Today’s outfit is a little bit work a tiny bit fantasy… all because it is something I put together for a shoot and then proceeded to have a bit of a diva moment in. The divine Bernie Dexter sent me these incredible ‘Rosie’ dungarees as, I’ll admit, somewhat of a challenge. I haven’t in my adult life worn anything like these. In fact, the last pair I owned were green candy striped with a Smurf appliqué and worn while climbing trees! Mr. SKM has always asked me about these too. Being rather partial to a more down-home kind of girl, he’s been trying to convince me to wear a pair of these for ages, but all I could think about were the bad 1990′s versions worn by teen stars in school hallways! Eeeep!

So when it came to styling these up, I found I was presented with so many choices that it is likely you’ll see them appear in multiple guises over the coming months. But firstly I had to do something entirely classic, a little Betty Grable-esque and (aside from the fabulous shoes) an outfit that is the cutest little gardening ensemble you could imagine! Happy pre-Valentines Day Mr. SKM!

Outfit Details

Denim Dungarees (or as they are often known in Australia – Overalls) – The “Rosie” by Bernie Dexter. Super stretchy and very comfortable light weight blue denim. Two simple side pockets, rear zip and button detail. Yes, they are super fitted and true to size, so if you like things a bit roomier, go up a size or two.

Floral shirt – Princess Highway S/S 2012

Blue shoes – Urban Originals many seasons ago

White bangle – Diva, many seasons ago

Yellow rose – hair flower made by me

Blue Hydrangea – real!

Beauty Note

Nail colour -”My Little Secret” by Missa

Lip Colour – Beseme Red

*All original images by Helen McLean for Super Kawaii Mama.com – Images may be reproduced with appropriate permissions. Feel free to add to Pinterest, Tumblr etc…* 

]]> http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2012/02/07/daily-outfit-inspirations-gardening-with-betty/feed/ 11 http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2012/01/08/how-to-create-a-cats-eye-winged-liner-inspired-by-vintage-bombshell-sophia-loren/ http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2012/01/08/how-to-create-a-cats-eye-winged-liner-inspired-by-vintage-bombshell-sophia-loren/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:45:29 +0000 Super Kawaii Mama http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/?p=8426

Here are the in depth tricks to creating Sophia Loren’s classic cats eye liquid liner look. I spent many hours studying photos of Ms. Loren and just how she achieved this look over the years. Now I’ve broken it down into simple steps for you!  I’ve started this look with my face already made up with a matt base, pink pouty lips and lightly smokey eye. There are new tutorials coming on how to achieve this basic look too, but for now we’re concentrating on the liner which is all you need to add to your current day time look for a sexy alternative.

 

Products Used

Essence – Liquid liner in black with brush tip

Flat angled brush

Maybelline ‘Falsies’ mascara in black

Dark brown shadow by Physicians Formula from the Baked Sweets Trio

Lash Grip clear lash glue

Flat Nose tweezers from Manicare

There are lots of new tutorials in editing at the moment. Hair, makeup, skin care; even cooking!  If you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see, please ask away. In the meantime, make sure to subscribe to my Super Kawaii Mama You Tube channel where all the new video content appears first!

~Sophia Loren & Guess Jeans~

When it comes to high voltage casual looks, no one does it better than the classic hollywood bombshell. And nothing captures this look better for me than the iconic Sophia Loren.  When I started thinking about what I wanted to wear for today’s date to the playground with my daughter and my girlfriend, I turned to Ms Loren for a bit of inspiration – vamping up the look with some killer cats eye makeup. It was once I’d actually dressed and looked in the mirror I was drawn by the parallel between the classic Loren look and the gorgeous Guess Jeans campaigns.  This wasn’t a tricky look to achieve by any means, and was perfectly practical for a day spent in a seaside park, eating burgers and playing on the grass.

