Lindy Bop Jeanette Dress

Hello! I'm back again with a real treat for you all. This one isn't edible but it sure is beautiful. I've been looking at Lindy Bop for a while and have finally bought one of their amazing dresses.

 Lindy Bop specialize in dresses, and they do it well! I bought the Jeanette dress for £29.99 in black and red leopard.

I am so happy with this dress and it hasn't caused too much of a hole in my pocket.

I'm in the garden today as it is becoming reasonably warm!

So this is the dress, isn't it lovely? It reminds me of a 1950's American diner waitress uniform. The fit is is very flattering and I did add a belt because who doesn't love a belt so tight you can't breath in but makes your waist look good?

I ordered a size 10 and it is very true to size.

I think that the quick delivery of this dress deserves a mention. I ordered it on a Monday night and it came Wednesday morning for a standard charge of £1.95!

 As of the lighting the dress looks a little pinker in the photos. It actually has more of an orange tint.

I love these heart buttons on the dress. Little extra cute details always get me excited!

Well the cats seem to approve! What do you all think?

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Betsy Jo 

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Pink to Make the Boys Wink!

As you all know, and if you don't, I LOVE LIPSTICK! In my previous blog post about lipsticks I showed you some of my reds. Up until recently I've been a bit of a snob and turned my nose up at any lipstick that isn't red.

But, I took the plunge and have bought a couple of pinks! I love to explore new looks, and when I wear pink lipstick I feel rather cute and love to dress with light blues and yellows.

The two I have bought are, MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in the shade Funk and Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in Showy.

I have had my eye on the MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers for a while and they finally had them in my local Superdrug. These are £3. Yes, £3, your eyes aren't going funny! The Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm was recommended by my friend, Laura, and are £7.99.

Top - Revlon
Bottom - MUA

 

Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm

I absolutely adore the colour of this balm. I'm very picky with lipsticks, if it doesn't look like I'm wearing any unless you're at least only a meter away, what's the point? I was worried that because this was a balm that it would lose it's strength of pigment. But, it doesn't! It's so moisturizing and doesn't peel, oh and smells of mint! 

Because it's such a nice day and I love the sun I thought I would take a photo of these outside too. Please excuse my squinty eyes!

MUA Velvet Lip Lacquer

This one is a little darker which is great for when I want to wear navy's and black's. I am so impressed with this product. The pigment is amazing and it is so long lasting! I know some of you will be thinking, "Is it as good as the Lime Crime ones?". I haven't ever used their products, but this is so good I would probably say yes.

I love this product so much I am going to by all the other colours, so watch this space!

Selfies in the sun are hard!

Please feel free to leave any comments or questions!

Betsy Jo

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Hair Quickies!

Hello again! I don't know about you gals, but sometimes I feel super lazy with my hair. I see all the beautiful curls and creations girls do with their hair and I just think to myself, where do they get the bloody time?! 

If you're like me, having to get up six times a week before 7am for a not so glamorous job and college. I really don't have time (or energy) to create the fabulous full on vintage inspired hair everyday.

So, I've done this post to show you how I compromise with quick do's with straight hair! Oh, and I got my roots done and wanted to show off my lovely colours.

Number 1

This is my natural hair.

Take the front of your hair and using a curling iron (mine is 19mm) roll the hair towards your face. Pin and spray. I use my favourite spray by Trevor Sorbie called "Curl Creator" (see more on my other hair tutorial).

Leave pinned hair for around 10-15 minutes to cool. I usually do my make up in this time. 

Once you have taken it out. Backcomb with a thick bristled brush to create height.

Then shape with your fingers, using the technique in picture three. Pull it down gently but still keeping height. You may need to brush underneath to smooth the curl.

Take a section of hair from the side of your head around the size of the first picture. Bring it to the top of your head and grip in place. Do this for the other side too (this will work for both middle and side partings).

Fix your front curl with a couple grips by tucking it under and gently sliding the grip in.

Alternative look with the front curl. This is great for when your hair is in an unwearable state and can easily be cute-ified up with a hair accessory!

Number 2

This look is pretty similar but with a different front.

When I usually do this style I just do it with all over straight natural hair. But, in these pictures I have brushed out the front curl I created in the other look. I think this is a much better way and advise you to do the same if you have time!

Take a larger section of the front of the hair and backcomb it all. Smooth the hair out then bring round to the side of the head and twist it slightly to the shape in picture 3 and grip!

Then, bring a small section of hair from the other side of your head and grip it so it meets your first section.

Finally, bring another small section from underneath the first and grip where the other two parts are.

Spray with hairspray!

Tah-dah!

Number 3
If all else fails I always go with the quiff. Even with my shorter front of hair it is easy to achieve and takes less than 5 minutes.

Use a large section of the front of your hair. Most of the 5 minutes is spent backcombing, but this is essential to enable you to get the right texture of

 hair to style it. Spray with hairspray whilst you're at the stage of picture number 2.

Make sure you smooth it out gently so it keeps volume but still looks neat. Pinch the tip and pull back, then push forwards against your head to get the shape of picture 2.

Slightly twist and grip!

Betsy Jo 

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Cake Pops

Today I've been in the kitchen again making some sweety treats for you all to look at and for me to eat...

I've made cake pops a couple of times after my boyfriend bought me a cake pop maker by American Originals. 

I was raring to go and was keen to use my candy melts I recently bought. I thought this colour would be great to create some cute vintagey looking cakes.

