Pomade

A little something quick to read while I'm busy planning fabrics and what to make next at Lady K Loves HQ (yes I know, more jeans right?)
So pomade, mostly used by guys I feel but also for a bit of finishing of a style by girls. I have to say I normally use a combination of heat, back-combing, setting, hair spray and shear force of will to make my hair do what I want. As such my knowledge of pomades isn't very good, so I'd love to get feedback from you all. This also means most of my knowledge comes from if I like the smell of not! But at least I'm honest!

So we'll start off with Mr Ducktail.....
Mr Ducktail is not only a legend in his own life time for cutting and styling men's hair in his London studio, he also now has a range of styling products (and fantastic tee shirts). Now truth be told I don't think I've even smelt this one, let alone had first hand experience of how it works, strength of hold ect. On the site it says it smells like Coca-cola, and I've heard it has a sort of lemony vanilla scent..... The reviews I've read online pretty much all agree it's fantastic, strong, easy to use, clear and blends well into the hair, leaving little to no residue and giving you a fantastic finish and hold, plus even if you or your fella aren't gona use it, it'll look cool in your bathroom.

Sweet Georgia Brown
Brought to my attention by Atomic Tony Tiki a few years back. This is one I've had first hand experience of, the smell is lovely, sort of warm and manly. they do 3 types of hold so there is something for whatever strength you like, from super held in place to pretty styled but room of a few stands to fall lose (I've always loved that look!). One thing I do remember being a problem for the person who used it was a tendency for it to clump a little bit, I think it maybe stuck to the comb then dried then got distributed through the hair the next day when they styled it so if you've really dark hair I might be a little aware of that.

Next up Layrite,
One I've actually used my self and always quite liked. Again a company who not only do great pomade but a few cool tee shirts and even an aftershave! Hawleywoods is originally a barbers which has developed it's own products. Now I used this as it is one of the water soluble options, since I style my hair in various way's I've never wanted to use a pomade which only gives you one option. the smell is lovely so I completely understand why they've also produced an aftershave or two. it's got a thick texture and once worked into the hair gives a good hold, there's also two strengths and they make them in about 3 different size tubs so you can have a big one for home and a small one for your travel bag.. The only problem for guys with a water soluble pomade is that if you get caught in the rain your hair style dies!

Last one I'm going to look at is Murray's, again I've not had a huge amount of contact with it, but I did get the chance to check out the smell the other day.....(yes the image of me sniffing someone's head is entirely a accurate! ) and it smelt good! they have great packaging and all of their products are styled differently which makes it easier to know what you liked last time. (yes I picked this one becuase it's pretty).

So what do you think? I know I've missed out loads...the whole Dax range and White & Blacks, to name but a few. What do you like to use?

Spring Summer 2012 Shoot

Well now, this seems like ages ago that we did our spring summer shoot, it was just beginning to get a little sunny, and feels like a long time ago after this very wet bank holiday weekend!

Having just relocated to Stroud, in Gloucestershire, it seemed the perfect opportunity to do a country/farm themed shoot! We shoot in a wonderful working farm, Stroud Slad Farm, which not only produces some fabulous local pastys (or possibly they can only be called pastry's now?) and also runs Leadership With Horses courses.....a fantastic way to learn new ways to 'take the reins' as it were in you life.

So we had the wonderful Miss Cal O'Rein doing the honers with modelling, and Hannah KS photography, thought these girls have both done photo's for me before, but this was the first time I was working with them in person. They were both super sweet and extremely professional! It was a really quick and easy photoshoot....we got loads of great pictures and had such a lovely time, there were even pretty young calf's sleeping and feeding in the stables behind us.

Some of you may have seen a lot of these already.....but here are some of the great pictures we got on the day! Featuring the Verity set below, inspired by the lovely Verity of The Vanity Box.

