Miss V Viola

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Miss Victory Violet Hair Workshop Review

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When I heard Miss Victory Violet was coming to town to host hair and make up workshops, I couldn’t wait to get booked in. Ella is not only a beautiful pin up, but that girl know’s what to do to make hair look good! I’d been growing my hair out from my short a-symmetrical style for some time, but as it’s so fine it’s quite tricky for me to do much with it, and I hate it when it’s down flat. I’ve never I sit down in a salon chair and ask someone to hack away at my locks without having the first clue what to expect, but I knew I was in safe hands!

During my appointment at Lipstick, Lashes & Locks, Ella evened out my hair to a bob, explaining that by making the ends blunt and without layers it would be easier for me to style and set for a vintage look. It was really great to be able to discuss which products she would recommend for my type of hair because things like oils just flatten me out and cause issues with styling. She suggested some great Davines shampoo for my blond streak (NouNou) and a leave in conditioner (Oi All In One Milk) to make my hair healthier and give it shine. I’ve not used conditioner in over a decade as it makes my hair bobbles fall out, (which is totally useless if you want to do vintage sets as you need to have hair that will grip on for dear life!) Finding this alternative has been really useful because I fear damaging my hair with all the heat and product I apply. I’m proud to say I’m now a convert!

During the 2 hour appointment she talked me step by step through the process of how to set my hair like this at home using a curling iron. She used Kenra styling spray (19) with each section and I gotta say, I am obsessed with it because it has really great hold. Once it was all pinned up she gave it a quick spray all over and left it to fully cool down. Again, as my hair is so fine, she didn’t agitate the curls too much (no brushing!) after they were unrolled as it would have made them fall. Instead she gently wrapped and positioned them using her fingers and back combed a little to help with volume and to make sure they held position. To finish she gave me a good dousing of the Kenra volume spray (25) which is fantastic at holding everything in place (even in a windy city like mine!)

Doesn’t my hair look really full and luscious? I honestly felt like a new girl by the end of it! I’ve tried sets like this before having watched youtube videos, but you can only learn so much from looking at a screen. If you want to learn how to make men weak at the knees from your set, getting a one-to-one appointment is a game changer. Everyones hair is so different, certain things just don’t hold as well in my hair as it would in yours. I learned so much from such a short period that it really made me appreciate why Ella’s appointments are so coveted! The workshop is just as informative as the appointment, only you’re setting your own hair, so you can get even more tips and advice on how to carry out the practice better at home. As a fly on the wall during that session I can thoroughly recommend it! Check out her schedule for hair and make up workshops and see if you can snag a spot soon 🙂

Thanks so much for showing me how to nail this look Ella, I’m delighted! xx

PS, After getting my hair set, I met up with Carolyn Henry to take some pictures of it in all its glory. Can’t wait to share the images with you, they’re totally knock out!

Tips for Visiting The Neon Boneyard Las Vegas

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Visiting the Neon Museum aka the Neon Boneyard has been high on my ‘to do’ list for a long time now. Since its foundry in 1996, they have saved a huge amount of historical hotel and casino signs from the city, some of which they’ve even successfully restored and light up during their evening tours. With over 2 acres and over 200 signs you’re not going to need a lot of space on your SD card for pictures, because my gosh it is something else in there!

To visit you have to book a tour, and as I mentioned in my last post, spaces are limited and they book up fast, so try and get ahead of the queue by booking up to a month in advance. There is an option to book a photo shoot, but it is CRAZY MONEY, so unless you’re getting married or have more money than sense, book a standard tour and make friendly with your fellow voyeurs and tour guide so they give you a little space to take your pictures. They like to keep things moving but our guide was more than happy for me to pose for pictures whilst he was talking which bought me a little extra time. Remember, a little kindness and politeness goes a long way.

A great top tip I got from Lynsay Loves was to plan for the sunshine in advance: if you book in the middle of the day you will get a lot more severe shadows and blow-out in your photos than if you go earlier in the morning, because the sunshine will be directly above you. The light is so bright out in the desert, it’s better to go when it’s a little shady so you can photograph the signs in all their glory. I opted for the earliest tour on the schedule because I knew the tour group would probably be smaller then too. Getting up extra early is definitely worth it in this instance!