Outfit Details

Gingham western shirt with pearl snaps – Harris Scarfe

Denim stretch capri jeans – Bernie Dexter

Lucky Horseshoe necklace – Etsy

Rope soled wedges – Target (years ago)

Carved scrimshaw style bangle – Diva

Eye makeup – Inspired by Sophia Loren and a new tutorial coming soon!! (Currently in editing)

* All original images by Helen McLean for Super Kawaii Mama.com – Images may be reproduced with appropriate permissions. Feel free to add to Pinterest etc.. with linking credits.*  

December is proving to be far more busy and fun than I thought it would be this year. It’s always a busy time, what with the shopping, the school plays, the extra juggle of children on holidays and what not. But this December, although it has only just started, is shaping up to be the most fun and fancy time I’ve had in a while.

This month I’m helping Matchbox and Kitchen Aid with a really cool new contest they are running, in which you can win allkinds of cool prize including your favourite retro coloured Kitchen Aids! All you have to do is dress up in your retro best and take a photo with a Kitchen Aid to enter. I’m having real trouble picking my favourite with the glossy cherry red and hot pink vying for the lead.

Knowing that not everyone is as vintage obsessed with me, they’ve enlisted my help to teach the secrets to getting a vintage look and help you with your entries.  I spent last Sunday down at Chadstone to launch the contest, and will be appearing again in store at Westfield Doncaster between 11-2pm to do another demonstration and answer your questions.  If you have a free afternoon or would like to come down and play Kitchen Aid pretty up with me, make sure to head on down early as it gets very busy! You can find out more about the Kitchen Aid contest details here. (If you happen to be in Queensland, Mistress Chrissy of The Lindy Charm School for Girls will be at Westfield Chermside from 11-2pm this Sunday for you too!)

Listening closely!

The lovely Charlotte from Matchbox in KitchenAid pink!

With everyone’s thoughts suddenly turning to what to buy for Christmas, Some Fancy Ladies™ have been flat out doing store appearances for our 2012 pinup art calendar.  It’s proving to be a hit with young and old, both men and women.  Some of the delightful old dears we’ve run into have told us all kinds of stories from their youth, their wardrobes and even some secret saucy moments. I’m always honoured when we get to meet people and write personal messages on their calendars for them. We’ve had messages of birthday love, Sweet 16′s, Christmas stocking surprises and even something to give grandpa an extra “get well”! Friday night Bonnie Rose and I were in at Flowers of Canterbury on Mailing Road in amongst some of the most gorgeous flowers to meet and greet. Aren’t they just stunning?!

I can be a bit of a ham..

Our swanky calendars and cards

I just adore the colours in here!

If you haven’t ordered your copy of the calendar yet and want to see it in the flesh, you’ll find it locally now in store at Flowers of Canterbury, and Anton’s Clothing in Melbourne Central! Now, time for a bit of a sit down I think!

To celebrate the launch of my new side project Some Fancy Ladies™ and our 2012 Calendar, we’re giving YOU the opportunity to win the prize pack of the year!

You could win your very own exclusive photo shoot with the Some Fancy Ladies Team!

Valued at $3000 this brilliant prize pack includes;

Flights (within Australia) to Melbourne

Vintage wardrobe for the day provided by Bonnie Rose Vintage Clothing

Hair, Makeup & Styling by Candice DeVille

Photography and prints by Helen McLean Photography

Step into the glamourous world of Some Fancy Ladies™ and live the dream for a day!

How can you win this amazing prize?

Simply by spreading the word about Some Fancy Ladies and the new 2012 calendar!  You can share wherever and however you like, be it newsletters, forums, your blog, Facebook, Twitter, you name it. Anywhere you can link your unique URL counts. All you need to do is leave me a comment with your email address to register, and you will be sent your own unique URL.  The URL with the most shares will win this great prize!

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Terms & Conditions - 

URL sharing must be genuine click throughs. Auto generated clicks and excessive click throughs from the same IP address will not be eligible for the final tally.

