Christmas Tag!

Ria over at Wishing for Chanel was tagged to do this Christmas Tag by Amy at PaintPotted and she went and tagged me to do the same.

1. What's your favourite thing about Christmas?
Being home. Living so far from home it's so nice to come home, sit by the fire and drink lots of mulled wine surrounded by family and old friends.

2. What is your favourite make up look for the festive season?
It's got to be red lips, hasn't it? Or glitter? I love a bit (read as: a lot) of glitter at Christmas!

3. Real tree or fake tree?
I love the smell of real Christmas trees but they're just not practical any more. Maybe someone could invent a fake Christmas tree that smells like a real one?

4. Giving presents or receiving presents?
This year I've really enjoyed buying and wrapping my presents for people so I think it's got to be giving this year. Unless I receive, I don't know, a nice chap all wrapped up? Keep dreaming...

5. Do you open presents Christmas morning or eve/evening?
We used to do our Santa stockings in the morning, but now we're all grown up and St. Nick doesn't visit us we do our presents from under the tree in the early afternoon, just before Christmas lunch.

6. Handmade cards or bought?

Oh hand made cards are so lovely and if I was one of those women that had 32 hours in her day I would definitely make some of my own. But alas, I do not, and so I try and find the most unusual Christmas cards to send to loved ones (Pennychoo have the best selection!)

7. What is your favourite Christmas film?
Oh I have to many! I love Home Alone but I also love Meet Me In St. Louis - I can't decide!

8. What's your favourite Christmas food?
The cheese. My parents always have the most wonderful selection of cheese at Christmas - they're kinda famous for it amongst friends and family!

9. What's your favourite Christmas song?
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland

10. What's your favourite Christmas memory?
Ooh this is a toughy! I would have to say either spending it in Pakistan with my cousins in 2007 or the Christmases I had as a young child when it was all still so magical.

That's it! My Christmas tag is done, and now it's your turn! Go on! Do it! Spread a little Christmas cheer! Don't be a Scrooge!

Daily Face - Week #4

Welcome to week #4 of my Daily Face project! It was spent at many Christmas parties (hence the nice photos and the one hungover photo)

Day 22 and 23 were spent in the library finishing off my first chapter of the dreaded dissertation (The Influence of Greek Colonisation on the Domestic Architecture of Iron Age Sicily) so are rather unexciting. Day 24, however, that was the day of the fabulous hair, too much gin and absinthe, and meeting a lovely dog. The photo showing my Day 25 reflects the aftermath of Day 24 pretty well I think! Days 26, 27 and 28 is much more glamorous! I braved the Sunday Shoppers on Day 26, went bowling on Day 27 for my friend Gillian's birthday (my team, captained under Will, won!), and then Day 28 was taken just before I went to TAG's (an archaeology conference that was being held at my university) Christmas party - drinking with lecturers and pretty important people in the archaeological world was so much fun - and then on to Aloha's Mele Kalikimaka party!

I'm at home for Christmas now, and Week #5 is well under way so come back late next week (after the festivities) to see how it pans out!

Student Suppers - Risotto

I was only introduced to this Italian rice dish earlier this year when I turned vegetarian for Lent, but even since turning carnivorous again it has remained firmly on my menu being eaten at least once a week.

The good thing about risotto is you can make it exactly what you want; whilst I keep mine simple  using the recipe below, my house mate Heather tops her's off with cream cheese and smoked salmon. Sometimes I swap the veggie stock for chicken stock for a creamier taste, sometimes I use red wine instead of white, and sometimes I don't add any wine at all - usually because I've drunk it all!

So, here's my simple risotto recipe for one serving:

Ingredients:

• 100ml of rice (white or special risotto rice - much more expensive, so I stick to just white)
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 a white onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 glass white wine (optional - if you leave it out, just add an extra 50ml of stock)
• 400ml of vegetable stock (more if the wine is left out)
• Peas
• 1 tbs of olive oil

Method:

1. Soften the onion in the oil, and then add the garlic (careful not to burn it!)
2. Add the rice to the onion, garlic and oil. Stir it thoroughly to coat the rice in the oil.
3. Pour in the wine and stir constantly - so the rice doesn't stick to the pan - until all the wine has been absorbed into the rice.
4. Add the stock a little at a time, adding more once the liquid has been sucked up by the rice - and keep stirring!
5. Chuck in the peas when you have about 100ml of stock left so they are cooked.

