Product Review-Besame Decades of Fragrance-Part 1

As much as I love vintage clothing and hair, and to a lesser extent make up like a good red lip, there is one aspect of vintage style beauty I have never been keen on: perfume.

I was always confused by the dizzying array of perfume options, put off by the price, and most importantly I never much liked how they smelled.  In fact until recently I think the only time I wore perfume in the last 15 years was on my wedding day in 2001.  Still I liked the idea of perfume:

It certainly seemed an important part of vintage beauty rituals which is why I was intrigued when my favorite cosmetics company Besame (I've written about their lipsticks here, and here, and here) came up with their Decades of Fragrance Collection.

At last this was perfume I could understand, aimed at the vintage fanatic, each perfume is meant to capture the essence of a different decade.  As a vintage lover who likes to flit from one decade to the next this really appealed to me, I liked the idea of changing my perfume to match the decade of my outfit.  Also while the perfume is definitely not cheap, each rollerball costs $25.00, it is more economical then many department store perfumes I have seen.   I decided to take the perfume plunge and try fragrance representing my three favorite decades:  the  1920s, 1930s, and 1950s.

The 1920s perfume is described as having notes of mandarin, jasmine, and cocoa (as well as a bunch of other stuff).  I have no clue what notes are, but this one smelled quite good to me.   I did feel it smelled a bit cocoa-ey and fruity and I could see it in on the neck of a flapper in a jazzy speakeasy, which of course is the idea.  I definitely like wearing it with my few 20s outfits, even if no one else knows it is there, it seems to fade quickly on me, I do.

The 30s perfume is, to my nose at least, stronger smelling then the 1920s one.  It is described as embodying Marlene Dietrich, cigarettes and seduction, which even if it isn't my look has a definite appeal.

Some of the notes are mandarin, tobacco, and vanilla, and I do notice a subtley smokey aspect in this one.  It's a bit darker then the others, which is appropriate for a dark and troubled decade in history.   The 1930s are the decade that first got me into vintage and I have lots of 30s outfits and I do like wearing this fragrance with them, it's currently the lowest of my three vials which shows how much I wear it!  It adds the perfect touch to a 30s look and it seems to last on my a bit longer on me then the others.

The last fragrance I tried was the 1950s once. 

 The 50s are, tied with the 1930s, my favorite decade.   1950s, as well as 30s, looks make up the majority of my wardrobe, and I would say my day to day look is usually somewhat 1950s. 

The 1950s fragrance is described as evoking Billie Holliday

who I adore (after all what other Diva would let her dog chew on her shoes),
with a floweryy scent of gardenia and frescia.  I find this to be the prettiest smelling scent straight out of the bottle.  It smells powdery and like flowers and make up in a good way.  Picture the most glamorous make up table you can imagine:

Sadly it fades a little quickly on me, so I need to reapply it multiple times if I want the scent to last all day.  Still I wear it quite a lot, and its a bit of mystery to me why there seems to be more of this one then the 1930s one in the bottle because I really think I wear this one more.  It adds just the right sweet scent to my 1950s  style dresses and jeans.

Since each Besame fragrance retails for $25 dollars I was able to get three for about the price of one department store fragrance, and they all smell, at least to me, infinitely better then any of the better known perfumes I have sampled. 

My only complaint is they seem to fade quickly, but that may just be my body chemistry, perhaps I reject perfume?  I haven't read  any comments on the Besame website from anyone else saying the fragrances fade quickly.  It  is also somewhat mitigated by the fact that they come in a rollerball:

and thus are easy to carry with you and reapply.  Overall I am very happy I purchased these fragrances and I am calling this post Besame Decades of Fragrance part 1 because I hope to try the other scents 1910, 1940, and 1960 soon!

Adventures in Vintage Hair Styling-Happy Birthday to The Queen of The Bob-Louise Brooks

November 14 will mark the 131st anniversary of the birth of one of the most stylish women of all time, Louise Brooks.  The queen of the bob, Louise was known not just for her brilliant acting, but her rebellious flapper spirit and her gorgeous, shiny Bob.

Louise's hair was so striking that she was known as "the girl in the black helmet." Perhaps, her look was a little too iconic because she never transitioned out of her flapper image and her film career evaporated in the 1930s.

Louise appeared in just 12   films, yet nearly 100 years later she remains one of the most recognizable stars of the silent era, particularly for the 1929 German film Pandora's Box.

Louise will never be my favorite silent female star, my heart forever belongs to Clara Bow, but I do adore her and I think that in the flapper hair contest she passes the finish line before the others even get out of the opening.  No one has ever looked as fabulous in a Bob as Louise did.  I'm no Louise Brooks, and I'm constantly changing my hair, but for the past 15 years I keep returning to one particular style, the close cropped Brook's style Bob. 

 

 While I'm no Louise, I really think this is my all time favorite hair style and for now at least I've decided to keep it.  Do you have a favorite iconic hair style?

On another note if you read this blog you know we have had some pet health problems this month, though thankfully none too serious yet.   First Fry had a biopsy (benign yeah!), then our cat Ernie had a seizure or cardiac arythmia attack we don't really know which, and now 13 year old Ping has bronchitis.  She started honking and coughing on Election night, perhaps sickened as I was by the turn of events, and I was really afraid that she had pneumonia.  Thankfully, it's just bronchitis, but respiratory issues are always serious in pugs, particularly older pugs, and we are a little concerned.  Thankfully, so far she seems to be coughing a bit less and responding to the antibiotics, but any well wishes are appreciated.

Product Review-Besame's Blood Red Lipstick

I've written before of my penchant for Besame lipsticks.  I wore lipstick before discovering Besame two years ago, but I didn't care about it much and I was never brand loyal.  Today, however, I'm a total Besame convert.  I'd never wear anything else.

