OOTW: Oh My God Olivie!

Since probably about 2 years ago I've been pining over the Olivie, the reason I never bought it earlier was because A) I couldn't decide on which colour to buy first B) It wasn't available in my size. But I finally caved and bought the pink one seeing as I don't own many pink dresses!

Pink Parasol, Bow and Crossbones - £6

Hell Bunny Pink Olivie Dress, Rockabilly Pinup - £31.88

Hell Bunny White 25" Petticoat, Amazon - £34.99

Pink Paisley Bandana, Amazon - £2

T-Bar Heels, eBay - £15

I did my signature eyeliner, and I had white and pale pink eyeshadow blended out along with my neon pink Barry M lipstick!

I put my hair in a half up half down do. The up being a simple 60's bouffant along with my pink bandanna and the rest of my hair in its natural condition.

Recently I've been super in love with my parasol! I've always wanted one and I finally purchased this gorgeous one from Bow and Crossbones!!

Another technique I'm in love with is doing up the halter neck in a different way from normal, and its so cute! (And it makes me boobs look FAB!

Lots of love my gumdrops!

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

What is it like to be a Rockabilly Girl/Pin-up Girl!

This is one question that is frequently asked to me by a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. I dress in this style nearly 90% of the time I walk out the house - if I'm not in my gear then I'm either popping out for 2 seconds, going to work or I'm not really feeling well. Now even if I'm not feeling too great I try and dress normally with the mind set of "look good, feel good" - but dressing in this style doesn't just come over night. It takes time and practice to look this way.

Lets say I need to leave at 8.15 to go to college... I have to get up at about 7am to make sure I'm ready in time. I normally plan my outfit the night before just to save a little time. If I decide to curl my hair in the morning I normally get up at 6 instead, I then spend a good 10-15 minutes doing my make-up, then about 5 minutes doing my hair. After that I slowly get dressed making sure I don't mess up my hair or make-up. Then its making sure I have my bag ready, then its finding my sunglasses, finding my heels, getting my coat, and making sure it's all still looking neat and perfect before walking out the door. 


I also do a bit of modelling alongside college and work - I'm still working with amateur photographers but working with a few more professionals at some point too. Again, I do spend ages looking good for the camera as well, as you can't be looking like a mess when going for a photo shoot.

Another problem I often face is dreaded spots, like every other human. I often get told my skin is flawless and perfect... The wonders of make-up is all I will say. My skin isn't as bad as it used to be back about 4 years ago, but even now I go through a vigorous routine to keep my skin near perfect. This can be laborious doing this twice a day but in a way its worth it. 

Another kind of issue I get addressed with a lot is people either stopping/staring at you in the street and people always kind of making a comment. People seem to kind of think I don't know I look different in my style or that I'm oblivious to the world. I mean I'm not saying anyone is nasty, but they always make a comment. I know for a fact that the people at my college seem to have an issue with the way I dress, and frankly it doesn't bother me, it's none of their business the way I dress myself. As I said I do often get stopped in the street for people commenting on my outfit saying I look gorgeous, glamorous, beautiful etc, yes this does give me confidence and that is what encourages me to dress in this style. People respect me and appreciate the way I dress - for the first time in my 18 years I've kind of felt that people like me for the way I've styled myself. On the odd occasion people even stop me to have a photo with me in the street - now that to me is something I never thought would happen! The other week when I dressed like Marilyn Monroe, I had a crowd around me to have a picture with me - THAT'S INSANE! 

There is one thing that annoys me though - its when guys think I dress in this way to please them. No, get off your high horse. I dress in this way because I WANT TO; not to satisfy you or anyone else. This is the one thing that does wind me up. Yes I have cleavage, yes I have red lips, yes I'm wearing heels but its not just for your eyes! 

Dressing in this style takes time, patience and of course money. Each month I treat myself to a new item of clothing or outfit to add to my collection. I've built my whole collection up from scratch since about February 2013 - and theoretically I've not been doing this for that long but I already have a huge amount of stuff. This style is all about bringing out your confidence, being unique and loving the style.

I know quite a few people who dress in this style and aren't necessarily into the music. Some people have said that these people aren't "true" rockabillies - who says they aren't?! I personally love the music and the style and do wish in some respect that I lived in the 50's - because life seemed to be that little more simpler then. Men were chivalrous to women and women respected men and were lady like. (Personal opinion) and I just kind of miss having a decent guy.