The cooking should take about 15 minutes (your arm will ache but it's worth it) and should use up all your stock, but just add more water (or wine!) if you run out.

Enjoy!

Daily Face - Week #3

Here with me in my first complete week of blue hair:

Day 15 sees me venturing out for the first proper day with blue hair, victory rolled to the max. I made the silly mistake of wearing a lot of eye liner on a day that decided to p*ss down with rain (I covered my hair with my scarf to save myself turning into some sort of Smurf creature). Ooh la la I got glamorous on Day 17 with the Society of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology Christmas Dinner. Day 18 was taken just before a cheeky shift at my old work, Aloha - oh how good it was to be back! Not really sure what happened with day 19, I look very happy, and my hair is very curly! I like Day 20 so much I've made it my picture of a few sites I'm on - unfortunately the look went to waste as I then got ill...hence the sorrow in Day 21 =(

Join me next week for Week #4!

Dear Santa...

I think Christmas has been coming since mid October, but I haven't really given it much thought until recently - the mother's been nagging me to get a list to the family so I thought I should get it sorted. So, here is my little list of goodies that I hope to get in my stocking this festive season :)

Utility Jeans from Freddies of Pinewood

Glamour Girdle from What Katie Did

Gold Seamed Stockings from What Katie Did

Saddle Shoes from Rocket Originals

Naked Basics Palette by Urban Decay

And then to top it off I'd love tickets to three weekenders I really want to go:

Hotrod Hayride (obviously!)

The Rockabilly Rave

The Trip Out

That's my list, what's on your's?

Daily Face - Week 2

Here is the second instalment of my Daily Face series!

The week started just as glamorous as the previous week: cleavage was queen when I went to Keiran's surprise 23rd birthday party with a James Bond theme on Day 8, Day 9 was spent recovering, but my hair stayed in relatively well so it wasn't all bad, and then Day 10 was taken just before I went out on a night out rocking some vampy-glam look (I quite like it!). And then, well, uni work caught up on me, hence the boring glasses + no make up combinations of Day 11 and Day 12 (I was reading about Çatalhöyük if anyone cares to know - that's what the book says). Day 13 was spent bleaching my roots for the drama that was Day 14 and the Blue Hair Gate.

Stay tuned for week 3!

I'm Blue (Dabba Dee Dabba *Hair* Dye)

Hello! I hope everyone's doing well and is getting all those lovely festive feelings?

Well, I've had a bit of a hair change for this chilly season - it's gone blue! The photo below (sorry for the quality, I did it on my iPod) was taken the day after I dyed it so it's really vibrant, but it's faded a little to a lighter, slightly more aqua blue - I'll try and get photos of this to you as soon as possible, but at the moment it's all up in rollers as I'm off out for our archaeology Christmas party tonight.

For the dye I combined LaRiche's Directions Hair Dye in Atlantic Blue and Turquoise. You can see the various colours in my hair up close,  it looks like mermaid hair!

I chuffin' love it!

Daily Face - Week #1

I've decided, now I have a fancy iPod with Instagram and that, that I should take more photos of my face and what not. So here is my experiment:

I plan on taking a photo of my face everyday for the foreseeable future, no matter it's state, and report it back to you on a weekly basis.

I don't know how long this will last, but I hope it shall be fun whilst it does!

Here we go...week #1:

As you can see, I've had quite a styled week - doesn't day five (What I shall now term as the Sunday Set) look glamorous? Oh, the woes of being a vintage goddess! (Pah I wish!). I wore my hair up in victory rolls on day one, then set it on day two in an updo that stayed for two days before being brushed out and worn down for two days. Sunday Set came along on day five, and as you can see from both days six and seven it was highly successful!

So, there you have it, my week in my face.

Stay tuned for next week!

The Day I Fell In Love With A Town.

For a while now I've been thinking of what to do when I've graduated. I know I'm going back south (I'm a softy southerner for life, there's no denying it), but where oh where shall I go? Well, I think I've solved the conundrum...BRIGHTON! If I was a town, I'd like to say I was Brighton. It's everything I love in a town: the sea, lots of little shops and things to see, and lots of nice people that don't stare at me like I'm a ghost or a freak.