 Rodeo Queen Shirt

 Rodeo Queen and Circle Skirt

Above, Hello Sailor Trousers with Grey Leopard Fi Fi La Rou, and Annette in Navy and Red

It's a Wonderful Vintage Love Boat Ball

This isn't something I'd normally go to.....being more of a swing night and perhaps a little earlier in era than my normal music and style tastes. However, Verity had asked me to come and check it out, the Christmas one was apparently a lot of fun (I'd seen pictures of Verity, Shona and Bettina having a blast), partly with an eye to writing a review both on here and something to be published. Plus the combination of it looking like a lot of fun, it being on a boat, feeling like it would be a great opportunity to drink gin (in a kind of Speak Easy kind of way), and most importunately finding the most beautiful ball gown in Strangeness and Charm (which I'm not allowing my self to go into currently as I want too much stuff and it's getting to be a habit!) made me feel as though the world were telling me to go.

Having no idea what to expect, well having some idea I packed my little case and was off to London. Staying at what feels a little like my second home right now, I arrived at Verity Vanity Box's HQ on time (Last time I got lost and the wonderful Dave had to come and find me as it started to snow......not this time!)

We had a little time to relax and get our make-up done, before the three of us (Myself, Verity and Cheyenne) set off to help pitch in to set up the event. The Vanity Box had been asked to provide a hair styling, which had been cancelled (I think due to logistical reasons), but we were still going to offer help, anyone who's been involved in organising an event can vouch for how stressful it can be, and having organised enough of my own (including my year or so of running a bar) and setting up single handedly (bar one excellent Assistant Manager - J). We arrived through thick traffic, a long walk and were immediately set to work. A few clashes of personalities (to be expected not everyone should be best friends with everyone and we weren't going to let that stand in the way of a good night) but everything was done in time for doors opening. A mad dash get ready in what was possibly the smallest bathroom I've even seen! Squeezed in with Verity Cheyenne and Bettina all trying to top up our make-up, Verity doing my hair (and working wonders even in such a small space ), trying to get changed! It was very, very funny!

Doors opened, there was a Wish Tree (make a selfless wish and tie it to the tree.....I'm not sure free bar counts as selfless and World Peace felt a bit Miss World so I wasn't sure where to start on this one) was a sweet idea....and I think it added something for people to firstly do at the beginning of the evening, you know the slightly awkward bit where the place isn't very full and people haven't relaxed in to the evening. Later on Swing Dance Speed Dating was happening, a nice twist on our modern dating solution. The part of me that thinks you should say yes to everything was tempted by it, but I'm really glad I didn't though becuase as the evening went on it became clear I can swing dance for toffee....I can just about hold my own jiving, despite the fact that I hate being lead and try to resist being made to do what a guy wants. I think the speed dance would have just lead to lots of embarrassment and crushed toes. Any way....from what I heard from the people who did take part, and from the follow up e-mail sent out to all attendees after the event there were clearly a few hits, and it sounds like it was a successful night for some and is hopefully going to be an reoccurring feature.

The lovely Folly Gosh entertained us with a burlesque performance, (and she's also a Stone Cutter in her day life which I think is pretty awesome!) She teased and tantalised to firstly what is recognised by most as the Blue Peter theme, and then something else which my memory is hazy on. Followed by a jazz band (which sadly there's no name for on the event details so I can't tell you their name) but they were good, and a lot of fun to dance too. The music through out the night covered various aspects of era's normally considered in the 'vintage' scene, from 50's to 20's, there were a few points where the song was repeated, and from a dancing point of view, it would have been great if there were a few strollers all together, a few jazz swing tunes all together, a few jivers', boppers', whatever's grouped so you could get a bit of your dance on without it changing pace and tack so quickly. But there was most importantly lots of dancing. Which I was rubbish at! For me it was far too slow with far too many double step foot movements. I stood on toes, danced out of time, and wasn't asked for a second dance by anyone who didn't already know me! There were two birthday girls in attendance, one of whom was Shona, and the tradition of making a circle around the girls and guys cutting in to dance with them for a song was carried out which looked like a lot of fun!

