Holiday Stocking Stuffers

It's that time of year again. It's the season of indulging in holiday meals (hello, mashed potatoes!), sharing gifts with loved ones, attending holiday parties, and enjoying quality time with friends and family. When it comes to holiday gifts, that old saying that the best gifts come in small packages rings true. I love stylish accessories, beauty products, and jewelry as stocking stuffers because they allow the recipient to add a special finishing touch to their look. Whether it's a furry pom pom bag charm, a personalized pendant, or an animal print scarf, there are endless gifts that exude personality and charm (like this cute cat mug for $20) without draining your wallet. Below are ten of my favorite stocking stuffers under $130 plus other options under $35.
Holiday 2015 Stocking Stuffers gift ideas, holiday 2015 gift guide under $150
1. Smashbox 'step by step' contour kit, $45
2. Toms 'Dalston' 52mm sunglasses, $78
3. Wool blend beanie, $12.99
4. Kate Spade initial pendant locket necklace, $68
5. Faux fur pom pom charm, $15
6. Bow sequin pouch, $9.99
7. Artemis ear crawlers, $50
8. Animal print scarf, $6.99
9. UGG suede gloves, $79.99
10. Fit Bit activity and sleep tracker, $129.95
More ideas under $35:
$28.00
$20.00
$24.00
$25.00
$8.00
$10.00

THE BLACK TERRYCLOTH SAVER

Whenever I have a bad hair day or my fringe just is not up for it (which I guess counts as a bad hair day too) I most often cover my hair with my black beret -as you know. But now as the weather gets warmer the beret gets competition from my turban. It is made of terrycloth which is soft and stretchy but stays firmly in place without pressing. It looks a bit like it was made of velvet though. I often sleep with it when I have my hair set in pin curls or soft rollers, but it works for stepping out of the house as well. Tuck everything in and Ta-da!, instant chic-points added.

My turban is from Kuokkasen Peruukkiliike which is a tiny store inside the National Theatre and open on really difficult hours. But the internet is full of turbans. It is also rather easy to do one yourself. The internet is also full of tutorials for that. Shiny ones are pretty but if you want it to stay comfy in place the whole day without having to pin it, or it pressing too tight, go for a less shiny and slippery fabric.

HOW TO (ALMOST) GET AWAY WITH IT, pt.1

My days are mostly now spent going from rehearsals to the playground and workouts to teaching, a lot of running from here to there. I'm once again in the state where I feel I almost never have the time to actually wear anything properly. Also, add some puffiness that you might feel every now and then due to different reasons and the result is it would be the smartest to, and you only feel like, going out in gym- or yoga pants.

Which I've done.

But as said before, you can get away with quite a lot if what you wear on top is something totally different and alright. Quite suitably for this fall I picked up a vintage Pendleton jacket (from Red Diva Vintage). So I roll up the edges on the pants and pop on a pair of heels (or, pretty flats, which I know own -heels don't appreciate the soggy or dusty playground sand) to go and no one will ever know. Well, except for now of course.

THE DIFFERENCE OF A DETAIL

When it comes to personal style preferences may come and go, the hues may vary so to say but the basic idea stays the same. Well, for me, at least. The past year(s) I have tend to go (back) for more timeless pieces and combos that can be styled into pretty much anything depending on what I'm are feeling for the moment. Because in most cases it is not really about what you wear, but how you wear it and what you wear it with.


Here outfitting myself in a pair of old black shorts (which I rather seldom wear, shorts, in general) and a plain cotton shirt. That depending on what shoes or hair I have with it can look like pretty much anything.


A head scarf can serve as something of an instant retrofier.


While popping Eddi's hat on -I sometimes do here on the farm for no apparent reason- the combo gets kind of young and hipster. (And here young people and hipsters are probably shaking their head 'uuummm... No'. But to my eyes at least!)

COTTON CANDY AND SALTY LIQUORICE

It's been forever sine I've done or posted any spotted & drawn outfits like I used to at the beginning of this blog, but some time ago I saw a girl in the tram in pink and black who had clearly thought her thing trough, so I thought I'd draw it. She had a pale and kind of dirty pink in her brown hair that somehow looked natural although it of course wasn't, (I've always had a thing for pastels in hair and even though I'll most likely stay au naturel or will at most try some organic herbal colour, I still haven't totally let go of the thought that one day I might go for it myself...) wearing a pink wool jacket and was pairing it all with one of those deliciously shiny Ted Baker shopper bags. Neat!

THE CHRISTMAS PINUP

A quick shot of my Christmas look I did for a Xmas party yesterday. I named it the 'Christmas Pin-up' or the 'I'm-dreaming-of-a-white-Christmas'-look. Because naming your looks makes everything more fun.

I've had this terrible itch to cut bangs again, but I've been there many times before and have learned that although I love that style, the transition time of growing the hair out again is quite a pain in the derrière to go trough. So I didn't reach for the scissors. Instead I dug out my old little clip-on bang. It had lost a lot of color so I let it soak in a color mask for some hours; the shade turned out rather perfect. (Today however it had taken on a slightly purple undertone and did not blend in with my own hair that well anymore. Umm, I have no idea how that is even possible).