Last Tuesday I pootled down on the train (only an hour and a half from Southampton too!) to scout out the possibilities I could encounter if I moved there. First, I headed to the sea - it called to me you see - and, oh, how glorious it was! It was sunny, yet had a little breeze, and I ate my sandwich gazing on the remains of the old pier. Bliss! It took me a little while to find The Lanes (I headed up the wrong way) but with a little help from a nice lady in Bert's I got myself there. I wasted away a good few hours just browsing the stores (I could have spent thousands of pounds but alas, I am poor), admiring the variety of things available. You can only imagine my joy when I found a shop dedicated to rockabilly fashion that sold Freddie's of Pinewood jeans! They also had loads of events advertised in the window that only added to my ever growing list of why-Hannah-should-move-to-Brighton. One final mention to a shop that I could have possibly lived in: Irregular Choice. You may have seen Irregular Choice's shoes in Schuh but this was there proper store and wow! The stuff they had in there was phenomenal! Yes, they are quite pricey, but they are so, so, so pretty! Just look at the window display for a little taster of their goodies!

Irregular Choice window display - Give me them ALL!

Nice bit of tiki! There are a fair few tiki bars in Brighton too

I took luncheon by the Brighton Pavilion, as one must! It was possibly my favourite lunch of all time, and I can see, if I move there, an addiction developing. I had a pastrami, swiss cheese and mustard bagel with Root Beer. How American!

The archaeologist and general museum lover got distracted by the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. Unfortunately I was one week too early to enjoy the Biba & Beyond exhibition, but it's on until Easter, so I'm sure I'll head down to see it at some point. The museum itself is really wonderful - there is something there to entertain anyone and everyone, whether it's modern art, traditional art, design, history, archaeology...the list goes on! And, best of all, it's free! I inquired about jobs and volunteering there, and got a few numbers, so it seems the ball is already beginning to roll!

(Going Clockwise) 1930s glass tea set, 4000 year old Egyptian sandals, tea cup with  moustache protector, 1920s silver thread wig

Oh Brighton! How I love you! I can only hope that one day I will become a proud citizen of your town!

Chaps at Goodwood

As I said in my little ditty on this years Goodwood Revival my personal highlight was the antics of the Chap Olympiad. Usually held in July, the fellas over at The Chap magazine also put on their alternative (and, in some counts, far superior) Olympic events. The afternoon started with the ceremonial lighting of the Olympic pipe and continued with events such as Bicycle Jousting (two chaps - or chappettes - stride forward on their triumphant steeds brandishing umbrellas and briefcases), the deadly duel with lobsters (first to pluck bodily hair from his opponent is the winner), and moustache tug-of-war. There were three instalments of the event, culminating in the award ceremony, with Mr Marlowe taking first place, and the ceremonial extinguishing of the Olympic Pipe.

I shall say very little else on the event, and let my 'wonderful' photographing do the talking...

Editor-in-Chief Mr Gustav Temple starts things off

Chappette Bethan looking the pinnacle of British elegance

Bicycle Jousting was my personal favourite. I don't think Agatha could handle it though.

Not a fragment of Lycra in sight

No lobsters were harmed in the duel

Heave Ho!

Bravo, chaps! Splendid show!

Rockabilly Essentials: Hair & Make Up

With my upcoming rockabilly tea party (The Mad Hepcat's Tea Party) I'm putting together a mini series of entries of everything rockabilly: Clothes, Accessories, Hair & Make Up, and Music.

No rockabilly look is complete without a slick of red lipstick and an edgy hair cut. This entry will show you the basics of hair and make up. It might look scary, but, as with anything, practice makes perfect and soon enough you'll be looking like the perfect pin up!

Hair

There are three very simple hair styles that you can perfect and individualise to your own tastes, whether that's all out or just a subtle touch.

1) The Bettie Bangs 

So named after the Queen of Pin Ups Bettie Page, this is a short fringe cut into a 'U' shape. These, surprisingly, suit most face shapes, and if you don't like it, it grows out in a couple of weeks! If you are going to get it cut in, remember to take a photo of the lady herself so the hair dresser knows exactly what they're doing.

2) Victory Rolls

These look really scary to do, and they will be a little tricky to create at first, but once you get it, you will be on a roll (please, pardon the pun!). You can just do one at the front, two at the side of your head, or as many as you want. Curl the rest of your hair, or roll it up in a bandana for the best result!

Here's my little tutorial on how I do mine...

3) Waves & Curls

Whether you do these with curling irons, heated rollers, foam rollers or pin curls, the result will always be rockabilly. By brushing out the curls in a certain way you can get a variety of looks from page boys to poodles! Just remember to use plenty of hair spray!