Being a rockabilly isn't necessarily being like Danny and Sandy from Grease, that's only one part of the scene. Fashion, music and lifestyle are a huge part of the scene too. And that's what I love so much about this scene, its so unique! 
If you want to ask any more questions about my experience of being a rockabilly/pin-up girl then please feel free, I love to answer your questions!

Much Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

OOTW: Naughty & Nautical

Last summer I set myself a target to get back into one of my first rockabilly dresses I bought a few years ago... and I finally did it! I still have a little way to go, but I finally fit back into this gorgeous and cheeky dress! This is a Hell Bunny XL dress which is a UK size 16... YES I FIT INTO A 16 EVEN WITH MY BOOBS!

Seasick Sue Sailor Halter Dress, Hell Bunny - £42.99

(Also here)

What Shawl, Charity - £5

Black Marilyn Cat Eye Sunglasses, Wear it Again Sam - £10

(Also Here)

Cherry Pendant Necklace, Bow and Crossbones - £4.99

Rockabilly Pumps, BabyCham - £15

(Discontinued)

What I love the most about Hell Bunny dresses in particular, you can often find dresses from a few years ago still being sold - which makes me happy if I were to ever want to re-purchase the dress, then I can!

This dress in particular is one of my favourites because it has POCKETS! You don't often find dresses with pockets, but this adorable little thing does! 

Can you tell it was super sunny when I took this picture? Make-up is pretty much the same, I decided to wear my Barry M lipstick in no.52 'Shocking Pink' seeing as some of the detailing on the press was in pink too! My hair is pretty basic, just tied back in a ponytail with my bangs and fringe completely unstyled for a change!

The dress has super twirl action too and for those who have asked me quite a few times, I do wear short underneath my dresses, just in case there is a gust of wind and I have a Marilyn Monroe moment!

Lots of love my petals!

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

OOTW: Hell Bunny Leona Dress

Just want to say thank you before we start... The blog hit 20,000 views on sunday!!! Thats crazy! Thank you so much for reading the posts and just being super awesome! THANK YOU!

Today's dress is the second ever rockabilly dress I ever bought! The first was a purple polka dot one, and I bought this one in London when shopping with my 2 friends! This dress is just a signature Hell Bunny Vixen dress, with the belt and the sweetheart neckline with the halter-neck strap.

Hell Bunny Leona Dress - £44.99
Rockabilly Flats, Babycham - £15

As said above this is just the typical Hell Bunny Dress. I super love the design on this dress, its just so beautiful (and well, super floral). Instead of using the belt that comes with this dress, I used one I got in a 2 belt set from Primark just as I kind of preferred it on the day I wore this outfit. I love this dress mainly because it makes my boobs look FANTASTIC! Cliché I know, but it really makes me feel so much more confident when my tummy is hidden and my boobs and butt are enhanced!

Make-up is the same us usual and again my new pink lipstick is featured, I'm super enjoying wear pink lipstick at the moment! Makes a change instead of red all the time! I just used a coral pink bow headband in my hair along with a simple pearl necklace!

On my tootsies, I just have some white socks rolled down for a more preppy look again! I got loads of compliments when dressed like this, and by having socks with my shoes it made me look a little more preppy!

Another short but sweet post from me today!

See you Saturday!

Much Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxoxox

P.S Cutest 30 seconds you will watch ever! ARGH I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJeqMLP-00s

Yummy Bee Burlesque Ruffle Knickers Review

I'm back with yet another review of one of my favourite lingerie companies at the moment! I super love burlesque ruffle knickers, they are cute and sexy kind of rolled into one! The Yummy Bee ones are super comfortable and go really well with wearing suspenders without the ruffles catching onto my suspender belt hooks or grips. I bought mine in a size 16-18 and this is how they fit me...

(Please excuse my rather large booty!) These knickers, have 2 bows on the sides, and they do ride up your bum, that's just the style of them. I personally don't find them annoying like they are giving me a wedgie or anything, they are really comfortable and easy to wear. The ruffles are also made of a really nice soft material, when mine first arrived I washed them straight away as I get a bit funny about underwear and that, and if you use softener this will also make your knickers that extra bit softer. At the front of the knickers, for me it does kind of bow in at the front where the band meets, however this isn't too much of any issue as it is uncomfortable in any way at all. What I also really like is the company cater from sizes 8-24 so near on anyone can get a pair of these lovely knickers!

