Christmas Time, Pickled Eggs and Ale!

Christmas has come and gone - it never has the same spark as when you were a child, does it? Oh well! I received some lovely things, gave some gorgeous gifts and drank way too much. You know it's the festive period when you don't go a day without a copious amount of alcohol!

I wanted to share with you what I had brought my family before Christmas, but you never know who's reading...So I'll share now!

For my mum I bought her a vintage handbag from Geek Vintage who have their shop just down the road from where I live in Liverpool; sadly I have no pictures of the bag as I left my camera at uni! Dong! For my dad I got him a cheerful t-shirt, which of course his best friend Mark had to get as well! I swear those two plan their wardrobes for when we go away! Kinda freaky really...For both the parents, my sister and I got them some Flying Ducks from Notorious Kitsch which will look splendid in their new kitchen whenever it gets done, aha! For my sister, I said I wouldn't get her much but she really needed a new web cam so she got one of those, and also a brilliant hat from Topshop which has ears when you wear it! I thought it was a bit different from the other bear beanies you see around, and so far she hasn't taken it off, along with her onesie haha!

As for my I got a lovely new pair of Freddie's of Pinewood dungarees to go with the top Chloe bought me from them as well. I love Freddie's jeans and judging by the women of the rockabilly community they are the best 1940s style jeans around. I have a pair of their jeans already and they are a must for when I go to shows, but I have always admired their dungarees. The trouble is that being 6' tall with long legs, dungarees never seem to sit right with me, but this isn't a problem with my Freddie's pair!

Me in my Freddie's jeans, photo courtesy of Steve Biddlecombe Photography



What else did I get? Well of course I got my annual restock of Soap & Glory products which was previously running dangerously low; this year I received a tub of 'Righteous Butter' moisturiser, 'Scrub Your Nose In It' facial exfoliating mask,  'Off Your Face' facial wipes, and 'Hand Food' hand cream all from my aunt who had cleverly done a lucky dip of twelve products for me, my sister and my mum to share out, and also 'a Butter Suite' which is a selection of Soap & Glory's best body butters. This reminds me that I need to do a review for the selection of Soap & Glory products that I own!

As for the Christmas period itself it's been none stop visiting and being visited, but having been away from home so long its great to see everyone again! On Christmas Eve I spent the afternoon watching ITV's pantomime's with my cousins, eating plenty of food with mum's side of the family and finally going to sleep past midnight after watching the tradition that is Gavin & Stacey: The Christmas Special. Christmas Day went unbelievably fast with my grandparents (from dad's side) staying at our house. Boxing Day was supposed to start by going to Steve Biddlecombe's annual meet up at Romsey for the car owners (which I heard raised an amazing £1,100 for Prostate Cancer Charity), but dad's car froze over so that was out of the question. Instead we went to dad's youngest brother's house where I ate pickled eggs and drank plenty of ale. Oh so feminine! My godparents came over that evening and yes, you guessed it, we ate some more! How the fridge is still full of Christmas food I'll never know!

So that's it, that was my Christmas! I have one and a half days left of 2010, what shall I do with it? Hmmm...

See you then!

So this is Christmas...

Woah! I have not written a blog in what, nearly a month? Maybe more? Shocking! I have the regular excuses of a busy schedule and plainly nothing exciting to write about.

So what has happened? Well my first semester at university is over and what a trip it has been! Okay so the uni experience isn't as wild as I thought, riddled with sex and drugs, but it certainly is an experience. I've met so many new people that when I came home I immediately missed them and felt like I was leading two lives. I think it's because you live with these people 24/7 that you feel like you've known them forever and they become such an important part of your life. There was one weekend where there was no one on my floor, so what did I do? What does any student supposedly do? That's right, get steaming drunk and do stupid stuff like proclaiming love in a chip shop!





Rosie, Me, Rachel, Anna



As you may have noticed from that picture...my hair is brown! The verdict is still out for the colour really, some people telling me they love it, other's begging me to go back to blonde. So, hmmm, who knows really? I think I'll be blonde again in the summer though.

What else to tell you about? Well I'm trying to get my hair accessories business up and going (HannaLuLu Hair Accessories) and I have all my stock, one stockist at The Vintage Hair Lounge, but really need to get a good logo going so I can have a stall at a few vintage fairs maybe, and some sort of selling website thing.

So this is Christmas at last! In fact I'm typing this opening my advent calender, eating a mince pie and listening to 'Fairytale of New York' (Ahhh the festive line "You scumbag, you maggot, you cheap, lousy faggot!" is so loving).