You must be over 18 years of age and able to fly within Australia or get to Australia to accept this prize.

Entry is open to men and women alike.

Should you not be able to accept this prize, it is fully transferrable to an individual of your choosing provided they meet the other terms and conditions.

The prize pack must be redeemed within the 2012 calendar year.

Prize is not redeemable for cash.

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So What Are You Waiting For? Get creative, get talking and get fancy! Register in the comments now and you could be flying to Melbourne to shoot with Some Fancy Ladies™! 

Entries close on DECEMBER 30th 2011 and the winner will be announced the following week.

It’s my super cute look number two for Halloween!

Outfit

It just so happened that on a previous trip to Texas, I’d stumbled across this cool authentic cheerleaders outfit. I’d had it stored away for a special occasion, and wouldn’t you know it; it’s just perfect for Bonnie Rose – it even has a ‘B’ on it!  The amazing red suede wedges are from the Spring Summer collection at Siren Shoes.

Makeup Products

Base – Bourjoris liquid foundation in ‘vanilla claire’.

Bobby Brown concealer in ‘cool sand’

Face of Australia Translucent powder in ‘Outback’.

Highlighter – cream highlighter by Urban Decay

Eyeshadow – Urban Decay.  Base- ‘Polyester Bride’,  Lid- ‘ Shattered’, Crease -’ Mildew’.

Eyeliner – Liquid eyeliner in black by Essence

Mascara- Loreal Telescopic in black

Lashes - The Face Shop

Blush – MAC ‘Desirous’

Brows – Brow shadow by Ardel

Lips – Pencil in “No. 6” by Stephanie Marais, lipstick in “Trolley Dolly” by Chi Chi

Download!

Not only have my wonderful Some Fancy Ladies™ team helped me create this great image to share, we’ve created a download for you to use this Halloween as a wallpaper for your smart phone or desktop!  Just visit Some Fancy Ladies here and it’s all your’s for free!

2012 Calendar

On Friday the Some Fancy Ladies™ 2012 calendar finally arrived at headquarters here, and OMG!! It is freaking amazing! So get on over to the website and order your copies now – If you place your order before the end of October, your copy will come personally autographed by each of the ladies. Don’t wait – we’re shipping right now to get your Christmas orders across the world in time!

Wedding season has kicked off with a bang and as a specialist vintage hair and makeup artist, it has been a haze of ivory toned lace, antique brooches, brocades, lace and all manner of other vintage bridal looks. I can’t wait to get back some of the images from last Saturday’s wedding at the amazing mid century Boyd Baker House, where the bride was a classic 50′s dream and her groom so suave, he may as well have stepped straight from the Mad Men set.

The gorgeous Marina had planned her vintage wedding with so much care and detail that she’d been collecting original fifties frocks for her bridesmaids from all over the world. She found them matching hats, shoes and even had made each bridal bouquet from a stunning collection of vintage brooches. She came to me with a vision of Audrey Hepburn for her big day and isn’t she just a picture!

Given that I live in Melbourne, home of the Spring Racing Carnival and the Melbourne Cup, it’s not only wedding season, but Racing season. And there are lots of parties to plan for, outfits to style and ladies to transform into vintage queens.  So if you live in Melbourne and you’ve been wanting to create a stunning, polished look for one of your events; you’re in luck! I’ve decided to run a special Spring Summer promotion for anyone based in the Melbourne Metro area on weekdays, to work my hair and makeup magic on you and help you entrance your audience.

But I couldn’t tell you about what’s been happening for everyone else’s special occasions without mentioning the biggest one for me this month…. the launch of my 2012 Some Fancy Ladies™ classic pinup calendar!! The calendar is only the beginning of a very exciting new business venture that I know you’ll be enjoying as each new piece is revealled.  The other fancy ladies and I are hitting the road next week to begin a round of launch parties and events that are set to be red hot.

