Glamorous Getting Ready!

Feeling so excited to be off to London – we were up at 5.00am!

 

 

Hello dear Reader, a warm welcome to Gloriously Vintage today. The post Glamorous Getting Ready has been simmering nicely in my thoughts for some time.  It is a joy to commit these thoughts to this post now. 

 

This photograph was taken at 7.10 am. We had got up at 5.00am to be ready for our trip to Buckingham Palace to see the State Rooms and the Fashioning a Reign Exhibition of HM The Queen’s clothes.  I will be posting soon about that amazing Day Out.  Feeling very excited and with a very early start –  wearing pearls – I tried to make getting ready for this wonderful day as glamorous as possible!

Do have a look at this book “Your Beauty Mark” by Dita von Teese and Rose Apodaca.

 

My favourite Beauty Book!

 

 

 

It is featured on the Gloriously Vintage Books Page. Last Christmas I gave a copy to myself as a Christmas present.  The book has been a great source of confirmation for me because it is written clearly and with honesty about all aspects of beauty, hair, makeup and nails – it is all covered with a sense of humour too.  A great read.

I have found myself saying “yes, I do that”, or “yes, what a great idea”, many, many times as I worked my way through the book and took in all the lovely photographs too.

 

We all need to be glamorous sometimes.  Glamorousness is there for us all to enjoy – accessing it can be tricky if life gets in the way as it frequently does.

 

The idea from the book that really leapt out at me on first reading was the way Dita gets ready. She knows her makeup routines inside out.  Although her look seems very high maintenance, it is not.

You could look at my hairstyle and say “high maintenance”, but it is not. The initial “set” takes time but thereafter it is quick to brush up to be ready to go out.

 

Essential combs for the “Brushing Up “

 

The secret here is knowing how much time you need to get ready and vary it depending on the day or the occasion.

Dita explained beauty routines for going to work out, going to dinner and getting ready for her performances.

 

The great idea she follows is she uses a playlist.

 

When I am getting ready I have different approaches depending on what I am doing. Usually it is:

1. Getting ready to go to work
2. Getting ready at the weekend to be out and about
3. Getting ready for a date or a special event – then it is the full works!

I have always loved to listen to music when I am doing jobs and often when getting ready. I sit at my dressing table and then make an important choice.

 

Just add makeup!

 

 

The appropriate playlist, dear Reader is essential to my sense of purpose and feeling glamorous! I love The Rat Pack and especially Frank Sinatra, sometimes I will have music from Hollywood musicals, it all depends on my mood!

 

Since reading this book I have started to look at playlists differently. It is not a random collection of loved tunes.  Now it sets out the available time at the dressing table – usually 8 or 10 tracks.

 

I am relaxing into the songs and know exactly what stage I should be at with my makeup and hair. Dear Reader, I have clocks in strategic places too.  Time is important; I like to be on time if possible.  Planning my time to get ready is usually an important stage in agreeing with my husband how our mornings unfold.

When you follow a beauty routine, very quickly it is possible to grasp how long each element takes. It then follows that you can group these elements into chunks of time.  The result is that the same tasks repeated daily can be achieved in a set time with no surprises to make you late!

I can get my hair brushed up; add a touch of hairspray too in 15minutes or 10minutes if it is closer to the initial “set”. My make up routine can take 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on where I am going.

 

Speed can certainly be achieved with specific practise. It is not a case of practise makes perfect – more that practise leads to accuracy and speed.

 

As you are experienced at making up your face, so you can expertly apply moisturiser, foundation , concealer, powder and the base is ready for the fun part – the colour makeup. I spend as long on applying the base and the colour makeup.  It goes on accurately because it goes on almost every day.

When I want a new tweak to my look I set aside time to practise- to save oodles of time later on.  You have a beauty skill-set that makes it possible to cut corners when needed and relax into a lovely pampering time to get ready – it is all there because you know exactly what you are doing.

 

Looking at a clock continuously can be stressful, do you agree, dear Reader?

 

Listening to music has the opposite effect.  So a playlist is a marvellous way to work through your chosen tunes and you quickly know where in the routine you need to be on song 3 or 4!  I have been doing this unconsciously for a long time.  It is only thanks to Dita von Teese that I have captured this idea and really started to use it to help me get ready, feel so happy because of the music and be finished on time!  I also feel much more glamorous because of the music.