Katy Perry sporting a victory roll come Bettie bang fringe

Make Up

The make up is really very simple. Matte foundation, black winged eyeliner, red lipstick. Of course you can complicate things with eyeshadows and what not, but if its simple you're after just stick with that. Mac probably do the best lipsticks, but 'drugstore' brand ones are just as good. Remember to shop around to find the best red lipstick for you; if you have a yellow skin tone orange based reds work well, and if you have a pink skin tone, stick with the blue based reds. The eye liner will take a little practice, and a steady hand, but just be patient and you'll get the hang of it!

For both hair and make up the best Youtube channels are:

LisaFreemontStreet (my personal favourite)

Cherry Dollface (she's a model, she knows what she's doing)

ClassicRetroGlamour (Great for updos and 'second day' hair)

I hope you enjoy that little walk through rockabilly hair and make up! Stay tuned for the fourth and final part: The Music!

Goodwood Revival 2012

Oh where to start? Words cannot express how much I absolutely love this event. This event was where my decision to dress/live(ish) vintage was born; when I was thirteen I saw beautiful ladies and gentlemen walking around just looking so stylish and sophisticated I aspired to be just like them. Ever since then we, that is the family and I, try to go every year, but this has been hard for me, what with the move to university up north. So it was an immense pleasure to go this year! Well, we sort of went...we went into the 'car park' where they had moved the majority of the stalls, the fair ground and the hair dressing parts - better known as the parts where myself and mother spend most of the day! Our logic worked that as we had not had to pay for tickets we had thus saved around £100 (and 3 gin and tonics thanks to the Gordon's vouchers!) and so needed to spend that amount to balance the books out. My personal highlight of the day was the Chap Olympiad, which was put on three times in the day, just after brunch, lunch and tea. I loved this event so much I am going to dedicate an entire entry to it, so stay tuned for that! I am also going to be dedicating an entry to my purchases as I think they need a special mention because they were absolute bargains! Hopefully next year I shall get a ticket to go into the show ground as I do enjoy some of the racing and the general atmosphere, but this was the perfect supplement!

For now then I shall leave you with some photos of the day...

The ladies working miracles on vintage styled hair - supplied by my old friends the Vintage Hair Lounge

Some of the action moved outside to where we were

I absolutely fell in love with this suit

Anyone got £2.8million spare?

I think that's a Hurricane, a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt but don't quote me on that... 

Chaps & Chappettes looking splendid, but more on them later...

And finally, what I wore:

Topshop Jumper (I've got to guess from 2009)

Freddies of Pinewood Dungarees

Vintage sunglasses bought at the event - up coming blog on that business soon!

Rockabilly Essentials: Accessories

With my upcoming rockabilly tea party (The Mad Hepcat's Tea Party) I'm putting together a mini series of entries of everything rockabilly: Clothes, Accessories, Hair & Make Up, and Music.

So we got the clothes sorted in the last instalment, and now it's time for the accessories. Personally, I wear very few accessories, but I do always wear one. I'm a little bit famous for my bandannas, always in either red or blue - but mainly blue - as I frequently have one tied around my head. At work, I wear a few bangles, as I feel they add a little vintage tiki to any outfit, and sometimes a necklace, usually in a tattoo design. Although having my ears pierced I very rarely wear earrings; I'm not entirely sure why I don't decorate my aural lobes, but they're just something I never really think about. I make my own hair flowers (it's really very simple!) but there are numerous shops online to cater for these. There aren't really any restrictions for handbags, from wicker, to lucite, to leather satchels to vintage clutches.

Me vainly posing my bandanna wearing

Most online shops sell a mixture of the above so here is my selection of the very best:

Dolly Cool:

I own this! It's awesome! Swallows are a big theme in rockabilly jewellary

This comes ready folded so just tie and go! Like clothing, leopard print is popular with accessories

Bows & Crossbones

I group various colours and shapes altogether for variety

It's wicker, it's cherry-fied, it's tiki, it's everything in one bag.

Razorblade Mermaid:

Great little set (I own the earrings!)

Mexicana style skulls are also popular

Etsy is also great for finding little producers who make their own accessories for you to buy. Just searching 'hair flowers', or prefixing any accessory type with 'rockabilly' with through up numerous results to browse through.

Black anchor hair flower

Hawaiian flowers are a my favourites

What have we learned from this accessory lesson? Well, wear as much or as little as you like, and you can stick to one theme or mix and match!

Stay tuned for my next instalment: Hair & Make Up