Hopefully you'll hear from me in the next couple of days with an update of pressies, over eating and general good tidings!

Kukoo Fair Liverpool (21/11/2010)

I've been to a couple of vintage fairs since arriving in Liverpool but this was the best by far! I can't wait for the next one! Set in the amazing 'Aloha' bar the atmosphere could not be more perfect for Kukoo Fairs. The bar looks as if it is straight off the set of 'South Pacific' with its bamboo clad walls, tiki heads and a glorious selection of rum and tequila cocktails presented in a variety of vessels (all from £3.50! Bargain!) - befriend them on Facebook.

The stalls themselves had a brilliant selection of clothes, accessories, jewellery and even cakes (YUM!) with a range of prices - I actually found them really cheap compared to the prices back down south. One of my favourites was All About Eve and, although I didn't buy anything due my gigantic size and odd proportions, I could have spent a fortune, especially as she had a great supply of What Katie Did underwear and some absolutely stunning 1930s inspired cocktail dresses. I did, however, get the purse out for Geek Vintage where I saw a gorgeous fawn coloured woolen A-line skirt with lovely panelling at the front - perfect with a silk blouse and heels or a chunky knit and brown, knee high boots.

Other stalls included:

• Lemon Flirt: Handmade jewellery with a very English feel, full of roses and quaint, quirky bits
• Vintage and Retro Gems: More fabulous handmade jewellery this time with a bit more edge, with pieces including "I love Sailor" necklaces and skull charm bracelets.
• Shameless Originals: Amazing bespoke 'off-the-peg' pieces of clothing including some rather tasty looking fascinators.

I think it can safely be said that this monthly vintage fair will be inked into my schedule for a long time and I am saving my pennies for next months!

Royal Weddings

On hearing the news that Prince William and Kate Middleton have officially announced their engagement I thought I'd take a look back over the 20th century's most famous royal weddings.

The first took place between the Duke of York, Prince Albert, and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26th April 1923. As the Prince of York, Albert could never have imagined he would have gone on to be George VI, but never the less the royal couple chose to wed in the grand Westminster Abbey, having a very public event. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons wore a wedding dress typical of the time with a lace cap covering her dark finger waved hair.



Possibly the most scandalous royal wedding of the 20th century was that of Albert's older brother, Edward to an American socialite, divorcee, Wallis Simpson. The marriage famously led to King Edward VIII's abdication in 1936 due to resentment from the constitution, allowing him finally to marry the woman he loved. Awww, isn't that sweet?

In November 1947 Princess Elizabeth, later Elizabeth II, married Philip. It was a romantic engagement that had to be kept secret due to her age, but the two were obviously in love. Princess Elizabeth, as she still was, saved up her ration coupons (there was no escaping that, not even for the royals!) in order to afford the material for her wedding dress.

"Made of ivory duchesse satin woven from silk from Chinese silkworms at Lullingstone Castle, the dress was decorated with 10,000 white seed pearls, imported from America, silver thread, sparkling crystal and transparent appliqué tulle embroidery. Attached at the shoulders was a 15-foot star-patterned full court train, embroidered in pearl, crystal and appliqué duchesse satin. The ensemble was completed by a silk tulle veil held in place by a diamond fringe tiara, lent to the bride by her mother as 'something borrowed', and ivory duchesse satin high-heeled sandals, trimmed with silver and seed pearl buckles."

Yes..I think that would require a lot of saving!

Most certainly the most famous royal wedding was that of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. The entire nation was gripped by the wedding of the 1980s (Yes, apparently it was better than Charlene and Scott's in 'Neighbours'!) with 600,000 people lining the streets of London hoping to glimpse at the royal couple, and a further 750 million people watched worldwide on their television sets. Princess Diana's dress is possibly the most famous wedding dress of all time, with its lavish 25ft train and trend-setting qualities.

So, I think Wills and Kate have got quite a lot to live up to, don't you think?

When can I expect my invite?

Advent Laptops

Note to self: never, ever, buy an Advent laptop from Curry's again!

I got this laptop for my 18th birthday, so it is little over a year old. Already I have had to have the hard-drive completely replaced and now the charger is dodgy.

The hard-drive was the first problem. The laptop had never performed as well as it should - programs would often freeze the computer, the keyboard was unresponsive and the speakers are, to be frank, awful quality. This was enough to annoy me as I know it was not a cheap laptop. Then one day in June, the laptop wouldn't even turn on! Having taken it to Curry's we were told that there was nothing they could do in the store and we would have to fix it ourselves. Now don't get me wrong, I may look like I live in the post-war years but I do have, wait for it, colour television and an internet connection (I hear it's open on Sundays now!), but to ask me to fix my laptop myself is beyond the joke! Eventually it was taken away and fixed and came back all lovely and sparkly and it worked perfectly.