I would definitely recommend these knickers to anyone, I'm just about to buy the black pair as I currently only have White and Red. These are definitely the knickers you want for that sexy but comfortable feel!

You can buy them here 

Love 

Emma Victoria

xoxox

OOTW: Check out that Check!

I think because of the Gingham top I just get a country sort of feel to this outfit... I just super love this long black pencil skirt too! Its my absolutely favourite thing to wear atm, its so easy to pair up with all sort of outfits especially when you are in a rush!

Red Hair Flower (Pack of 10), Amazon - £4.99

Black Marilyn Sunglasses, Amazon - £9.99

Red Gingham Dolores Top, Collectif - £30

Black Long Pencil Skirt, Mums Wardrobe - £Unknown

(these were bought back in the 1970's - and they are in perfect condition, they were roughly around £5 each for the three I have).

Black T-Bar Heels, eBay - £15

My make-up is pretty basic, but I have just cream eye shadows on my eyes, with white in the middle and a really pale smudge red on the outside of my lid  with my black winged eye-liner. Seeing as the red is really dominant on my top and eyes I just used my Barry M red lipstick with a pink undertone for a soft but cute sort of look. My hair flower is just pulling some of my hair from the side of my face back for a cute and simple look. 

Red seems to be a common theme in this outfit.

(I wore this outfit on one of my shoots so make sure you go to my facebook page to see the final images!)

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

OOTW: Lindy Bop Lois Dress

Yet another lovely dress from my favourite budget dress company... I couldn't help to not buy this dress in Lindy Bop's 25% off sale at the end of January and I had been eyeing up the Lois dress for quite a while now!

Lois Secretary 40's dress, Lindy Bop - £29.99

Leopard Print Headband, New Look - £5

T-Bar Heels, eBay - £15

Recently I've really been getting into the whole 1940's style and preppy sort of style. Just feels so natural and lovely, and this dress is the for-front of my outfit list at the moment! 

Love

Emma Victoria

xoxoxox

OOTW: 40's Glamour

Super quick post today (sorry!) I'm a little snowed under with work and college work. I've kind of got a go to skirt at the moment, I have 2 of these stretchy skirts, one in black, one in brown and one in sand! They are so comfortable too and perfect for that 1940's style look!

White Scarf, Peacocks - £5

Freddie Knitted Top (Antique Green), Collectif - £34.50

Stretchy Sand Skirt, Mums Wardrobe - £?

Black Belt, New Look - £5

Black Ballerina Pumps, Next - £28

My make-up is the same as always, with black eye-liner and signature red lips. Also make sure you go and check out my tutorial on how to do my perfect red lips (click here!). 

Lots of Love & Kisses

Emma Victoria

xoxox

Perfect Red Lips Turtorial!

Yet another tutorial, this one I feel more confident doing as I do this near on every blooming day! I love red lips and this is how I get my perfect red lips. I kind of base mine off how Marilyn Monroe did hers, I've become slightly more infatuated with Marilyn over the past few weeks and just kind of wish to replicate her a little more in my style as of recently.

What You'll Need

Red lip liner (Mine is Rimmel 021 Red Dynamite)
2 red lipsticks (I have the Barry M one in shade 121 and the Seventeen in Red Hot Chilli they are also blue undertone lipsticks)
Clear Lipgloss
Tissue

Step 1 Moisturise and Prepare To prepare my lips before being covered in my red goodness, I use a clean toothbrush over my lips to just remove the dead skin and make them super smooth, I then use my babylips lip balm and wait till this kind of dries a little.

Step 2 Line it Up Now you want to take your lip liner and start drawing round the outline of your lips. I like to make my cupids bow super obvious and to stand out more so I tend to draw these a little more exaggerated and above my natural lip line ever so slightly. I tend to be quite strict on my lips and only really want the cupids bow exaggerated and the rest is uniform. 

Step 3 Lipstick No.1 Now I use my Seventeen lipstick, just simply going round my lips and not going outside the lip liner. This lipstick is super vibrant and bright and I love it! Once rubbing your lips together to make sure your lips are covered you then need a bit of tissue to then blot your lips to take off the extra bit of lipstick.

