Happy Birthday Jean Harlow! And a Review of Besame's Vanilla Rose Brightening Powder

Tommorow, March 3,  the 106th anniversary of the birth of actress Jean Harlow:

who I think embodied the decadent glamour of Hollywood's pre-code era more then any other star.  With her pencil thin dramatically arched brows, cupids bow lips and halo of platinum curls, Harlow's look was nothing if not distinctive.  Clearly she was a girl who loved her cosmetics, and her appearances in numerous 1930s beauty adverts show that her fans where playing close attention to her look.

One cosmetic that Harlow sees to have been particularly devoted too, powder

 

Considering the platinum goddesses's devotion to the cosmetic I figured the anniversary of her birth would be a good time to do a review of my own personal favorite powder.

Besame Vanilla Rose powder.  

Now Harlow was tragically young, only 26, when she died of kidney failure, so she never had to contend with the problem that has made me leery of powders: aging skin.  In less then a month I'll be 39 and powder is one cosmetic that gets tricky with advancing age.  Powder can settle on wrinkles and dry patches making the more noticeable.   For this reason I used to avoid powder completely.  

However, I wear a very creamy foundation, Burt's Bees CC cream.  I love the creaminess and lightness of this foundation, but it can sometimes get a bit greasy and shiny or rub off completely.  That's why I decided to give the Besame Vanilla Rose powder a shot.  I love Besame, but I had previously tried their Lavendar Brightening Powder and it was the only one of their cosmetics that I underwhelmed me.  I really felt it left a chalky texture on my skin.  So I wasn't prepared to love Vanilla Rose, but I do!




It's a very, very faint pink that suits the fairest of skin tones.  The website says it corrects green and blue tones, I find I have more redness, but I still think this works well for me.  It really doesn't impart any color, just brightens and sets make up!



The video below is from Besame and shows how to apply the powder and then set it with their finishing brush:

I take lighter approach.  I don't have the finishing brush so I just tap the container, while closed of course, against the edge of the sink and then pat on a tiny bit with the puff.  I'm  very careful not to overdo it.  I certainly don't follow Harlow's advice and count my whole face, and no way am I following her step 2 press powder into tiny lines!  

The effect of powder application is definitely subtle, but I think I see a difference:

Here I am minus powder (and yes I was taking a selfie with a can of Spam, I occasionally love to indulge in some spam):

Here I am on another day with powder:

Now all I need is a glamorous boudoir a la Harlow to apply it in!

Besame Vanilla Rose powder retails for $22.00 and can be purchased on the Besame website.

Western Dress From The Black Pinafore

I've always loved  1940s and 1950s Western fashions.  The jeans, casual shirts, suede vests, beaded designs and ample fringe are all adorable and the whole look makes for perfectly stylish vintage casual wear.

My favorite  cowgirl, Dale Evans, wore  western wear throughout her life and always looked smashing.  Kitschy too, but in the best way possible.

 

 



I love seeing how her and Roy Rogers stayed true to their style over the decades.

Despite my love of  1940s and 50s western gear I didn't have any in my own wardrobe.   It is very hard to come by authentic vintage western gear and I'm not too crazy about many of the repro versions.  This fall though I added a few vintage and vintage inspired western pieces to my wardrobe that I will be sharing on the blog, the first of which is this charming dress from one of my favorite vintage reproduction designers, Debora of The Black Pinafore.  

I adore all of the clothes Debora has made for me and this dress is no exception.  I choose the cut and design from another dress in her shop, but the fabric and rick rack detailing are my own idea.  It's a simple dress with a really flattering cut, and I particularly love the neckline.

The white rick rack really compliments the print on the fabric which I love too. Debora found the perfect fabric, it's kitschy and western, but subtley so.

So many novelty western prints are just way over the top, but not this one.  I paired the dress with a red hair flower from chatter blossom, a western novelty brooch from luxulite

 my amazing 1950s novelty horse purse from annacatetsy (which is probably my favorite purse ever), and my black canvas Remix penny sandals.

I had some fun posing for pictures with Bob who has an adorable retro western bandanna we got years ago.

 

 


All in all this is the western dress of my Dale Evan cowgirl dreams.  I'm so greatfull to Deborah for bringing it into reality for me!


Outfit Details:

Dress: The Black  Pinafore
Novelty Brooch: Luxulite
Hair Flower: Chatterblossom
1950s Horse Novelty Purse: Annacatetsy
Canvas Sandals Remix Vintage Shoes

Note-This is by no means a political blog and I had planned this post weeks before the election.  I published it today to bring some light to what is in my opinion a very dark day for our country and the world.  Hate, anger, and fear have never made anything great.  I hope that some day we can move past this into a brighter future, but it seems very dark.  Find what ever your light is and cling to it now.

