Preemptive Christmas!

Alas, Alack, my camera is not working, and I am unable to upload the pictures of my costume from last night! I was an Agatha Christie murderess, and my roommate was Poison Ivy. I wore a 3/4 length royal blue silk dress, and a matching blue cloche hat. I procured a long knife for the photo op, but didn't carry it with me to the party, because it was a college event. It was what I wore to see the Great Gatsby (sans knife) and I got the wonderful pickup line: "Can I be your Gatsby for the night?" It was amusing, to say the least.

So, since I have no pictures from last night, today I am going to discuss my preemptive desire to get into the Christmas spirit. Last night I began listening to my favorite Christmas song: The Christmas Waltz, By Doris Day. I love Frank Sinatra's version too.

I love Christmas. I always go all out in Christmas attire around Christmas, I do not care about being tacky. Recently I bought a handmade Christmas circle skirt from The Second Hand Rose, featured on my shops page. A while ago, my friends and I got together for a Christmas party, and this was the result:

From left to right it is: Me, my friend Abby (above), my older sister Joanna (below), my dear friend Leslie, and my younger sister Ruth.

This picture is just the tip of the iceberg. Every Christmas we all do this. We bake Christmas desserts for everyone and in massive quantities. My favorite dessert, however, is the classic French Christmas dessert, the glorious Buche De Noel.

There are many variations, but I make a chocolate sponge cake roll, filled with mocha whipped cream, frosted with dark chocolate buttercream frosting, and garnished with meringue mushrooms. I use crushed candy canes to create the illusion of snow. When I make it this year, I will post my recipe.

I hope I could get you into the Christmas spirit, too, even though it is a little early. The Christmas spirit is about giving, loving, and spending time with family and friends, a spirit that is never out of season.

Happy Early Christmas all!

All Saints Day: Costume 2

Last night a few friends and I gathered together to party-hardy. We all got in costume, and made massive amounts of food. I mean six people made food enough for 20, but only about 15 showed up, maybe less. It was still fantastic though, we had an array of costumes:

Mary Poppins and Burt, my friends Jessie (one of the hostesses) and her fiance Ian!

Starfire from Teen Titans, my wonderful roommate Heather!

The Black Widow, Joyanna, a hostess!

Edgar Allan Poe, sans mustache, my roommates twin Randy!

A soldier, my friend David!

From a Roman Carnivale, a hostess and friend, Brianna!

Red hat society lady, a hostess and long-time friend, Morgan!

She was kidnapped by Fairies, my friend Summer!

Rosie the Riveter, my friend and coworker, Madeline!

A sexy cat, my friend Rachel!

And, me, a Monarch Butterfly! You can't really see it, but I was wearing a crown.

So many costumes, so many friends, and I did not show all of them! It was magnificent, all of the food was wonderful, from pigs in a blanket, to pumpkin dip with ginger cookies.

I broke out all of my serving gear, and if you look in the back you can see copper leaves on a tiered server. That is my newest addition to my chic fall hostess gear.

Tonight, my college is having yet another Hallowe'en costume party. I plan on wearing a less elaborate costume for this, because I am too tired to come up with something too extreme. Tomorrow I will do a post about that with pictures of me and my friends!

The photo credit goes to Morgan Leary (she was the Red Hat Lady). She took pictures that were so much better than mine, I had to use hers. Thanks Morgan!

Hallowe'en Day: Costume 1

I said I would be a character from Theatre of Blood earlier, but then I remembered I had this dress:

A few weeks ago I wore it to be Queen Elizabeth I for a college event. Today I broke it out again. I put it on, and I went through all the possibilities of who I would be. I remembered this dress by Grace Kelly:

 Though her dress has sleeves, and isn't as full, I could see this being a dress she might wear. However, my hair was looking darker than normal today, and I thought of Marilyn:

It did feel quite like this in my dress, thought without the off-the-shoulder sleeves.

I decided this was it. I have darker hair, especially today, but I felt as lovely as ever being Marilyn for Hallowe'en. I told some people I was Cinderella, but, really, I was Marilyn. I curled my hair a little bit, put in a bump, and lots of sparkly jewelry (Diamond's are a girl's best friend!).

Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en!

I hope you all have glamourous vintage revels tonight! I am going to be a character from a 70's Vincent Price movie, Theatre of Blood. Tomorrow I am going to be something magnificent, and surprising, then Saturday my college is having a party and I am going to be a 30's Murderess. Pictures to come later.

I strongly suggest settling in with your friends and loved ones with a big bowl of popcorn and mini chocolate bars to watch Agatha Christie's Poirot: Hallowe'en Party. It is eerie, and perfect for a night like this!

Vintage Beauty Tips: Face

Yesterday we talked about hair, and today we will talk about facial care. I have a fairly simple routine, and it is as follows:

Step 1:

The classic face wash for vintage lovers is cold cream. Ponds is the king of cold creams. I experimented with different ones, and Ponds Cucumber Cleanser works best for me:

It smells wonderful, and it cleans your skin. I will say now, you should look around for the best cold cream for you. I have very oily skin, and this one does not leave me feeling greasy (it did the first week or so, but my skin adjusted nicely, and now it is always smooth). This one runs anywhere from 5-8 dollars for a 10oz jar.

I use it every day but once or twice a week. I use only dab a small amount on my fingers and rub it in to the skin all over my face. Lastly, I moisten a washcloth with warm to hot water (not too hot), rub it on my face to remove the cleanser, rinsing the cloth as necessary.

This cleanser will remove all makeup, even eye makeup. However, I cleanse my face and then the eyes. It does not sting the eyes, as long as you use just a dab on each eye lid. The cleanser will sometimes smudge the makeup so badly it will make you look like a raccoon. That is why I do it second, so I don't smudge eyeliner all over my face.

It will leave your skin feeling smooth and fresh and clean.

Step 2:

I use the cold cream every night but once or twice a week, like I said before. The other nights I use a Buf-Puf, or exfoliating sponge.

A Buf-Puf is a tear shaped sponge that is slightly rough:

They are not easy to find, so when I see them at the drug store I stock up. You can get them in gentle and normal, in case you have sensitive skin. They normally cost about 5 dollars for a pack of two.

To use it, I use a bit of ivory bar soap, a classic. I exfoliate my face for about a minute with the sponge. I rinse my face with very warm water. Doing this once a week cleans the excess skin on my face, leaving a fresh face for the next day.

That is my routine. Cold cream and buf-puf. The buf-puf has been around for a long time, and so has ponds. I feel using these classic items helps embody the vintage lifestyle even more.

Vintage Beauty Tips

UPDATED:

Today is a two post day. The recipe, and this, beauty tips.

To be a true vintage vixen, you need to know what the typical beauty routine was. Women always looked perfect, from hair to nails. There are two aspects that I am going to cover today and tomorrow: Hair and face. Let's start with the hair.

Vintage Hair Tips:

Back in the day, of the 40's, 50's, and 60's, women washed their hair only once every week, or even two weeks. They washed their hair when it looked dirty, and since it was curled or pinned up most days, hair looked clean longer.

When they washed their hair they used a three step process: Shampoo, first rinse with vinegar and water, and final rinse.

The shampoo was never great quality, and it stripped the hair of all of the dirt, because washing was so infrequent. I use Suave typically, because that is most like what they had back in the 50's.

The vinegar was mixed with water (a few drops of vinegar to a cup of water) and used to rinse out excess oil. It works wonders, and you would not think so. Also, it doesn't make your hair smell strange, like I thought it would.

Lastly, you rinse out your hair with plain water, cold if you can stand it. This will make sure you have gotten all of the residue from the shampoo and vinegar out of your hair.

I use conditioner, even though it was not commonly used then. I like my hair super soft.

Alright, you hair is clean. So, now it is wet, you should set it in curlers. Curls last longest when they dry in curlers. I use sponge curlers, but you could use pin-curls, or:

Tape, oh dear.

For a more Marylin Monroe type style (my go to look), I do the largest curlers at the crown of my head. Around my face and nape of my neck, I use small curlers, and for the rest of my hair I use medium curlers.

