The Return of the Vintage Vegan

After an extremely long pause, I have returned - not only to the blogosphere, but to the world of vintage lifestyle! An awful lot has happened since I last made a proper post on this blog (back in September 2013)... I've graduated from university, gotten a job, and have tried many different new things, from making new friendships to dyeing and cutting my hair in all manner of colours and all manner of ways. But now, after a break from vintage (apart from only the briefest of forays during the past year or so) I have found myself being pulled towards it once more. It was time to give my blog a little renovation, so I jazzed it up with a new name and a bit of a design change!

So, for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of photographs from the past year...

Let's start off near-ish the beginning. I decided to bleach my hair and dye it all sorts of interesting colours:

But after a little while, I rewatched The Hour for the millionth time, and went to see Mojo in London, and I had a little bit of androgynous 1950s revival.

Not long after that, it was all change again. As I grew out my hair, I submitted my dissertation (and later found out that I got a First!)

THEN, I decided, in the heat of my new all-consuming Scandinavian passion, that I would go blonde. So I did. I even celebrated Midsommar like a true Swede (or at least, that's what it felt like...)

What's more, I even graduated!

 The next big thing was In The Flesh, a BAFTA-winning BBC show, all about the reintegration of the undead (known as PDS - Partially Deceased Syndrome - sufferers) after a stabilising drug is created. I am still full of praise for this programme. It dealt with so many issues in a brilliant way: mental health, sexuality, loss, prejudice... the list goes on and on. I got myself some "rotter" contacts and scared people out on the street, and for Halloween, where I went less "rotter" and more "walker" as I began my binge of the Walking Dead.

And then came the Big Chop. In a "now or never" sort of moment, I decided to shave off all of my hair.

All of this happened in just about a year. For a couple of weeks now, the '30s, '40s and '50s have been worming their way back into my life. And last week, I decided to take the leap and get my clothes back out of storage. This was all down to the wonderful The Fiercest Lilliputian and her hair, which is only a little longer than mine. She has an amazing vintage look, and she rocks is with this hair. I finally felt I had the courage to return to it myself, instead of waiting for my hair to grow into a more "vintage" cut. 

So hello again! I hope you haven't completely forgotten me.

Jess x

Summer time

About 10 minutes ago, I submitted my final assessed piece for my second year at university, which means... summer's here! It also means the return of more outfit posts, and of more cooking!
First off, here's a picture of what I wore to church on Sunday. You may notice a few things that are different about me, the main one being I'VE HAD A CHANGE OF HAIR! It is now a lot shorter and very extremely black. I'm still getting to grips with styling it, but I thought a '30s bob would be good for summer, especially as there is no air conditioning where I work! Also, I realise that I look a little tired/disheveled, and red lipstick-less...

Dress: charity shop
Cardigan: this got left at our house by a friend of my sister's, so I nicked it.

Bag: vintage store. This was a present from my mam.

 This is what my hair looked like on the day of the Great Chopping-Off once it had been styled by my hairdresser:

 And a couple of days after, in the midst of essay-editing...

What else have I been up to? Well, cooking, for a start. When I say cooking, I really mean visualising doing cooking, as we have had lots of people staying at our house over the past couple of days (including two fantastic American pianists!), so I have decided to spend my time leafing through my new copy of 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck, and choosing some recipes from there. I have also focused on making my lunches healthier, tastier, and prettier. Here's what I came up with from earlier this week:

Top left: spinach and basil paste with creme fraiche and tomatoes. Top right: spinach and basil paste with cranberry sauce, walnuts and blue cheese. Bottom: Creme fraiche, spinach and basil paste, gherkins, tomatoes and sesame seeds.
What is "spinach and basil paste" I hear you ask? Well, it is a handful or two of spinach leaves, blended with a couple of sprigs of fresh basil, a glug of olive oil, salt and pepper, and a teaspoon of grainy mustard. It is the most vibrant-looking spread I've ever made!

I spent all of Saturday afternoon in great celebration from finishing the writing of my essays, and decided to do a little bit of sketching/painting/general arty-fartyness. This is the result: a mixed-media piece of Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter:

Well, I think it's time to get out of the house and into the sunshine, so I'll leave it here for now! I'm hoping to make some Hannibal food for my next post so keep an eye out.

Jess xx

...And back in time

I decided upon a slightly different look today...

The outfit is certainly not authentic but I bought it as my Christmas outfit because it gave off the '20s/'30s vibe that I wanted. It is a two-piece skirt and top, and has since shrunk in the wash slightly, so fits a bit more tightly.

Hat - TK Maxx

Top/skirt - charity shop

Necklace - hand-me-down from friend

Whilst I was out, I bought a couple of things from the charity shop, including some 1920s cups and saucers and tea plates. Here are a few photographs of some of the other things:

I bought these tap shoes because I thought re-learning tap might help me with my technique for dance.

Jess xx

Foam Rollers

Good evening! Just a quick blog post about a new foam roller set I tried out today, from blogger The Fiercest Lilliputian  who made a video tutorial, which you can see here. The hairstyle was to look a little like this:

This was my result:

As my hair was not properly prepped (I don't have any good setting lotion yet) it didn't have the right sheen and what-not, but I was really happy with how it turned out! It was super easy, and despite insanely strong winds, the 'do has kept surprisingly intact! I will definitely be doing this style more often, once a week at least.

(The only problem with it was not having enough foam rollers. I have 9, inherited from my step-grandma, and I'll probably buy some more over the weekend - possibly smaller ones, so I have a mixture of both.)

Jess xx