What's New, Pussycat?

With my recent Vinted earnings burning a hole in my pocket and a pile of empty coat hangers in danger of taking over the bottom of the wardrobe I decided to treat myself to a couple of new (!) things.... 

My first buy was this Indian block printed cotton wraparound skirt from fabulous Brighton boutique, All About Audrey, in tarragon green and black. It's the perfect match with this art silk wrap top, also from All About Audrey (but purchased second hand via Vinted) and the olive green leather belt I bought from an artisan leather shop in Santorini in 2023. The Clarks olive green leather boots are also new, reduced by 70% in their end of season sale and, as you'd expect from Clarks, absurdly comfy... I've walked 15 miles in them so far!

Nothing new about the outfit I'm wearing today, unless you count my newly-dyed roots, courtesy of Jon. This is a rare glimpse of my hair in its naturally straight state. If I wasn't off swimming in the morning I'd have been tempted to try out this box of tricks I picked up in a charity shop earlier....

This is how your hair is supposed to look after you've used it. I'm not sure if mine will end up quite that good but at 50p it's no big deal if it doesn't! 

Talking of charity shop finds, here's what else I've bought in the last few days...

This Benefit Brow-Zing brow shaping kit was still sealed when I bought it this morning. I used to swear by this product until I had semi-permanent eyebrows inked on back in 2005 (and touched up in 2011). My eyebrows have since returned to their original sparse, barely-there state - the curse of being a natural blonde. I've been using Barry M's Brow Wow pencil for the last couple of years so I'm excited to reacquaint myself with the Benefit kit. I'm not sure how much it is these days but I know its a lot more than the £1.99 I paid for it.

I'm always scrabbling around for travel sized containers before I go away and these pretty silicone ones, which come in a clear pouch with some sticky labels to help identify the contents were a snip at 25p!

I bought the twin of this vintage Egyptian scarab bangle from a jumble sale when I was 11 and wore it well into my 40s, I've no idea what happened to it and was delighted to find a replacement for £4.

Jon & I love Satya Incense and were really pleased to get a box of twelve for £2!

My Teapigs/Pukka tea always tastes better in a snazzy mug. This kitschy cat in a kimono mug still had the original store tags attached - an unwanted present?

Be still my beating heart, a vintage Kashmiri (I think!), hand-embroidered jacket! Roll on Spring so's I can wear it!

I'm always looking for the perfect jumper and I think this is the one. Its an alpaca blend, cropped and with fabulous flared sleeves and fits into my wardrobe seamlessly. 

Enough about me - here's what I've bought for the Kinky rails. A J Crew cowboy shirt, a vintage handknit fisherman's jumper, a cowboy hat, a 1980s Italian leather belt, an original 1960s psych print sunhat and a Thai surfer shirt.

 

A 1960s cotton sundress, a Peruvian Connection organic cotton midi and a 1970s pinstripe suit by Jackson the Tailor.

1980s colour block jacket, 1990s rayon maxi skirt, Italian linen fringed top, vintage embroidered hat, 1970s German leather cap.

 1980s Ciro Citterio novelty print gents shirt, handmade granny square waistcoat and a 1970s bed jacket.

After finishing The Familiars on Saturday afternoon I scrabbled around the bookcase and stumbled upon Woody Guthrie's Bound For Glory which must have been on the shelf for at least 10 years. Bound for Glory tells of Woody's childhood and of his travels as a hobo riding the railroad across America. An amazing human who saw beauty in everything he encountered. It was so good I read it in a day. One of the most significant & influential figures in American folk music, Woody Guthrie wrote over 1,000 songs during his tragically short lifetime, with his work focussing on socialism and anti-fascism - in these worrying times a revival is well overdue.

I follow Insossidade on Facebook, a page For the ones with soul. For the ones with tempers. For the mistresses, mad women & poets. This montage popped up this morning, they are photos taken by Woody of a neighbourhood cat in NYC in 1947. 

I started The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell, it had a rave review from Salman Rushdie and started off well but the second part went weird & nonsensical and so I abandoned it (life's too precious to waste on the wrong book). I bought the square ring with the brown stone from a charity shop in 2001, it's marked Made in Denmark on the back.

 A few years later I was flicking through a vintage magazine and was amazed to see an identical ring being worn by George Best's Danish girlfriend, Eva Haraldstad in this photo from 1969. The bracelet was a 21st birthday present from some work mates, 37 years later and my taste in jewellery remains the same!

This was my view when I was doing the Downward Facing Dog this morning and, as I spent yesterday morning doing housework, it was clean and uncluttered enough to share with you!

I also polished some of my glass. I Google Lens-ed this photo and discovered that the Victorian bronze in the centre, which I always believed to be called The Boy, David (after the biblical slayer of Goliath) is actually a Grand Tour souvenir, known as Julius Caesar as a Boy. He's been part of my life since 1971 (he was in the parental home when we bought it), it seems weird to start calling him Julius now!

Thanks for reading! I'm off on my travels very soon. I'll see you in March! 

My Beauty Birthday Gifts & What I Thought of Them

Back in December, Liz who is currently sunning herself in Tenerife, bought me a selection of Beauty Kitchen products for my birthday. Freshly made in the UK using 100% natural ingredients, Beauty Kitchen claim to be people tested, never animal tested & use precycled, carbon neutral packaging. Their products are sold online (HERE) and in Holland and Barrett and are, understandably, quite pricey but if you check out the discount shops on the high street and eBay you might get lucky.