The 2012 calendar is an homage to the 1940′s and 1950′s work of Gil Elvgren, and we’ve worked incredibly hard to not only capture the look but also the spirit of the original images. I have to say, I’m very proud of what we’ve created.  If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, do it now as the first 100 copies will be personally autographed by each of the ladies. Want to have a sneak peek at how it looks?

No doubt, there will be all sorts of other fun and games to come in the next few weeks. I have some great vintage cocktail recipes coming up for you tomorrow, another amazing pinup halloween tutorial, more scrumptious food then a great review of the shape wear you’ll need after you eat it all, and the story of some interestingly coincidental vintage finds.  If you haven’t already, you can subscribe to my Super Kawaii Mama You Tube channel where you’ll find all new footage delivered to your inbox before it even hits the blog.  And if you want even more secret tips, hints, trick and the low down on the vintage scene in Australia; make sure to sign up for the Official Glamorous Newsletter for email updates here.

Now I’m going to put my weary feet up for a little champagne and go a little crazy on Pinterest for a while. <3

Happy Halloween! – Well almost..

I’m actually on top of my Halloween planning this year and as a result I have THREE, yes count them 3 big Halloween pinup look tutorials for you!  The first of these is my classic Halloween Witch look, shot here with my Some Fancy Ladies™ team.

I wanted to create something classic, simple and easy to follow. A look that you can put together for your own private Halloween party, or perhaps with a little more on, something to take out on the town.

Outfit

In this shot I’m wearing a vintage Rago girdle with stockings by Jonathan Aston and shoes by Bordello.  The hat you can find at any discount store in the costume section. For a great alternative to this vintage, all in one girdle, the Kiss Me Deadly Vargas dress is the perfect solution.

Makeup Products 

Base – Missha BB Cream, YSL Touche Eclate no.1, Face of Australia Translucent powder in ‘Outback’.

Brushes – Eco Tools

Highlighter – Missha ‘Oven Pop Blusher’

Eyeshadow – Physicians Formula Baked Sweets trio

Eyeliner – Liquid eyeliner in black by Essence

Mascara- Almay Intense iColour in black

Lashes - Eyelure ‘ Naturalites’

Blush – MAC ‘Desirous’

Brows – Brow mascara by Prestige

Lips – Pencil in “Poppy” by Savvy, lipstick in “Frosty Berry” by Savvy

Download!

Not only have my wonderful Some Fancy Ladies™ team helped me create this great image to share, we’ve created a download for you to use this Halloween as a wallpaper for your smart phone or desktop!  Just visit Some Fancy Ladies here and it’s all your’s for free!

Stay tuned for the next Halloween Pin Up look instalment where we’ll create a super sexy 60′s Catwoman!

*Depending on how conservative your work place is, this post may be considered NSFW*

Having a really good secret is a sure fire way to put a smile on your face. And you know what they say about people who are always smiling don’t you.. So what’s my secret? My super swanky, super sexy suspenders.

When I first started wearing vintage, I was far too young to even consider this sort of thing, and no one I knew wore stockings. The day came that I was to graduate from those nasty ribbed navy school tights and I didn’t know what my options were. I drew up my courage and made my first foray into a lingerie shop, cheeks blushing and full of teenage bravado. I remember the sales assistant giving my this black lacy ensemble of bra, garter belt and teeny tiny knickers, while I smiled in what I thought was a very mature fashion and proceeded to the changing room. After about a good ten minutes she came back to enquire on my progress, with me fobbing her off with an “oh I wear these all the time” as the garter strap flicked up and hit me in my breathless face for the fifth time. I thought there was some big secret I hadn’t been let in on about how to wear these contraptions, and it was all so illicit that no one could tell me as I didn’t dare ask. But it wasn’t what I thought.

Now, with the benefit of years and hindsight, I realize that the myths surrounding garter belts come from two places. Our grandmothers who hated them and the advertising agencies and movie moguls who’ve conned us into their fantasies. I can only speak for myself, but my ‘suspending’ experiences have been far from torturous…. except for this one.