Happy Birthday Esther Williams-Queen of The Seas (and The Hair Flower)

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of one of the most gorgeous stars of all time, Hollywood's Mermaid, Esther Williams.

Williams a gifted athlete, was perhaps not the best actress, but she was charming and amazingly beautiful.   While film can never tell us what a person was really like, Williams always seemed like a kind person to me and her films shine with her delightful personality.    Her style perfectly captured one of my favorite eras in mid century fashion, the post war 1940s and the early 50s.   

While she is of course best known for her amazing swim suits, many on display in my favorite of her films, Neptune's Daughter, she also seemed to have a favorite accessory, the hair flower.  Esther's gorgeous chestnut locks were rarely without floral adornment.

Now I'm no Esther, I only dog paddle and I certainly don't have her gorgeous tresses, but I do love hair flowers.  Since I'm hair styling challenged they let me add a festive vintage look to my locks with minimal effort.  Most of my favorites are front the brilliant Jamie's Etsy shop Chatterblossom. Her beautiful creations are made from genuine vintage millinery flowers.  I have quite a collection by now.

My latest hair flower though is from Luxulite.  It's a tiki style hair clip and its tons of fun, inexpensive (less then ten dollars), and it really reminds me of Esther's flowers.

Perfect summery hair gear.  Now if only I could swim like this, and had such a fabulous pool!

Cinema Spotlight-Bringing Up Baby

Today marks the 109th birthday of  a women who epitomized style, class and elegance-Katherine Hepburn.

Hepburn's career spanned decades and she played spirited strong willed women in 43 films as well as on stage and on the television, but by far my favorite of her films is the 1938 screwball classic Bringing Up Baby.

In the film Hepburn plays Susan a free spirited, scatterbrained, accident prone heiress with an  unbelievable wardrobe.  Susan runs into egg head paleontologist David, on a golf course, 

I love the big round buttons with black trim, black trimmed colar and loose sleeves on Hepburn's simple and elegant golfing frock.

and winds up interuppting his game, stealing his car, and thrawting his attempt to get a million dollars for his museum.

The two meet later that same evening at dinner.   In a scene where Susan wears the most amazing gold lame robe dress, and a matching veil hat.   

In my opinion this is one of most beautiful dresses in cinema history, and perfectly suited for Hepburn lanky physique, which is why its so sad when it gets ripped

even if it furthers the screwball plot.    


Susan winds up being the niece of the women who may donate a million dollars to David's museum, she also receives a leopard from her brother Mark, who is on safari.  Susan convinces David, on the eve of his wedding, to Connecticut where they plan to find a zoo to take the leopard and to ask Susan's Aunt to donate to the museum.   Hijinks ensue and there is fabulous clothing through out.

Like this simple striped day dress with a high neck and rectangular buttons worn with strappy shoes

Or this marvelous peaked cap:

Kathrine Hepburn was known for wearing pants and one of my favorite costumes in the film is the simple tunic and wide legged pants she pairs with loafers and a coolie hat while helping David locate the priceless dinosaur bone that George the dog has buried.  

George is pretty darn cute.  He's played by the same Wire Fox Terrier who played Asta in the Thin Man films, and he steals every scene he's in.

Another stand out outfit is this ruffled dress with black bow:

Bringing Up Baby is also one of those 1930s films with amazing lounge wear (as I mentioned in this post). 

The full sleeves and sheer dotted fabric on this robe are beyond words.   Cary Grant's character David even gets to wear a feathered robe in this famous scene 

I also adore Aunt Elizabeth's outfit here.  The lined cape, tweedy fabric, and frog closure buttons are so sporty and chic.  It's nice to see a stylish lady of more advanced years in a 1930s film.  

Today Bringing Up Baby is one of the most well known films of 1930s as is number 88 on the American Film Institutes List of Greatest  America Films of All Time , but when it premiered in 1938 it wasn't particularly successful and contributed to Hepburn's reputation as "box office poison."

Bringing Up Baby remains a favorite film at our house (Fry in particular seemed to enjoy recent screening)

 and it is also very special to us for another important reason

John and I named our first pet, our little cat Baby, after the film.  We got her a few months before we where married and 15 years later she is still with us and as sweet as ever.

If you haven't seen Bringing Up Baby you owe it to yourself to check it  out.