 Besame is the only modern make up company with a true commitment to replacating the glamourous looks of the past, and they do an amazing job of it.  Each of their shades is based on actual vintage lipsticks and is named for the year that inspired it.  Unsurprisingly, given their vintage aesthetic, there are plenty of red shades in the line, 

and several lovely non-reds too.

Another wonderful thing about Besame is that unlike a lot of other vintage repro companies that seem perennially stuck in the 50s, Besame regularly explores earlier eras.  Their latest shade is a perfect example.  Besame Blood Red 1922 is an absolutely gorgeous color that really captures the flapper era.  It's a beautiful red that the company website describes as looking like "a freshly bitten lip."  They also describe it as the "deepest red for the ultimate flapper", and while I agree it has a deepness too it, the very thing I love about this shade is that it's not too dark.  Previously when sporting 20s looks I usually wore  their Noir Red, a  a dark plum 1920s shade that while pretty, I find too dark for my complexion.   Enter Blood Red and my flapper lipstick dilemma is solved.

The shade definitely works well with 20s looks and is very pretty worn in the cupids bow fashion of the era.    The triangular shape of Besame lipsticks makes it very easy even for make up klutzes like myself to draw on a cupids bow, a la Clara Bow, no liner required.  

When I purchased the lipstick I also bought the Besame travel lip brush.

I was a bit surprised when I first saw the brush because its much thicker then any other lip brush I've ever used.  However, since you can use the edges of Besame lipsticks as liner the thicker brush makes sense.   You paint on a coat of lipstick after lining your lips and the brush does an excellent job of applying the color smoothly.

Blood Red may be advertised as a 1922 shade but as any reader of this blog knows, I'm not loyal to any particular vintage era.  I've been wearing Blood Red nearly daily this October and I've found that it works equally well with 1930s

and 1950s looks.

 Of course most importantly of all Besame does not test any of their cosmetics at any level production on animals so you can wear their lipstick guilt free.  

Blood Red retails for $22 on the Besame website, which may sounds like a lot when compared to drugstore lipsticks but the quality can't be beat and the shades last forever.   I have tubes from two years ago of Besame shades that are nearly full despite regular wear.  Do yourself a favor and if you plan to buy a lipstick this fall, make it Besame Blood Red, after all what color could be more perfect for the Halloween season!

 

Vintage Outfit Post-1920's Halloween Costume

As I'm someone who loves to dress up and adores old horror films, it should come as no surprise that Halloween is my favorite holiday, (with Christmas a close second.)   

I celebrate the dress up aspect of Halloween all year, but I still decided that I wanted a Halloween costume, not one that was too costumey, and preferably one from the 1920s.  I am firmly convinced that the 1920s  and 30s were the golden era of Halloween costumes.  Beautiful paper dresses,many hand made,  with charming appliqués where popular.

Witches, bats, cat's, jesters and clowns where all common themes.

 

                                                                

These enterprising young ladies transferred themselves into gorgeous spider webs:

and some pin ups apparently stuck with their swim suits, and the ubiquitous pointy cap:

Still one of the most popular halloween looks in the 20s and 30s was a simple dress with Halloween themed cut outs, as worn by this charming lady (I love that her cat is in the photo). 

This type of dress is what I wanted for myself and what I found last year from the amazing Etsy shop Guermantes Vintage, she specializes in rare items from the 20s and 30s and is a bit of an expert in  Halloween dresses and costumes.

My costume is a beautiful witch dress.  These photos are from last year, when I had the blog on hiatus.  My dear husband is very sweet about taking pictures but I wanted to give him a break as these pictures from last year are just fine, and of course I plan to wear the dress quite a bit this October.  I don't wear it as a costume, I just wear it about (and yes I wear it to work too.)

 It's not paper but its some kind of shiny fabric with a big pilgrim collar and paper cat cut outs.  

It's meant to be one size fits all so its quite loose and I cinch it with a black ribbon at the waist.

Rather then that pointy 20s dunce cap/witch hat I added a pretty fall floral clip from Chatter Blossom.

I also pinned on a black cat brooch from Mrs. Polly's lucite.  (Sadly my cat has lost one of his eyes, but I've decided that just makes him match up with one of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe stories so its all good.)

The best thing about this dress though is that it reminds me of one of my favorite films.  The silent classic, Haxan, from 1922.  It was made as a  documentary but is really a horror film and exploration into the history of witch craft.  It contains some of the most beautiful , and spooky, images every captured on film.  

Haxan can be viewed in its entirety on you tube and also Hulu.  It's a cinematic classic that has had a profound influence on film making.  The critically acclaimed 2015 film The Witch definitely owes a debt to Haxan.

Here's to celebrating Halloween all  October long!

Happy Birthday Buster Keaton-Cinema Spot Light on 1921's The Haunted House

Today marks the 130th anniversary of silent film star Buster Keaton

Keaton shaped the film industry like the few other stars have and his early films are cinematic landmarks filled with clever ideas and innovations.  Keaton wrote most of his own films and directed many of them.  
















Unsurprisingly many of the first films ever made where horror films, but Keaton's  The Haunted House is not a typical spook story, Keaton was too clever for anything typical.

Instead Keaton plays a hapless bank teller

 who get's tangled up with bank robbers, winds up on the wrong side of his crooked boss, 

and seeks refuge in a spooky old house

 where a theatre troupe is rehearsing a production of Faust.  

The film was directed by frequent Keaton collaborator Joseph M. Schenck  and costarred Virgina Fox, who appeared in several Keaton films.

The entire film runs only 21 minutes and is a delightful example of early horror comedy.  You can view it in its entirety in the you tube link below.