Lesson 1.
There are suspender belts for life and suspender belts for posing in only. Do not confuse the two.

The very first time I wore my ‘fancy’ new suspender belt from the mall, I experienced a number of unwanted sensations. That strung Christmas ham feeling as the thin, cheap lace of the waist band cut me two. That scratchy sensation from rough, badly trimmed edges; and worst of all, that horrible feeling when you feel a ‘snap’ and notice your stockings are now pooled around your ankles in a very unglamorous fashion.

Luckily, my love of vintage pushed me in the right direction. But rather than getting studious and doing my research, I took my young self out to the local op shop where I discovered my very first 1960’s girdle and suspenders. It wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t really care; after all this was a ‘scientific’ experiment! Here is what I learnt.

A girdle under a pencil skirt is better than any ‘suck you in’ bikini brief on the market.
A girdle (when the correct size) feels like a hug, all day long.
Those industrial strength metal suspender clips are the ONLY way to wear stockings!

Of course, filling my wardrobe with these beige, rubberized numbers was a very unattractive option; so over the years I searched high and low to find pretty vintage pieces with the same functionality.

A friend here in Melbourne with a well known Vintage emporium, heard me rummaging about in the pile of lingerie in her shop one day, bemoaning the lack of available and well fitting vintage styled lingerie. And it was that day she introduced me to Kiss Me Deadly. To make this long story short, once I had my hands on some Kiss Me Deadly suspender sets, I’ve never looked back.  These take me from my everyday, to my dance floor attire, to my super fancy occasions.  I’ve never lost a stocking, had seam creep or had any unfortunate dance floor incidents.  In fact the only dance floor incident I can relate, is being stopped by a group of ladies as I finished a particularly acrobatic number and being asked all about where I bought my fabulous underwear!

Of all the Kiss Me Deadly pieces, the Vargas dress and strapless Vargas dress get the most day to day wear in my ensembles. They are just so darned comfortable and secure, and I know that should I end up in an ambulance with very handsome paramedics, I won’t have a single worry about the state of my underwear.

As you may know, I’ve been honoured to have Kiss Me Deadly as a lovely sponsor of this blog for a while now and I shot this set of images for them last year.  But of course, never resting on their laurels they are always out to improve and create new pieces of fabulous frippery… which I had the pleasure of shooting just the other week!

And here they are, shot by pinup photographer extrordinare Helen McLean- the marvellous, pretty and practical pieces from Kiss Me Deadly!

(If you’re wondering why these are so strongly watermarked it is because these pics tend to get pinched and spread around all over the place without credits. So if you do want to use them, please just email for permission first.)

Because I’m so passionate about what goes on under your clothes to make them look even better on the outside, I’m always on the look out for the best and brightest in the underwear department. Not everything that is marketed as fabulous is really all it’s cracked up to be, and quite often it is the smaller, boutique players that really come up with the goods.  So I’m literally ‘putting my butt’ on the line in the aid of research at the moment, and have written a whole series of posts about ‘unmentionables’ for you. The good, the bad, the pinchy, the perfect. So if you have any particular questions, problems or are just curious as to what all the fuss is about; please do leave me a comment and I’ll do my very best to help you solve your dilemma.

]]> http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2011/09/20/super-swanky-super-sexy-suspenders/feed/ 18 http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2011/09/17/vlog-meet-the-some-fancy-ladies%e2%84%a2-team/ http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/2011/09/17/vlog-meet-the-some-fancy-ladies%e2%84%a2-team/#comments Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:13:09 +0000 Super Kawaii Mama http://www.superkawaiimama.com.au/?p=7953 I’m finally back on the wagon with videos and vLogs, so I decided to kick things off with a short introduction to the Some Fancy Ladies™ team.  We’ve just finished a long day of location shooting hence the hysteria, but this gives you an idea of how fancy, funny and mad we all are. I just love these Ladies!