Being an Atomic gal, I’ve been obsessed with the Stardust sign for many moons, so seeing it irl was a big deal for me (told you I was a sign geek!) But I was thrilled to see they had two of the giant lamps from the old Aladdin hotel too, because I got the opportunity to visit before it got demolished in 1998. I proudly display one of the casino coin buckets in my studio – remember when slot machines spat out coins instead of printed tokens?! In case you’re wondering, that’s where Elvis and Priscilla got married in 1967, and we all love a good Elvis fact! They also have signs from the old Golden Nugget, Sahara, Riviera and the infamous Moulin Rouge which was the first integrated hotel in Sin City (this sign was so huge they’ve just spelt M Love out of the letters!) Keep your eye out for a small Liberace neon, because he is the crystal queen of the city. Oh! Three cats also live out in the yard, so be prepared for cute kitty pictures too. Never a dull moment!

Quite a few people opt to use the museum’s umbrellas when doing this tour to keep from getting burned. However, if you’re going to be a poser like me, wear factor 50 sunscreen (I never wear less as I don’t like to tan, but a high factor is a must for the desert!) And bring plenty of water because you’re going to be darn thursty out there, especially looking so goddamn sexy!

I’m already planning to go back to the Neon Museum next time I manage to get out to Vegas as they are constantly growing the collection and I’d love to see it at night. If you check in advance of your trip you may even be able to book a yoga class out there – they have some great events in the grounds sometimes so keep an eye on the website for updates. Just when you didn’t think there could be more reasons to plan a trip, amma right?!

Outfit details: Dress: Viviene of Holloway  Glasses: Bon Look Bag: Kate Spade and I’m wearing my illustrated Date Nite scarf, available on my NotOnTheHighstreet.com store

Heading to Las Vegas? Read my latest blog post listing all my favourite spots. Planning a little Route 66 road trip? Follow my blog as I have more travel tips coming soon!

Las Vegas: Route 66 Must Do’s

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Las Vegas is one heck of a town. I’ve actually been a few times now, but I don’t think I’ve even spent more than $10 gambling, because there’s so many amazing things I’d rather do with my cash out there! In this post I’ll be sharing my top tips for what to see and do if you’re a vintage fan. I’m going to keep it quite brief because as you’ll have seen from my last post, I have a lot to get through 🙂

Sleep

I’m going to level with you: Circus Circus is not the coolest of hotels on the strip, but since MGM has bought it over they’ve extended the property and added a bunch of new rooms, but most importantly they are DIRT CHEAP to encourage people to come stay. We actually got our room upgraded and had the most amazing view of the clown sign out front (not many people want to sleep on the 13th floor if they’re gamblers, but that’s a risk I was more than happy to take and it honestly only brought me luck!) It’s a little worn inside but it’s clean, has that ‘Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas’ charm, it’s got Elvira slot machines, plenty of places to eat inside and most importantly it’s on the strip (crossing Elvis Presley Blvd no less!), beside the bus stop, and it was much more affordable than the budget hotels in the area. To me, in Vegas, a bed is a bed. I never really stay in my hotel for long, so save your cash and find a cheap place to crash! Deals like this wont last long, so be sure to keep your eye out for bargain rates.

Eat & Drink

My favourite breakfast joint was the Peppermill, which is open 24 hours and has the most amazing vintage interior. I don’t think it’s actually been updated from the 70s and it is A.MAZ.ING. They do great pancakes and are more than happy to let you order off the OAP menu (portions are ridiculously large!) so it’s a defo must do if you ask me!

Slightly out of town is The Golden Tiki, a really cool tiki bar in a Chinatown type area. I adored the interior, but most thrilling was the giant clamshell chair which I would have stolen if I could have fitted it into my jumpsuit. The staff are really cool, they have great live music and they serve Dole Whip. And it’s damn good too!! I’m a big fan of tiki joints (I have a tiki kitchen after all!) and I gotta say, this is one of my favourite finds!

As I’m a vintage blogger, I can’t not give a mention to Atomic Liquors which was sadly closed when I visited (tight schedule!) but it’s a must see if you’re a history obsessor like me. This bar is famous because it’s LV’s oldest freestanding bar, a huge amount of famous people drank there including Frank Sinatra, but most excitingly, during the 50’s they had rooftop parties where you could drink cocktails and watch atomic bombs going off in the distance. Crazy, right?!