The set I use is the 48 pack by Conair:

Since my hair is short, I use the green curlers in the pack as the largest curler, yellow as medium, and blue as small. When I had longer hair I used pink as large, green as medium, and yellow as small, using the blue ones only when I had a few baby hairs, or if I ran out of yellow.

I normally wash my hair at night, so I put the curlers in to sleep. But, sometimes, I curl my hair in the morning, and that is when I use one of these bad boys:

My grandmother gave it to my family recently, and it is so much fun to use. Ours has settings for wigs (real and synthetic). I put the dryer on the highest setting for 30 minutes, the next highest setting for 20, and the cool setting for 15. The heat can help maintain the curl for longer.

When the curlers have cooled and dried completely take them out. Use a bristle brush to smooth out the curls to look the way you want them. Mist with hairspray, and done!

A hair set will last about 2-3 days for me, when I brush it out lightly before bed and when I wake up. After that, I sleep in curlers again with dry hair.

Holiday Hostess: Hallowe'en Breakfast

Around most holidays I am going to do a post or two about holiday baking/cooking for a party. Today, I am going to give you all a recipe for a delicious hallowe'en, or just autumn, treat.

Every year around Hallowe'en I start my fall baking binge. Last year, I tried to make cinnamon rolls, for the first time. That did not go over well. I tried a few more times, and finally mastered the recipe. I make them about once a month now, and for Hallowe'en I added a little secret ingredient: Pumpkin

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls:

I am going to break this down the way that I bake it, because I always had trouble when the ingredients list would say 3 cups flour, and then the first step would say "mix flour, 1 cup". I would always miss the "1 cup" and put everything in the bowl at once. I am breaking down the recipe block by block, to avoid that sort of confusion.

To prep the dough:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 packet yeast (2.5 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/2 cup flavorless oil
2 eggs

Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Heat the milk and oil until warm.
Combine with dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition.

To finish the dough:

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal, or oats
2 1/2-3 cups flour

Add oats and mix
Add flour until the dough is no longer sticky.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Shape into a ball, and coat in oil.
Cover and let rise until doubled (20-45 minutes, depending on temperature)

The filling:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup, 1 stick, butter room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup flour
2 tbsp pumpkin puree

While the dough is rising cream butter and sugar.
Mix flour and spices.
Stir in pumpkin.
This should make a spread.

To assemble:

Once dough has risen, put on flat, floured surface.
Roll to about the size of a cookie sheet.
It will probably be about 1/2 inch thick.
Spread filling onto dough, being sure to go all the way to the edges.
Leave one edge clean about 1/2 inch, to seal the dough once rolled.
Once filled, roll the dough into a log.
Slice dough into equal parts (mine usually yields 9 or 10, but I make them pretty big).
     Tip, you can chill the dough slightly before slicing to make it easier to cut.
Arrange the cinnamon rolls on a cookie sheet in a group.
Allow to rise until doubled.
Chill for several hours, or overnight.

To finish:

Preheat oven to 375.
Take the rolls out of the fridge and let get to room temperature during preheating.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden on top.

Frosting/topping ingredients:

I always top with a caramel sauce, so here goes:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1-2 tbsp butter
Dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
1 tbsp of pumpkin puree.

Whisk together all of the ingredients except the pumpkin and butter.
Heat until boiling. Do not whisk at this point.
Let cook for about 5 minutes, until it has the color of caramel (put a drop on a white dish).
Take off heat.
Add butter, it may pop and sizzle a little.
Stir in pumpkin.
Once the cinnamon rolls come out of the oven, immediately pour the caramel over them.


Voila! You are done. It is not easy the first try, but with practice, you can have the most yummy cinnamon rolls for fall! I normally make them at night, and chill them for breakfast the next morning. I use oats in my recipe, because it keeps the final product from getting stale.

Once I make these, I put on a pot of hazelnut coffee, and invite over all my friends for breakfast. It is thoroughly enjoyable, not to mention delicious.
Enjoy!