Step 4 Lipstick No.2 Again this time using your other lipstick, mine is the Barry M lipstick, and again going over your lips, rubbing them together and then blotting to take off the excess.

Step 5 Gloss To make my lips that extra bit more glamorous I like to use gloss on top, I just have a cheap one from Superdrug and its so good. I have a seperate gloss from the rest of my other ones as I have one for specifically applying onto red lipstick, as the wand does normally pick up the red lipstick on your lips. It doesn't matter if your gloss does go a red tint though as it's going on top of your red lips anyway! Just apply the gloss all the way around your lips, rub together and et voila your DONE! 

I super love red lips, and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

OOTW: Death by Love... (Valentines Day)

Today's post is an outfit I'd possibly wear on a date for Valentines Day - even though I don't have a date I will just be wearing this on Friday because well, I'm single and just screw what the world thinks.

This outfit is a little more edgy (I'm feeling a little bit Psychobilly this week and will probably have my hair in a pomp too for a more hyperbolic look). I really kind of like the subliminal meaning in this outfit, for me it says "Love till the Death" seeing with the black and white roses and skulls on my skirt, I'm trying to be somewhat romantic... And failing?

Black Dolores Top, Collectif - £25

Skull & Rose Skirt, Lush Clothing (on eBay), - £5.99

Ivory Pearls, Collectif - £15

Black T-Bar Heels, eBay - £15

I just really like the fact that this outfit is not too girly and stereotypical, but also that it has that edgy feel. Love is made out to be something easy and you just 'know' and yes that's somewhat true, but love can be painful and it can ruin you (I found that out the hard way), and for me personally that reflects how love has effected me. For my make-up I have done simple make-up, with my normal winged eye-liner and my dark berry Rimmel lipstick; my eye-shadow is just a pale pink as this just makes my eyes pop a little more instead of having a really bold colour, I just chose to have my eye-liner thicker for a stronger look. For my hair in this picture I just have it tied up in a ponytail and rolled in on itself with a leopard print headband. But I may also just do a large pomp with my fringe for a more 'psychobilly' look.

Happy Valentines Day for Friday to you Singletons and those in a relationship!

(JUST BE HAPPY!)

Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

OOTW: Darling Dots!

It might be quite obvious but I love polka dot's! Back in December, Collectif had a 50% boxing day sale and I got 3 new items (the other 2 previously shown in my OOTW back on the 8th January!) and the other skirt I got was the navy blue polka dot liesel skirt! This is a simple little look and super cutesy - I've been so busy this week that my effort in my fashion has slightly slipped, so this was an easy outfit to just throw together quickly early in the morning! 

White Long Sleeved Top, Nouvelle - £12

Navy Polka Dot Liesel Skirt, Collectif - £46.50

T-Bar Heels, eBay - £15

Chiffon Polka Dot Print Bandana, Collectif - £5

I just love the simplicity of this look! Its adorable and preppy! I think the little bandana makes it that little bit extra cute! My make-up is just my normal winged eyeliner and I'm just wearing a plain lip gloss for a little shine! I do have a lot of comments about the expense of Collectif clothes - however I am paying for the quality of the product! (P.S Sorry my hair is a little greasy, I was just about to wash it and curl it!)

Lots of Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox

V is for Victory Rolls! - Tutorial

Okay so this is something I've only really just started doing myself, I've always been kind of 'scared' of doing victory rolls, just because they looked super complicated and I'm absolutely useless with my hair (and my hair never wants to do anything I want it to do!). You'll have to excuse how messy they are, I did kind of do them really quickly as I've had a tonne of English assignment work to do for college and its important that I got that done first!

 However, I've been asked by a few people on how I do my victory rolls... Please bare in mind I've watched a tonne of YouTube videos, read many blog posts and even asked someone who does them everyday for tips on how to do mine simply and perfectly.

What You'll Need!
Hairbrush
Hairspray
Rat tail comb
Lots of Bobby Pins/Grips
Bows (optional)

Step 1 Section your Hair Using your thumbeand first finger you want to section off the hair you want to put into a roll. Put your thumb by the top of your ear, your finger at the top centre of your forehead and scoop the hair into your hands. The picture on the right demonstrates what I mean if it sounded super complicated!

