damp in the air had caused it to drop out completely by about lunch time. I'm just going to pretend it was intentional.

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Recently during my internet travels I ran across this lovely image of Audrey Hepburn from 'How To Steal A Million':

Of course she looks gorgeous as always and her makeup is so on point. I had a go at re-creating this look and made a little photo tutorial to go along with it.

audrey hepburn how to steal a million photo tutorial via lovebirds vintage

1. Prime your eyes before applying shadow. I use Urban Decay Primer Potion in 'Original'.

2. Using a fluffy brush, apply a matte brown eyeshadow to the crease area of your eye. It works well with a shadow in a shade or two darker than your skin tone. I'm using a mixture of 'Naked' and 'Buck' by Urban Decay.

3. Apply a pewter or gold eyeshadow to your eyelid. Here I am using a non-brand loose shadow applied over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.

4. Line your lower lash line with the same brown eyeshadow that you used for your crease colour so that your eyes don't look unbalanced.

5. Line your lower waterline (and tightline if you can) with a black kohl pencil.

6. Draw a cat eye using black liquid liner.

7. Carefully trace the outline of your orbital bone to create the second line with the eyeliner. I freehanded mine but you could draw it on with your kohl pencil first so it's easier to erase if you make a mistake, then go over the top of your outline with black liquid liner.

8. Add your mascara (and false lashes if you wish).

What do you think? Would you wear this look out of the house? This is my first attempt at a photo tutorial of any kind but I think it turned out okay! Audrey wears it better but I had fun.

6 comments

Went to a beginner machine sewing class today. Practiced different stitches, learned to make a button hole and took photos of pretty things that other, more skilled people had made.

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A couple of days after making elderberry jelly, my mum was gifted a huge bag of home grown plums. So what else was I to do but to make jam from them? This recipe is similar to the elderberry jelly recipe, but I managed to make 5 jars of jam, plus then mum and I had to decant some into various glasses and bowls because we ran out of jars. It makes a whole heck of a lot of jam. We have enough plums left to make chutney tomorrow and probably a crumble or two as well. Here is where I found the original recipe.

1.5kg fresh plums, firm and slightly under-ripe

1.5kg granulated sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

30g butter

100ml cold water

1. Wash plums and remove stalks. Remove plum stones and place plums in a large pan along with the lemon juice and water.

Bring to the boil, stirring frequently. The particular variety of plums I was using stained my fingers a pretty gnarly shade of orange, so be aware of that. At this point you may or may not wish to sample a plum, just to make sure they are tippy-top.

Yum.

2. Reduce heat and simmer for around 40 mins, until plums are soft.

3. Keep on a low heat and add the sugar. Stir continuously until sugar is fully dissolved.

4. Stir in the butter to reduce frothing. Turn up the heat and stir continuously until the mixture reaches a rapid boil.

5. Continue heating until jam reaches setting point. If you have a sugar thermometer, this is 106 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, test it using the plate method described here.

6. When the jam is ready, remove it from the stove and pour it straight into sterilised jars. Make sure you have enough jars ready so that you don't have to improvise like I did...

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Here are just a few quick reviews on products I have been using recently.

**Please note I am currently in the process of replacing the images in this post. In the meantime you can view images of the products using the links provided**

Body Butters from The Body Shop

I had chosen these body butters based on the fact that they contain no parabens (though from the website it would seem that the blueberry one does contain parabens after all, so I must have just missed that when I looked at the ingredients the first time), as well as the fact that I had used a couple before and really enjoyed them. This time I tried the passion fruit, raspberry and blueberry scents.

[Image sources: raspberry, passion fruit, blueberry]

The passion fruit scent was my favourite of the three. It smells exactly like fresh passionfruit and has a very buttery soft texture. It applies nicely and moisturises fairly well on normal skin. The blueberry for me was fairly comparable in terms of texture and quality of the scent. Again, it moisturises fairly well on normal skin.

The raspberry for me was still nice, but not as good in terms of texture or scent as the other two. The scent was recognisable as raspberry but seemed more synthetic than the others, and the consistency of the product was thinner and creamier (more like what I would think of as a 'moisturiser' than what I would think of as a 'body butter').

Overall I really like these products, but I wouldn't recommend them for problem skin as I didn't feel that they hydrated my eczema well enough to keep me feeling comfortable.

The ingredients for each of these products can be found on their respective pages on The Body Shop website, as linked below the picture.

Price: £13.00 for 200ml (but I bought these on sale)

Overall Rating: 3/5 (I knocked off points for what I consider to be a high price, and only average level of moisturisation on my skin)

Lush Dreamwash

[image source]

This is the first of Lush's shower smoothies that I have ever tried. It feels very nice on the skin, and has a pleasant scent although if you dislike calamine then it might not be the product for you. It dries to a silky matte feel so really helps to keep "wet" eczema under control but I did find it quite drying on the skin so a good moisturiser is an essential product to go alongside this. I didn't see any improvement to my skin while I was using this product, but nor did I see any decline in the condition of my skin. All in all I thought it was a nice product, but I personally won't be repurchasing this as I didn't see any benefit to using it on my own skin.