Tracks vary in length but the music of the 1940’s and 1950’s are often 3 minutes in length. This helps when choosing.  I put on the music and get ready – if it fits into my routine I take note of how many tracks it takes.  Then I know with each one what I need to be doing to be on time.

Apart from the oasis of calm I experience sitting at my dressing table, the music enables me to relax and not have to keep clock watching.

One of my favourite CD’s is the one I have of the Glamophones.

 

Such a happy photograph of me with the Glamophones

 

 

It has 8 tracks –

1. In the Mood
2. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
3. Chattanooga Choo Choo
4. Johnny B. Goode
5. Why do Fools Fall in Love?
6. Umbrella
7. Britney Spears Mash-UP
8. Uptown Funk

I used these 8 tracks to help me get ready for my Day Out. Timing was so important as we were going on a coach tour and could not be late!

 

When I am giving myself longer pampering time I will increase the selection or play it twice. It works!

 

Have you used playlists like this, dear Reader? If you are tech-smart it is all probably easy for you.  You are possibly doing this with playlists in a number of contexts.  The advance in accessing music is one of the wonderful marvels of change in my lifetime.

I grew up with 78’s as a very small child and then collected 45’s and LP’s on vinyl all through my teens. At 18 years old I had a portable cassette player for my birthday.  That gift was absolutely wonderful.  I used it so much I wore it out!  The Walkman was also a great way to have music anywhere.  The access to music now is totally amazing.  I have over 3000 tracks on Spotify in creative playlists.  My next step will be to have a more elaborate phone to play them on.

As a teenager in the 1970’s I always had music on. I started with a love of Motown as a young teenager, Elvis and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.  I still love all that music enormously.  I love new tracks too and keep up with the most played new music on Spotify!

 

Glenn and I both love the music of Glenn Miller.   Glenn is actually named for Glenn Miller.  He was born the year Glenn Miller tragically disappeared.  He was called Alan Lewis Glenn.  After the disappearance his mother started to call him Glenn.  So dear Reader, Glenn is Alan at the Bank and at the Doctors and Glenn to everyone else!

 

We were fortunate to go and see the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the UK, led by Ray McVay.  It was near our wedding anniversary and I emailed the orchestra and requested “String of Pearls”.  When they played it for us I said excitedly “That’s us!”  It was a magic moment.

 

I am listeningto the CD of the Glenn Miller Orchestra now and fitting the tracks into my beauty routine. It always feels glamorous as I hear the music -remembering that magic moment and what I wore.  The music adds a layer of glamour to getting ready in a way that clockwatching can never do.

 

I would love to hear from you about your playlists for getting ready. Is this a new idea for you?  Have you been doing it for years?  Do chat in the Comments!

 

A big thank you to Glenn for taking the photographs.

Tales from the Dressing Table – A Great Vintage Hair Day

Hello!  Welcome to Gloriously Vintage today, dear Reader, thank you for visiting.  It is a pleasure to bring you the third post from the series Tales from the Dressing Table.  It focuses on how I “do” my hair.

 

I hope you are going to find this post on a great vintage hair day worthy of note.  Having great hair is so important.  I am sure you will agree.  It can make you feel very well, confident and strong.  When your hair is right, looking first-rate, you are too!  So having a good hair day is really a big part of everyday life.  Having a great vintage hair day is marvellous and can make a huge difference to an outfit and how you feel wearing it.

 

Having an excellent relationship with your hairdresser, who you trust is extremely important.

 

My grandmother used to say to me that you could wear a sack and look great if your hair and makeup were done well.  What do you think?  I have to agree with her.  It is a principle I have adhered to all my adult life, making sure my hair always looked well groomed and if wearing makeup, it suited me and looked “right”.

We all have interesting hair histories.  The transition from childhood hair, to teenage style, to young adult can be the back drop to many great memories and stories.  Throughout my life I have had a number of different hairstyles and hair colours before arriving at the Vintage hairstyle I have today.  You have seen the hairstyle I have now in the photographs on Gloriously Vintage.

This vintage hairstyle I wear now has developed over a number of years.  Here are some of my past hairstyles going back to just before I was 50 years old.

 

2005 – My hair is auburn red and I was using hair straighteners!  I coloured it myself using a blend of five colours to cover grey and pepper and salt!

 

2007- My hair is professionally coloured here, with a lot less curl!

 

2008 – My hair is longer and getting closer to a vintage, Marilyn Monroe inspired style.