So, after the quick baking of the cake pops I started to decorate. Using melted chocolate/candy melt is a great way to glue the stick into the cake pops. Then, by swirling my cake pops into the melted candy I could smother it all to make them blue. 

I should probably tell you where I'm going with this, basically I gave up on these and went with something different.

These were probably my best creations of the cake pops, and to be honest they didn't taste great. The candy melts are quite artificial tasting and sickly.

I cracked back open the eggs (then used the egg carton as a cake pop holder) and made some more mixture, this time rich in chocolate.

So these were my final creation. Chocolate cake pops with chocolate butter cream made with melted chocolate, sprinkled with chocolate/caramel pieces and popping candy. Look good huh? And they taste great!

 I know people love the pretty delicate look that is created with some cake pops, but frankly it is a waste of time for something that can be eaten in a second. For me, anyway.

I hope these made your mouths water!

Betsy Jo

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My Trip to Lou Lou's Vintage Fair

I've been naughty again...

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get the day off work and help my mum with her stall at Lou Lou's vintage fair in Norwich. I haven't been to one in a few years and I was super excited!

It's always been a great event, but this one was better than ever (and expensive, for me).

So as I said I was already super excited, but nothing could of made me as more excited as when I saw someone selling Collectif!! 

As you all know I LOVE Collectif, I hmm'd and haa'd over all the lovely dresses she had, but fell in love with this one. Unfortunately they no longer have it on the website, but there are a couple on Ebay for auction!

The shape of this dress is just right, I'm not usually a fan of pencil shape dresses but this is so flattering.

Earrings - Collectif

A gorgeous lady called Alice Brown was at the vintage fair with her amazing hair fascinators. I've never had one before but I tried this on and thought it was perfect. I wear a lot of red, so I can wear this a lot! 

Follow her on Facebook for more - Alice Brown's Cupboard  

I then discovered Bad Kitty, who also makes and sells hair accessories. Kitty is a lovely lady who has a great range of stuff.

One thing I bought off her, was this hair clip. I wear the sides of my hair up a lot and this is perfect to hold it in place at the back. 

These amazing head scarves were also from Bad Kitty. I wear my hair up a lot when I'm too lazy to do anything too fancy with it, and I find head scarves are a great way to brighten up the hair do!

These have been made to really good quality, and are a great shape to tie up tightly in the hair and stay comfortably!

Visit her shop at http://bad-kitty.co.uk/ and follow her on Facebook - Bad Kitty

Lou Lou's Vintage Fair is in a lot of places in the UK, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for one near you!

Betsy Jo

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Hell Bunny Poesy Dress

Last week I was very naughty and ended up in Rock Collection whilst doing some make up shopping in the city. I wasn't planning on buying any clothes that day, but you know what it's like!

So, when I walked in and saw there was a sale full of Hell Bunny stuff I could of popped with excitement!

And, this is how I ended up with this beautiful 50's style dress for £25!

I was conscious when I first picked it up as the only size left was a small. But, it really does fit like a dream! The material is kind of stretchy, which is ideal for the shape as it means certain areas aren't restricted! 

The first thing that caught my eye about this dress is the unique cut at the top. I'm not a very big busted girl for sure, so I'm not one for flaunting that area. But I think the open chest makes the dress a bit more exciting. 

Shoes - Iron Fist

I'm a massive waist belt lover and what annoys me with some black dresses is when it's hard to find one which goes! I would of struggled to find the right colour pink belt to match this dress and wouldn't want black as it would blend in. 

So luckily enough for me, one is provided.

When I'm not skint I'll be buying this Hell Bunny Petticoat to complete the outfit. But for now I will still wear it without! I have a vintage fair to attend to next week and I can't wait to show it off.

Oh, and the back is nice too!

Betsy Jo

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Apple Crumble Cupcakes

These tasty cupcakes will keep you warm this winter! Combining apple crumble and cupcakes was something I was wary of... But oh my, they are lovely!

Ingredients: (Serves 12)

• 100g of Butter
• 3 Tbsp of Sunflower oil 
• 150g of Demerara Sugar 
• 1 Egg
• 200g of Plain Flour
• 1 and 1/2 Tsp of Baking Powder
• 3 Tsp of Mixed Spice
• 2 Cooking Apples (Finely Chopped)
• 1 Tsp of Orange Juice

Topping:

• 40g of Plain Flour
• 25g of Butter
• 40g of Caster Sugar
• 1 teaspoon of Mixed Spice

Preheat your oven to 180°c!

Cut the butter into slices and pour the sugar in. Mix these with an electric hand whisk, as the sugar is very heavy.

Once these have combined and starts to make a light consistency, whisk in the egg. (You can carry on with the electric whisk or use a normal one). Then, start adding the flour, this will start making the mixture quite dry so this is where you need to add the oil!

Whisk until well combined and add the baking powder.

Now you can add the mixed spice. I put around 3 teaspoons which is quite strong but it's up to you how much you put in. Whisk this in and then add your chopped apples! Don't worry if the apple all isn't really finely chopped, the bigger bits give it more texture!

Fold the apples in, pour in the orange juice (or squeeze an orange) into the mixture and mix until smooth. 

To make the topping, it's just simply like a crumble topping. Break the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour. Then add the caster sugar and mixed spice and give it a mix!

Pour the cake mixture into cupcake cases, in a muffin tray and sprinkle the topping on top of each. 

Gently press down and they're ready to go!

Bake for 30 mins.

The best thing about these, is that you can eat them hot, so no waiting around for them to cool!

Betsy Jo 

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