Ingredients: Calamine Powder, Water, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Glycerine, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Hydroxide, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Linalool, Perfume

Price: £9.75 for 250g

Overall Rating: 2/5

Lush Oatifix

[image source]

I don't use face masks very often but they make a lovely treat every now and again. In the past I have only used Catastrophe Cosmetic but I was persuaded to try Oatifix instead as a face mask for dry skin. After working my way through a pot of this I can happily say that I absolutely loved it. Everything from the scent to the texture to the cooling and moisturising sensation you get when you apply this product was perfect for me. It smells good enough to eat and leaves your skin feeling amazing afterwards. The almonds in the mixture are gently exfoliating so help to get rid of any dry bits without feeling harsh or scrubby. I would definitely purchase this again the next time I need a treat for my skin.

Ingredients: Glycerine, Fine Oatmeal, Fresh Organic Bananas,Water, Ground Almonds, Illipe Butter, Kaolin, Talc, Vanilla Pod, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Sandalwood Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Coumarin, Benzyl Cinnamate, Linalool, Perfume, Gardenia Extract

Price: £5.95 for 75g

Overall Rating: 5/5

Lush Angels On Bare Skin

[image source]

Angels on Bare Skin is a gentle cleanser based on almond milk. It comes in a solid form as shown in the picture above and turns to a cleansing milk when you add water to a small amount in your hand. Like with Oatifix, the almonds in the mixture act as a gentle exfoliant while the lavender and essential oils give the product a light fresh scent. Although I like the way this cleanser behaves and makes my skin feel, I find it a bit of a pain to use as it's easy to get the consistency wrong and lose all the product from out of your hand. It also doesn't take your makeup off, so a makeup remover is needed alongside this product.

Ingredients: Ground Almonds, Glycerine, Kaolin, Water, Lavender Oil, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Tagetes Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Lavender Flowers, Limonene, Linalool

Price: £6.35 for 100g

Overal Rating: 3/5

Lush Fresh Farmacy

[image source]

This is my favourite of Lush's cleansers that I've tried. It's very gentle and calming on problem skin, and I do enjoy the scent of calamine as well. It's very easy to use - it's works exactly like a bar of soap, just lather up and apply to the skin. I've found this fits into my routine much better than Angels on Bare Skin as it's quicker to use and I can take it in the shower without worrying too much that all my cleanser will disappear. It doesn't do a bad job at taking makeup off, but it's not exactly a makeup remover either (it doesn't deal well with mascara) so having a makeup remover as well is still a good idea.

I do find it a little bit drying, but so far I've not had any major problems as long as I remember to moisturise my face as soon as I've finished washing.

Ingredients: Calamine Powder, Propylene Glycol, Chamomile Decoction, Elderflower Decoction, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Hydroxide, Water, Lavender Oil,Chamomile Blue Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Rose Absolute,Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume

Price: £4.75 for 100g

Overall Rating: 5/5

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post, nor am I affiliated with any named companies. Some products were provided as free samples in store to test out prior to purchasing full size products. All other products were bought by myself with my own money and all opinions are my own.

And a word on parabens...

A while ago I wrote a post with some information about the use of parabens as preservatives in cosmetics and the health concerns involved. As a person with very sensitive skin, it’s important to me to have products which don’t cause allergic reactions or aggravate my eczema. I had come across enough health concerns about parabens to make me want to avoid buying products which contain them.

For those that don’t know, I’ve just finished my undergraduate degree in Forensic Science; as a part of this I read several scientific journals and magazines. Well, as luck would have it, the August issue of the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry) News featured an article about the risks of certain chemicals. Due to this article I am now able to provide you with some updated information from my last post, for anyone who is concerned about parabens in their products.

Although the use of parabens has been linked to the development of certain cancers, there is no evidence to show that parabens are harmful in this way. More research is underway into the long-term health effects of their use.
In clinical trials, around 1% of people showed an allergic response to parabens. When applied to normal skin, parabens contained in cosmetic products should not be the cause of an allergic response.

So my opinion on this, for what it’s worth, is that if you do not suffer from any skin complaints then you probably don’t need to go to the trouble of avoiding parabens. For myself, I think I will continue to avoid them when my eczema is bad, but perhaps I don’t need to bother about avoiding them as much when my skin is clear. If you are concerned about parabens in your cosmetics and skin care products, paraben-free products such as those I have reviewed, or products containing alternative preservatives such as grapefruit seed extract (GSE) are available.

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