 

2009 – My hair is much longer and is styled using ceramic Velcro rollers.

 

2011 – My hair is styled here on Velcro rollers.

 

Christmas 2014 – I am using plastic rollers and the salon hood hairdryer.

 

February 2016 when I started being a blogger and writing posts on Gloriously Vintage.

 

I cannot help noticing that my skin has improved greatly in the two latest photographs.  I will be writing about my skin care regimen in future posts from Tales from the Dressing Table.

 

I now have a style that can be managed at home and comes out consistently every time it is done.  This enables me to have a signature look that is a major part of the success of what I choose to wear.  It can be tweaked by changing the colour and shape and also by adding hair accessories for the evenings and special occasions.  I have been working on a signature look that is unique and memorable and that is an integral part of the finished outfit and vintage style looks that I love to put together.

 

Having considered what it is about vintage style I love, it is the mixing up of old and new, expensive and inexpensive to create something unique that is at the heart of my passion.  I feel ideas for another post coming on…!

 

I hope you will feel that it is possible to experiment with your hair and get a great result.  It is important to have a clear picture in your mind of the outcome you desire.  For me, dear Reader it started with me having a spiky straightened hairstyle that I wanted to change into something softer.  My hair is naturally curly and rather coarse; it is very thick and has a tendency to go its own way if I am not careful.  So I started to embrace my curls and stop fighting them.

At first I rollered the top and diffused the back giving a softer curly style that my hairdresser cut to a round shape.  Marilyn Monroe was always my style icon here.  This really got going after turning 50 years old and going blond from auburn red.  I then graduated to using ceramic rollers that did not require pins.  These Velcro rollers will stay in the hair and give a “set”, but will not give tight curls.

 

The tools and products I use to create my hairstyle have influenced it greatly and had a strong effect on the styling result.

 

 

My lady Schick console hairdryer that I used as a teenager and kept it, to return to it again in later life!

 

The Babyliss hood hairdryer I went onto when the lady Schick stopped working.

Here is my Orlando hood dryer that I was able to purchase from my hairdresser, a couple of years ago.  This hairdryer has made an enormous difference to the finished style today.  It has adjustable heat and also a cold setting.  It is good to always finish with 15 minutes of cold before taking out the rollers.  This really sets the style.  Hair must be completely dry as the style will not hold unless it is.

 

Combs and brushes also are very important to the finished style.

 

Over my life I have always bought combs and brushes from my hairdresser to enable me to manage the styling at home.  You can understand dear Reader, that I have a collection that can certainly tell my hair story!  The ones I use now are all essential and each one plays a part in the hairstyle at the different stages from shampoo to finally dressed and finished.

 

Dear Reader, let us get on with how I do my hair now.  So clear the dressing table and have a look at products.

 

 

 

I move away my make up brushes and the tray is ready for the rollers and pins!  I also wear old glasses that I can still see through, that cope with styling products and hairspray!

 

 

This is the shampoo I use; it is from my hairdresser and is a protein shampoo.  It suits my hair very well.  The conditioner is a treatment by L’Oreal and I leave it on a minimum of 10 minutes and sometimes longer.

 

Here are the setting products I use.  I put 3 drops of the Redken smooth down into a blob off L’Oreal spiral splendour and apply all over.  Then I use a generous amount of mouse all over, making sure the front has an even application.  It is all combed through.

 

The top comb is used to part the hair and comb it using the wide teeth.  The Middle one is also of use at this stage.  I use the pin tail comb to section the hair for each roller.

 

I have a large hairdressing mirror with a handle at each end that I use for checking the back and sides.  My front curl is over to the left, so I have a parting on the right.  I then part the hair from ear to ear over the top of my head.  The right side is combed forward from the over the top parting to form the first section.  It is clipped and the rest of the hair in that side is combed back and clipped back out of the way.  The hair for the front section is combed forward and a low parting set on the left.  The front section is clipped and the rest of the hair is combed back out of the way and clipped in place.  The left section is combed forward and clipped and the rest is combed back and clipped back as was the right side.

 

Now for the rollers!

 

On each side I put a pink curled under, and two yellows.  I always start on the left as I am left handed!  When the two sides are done the front section remains clipped so I can reach the top more easily.  I do not put the front into rollers until the top crown area is all in rollers.