Shona from Adventures In Vintage blog, Bettina Scarlett (super hot model), Matt.....ummm.....carpenter extraordinaire! And Shona's lovely dancer house-mate Bridget all came too, Shona and Bettina being part of the group who had been to previous events and raved about them. Being on a boat, there were re-enactments of the famous Rose and Jack 'I'm flying scene' Titanic (which I missed some how, I'm really not sure! I might have been dancing, or drinking gin).

 All in all a great night was had, good music and lots of it....I've never been on a shored boat as the tide comes in making it rock in such a away to make you feel 4 times more drunk than you are! All that said it certainly hasn't turned me into a swing dance fan though, I think I'll stick to my rockin' nights.

Pictures are from an album by Michaelm and can be found here.

Tattoo Updated

Just a little update on my tattoo which I got from Ben Davies at Brighton Tattoo Convention, who tattoos at Madam Butterflys in Hastings.

It now looks like this and is a beauty!

Excuse the goosebumps! It got very cold as I took the picture!

Early in the day Ben had also done this wonder on Gemma from The Vanity Box. Isn't it great! And on such a lovely person too!

Here's some more treats from Ben to take a look at. I can't recommend him highly enough, not only is he skilled, gentle and talented as a tattooist, he's also a super sweet guy and has great taste in ice-cream! You can 'like' his fan page here and see even more of his work too.

 Beautiful Gypsy Woman,

 Gypsy woman on Gemma from The Vanity Box

 His and Hers Legs on Betty Flowers

LondonEdge February 2012

Well now....it's again been so busy we're struggling to keep on top of work let alone on top of blogging! Some of you who are fans of the Lady K Loves facebook page, will have seen all of the images recently pop up from a shoot with Miss Cal O'Rein and Hannah. So we're currently making sure there is fabric at the factory, grading new pattens, finalising trims and colours and making sure everything is on track for Spring Summer.

However I've decided this afternoon is about coffee, blogging and a little bit of kicking back before operation New Pink Studio starts tomorrow.

We've done LondonEdge a few times and it's always such a  fantastic opportunity to talk to our customers and stockists. This year was certainly no exception and we as ever met lots of wonderful new people. One of the high lights for me was having not one, but two people who stopped by the stand giving excellent feedback on the jeans....and by excellent I do mean praise! I'm always happy to hear from people about fit and finish, colours and prints, I completely understand that I have a particular way of dressing and while Lady K Loves in undoubtedly influenced and a reflection of that, it's very important to make sure there are options there for everyone. So feed back on needing more bust room in dresses, for instance, is important and received with open ears. That said, nothing fills me with pride and joy more than hearing good things about Lady K Loves styles, so hearing from two completely separate people that they love the fit of the jeans, particularly when they have different body shapes and sizes made my weekend!

Among the other lovely people we saw over the weekend were models, Zara Ann, Frankii Wilde, Solene, Miss Cherry On Fire, Dolly Divine and I'm pretty sure more I've forgotten (I'm really sorry!)

It snowed on the Saturday night, which was hilarious as Verity (The Vanity Box, new web site coming soon) and I had gone out to the Hillybilly Hop, it's not too far from her house in north London, but it still took us about 2 - 3 hours to get home, a snow ball fight, thinking we were going to get hit by a skidding van and a half an hour walk home in the snow! After what way clearly way too late a night and not enough sleep, I made my way from north London to Olympia to get to the show. Sunday was kind of quiet becuase lots of people had gotten snowed in where ever they lived. Betty was supposed to be coming up from the Coast to help Cam (Bow & Crossbones) but it just wasn't possible with the fantastic service South Eastern or Southern trains put on!

That night however was a lot of fun! Verity diligently made her way across London (I have to say I was really impressed, I'm not sure I would have bothered coming if it were me and it wasn't really necessary).

 Verity and I taking pictures every time we got a coffee or ate anything......I think we'd gotten delirious!

So we went to the after party with the lovely (like really, really lovely, I'd never met them before and am looking forward to going to more shows which they're at since they're so sweet) girls from Bubblegum Vegas, Cam from Bow & Crossbones, and the guys behind Freddies of Pinewood who I've never met before and were so friendly and funny. Que a free bar.....as in, up to the bar to buy a drink and instead get a whole round with 2 of everything for all of us! By the end it was me Verity, Heather and Dani (Bubblegum Vegas) left doing some very bad dancing on a light up dance floor.

