Vintage Hairstyles: Retro Styles with Step-by-step Techniques review

   What an amazing book! I could not imagine anything clearer and simpler than that.

    Lauren Rennells, the author, covers from the most basic points (such as which products are used) to finishing touches such as hair acessories, basic instructions on applying red lipstick and defining eyebrows and even the style of nail painting in each era. Simply brilliant!

    The beginning of the book explains the products used, the effects produced by different methods of curling hair and some bases such as the victory roll and the fingerwaves. The section on curling clarifies many doubts I had when curling my hair for a vintage look (for my hair is naturally curly, but kind of in a renaissance way), because the way you set the curls in the hair, de direction and angle you pull them and even the way you expand it make difference in the result.

   After that comes a section in which she teaches to do full updos, step-by-step, all with careful instructions and pictures to leave no doubt about its ways. The styles portrayed are deadly gorgeous (from more than 30 I didn't like much only two) and the haisrtyles evolve so you can try the first ones to get practice to do the last ones.

   In the end there's nice explanation of which accessories match each kind of hairstyle, an easy way to do you own hairflower and some tips on makeup and nails. It's just perfect. When I finished reading I went through all the styles putting little post-it notes with which accessory would look good and which variations I could see for the updos, for quick ideas. Now I just have to purchase some products and start working!

   I've already tried a simple set of curls in the bang. I have a not very long bang that I like to wear curly. My hair does curl naturally, but not always the way I wanted at the bangs. So I did this set she teaches at the beginning and the effect is so flattering! Kind of like this:

   And who doesn't want to look a tiny bit like fabulous Rita Hayworth?

I did it!

   I'm going to college!

   Friday was a very happy day for me. I was so anxious, I woke up at 6 a.m. to see if the results were out (they publish a list on internet) and continued checking every half hour. And yes, I made it!

    And made it very well. My course, which has not an exact equivalent in the english speaking countries - it studies the language (here, Portuguese), basically, its roots and grammar and literature, and a second language (you choose between english, spanish, french, german, italian, greek, latin and some colleges offer also chinese, japanese and arabic) and its literature.

    So, I was in ninth place in my course! Ninth! I am so proud!

    My course is not very valued here, despite its interesting proposal, because mainly what you can do with its diploma is teaching. And no one wants to be a teacher anymore, except crazy people like me. I want to teach at the university, because the salary is very good, but I would also like to teach younger people and make them like reading (reading is seen here as an EXTREMELY boring activity and people simply don't do that. Ever. They just spend their lives without reading a single book. That's sad). Maybe even do some research on reasons why children feel so discouraged to read here and how to reverse this picture.

   Well, let's start by the beginning now. I already found a place to live, a nice little place, on a very safe building close enough to downtown so I can walk there when needed and far enough so noise doesn't disturb me. There are little food shops close and a bus that goes straight to the campus. I can't wait to slowly and cheaply go decorating it, filling it with my personality. It will be a nice challenge.

   Oh, and when I arrived home I had a little surprise waiting. My Vintage Hairstyles book was waiting for me! I'll do a review as soon as I finish it, but I can tell it is simply marvelous! I am astonished with the simplicity Lauren puts into the steps. She's a genius.

    I am very pleased with my life now, indeed I am.

Anxious to start vintage beauty experience... and maybe college too

   I'm done with my exams! No more! And hopefully, never again! Results for the college I want come out next friday, and I'm really looking forward to it. In the meantime I've been looking for places to live if I get accepted and waiting for my fabulous vintage beauty books to arrive from the US.


   It was really REALLY expensive because the dollar has been going up lately and the shipping was US$50. But I longly reflected on it and got to the conclusion it's worth my money. I'm sure I will use these bokks all the time and if I were to buy something like those here it would be even more expensive.

   I ordered Vintage Hairstyling: Retro Styles with Step-by-step Techniques by Lauren Rennells which has amazing reviews everywhere and seems to be very simple and instructive. People say the chapter on curling techniques is awesome and I really do need some help with my pincurling (it always gets kind of irregular). They also say it is very complete on the haisrtyles and little details like hair acessories and even nail beauty (even though I don't like painting my nails, I can see how this information is very useful for most women).

The author has also a vintage make-up guide which I will totally buy if the hairstyling one is good. She writes the lovelly Bobby Pin Blog that has more tips on hair and other stuff too. She looks like a very nice person.

   I also ordered two truly vintage books: Beauty, Glamour & Personality - A Complete 1940s Guide to Vintage Makeup, Hairstyling and Elegance; and Westmore Beauty Book - A Complete 1950s Guide to Vintage Makeup, Hairstyling and Beauty Techniques, both by the Westmore brothers (they did the makeup in many movies of the time and were very innovative). It's going to take so much time for them to arrive! At least February 15. The books are very complete and include even lifestyle and etiquette instructions, everything widely illustrated. They look like treasures to me.

   I'm really looking forward to their arrival. Can't wait to try all the beautiful styles!

The Perfect Oxford Shoes

   For a really long time I searched for oxford shoes that pleased me but all I found was no oxford shoes. At all. At any store. Not even in the US. They just don't seem to want me to have them.

   Well, the other day I was searching Plasticland and found these gorgeous all-I-ever-dreamed-of pair of oxfords. In black and light brown! Since I got some money from Christmas I thought I could import them here to Brazil. :)

   These are the ones. Aren't they marvelous? This is an idea of how to wear them I've put together.