However, turning it on yesterday I encountered another problem; the battery died on me even though I had it plugged in. Silly old me had not noticed that the battery had not been charging as shown by the icon on the screen, and I had just accepted that the plug in had been charging the battery. Evidently, it had not. The connection was loose and so I now have to fiddle and wiggle it around to make sure the laptop remains charged. This is a pain, so I decided to take the trip into town to buy a new one. What would you say was the average price of a new charger? Well I would have said £50 maximum, so you can imagine my shock when they told me that would be one hundred of my British pounds! That is a third of the value of the laptop from new!

So, the moral of this story, ladies and gentlemen, is NEVER BUY AN ADVENT LAPTOP!!

Vintage Hair Lounge

In January I was sat at my laptop when up popped an email; my regular newsletter from Besame Cosmetics was here! At the bottom I read about how they had a new stockists at Vintage Hair Lounge which excited me greatly! After a few prayers to the gods of all things vintage and glamour I clicked the link to their website and jumped for joy at seeing their salon would be at Southampton!

I quickly headed down to where they said the salon would be but was disheartened when I saw the salon was empty and, practically, a building site. However there was a sign on the glass door saying that they had a temporary base in the Bargate Shopping Centre. Soon I took another trip and met the owners, mother and daughter team, Gloria and Sharon Holloway, who were just as lovely and amazing as I imagined! We talked for hours and have now become good friends with the both of them.

Their theme of 'Keep Calm and Carry On' was their backbone of morale during this time and was celebrated at their Tea Party in August. Here ladies and gents discussed all things vintage whilst the ivories were tinkered in the background. Stall holders could sell their wares, including Besame Cosmetics and Dolly Cool jewellary whilst the salon took bookings for cuts and stylings.

The ladies were invited to be a part of the very first Vintage @ Goodwood, which was another roaring success and were later asked back for Goodwood Revival, so it can safely be said that these ladies are making names for themselves!

The salon stayed in the Bargate Centre for a few months until October 2010 when they moved into their fantastic salon at Kimber House, 118 High Street. Now they are set up and business is booming with beautiful VE Day themed window displays adding something eye-catching and different to Southampton's highstreet.

Call in and book an appointment! You won't be disappointed! With their specialisation ranging from the 1920s til modern, and Sharon's background in theatrical cosmetology they can make you into anything from Greta Garbo, to Marilyn Monroe to the Bride of Frankenstein!

Find them on Facebook and Twitter, and read their official blog.

Why hello there!

So for my first blog I thought I should probably introduce myself. So, hi!

As you may have guessed, my real name is not Roxie Roulette - no parent would ever give their child such an exotic and awesome name! My real name will, however, remain secret; I think it adds to the mysterious allure, don't you agree? I adopted Roxie Roulette when I started doing a little bit of modelling, but more about that later.

I currently live in Liverpool, having moved there nearly two months ago to start my university course - Archaeology BA if you cared to know - and I love it! It's so different to my home town of Southampton! Southampton is tiny in comparison and it can't really measure up to Liverpool's vibrant life.

As I said before, I grew up in Southampton with my family and friends all around me, but have now branched out into the big wide world of 'adulthood' (so they say anyway!). My family are what some like to call 'Throwbacks' meaning they live in another decade; our's, thankfully, being the 1950s rather than something hideous like the 1970s. My dad has the classic slicked back quiff whilst my mum sports flaming red hair done up in the styles of long, long ago.

It is my parents and their friends that I have to thank for my passion and love of vintage and rockabilly. I admit that I am not as dedicated as I would like to be, but when I can I like to sleep in rollers, wake up and put on my Freddie's of Pinewood Jeans and add a touch of red lipstick. I suppose I'm more dedicated in the summer when you can more than likely find me at a car show or rockabilly weekender - this summer myself and my dad managed to make a show every weekend!

From my vintage lifestyle I got into a little bit of modelling, focussing on classic glamour and pin-up. I was always told that I could be a model because of my height, but when I got to my teenage years it became obvious that I was no skinny rake. Pin up seemed obvious as it embraces the curves of the female form, so when I was eighteen I had my first ever pin up shoot, and I loved every moment of it - even though it was on a freezing February afternoon in a studio with no heating! Now, I'm not suggesting I'm the next Bernie Dexter or Fleur de Guerre, but I would like to persue it a little bit more.

So, now you know a little bit more about me! Stay tune for more!