 Verity, Me, Dani and the lovely Zara Ann

The fantastic and beautiful Miss Cherry On Fire was modelling from Bow & Crossbones, as many of you already know we often team up together, so dressed in Lady K Loves and dripping in Bow & Crossbones goodies, she walked around and tempted people to come and talk to us (and did a fantastic job too!)

Day 2 of not enough sleep! The show it's self was much busier and again full of lovely wonderful people to talk to as well as Gemma (The Vanity Box) joining us for the day which was so lovely to see her. That night was The Jive Dive at The Boogaloo in north London (directly opposite an old friends house randomly!). Which was a lot of fun! I can't jive very well...so was pretty nervous as it was quite a small room, but everyone was up and dancing and I had a great time even if I did end up with people taking pictures making me more nervous!

At some point (Monday I think) I also stopped by to say hello to Mr Ducktail, rockabilly barber who's not only very talented at his job, is also a super nice guy! 

Tuesday involved more wonderful customers new and old, plus a sneaky find of a tiki/poly style bar up stairs with fake palm tree, which me and Laura Fortune (Miss Fortune) saw as a prime opportunity for a bit of posing! I also picked up one of these lovely Lucky necklaces from Bow & Crossbones....I've had my eye on one for a few months and am sooo in love with it.

Me and Laura, not the best picture, but it was the end of the day!

Shoot With Retro Photostudio

For some time now we're been talking to Retro Photostudio about doing a shoot. It's another colaboration we've really wanted to do, but it just hasn't happened yet.

The shot was starting very very early, 8:30, I'm pretty sure, at this fabulous hotel, Hotel Pelirocco, which has beautiful themed rooms, from music based to boudoirs...

The shoot was based in the Betty Page room, starting so early, we dropped off the outfits the night before, so as to avoid any delays.

The Vanity Box was on hand for all of the make-up and hair needs, with 3 models Acid Doll, Miss Phoenix, Miss Lula May and Sam Huggins.

All the images below are of  Miss Lula Mae, Miss Phoenix and  Acid Doll, Miss Phoneix in the spotty dress in also in jewels from Bow & Crossbones. 

Brighton Tattoo Convention

What is really our second proper stand at a big show, was this years Brighton Tattoo Convention. We'd done smaller stands and tables at craft fairs and event such the London Kustom Ko-Op. So it's still quite nerve-racking to be out talking to customers. I always want to be doing whatever I can to make sure they're happy, so the feed back this week was really important and useful.

We left on Friday afternoon, me, my brother driving and Sarika, my friend, the car was pretty full!

We went straight to the Race course to get set up, after a few hours the stand was looking pretty good, and it was clear we would need to do a little shopping before we could finish. It was odd setting the stand up with out Betty, as we were sharing a stand, but she'd been there earlier in the day. A mad dash around Brighton in the morning, a healthy handful of stress and we were set up and ready to go......!

We had a great spot over near the Sailor Jerry stand, close to the main sitting area, bar, rum cocktail bar, and stage! being near the Sailor Jerry stand was good for drinks....but mostly becuase, it was manned with awesome people, some of whom were friends. Come mid day on Saturday there was important hair assistance given to be given, (photo from www.gloomylightsphotography.co.uk/)

There was lots of talking to lovely customers, some super cute returning customers who I'd spoken to via e-mail but not met, music, dancing, rum, good friends and good time. Part of Sunday was spent hanging out with Gemma of The Vanity Box, Gemma from ErisApple as well as getting a little tattoo from Ben Davies. Sarika was fantastic, really good talking to all of the customers and full of great suggestions on how we can make the stand better (a fresh pair of eye's are so useful)

Sunday day time I stopped off to see Ban and have a little tattoo. Then that night it was Brighton Rumble, which I'd never been too and was pretty excited for.Also over the weekend Retrophoto Studio, had a shoot which we were involved in, but that's another blog post.