As it is Christmas and as the party was a more-is-more kind of one I went for red and green; lining my eyes with green eyeshadow (and black liner) and, of course,  the lipstick was red. Lots of bling and some chopsticks and huge red flowers in my hair.  Then it was jingle your bells all the way for the rest of the night!

ONE SCARF, ONE BERET, FIVE MINUTES, SIX LOOKS

(Here's the baby as part of the outfit once again as it needed a dash of colour. You gotta do what you gotta do.)

Yesterday I kept a lecture on vintage inspired styles and styling. My thesis being, as you may know from here, that you can do very much with very little; manage to add a flair of certain styles or eras wearing pretty much anything as long as you acessorize it right; it is how you wear it and what you wear it with. Do note that dressing inspired by something is not the same thing as dressing up to something; it is not re-creating an outfit form a certain era, just playing with the vibes from it.

I planned to demonstrate this subtly during my talk by changing a few details in my outfit, which I wanted to be rather neutral, both retro and timeless, for it to work. But as I went on babbling I kind of forgot to do it properly and on time.

So I will go for it here instead - sort of 20'ish onwards! Five minutes, five more looks:

There you have it, easy as whoah!

The blouse and skirt are both from Tara Starlet. I folded the waist band down in half as it rises too high to look good on me.

And no, my child is not really in the pic just to balance out the soft shades with his red suit. But it sounded like a more fun and less shouty of a reason didn't it?

3–IN–1

One dress, one flower pin, one scarf, three collars; three ways.

The dress is the  streetcar dress from my all-time favoite Trashy Diva. Although it's strong pattern it is rather versatile still.

A lil' hint for shopping TD - the forties and other deep v-neck dresses tend to be rather roomy in the bust, while the ones with a higher neckline have very little space for the ribs and chest, as do this one. I sized up x2 from my pre-pregnancy size.

THE PLAN B-PONYTAIL

I have a ponytail! A clip-on one, obviously. I got it in case my hair will go bad (me being a milk-central nowadays, you know) and for when I won't have time to fix my my locks properly (mommy issues). A plan B, that is. Plus I've always wanted one for that sixties look, but have been stressing about not finding the right colour when bought online. I decided to finally just go for it and that I probably am a strawberry blonde - which was pretty close to jackpot!

For a more retro feel I clip it on with the claws sideways, to get a broader 'do. But I still want it to look somewhat natural - this hairpiece is not over the top in size but the length kind of gives it away. However, I actually got it with the intention to roll it into a big bun, and not wear hanging loose like this, which will make it more hard to tell. (But to be honest, it will so far it seems I will need a bit of practice for it to be a quick fixer like I thought; it was not just to clip in and go and look good at the same time...)

STUFF I REALLY LIKE BUT WOULD NOT NECESSARILY GO FOR MYSELF

Pt.2

Knee-high lace up boots. Preferably in colored suede.
I actually wished for red ones like this in a post many many years ago.
But if I had a pair I would most likely never wear them. I just like the thought of such. But boots like this requires a hem that stops at the knee or above and I want my hems to go over my knees.

Which takes us to the following;




Short striped dresses.
I never feel comfortable in short dresses though. Or, it depends a bit on the cut, but anything a little more slim does not work for me.  It's because I picture my legs like a pair of chicken legs. I mean, not the ones that stick out form beneath the feathers of the birdie, but the ones you eat; the way they look when you grill them. Broiler.
Many maternity dresses are pretty short, and I get it; it's to avoid the 'tent-look'.  But ehrm, about 75% of my pregnancy kilos have missed the belly and settled on my hip and thighs (thanks!), and although I still think pregnancy is more forgiving -as focus is on the belly and the rest is just OK -I'll still just stick to liking short dresses instead of actually wearing them.


Huge hats.
Or, I do have a huge sun hat like this, as you may remember. But I only wear it for, eh, sunny situtations. Not on town. But I still like the look of it.


And of course, all of the above togheter!

STRIPES, MOOMIN AND THE SIXTIES

I've been wearing a lot of sixties styled dresses lately. That's because they are cut in a way to fit my belly. 

I don't have an urge to absolutely have to dress according to a decade from the past, and now that a fifties waist is out of the question it's not like I have to jump on to the next vintage period available. No, of course not. (My sister said, when I in the beginning of pregnancy said there seemed to be quite little interesting maternity wear out there, "maybe now you can dress like normal people for a while". Hehe.) So, I don't feel obliged to dress in a certain way; that would be ridiculous. But I like to play around with different styles and be inspired by the aesthetics of those times I find inspiring. And now with the belly it's been a lot of the sixties!

This dress however is new. From Marimekko. It's meant to be worn all buttoned up, but that's way too hipster for me. It makes me feel a bit like a Moomin character! Which is a fun change. Who wouldn't want to be one, at least every once in a while?

It's also funny how normal I can look from the back and front, but enormous from the side!