Shopping

Perhaps surprisingly to you, there is such a great vintage scene out here it KILLS me that I can’t go more often! With a mixture of modern reproduction and true vintage, you really can’t go wrong out in the desert. Best of all? The staff were all super friendly, really helpful and more than happy to recommend other cool places to visit in the city. My favourite spots include:

Tatyana Boutique A great mix of vintage and modern clothes, shoes and bags as well as some locally made vintage inspired products. I’ve been a fan of them for years as they make some really stunning pieces and I was super excited to finally go see them irl! I’ll be sharing a post about them later 🙂

Rockin’ Bettie Don’t be fooled by the size of this place. The front is jam packed full of great vintage inspired pieces, (I snagged a really cool route 66 inspired skirt which I can’t wait to share on here), but the back is a Pin Up Photostudio! I was delighted when I got to go take a peep for myself – if I had time to book in a shoot I would have done so in a heartbeat. Note to those planning a visit: PLEASE DO THIS!! It’s hard to find these studios with genuinely awesome interior’s inside. This is worth the investment if you want to live out some Gil Elvgren dreams!

Retro Vegas is a must for interior design fans. They have an epic collection of furniture and home goods and a small selection of vintage clothing up in the attic. Most notably they had this epic pink kitchen set when I was in – be still my heart!

Glam Factory Vintage If you only have time to visit one vintage shop in Vegas, make it this one. I’ve never found a better store in all my days! I think I tried on about half the shop because there was so many incredible pieces, and I ended up leaving with two beautiful dresses, my first set of Bakelite bracelets and two pairs of epic cat eye glasses to add to my collection. I can honestly tell you I’ve never found that much to buy in a vintage shop before! Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to look through stuff here, it’s small but it’s like a tardis inside, and it’s genuinely a lot of fun to hang out here!

Entertainment

The Neon Museum as you’ll know from my Date Nite scarf I am obsessed with old vintage signs. This Neon Boneyard does not disappoint! You can tour it during the day or evening (they turn on a few of the old signs to light it up), or if you plan in advance enough you can even do yoga there once a month! We went first thing in the morning so it was quiet enough for taking lots of photos (which you’ll see in my next post), but I genuinely think you’ll be blown away whenever you go. But, you must book in advance, this place fills up fast!

Seven Magic Mountains This is about 30 mins outside of vegas but it’s defo worth the trip if you’re looking for a trip. Seven brightly coloured ridiculously tall towers of rainbow rocks stand out in the desert; it may not sound like it’s up to much, but it sure as heck makes for some excellent pictures! (more to come!) If you like abstract art, this is something to see . . . but I don’t know how long it will be there for, so be sure to check before you chase!

Le Rêve You can’t go to this city and not see a show, and this year I’m nominating Le Reve as my top must see! It’s a Cirque Du Soleil show which has actually been nominated Vegas’s best production show for the last 7 years. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s water based and has aerial diving that literally made me gasp and cover my eyes. In a nutshell, it’s a sight to be seen!

Phew! I actually could write another 6 posts like this with more recommendations, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Can you tell I’m a fan? I’d love to hear if you have any other tips on vintage inspired places to check out in the city. I’ll be posting pictures from this trip very soon, so watch this space if you want to see more or want to see what I got up to on my start of my Route 66 adventure!

Las Vegas to LA: My Route 66 Roadtrip Must Do’s!

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Prepare yourself for ALL THE PHOTOS! Because when I road-tripped Las Vegas to Los Angeles I took more pictures than you could possibly imagine. I thought I’d share a series of posts with you that breaks down my trip, so I’m going to give you outline posts that let you know my top choices for each location and a few outfit posts from some of the amazing locations I visited. It’s going to be epic!

As you’ll know, I am obsessed with Americana. I’ve dreamed of driving Route 66 for as long as I can remember, but there was one thing that held me back – my fear of driving. So, after FINALLY passing my driving test and saving up, I managed to live the dream … well, part of it anyway. Rather than spend a solid 2 weeks trying to get from one side of the country to the other, I decided to break it down into sections so I could fully appreciate every moment.

So, this trip was taken over 2 weeks with time spent in Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Los Angeles as my main break points (yes, I know PS is not actually on Route 66, but it’s my dream town!), and I hit up Kingman, Laughlin, Amboy, Barstow, Oro Grande, Victorville, San Bernadino, Cabazon and Disneyland along the way. So, if you’re planning to visit any of these places soon I GOT YOU!

Ready to go for a spin with me? First up: Viva Las Vegas!… xox

TLC Time at Chamomile Sanctuary

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I don’t know about you, but I find winter incredibly draining. The relentless cold and wet weather. It’s dark when we go to bed and it’s dark when we get up. Having to don a coat that resembles a sleeping bag just to be able to leave the house without freezing your socks off. UGH! Don’t get me wrong, lots of great things come with the season too: spending time with friends and family, Christmas nights out on the town and the food – don’t get me started on the food! It’s a bit of a deadly mixture though; burning the candle at both ends, trying to keep all the plates spinning and not letting the dreaded SAD take over your world.  That’s why I resolved this year to take much better care of myself… but it’s never that simple.

