Febuary Inspiration

This month i am revisiting the movie Taxi Driver. I just love Jodie Foster's wardrobe in this film.
I was excited then when i saw Marc Jacobs Spring release for this year. Someone had definately been inspired by Taxi Drive too ! Its all 70's meets 30's.











How cool is the makeup ? I am loving the shiny green eyes contrasted by the matte lip.
"We were inspired by Angelica Huston in the '70s," lead makeup artist François Nars explained. To create the bold matte lip, he applied his own Pure Matte lipstick in Volga, along with African Queen lip liner and eyeliner pencil in Mambo. The glossy dark green eye was created with Night Porter and Nouveau Monde eyeshadows; Celebrate soft touch shadow pencil; and Larger Than Life mascara. On cheeks, models wore Nars' cult-fave blush Orgasm. Notably absent: eyebrows, which were bleached before the show.

"the inventor of the pin-up"

Jean-Gabriel Domergue (French / 1889-1962 )
Domergue specialised in portraits of Parisian women. His work defined a particular kind of swan-necked doe-eyed female beauty.
According to winkipedia ~ Domergue was born on March 4, 1889 in Bordeaux and studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. From the 1920s onward he concentrated on portraits, and claimed to be "ma première pin-up" ~ "the inventor of the pin-up"

He also designed clothes for the couturier Paul Poiret.
From 1955 until 1962 he was the curator of the Musée Jacquemart-André, organising exhibitions of the works of Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Goya and others.









You can buy digital collage sheets here on Etsy.

Illamasqua Inspired Heart Manicure

I am in love with the manicure featured in the new Throb collection.

I have been wanting to try and do a manicure inspired by the Alex Box one so here it is !

I took a bottle of Wet & Wild 449C white nail polish and added 2 drops of yellow and 2 drops of dark beige polish into it to achieve a good cream colour.
Below is a pic of all 3 polishes we used for this manicure. We thought we had a matte black polish but didn't, but since this was our first attempt at it we used what we had.
I painted the cream polish ( that explains why it looks messy ~you have to remember i was the child that coloured outside the animals in her colouring-in book )and then did the hearts.

Next step , paint with the new cream polish

Then paint on the outline of the heart shape with So Easy Strike Right in black.

Then fill in with black nail polish and viola all done !



Can't wait to do this again but with matte black polish and a steady hand.


Next time will use a matte black polish & i will try and stay inside the lines ! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Step Right Up Folks !

January brings a long love of all things vintage big top related. Carnival stripes, circus girls, elephant handlers, snake charmers, fairy floss, clown hats and side show alley( and yes i still heart you Pee Wee !)







The amazing Miss Batcakes makes the coolest circus hats !


I am lusting after her circus collar !

This past week i have also re watched the fabulous HBO series Carnivale. Every time i watch it i see new things, draw new inspiration, fall in love with a different character, and think "why did i not notice THAT, last time i watched this series ?

The set & costume design inspire me endlessly and now i want to live in a 1920's circus trailer with Management, blood red velvet drapes, beautiful dark wood,chandeliers, dust bowl print fabrics, old glass, 1000 leather bound books and a bottle of absinthe.
Who wants to run away with me & join the circus ? And speaking of the circus, due for release in April 2011 is Water For Elephants. Staring Reece Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson it is a film adaptation of Sara Gruen’s bestselling novel about a love triangle set in a 1930's circus.






Have not decided whether i will redbox this film or not. It usually happens if i fall in love with a book then the film usually disappoints me.
I will see it purely for the visuals, the set and costume design and that way i won't get caught up in how close the film follows the book.
Movies like these i like to watch at home so i can stop,sketch an outfit or idea and then restart it, but, i also love seeing it on a big screen too.
You can Watch the trailer here.
Let the show begin !!!

New Range from Illamasqua !

I am so excited about their new range,Throb. It is being released in the U.K in time for Valentines day, i just hope they release it here in the USA.
I am a huge fan of their products, i love their lipsticks, their eye shadows and nail polishes.
The lipstick, Sangers, looks like it could be the purrfect blood red lipstick that
I have been searching for. The kind of red that a 1930's siren would have worn.
The lip gloss Succubus which is a fabulous shiny red and would layer well over the Sangers. I for one do not wear lipgloss but have heard nothing but glowing reports of Illamasqua's glosses. I would imagine layering this gloss over the Sangers lipstick would really amp up the colour.
There are 3 nail polishes,
Throb- a great true classic red shade
Load- a cream shade nail that will work well with the reverse moon 40's manicure
Scorn- a midnight black matte shade, how cool is the heart manicure shown here using Load & Scorn ? This is a manicure i will definitely be doing !

While i was searching for a release date for the USA i found this info on the Throb promo image,courtesy of ever fabulous karla sugar
How clever is Alex Box, the artist who designed this look ?
Cream Foundation 100
Rich Liquid Foundation 115
Powder Foundation 105
Powder Blush in Disobey
Powder Blush in Intrigue
Pure Pigment in Furore
Powder Eye Shadow in Heroine (on cheeks and eyes)
Powder Eye Shadow in Sex
Cream Pigment in Emerge (new for spring/summer!)
Cake Eyeliner in Mislead
Sealing Gel (for eyebrows)
Precision Ink in Abyss
False Eye Lashes 021
Lipstick in Sangers
Intense Lipgloss in Succubus
If anyone has the scoop on a release date for the USA please let me know !
***NEWS JUST IN *** it will be released here, as soon as i have a date will post.