 

Here is a photograph of the left side of the head of rollers.  The direction of the curl on the rollers is important.  I curl the whole crown under.  The white and pink are curled under.  The yellow and blue are curled over.  This is so I can have curls turning up at the back blending into the crown.

After the sides I put in the guide rollers that go down the centre of the back.  The pattern is easy for me to remember and has been born from a lot of trial and error, dear Reader!  From the top of the head going back – 2 large purple, I white I pink all under.  Then 3 yellow curled over.

 

As you work down the back of the head, it is possible to measure withthe yellow rollers how many will fit into your nape – usually 4 or 5 rollers depending on the space and the size of the rollers.  I do the same to each side.

 

Here is the right side.  You can see I can fit 2 rollers side by side in the space between the guide rollers and the sides.  This is all part of putting the rollers in largely by feel and checking the back and sides every 2 or 3 rollers to make sure they are even.

 

Here I am checking the back!  The yellow and small blue are all curled over.  The smallest rollers go at the bottom for the tightest curls and where the hair is shortest.

 

More checking!

 

Once the crown is all in rollers I do the front section and finish with 3 rows of yellow and 2 of blue in the nape.

 

The front rollers are at right angles to the hairline and are curled under.  I use 3 large purple and 1 medium white.  The white roller is next to the parting.

 

With the parting and sectioning and working round the head it takes 20-30 minutes to put the rollers in.  My hair is cut and coloured about every 10-12 weeks, so it takes a bit longer when I am coming up to a hair appointment!

Well, there we are dear Reader, a whole head full of rollers!  Now I go and sit under the dryer for 1 hour of hot air and 15 minutes of cold.  I now write blog posts during this time and it passes very quickly!

I will spray the rollers with hairspray once or twice during the drying time, which helps the “set”.

Then take out the rollers, leaving the front section rollers in.

 

 

 

I then begin dressing the hair to the finished style.  Starting at the back I run my fingers through the curled hair, upwards, using the L’Oreal Techni Art 4 sprayed on my hands.

 

I will then backcomb the crown and finish the dressing, checking the back with my mirror.  Only then do I take out the front rollers, back comb the section and bring the finished style together.  I do this to prevent the front from flopping as it waits to be dressed.

 

These are the combs I use for backcombing.  The different width of the teeth produce different volume and staying power.

 

These are the most recent acquisitions.  They are made in Japan.  The top one is used for the top and front section backcombing and are fantastic.

 

The grey lifting comb is invaluable as I used it in the finishing of the style and also in the brushing up every day.  The pink brush is for brushing out rollers.  I use it rather sparingly in the initial dressing , but use it daily in the brushing up to tidy and recreate the style each day.

 

The details of the pink brush.

 

I can sort out the curls and make sure there are no gaps and dips.

 

These combs are used for the final tweaking and checking, dear Reader, before the style is finished, ready for the hairspray.

 

You may be wondering what this blusher brush is here for!

I spray the finished style with hairspray because this affects how the hair will behave when I sleep on it and also how the style stays in for the week ahead.

 

I am reading “Your Beauty Mark” by Dita Von Teese; you remember it from my post Tales from the Dressing table.  I have picked up one of the tips for styling hair from this interesting book.  Dita uses a large brush sprayed with hairspray to sort out fine flyaway hairs around the hairline.  I have started to do this since Christmas (when I gave this book to myself as a present!).  I used the blusher brush, sprayed with hairspray to tidy up the hairline and to set the kiss curls in my hairstyle when the hair is first dressed.

It works!  It works well and I have been rewarded with a style with great staying power.  I do my hair weekly and on a daily basis it takes less than 10 minutes to brush up in the mornings.

 

For special occasions I usually do it the day before, leaving the hair slightly wetter and sitting under the dryer about 15-20 minutes longer to achieve a really firm set that will stand sleeping on it and still brush up well for the event and following days when really great vintage hair will be required.

 

In May 2009 the day my father died in hospital we were called at about 8.00am to come immediately.  My hair was wet and I was showering as the call came in.  I had to jump into my clothes and get there as fast as possible.  My hair just dried naturally as the life changing day unfolded.  It was awful.  This experience has really highlighted for me how strong and able to cope with anything I feel when my hair is well styled.

 

Since then I have really enjoyed trying to make everyday a great vintage hair day!  Thank you for dropping by today.  Do make my day by leaving a comment.  I encourage you to have a go at vintage hairstyling and try rollers!

 

Thank you to Glenn for taking the photographs in this post.