Step 2 Back comb This step is super important and you MUST do this properly, for a neat and tidy roll. Using your rat tail comb, back comb the back of the hair, but back comb to the point the hair stands up on its own, back-combing gives the roll its thickness and the sturdiness for it to stay standing - just like mine on the left. This step is crucial!! 

Step 3 Time to Roll Now you are going to roll the hair, take the ends of your hair and make sure they all come together nicely. Now if you struggle with putting your hair into a roll then you can use curlers/straighteners to just curl the ends of your hair. Now you have to decide whether your rolls will be in the centre or just off to the side, and then roll your hair into place. Take a pin and secure it down (don't worry if hairs are sticking out a little and the hole in the roll isn't there, we will fix this in a few steps!). I normally use two pins and make sure they cross over each other, one being put in from the front the other from the back and make sure its super secure. 


Step 4 Secure Adjust & Spray Now you want to hairspray your roll, I normally spray mine from the back so the front stays nice and polished and neat. Now is when you can sort out the problems, using a rat rail just go round in a circular motion in the middle of your roll, this will help make the hole visible and will push your hair up into the rest of the roll, using hair spray to make it damp inside so that the hair will lay amongst the roll. 


Step 5 The Sides The sides of my hair normally like to be naughty and poof out, so I normally use either spray or wax just to flatten them down and make sure they don't move, if using wax make sure you warm it up a lot in your hands and then going from the bottom (near your ears) pushing up towards the roll to make it stay. 

Step 6 Repeat the steps on the other side. Once you have done this hair style a couple of times you get better and quicker at it. Maybe try doing it a few times when staying in the house just so you can practice!

Step 7 Final spray of hairspray from a distance and you are done. If you want you can add a bow in the middle like I do, just for that little cute effect!

I know mine don't look fantastic in this picture but check out first OOTW of 2014 (here) and you can see them done properly and neatly! 

Well I hope this was helpful for you! I tried my best at making it as simple as possible!

Lots of Hugs

Emma Victoria

xoxox

How To Tie A Rockabilly Hair Bandanna!

I have 2 methods on how I tie my Rockabilly headscarf's in my hair, obviously each person is different and I use my two depending on the outfit and what I'm doing/the weather! 

Simple Wrap Around

1. First of all you just want your bandanna in a diamond shape and then fold this in half. You might want to iron it first, unlike mine, because I wear mine so often I never have the time to keep ironing it!




2. (Image on the right) Next you want to fold down the top tip of the bandanna, how much you fold it down by will determine how thick your bandanna will come out. I like to fold mine by about 5-6cm just so its just right for me. Now you just want to keep folding right down until you get one long strip (the 3rd image on the right).

3. I normally have my hair tied up in a ponytail or a bun with this style, and my fringe is in either betty bangs or its quiffed up (like in my Rockabilly Zombie post). Now you want to take the two ends and tie them onto your head into a knot. I prefer to tie mine at the front, but others may prefer the side of possibly tucked under the ponytail for a neater look. And then you are done! 

4. OPTIONAL - If you want to secure you bandanna a little more then you can add bobby pins to secure it to your hair, this is especially helpful when its really windy out and you don't want to lose your scarf and mess your hair up!

Rosie the Riveter Style
I currently do not have a red polka dot scarf, but I still use my red paisley one as it works just the same. This is perfect for when you set your hair and you need to go out quickly, you can just put this on to hide your curls and no one will know!

1. The first step is quite similar to the other method, but instead of having the two tips meeting, you have the inner one shorter then the outside one, this is so you can bring the longer piece through when you are tying it up. I normally take mine from about 1/4 of an inch to about 3/4 inch, depending on if my hair is in rollers or just flat against my head. 

2. The next step is putting it onto your head, you want the straight edge against the bottom of your head/neck. You then want to tie the two side parts like in the top one and bring the excess part of the scarf on top underneath where you have tied your two bits together. (Look at image to kind of understand what I mean, it sounds a lot harder then it really is!)

3. Now you need to bring that extra strip dangling down back up, and then again tie your two strips above the part you pulled back again. This will secure it in place and will make it look a bit more flush. And you are done - again if you want to secure it in place then you can use bobby pins, but this is up to you!



If you have any other tutorials you would like me to have a go at then please leave a comment below or message me on my facebook page!

Much Love

Emma Victoria

xoxox