Being kind to yourself is something we all abandon so quickly when we have a lot on, but that’s actually when it’s more important than ever. Doing small things for yourself to perk yourself up can work a treat, but for me, it’s being kind to my body that really keeps me going. With so many events, markets, online sales and work being super busy, I’ve been making bad eating choices, become lazy with my skincare routine (I slept in my make up after a night out – oh the disappointment in the morning!), and lets not even mention the lack of yoga time. Not only do all these poor decisions affect me mentally, they affect me physically too. The aches from lack of stretching is one thing, but how dull, dry and lacklustre I’ve become is starting to become noticeable and rather depressing. It’s when I had to pick up a cream for a dermatitis rash on my neck I realised I had failed to take better care of myself as I had initially promised. Eating a salad and slapping on a face mask was not going to cut it this time.

After a bit of juggling I managed to get myself an afternoon off and an appointment at Chamomile Sanctuary, a little piece of heaven hidden right in the middle of Edinburgh’s city centre. It’s one of those places that’s like a Faberge Egg; it looks luxurious at a glance walking past, and when you go inside it’s much more delightful than you expected! Upon checking in I was taken into a beautiful lounge where I could sniff some of the products they use during the treatments and help myself to a cup of Eteaket tea (my favourite!). I was then escorted downstairs into their lovely underground spa where I slipped on a big fluffy dressing gown and slippers and took some time to wind down in their Relaxation Room before heading into my treatment room.

Although Chamomile Sanctuary offer lots of the latest treatments, I’m a stickler for tradition and am a strong believer in aromatherapy, so I opted to go for an Age Repair Facial using the Aromatherapy Associates range. Essential oils have been used for centuries and are renowned for their healing powers – especially when it comes to emotional wellbeing. When I met with my beauty therapist I discussed with her that I felt my skin was incredibly dry and grey… and that I was totally worn out emotionally. Being able to have an open and honest discussion about these things with perfect strangers can often be incredibly daunting, but I’ve never felt more serene. There was no pretentiousness or aloofness which I often struggle with in beautiful spa’s. It’s hard to find places with top-of-the-range treatments that are so welcoming and genuine, and rare to come accross a place where you’re immediately comfortable and at ease in your surroundings.

What I loved particularly about this treatment is that it’s tailored directly to your needs, so a potion was concocted that would rehydrate my skin and help it find that glow again. It involves a cleanse and exfoliation of the skin, two hydrating masks and a delicious massage of the face, head, neck and arms which was more needed than initially anticipated. I’m pleased to share that the scents were all glorious (sometimes aromatherapy can be hit or miss, worse so, if not done correctly the scents can be so over powering!), and the hour long massage passed in what felt like moments. By the time we were done I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders; I felt energised, relaxed and ready to take the world on again. My skin was soft, supple, more plump and hydrated than ever before and, what I’m most surprised and thrilled about, my rash had vanished! Just goes to show the powers of aromatherapy can often be more helpful than a prescription, especially when in the hands of a trained professional.

After the treatment I headed back to the Relaxation Room, helped myself to another tea and took some time to absorb the last of the moisturising oils and ground myself. Being able to let go of all that pent up tension is something you need to acknowledge to be able to maintain; I had forgotten what it was like to be rid of all the baggage and stress of rushing around, I didn’t want to forget it again any time soon. When we think of treatments like facials I think we often overlook the fact that we are giving ourselves much more than just a skin treatment. Were giving ourselves time out, a quiet space to be peaceful and breath, a treat that’s much more rewarding than we anticipate. Leaving with a few less wrinkles in this case is more than just from the essential oils and lymphatic massages because we are investing time in our mental wellbeing when we leave too!

With a fresh outlook, getting back into a daily routine that I had abandoned feels much less like a challenge and much more like something I genuinely look forward to doing because it feels like I’m starting from scratch again. I might still have lots on, over eat and sleep a little less than I’d like to, but I’m reminded how nice it is to take care of my body with simple yet small kind acts like healthy eating, stretching and moisturising, because I’m giving myself time to just be as well.

If you’re looking to kickstart your self-kindness routine, set aside an afternoon and book yourself in for a treatment. Chamomile Sanctuary has become my little safe haven during the winter!

Thank you so much to the team for making me feel ready to take on the world again, you’ve truly worked wonders!