Btw apparently most of my extra kilos (which are something closer to 15 right now. Quite much, even though I haven't been eating any more than usual at all, and I eat rather healthy by default. So the kilos don't bother me, due to that.) have gone to my legs! I noticed that some time ago in the mirror... Hope I can make them go away from there later then too...

But anyway, back to the look: I like to do over stylized sixties inspired make up and hair styles, although they have only been for special occasions, like shooting or parties. The same goes for today; the reason for my look was not just playing around; we shot a promo video for our jazz project that will happen next winter. (You may remember the one that we took promo shots from earlier this year.)

The beehive is done by rolling a big wig (that happens to be just the same as my own colour) into a bun on the top of my head, securing it with a hairnet and pins. You've heard the same story before. The same can be done with clip-on extensions, or if your hair si long enough, by back combing your own hair and using tulle, extensions or bump-its and a rat to fill it up. I say go for the extra hair though.

By making this a bit more subtle it would make a nice every day look - using a slightly smaller piece of hair for a less huge bun, going a little easier on the make up; the lines a little thinner, the black a little less strong. (For the look, in addition to eye liner, draw a line above the socket of your eye and one line under your lower lashes. And a whole lot more, but that's the basic.) I'm on the look-out for a nice attachable ponytail that could be used for smaller versions of up do's like this, but it's hard to get the right shade and know about the quality of the locks when shopping online.

If interested, my dress (or, tunic)  is this season's Marimekko, kitten heels from a local shoe store and both eye shadow and lipstick from Lime Crime (called "Troubadour" and "Great pink planet").

DIFFERENT VERSIONS

I like to dress up inspired by past decades although I seldom try to re create an exact look or strive for true authenticity as, well, that was then and this is now. Basically I always say that you can create any look you want pretty much regardless of what you wear as it is all in the details. You know you can really change the feel of a dress with just a change in the shade of lipstick or your look depending how you wear your hair.

Going a bit 30's in New Orleans. (It was so hot there I used the fan until it broke...)


And something more of the early 60's in Key West.

The dress is from Trasy Diva; bought it on the trip. (It was in the bag in this photo :)

THEMED AND PAIRED

A while ago Eddi and I went to a theme party.
And you know what? I absolutely love theme parties! Especially if you can do the whole thing in such a way you can really get all dressed up but one can't really tell, because you might just look like that all of the time.*


And you know another thing? How am I ever going to be able to go out again not wearing a vintage gold lamée dress with perfectly matching shoes and bag. And oversized hair. Hmmm.


*) Although in this case, the theme being something like 'dress up like your grandparents did when they were your age' would maybe have been too little of a thing for me as, well, you know - that's pretty much what I look like all the time. So we did dress up like my grandparent's could've done at the time when they were Eddis age instead. Compromise!

A TOUCH OF NEW LOOK OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT

Well here's something you haven't heard me say before (ha-ha):
I have a new pair of shoes! Pretty ones!

I love the fact that they make my feet look rather tiny. Not that they are big to start with, but I still kind of like it if they happen to apepar tiny.

I also have a giant rose.


Pretty similar to the black beret-outfit I did some time ago, but by changing the skirt one gets a totally different feel. This is loosely inspired by the New Look. Perhaps what I would have worn if I'd have been me sixty years ago exactly. And lived in, well, Paris perhaps.

I somewhere read someone saying you can't dress 'vintagy' unless you wear actual vintage or in some cases well done repro, but I claim that's not true - it's in the over all style and the details that the look lies; not the actual products. For me at least. Here I'm just wearing plain high street. But of course I'm not trying to be accurate or re-create an exact look; I seldom do, I only dress inspired by what I like.



The blouse is H&M (still haven't removed the zipper...), Skirt Zara, shoes from Next and betl from vivien of Holloway. The giant rose in made by Frollein von Sofa and the little beret is, as most of you know, by Molla Mills.

CURLY

Yesterday I went out for a meeting and dinner with the other Bitties at the Tiki bar. And what better way to do it in than a hairdo called Tiki Lounge! Freely adapted from the Tiki Lounge-do as seen in the Vintage Hairstyling book that everyone seems to own. I styled my hair different in the front and I was also in a bit of a hurry so my version turned out a bit messier - but sometimes it's nice with a less sleek do!

It's kind of a take on the "eternal roll-do" of mine, as the hair is flat on the crown and laying around the head and face.

They do this on quite short hair in the book, but it will work on longer locks too. Do it by curling your hair downwards - the book says to use a curler; I used hot sticks as I am far too impatient to curl all of my hair with a curler... bur rag curls or such would most likely work as well! Then pin your hair flat around the crown. Lift up the curls over the pins and pin them in place. You could (or perhaps should) pin the curls rather well defined, but I just folded mine up in a big fluff and used lots and lots of pins to keep it in place.

In the book the hair in front is curled and the curls left rather loose on top of the head. I pinned mine more away from the face and made a small roll form the middle to the side.

I meant to stick a couple of flower combs in the back on the sides but forgot :)