   The sad thing is, I probably won't have them. Plasticland doesn't have them in my number anymore, and that was one problem I solved. I found them very cheap at another site. The thing is, is costs US$28 the shipping, plus 60% of brazilian taxes, plus transport costs in Brazil. And them, the very cheap shoe became the very, VERY expensive shoe.

  I'm telling you, achieving the vintage look here is nearly impossible. Truly vintage items simply do not exist, as it is culture here to throw old things away. And vintage-like stuff is hard to find, and often quite expensive. Every clothing item in Brazil is expensive.

   For example, in my last trip to the US, I bought I bunch of dresses, all cost between 15 and 25 dollars. In the same kind of shop, the same kind of manufacturing, the same kind of dress, here I pay the equivalent to 40 dollars at least. It is not fair. I'm sad.


   I'm going to wait, see if I can find a solution. But I really wish it was simple. I want the shoes, I have money for the shoes, I pay for the transportation, but taxes here drive everyone crazy. They are doing it to me too ;(

Five Audrey Hepburn looks you can easily do today

   I love Audrey Hepburn. Who doesn't? Only people that don't deserve our attention. She was so feminine and graceful and fun. I wish she was my best friend.

   She was a different kind of woman for the time. But anyone who loves vintage fashion looks up to her. Today disappoints me that she is kind of a fashionable thing right now, and some girls go and watch Breakfast at Tiffany's and call themselves her biggest fans and stuff. Well, they will never really know how she was like.

   So, as us mere mortals have not the pleasure of having Givenchy to design for ourselves, I reunited 5 easy things to do today inspired in her looks. Genuine things, not those pseudo-fan things.

Copying Audrey: she is doing it so wrong.

   1. Shirt + belt + skirt

   Easy and feminine. Everyone who loves vintage must have a A-line, high-waisted skirt. And everyone must have a nice fitted white shirt (and other colors are great too). The thick belt is great to create a silhouette. I really think this looks fancy and lovely.

   2. Checked shirt + small loop earrings

   With a nice and simple hairdo, is perfect for days when you don't want to wear a skirt or dress (even though I love skirts and dresses, sometimes is not very practical). The good thing is also you can find this kind of shirt anywhere these days.

   3.Glittery eyes

   Audrey was quite ahead of her time in this. Well, if it is to put glitter, put a lot of it, and complete with nice eyeliner and mascara. Big full lashes were rule those days. But I think they kept it quite natural. I see some women today with ridiculously big fake lashes. Makes them look funny, not pretty.

   4. Cute ponytail

   Oh, hot sunny days. I'm suffering with them now. It is really hot here in Brazil between december and january. So hot you feel ill. The best thing these days is to put fresh clothes and put your hair up. So why not in this adorable ponytail? Just do a high one and add a ribbon to it. So simple.

   5. Where shoes you can walk on

   Girls do forget that lately. I see them stumbling around in 9 inch heels and it's so silly! The supposedly powerful and sexy effect is totally washed away. And it is so much fun to be with a woman which heels hurt so much she can barely stay up after half an hour and complain about it every 5 seconds, isn't it? So go and buy yourself comfortable and realistic heels. Nice guys prefer woman who can walk with them. For a long time. And dance too.

   No one can be like Audrey. She was so unique. But we can learn from her cheerful and ladylike personality, and try to be as stylish as she was. Just try, of course.

Vintage Shoes from 40s and 50s, so lovely!

   I'm fascinated by vintage shoes and dream to have a decent oxford or t-strap heel! Drooling on the lovely shoes these girls wore:

   Aren't they adorable?

Freedom at last! And Prom.

  Hey! High School is totally over for me! I'm happy beyond description, really. I was so tired of my classes! I felt like sleeping made no difference this last month, so tired I was.

   Well, it is over for life! I will never have to wear an uniform again!

   The big question is: will I pass my exams to college? I'm optimistic. Here in Brazil, we have a peculiar way of selection. For most of colleges, there is a new form, which is a national test. For some, usually the best colleges, there is a two-step selection: a test of multiple choice, and a dissertative test. Candidates come and do the first test, and await results. They select the best of those to do the second test, which definitively selects the ones that can go to college.

    The colleges I'm trying follow the second model and I already have the results of the first test of the one I want the most. And I passed! In 15th place! I am soooo happy about it!

   So, I'm feeling that next year I probably am going to college, yes.

   There is one last thing related to school I must attend: my prom.

   Pretty excited about it. I love getting all dressed up. I bought the dress months ago, when I traveled to Orlando in the U.S. with my family. Dresses in Brazil are not much more expensive than dresses in the U.S., but they are much uglier. Too open and modern to me.  My dress is a nice tone of blue-green, in a shiny fabric, kind of a mermaid model, with little silver stones in the heart-shaped bust, with lacing (like a corset) on the back. I wanted something to match silver because I want to wear the Evenstar my boyfriend gave me last Christmas.

   

   This is the Evenstar, the necklace Arwen gives Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Isn't it just perfect?

   Well, as I love vintage, and my dress and even the necklace don't conflict with something 40-ish, I'm planning to do something vintage to my hair and makeup. My ideal was to wear gloves, but I seriously doubt my mother would let me. Let's see. I already have my brand new pair of shoes, which has kind of a retro feeling to it.

   About the hair, there's a youtube channel of a girl that teaches all kinds of vintage hairdos, she's really great. If you like to do all those vintage hairstyles, like me, but doesn't have much of an idea how, she is perfect for you. I've learned a lot from her videos. She can be found here.

   It's going to be a busy week, I have tons of things to study (and I'm quite slow and lazy at that), but I will survive and who knows maybe I show up again here before next week.

   Wish me luck.