I've been using these products for six weeks so long enough to give them a fair trial.

First it's the Seahorse Plankton Everlasting Radiance Cleansing Gel which, amongst other things, claims to stimulate your skin's elasticity and reduce fine lines and wrinkles. (Don't be put off by seahorse plankton - it's a fancy way of saying microalgae so no innocent sea creatures have been harmed in the making of these products!) I'm strictly a soap and water girl but have been using this on my face in the shower in the evening, massaging it in and rinsing off with a natural sponge. While I've not suddenly started looking like a thirty year old, my skin feels lovely.

Next it's the Seahorse Plankton Beauty Boosting BB Cream. I'm probably the last woman on the planet to have never tried a BB cream. I've never used foundation because I hate the idea of gunky brown stuff on my face or having a visible tidemark. I've been using a small pea-sized dollop spread across my nose and cheeks and I'm pleased to report that it doesn't make my skin look a weird colour or feel slimy but does add a subtle shimmer. The best bit is that it stops that red raw looking skin I get from walking around in the freezing cold.

Now lets look at the Abyssinian Oil Five Minute Miracle Mask. I'm wary of face masks as they used to make my skin spotty. Once a week I've been applying a very thin layer of this to my face and neck and rinsing it off five minutes later. This definitely does what it says on the bottle and it really does make my skin look radiant (and mercifully spot free!) 

The Seahorse Plankton Sleeping Beauty Knight Rescue Mask is another success. Its a misnomer as its more of a night cream than a mask, I apply it before bed and rinse my face with soap and water in the morning. It doesn't stain my pillowcase or feel remotely greasy. Even on those annoying nights when I wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep for hours my skin looks healthy. 

Lastly is the Seahorse Plankton Transformation Body Cream. I'm not sure that I need my body transforming (that's down to a decent diet and exercise) and not having any cellulite or wobbly bits I can't vouch for its effectiveness however it does smell gorgeous and absorbs nicely into the skin, not leaving that horrid sticky residue like some body lotions do. 

I really like all these products. The only thing I'm not keen on is the use of the word Anti-Ageing on the Beauty Kitchen website. The only way to avoid ageing is death and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet! 

Another birthday present I was lucky enough to receive was this Tropic Silk Gel eyeliner in Midnight Plum from my other friend, Liz (that's the Liz I went out with on Saturday night). Tropic cosmetics are vegan, ethically produced and sustainable with a percentage of the profits going to the WWF. I've used Barry M kajal for decades and never thought I'd ever say this but this eyeliner is the best thing ever. The colour is gorgeous. It's easy to apply, has a built in sharpener, lasts all day without budging and is even swim proof.  In fact, I love it so much I sold a dress on Vinted so I could buy a couple more! At £16 they aren't cheap but they're absolutely fabulous.

After 44 years of only ever wearing black eyeliner, I'm a colour convert! Ocean Dusk is a dark blue which I use under my eyes and along the upper lashes. I've been wearing it with my Barry M matt brown eyeshadow - see photo below.

So far I've only worn the Rainforest Green with my Barry M mascara (below) but I reckon it'd look good with some metallic gold eyeshadow and shall experiment over the weekend. Tropic is only available online HERE and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this post isn't sponsored. 

It's another afternoon of being trapped under a cat so it's fortunate I have my phone close at hand and some previously unpublished photos! Excuse the state of William's coat, he's been rolling around with his catnip Trump again.

This was yesterday's outfit, a day which started with a Vinted parcel drop and a brisk walk to Poundland to pick up some AA batteries. I attracted the attention of one of the many town centre pissheads who told me about six times that my sheepskin hat was f*cling sick, man. It wasn't just about me though, he loved Jon's monkey boots, too!

Suede jerkins are like buses at the moment, just when you think you've found the perfect one another pops up. I'm not sure this handmade 1960s beauty can be bettered but you never know...

Later in the day Jon went out second-hand hand car shopping with Tony and left me to my own devices. My friend Heidi recommended the You're Dead To Me podcast so I downloaded it and went for a walk around the block, returning half an hour later more knowledgeable about the Arts and Crafts Movement than when I'd left the house. (Find it HERE). I do struggle with Podcasts - I have the attention span of a flea - but really enjoyed this. I'd changed my phone since I'd last listened and realised that there wasn't a socket to plug in my headphones so had to walk around with the podcast on loudspeaker like one of those annoying t*ats you get on the train - luckily the only sign of life on my walk was a cat and he didn't give me the death stare!

This was what I wore under my coat this morning. It was icy cold when we walked down to the baths so I opted for the tropical heat of the brine pool as opposed to the cooler Olympic one. Maybe next week!

I love this embroidered linen Free People jacket I scored for £3 from the Walsall branch of the Air Ambulance charity shop last year. It's a shame it closed down last month, it's also where I found my amazing Magic Box which now houses all my sewing paraphernalia. Excuse the profusion of selfies, Jon was doing some housework earlier and I didn't want to distract him!

We've got an amber warning for Storm Eoywn, set to batter the UK tomorrow so we're off to the cinema, there's a bar and artisan pizza just in case we get trapped.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!

Babet, Back Views & Bargains

Good Afternoon! We're currently being battered by Storm Babet and our roof is leaking like a bastard but parts of the UK have got it much, much worse. I was planning to meet up with Nikki on Wednesday but after seeing the weather warnings we decided to postpone our trip. Instead, Lord Jon & I popped over to our favourite Black Country town for a spot of charity shopping but were home before the heavens opened.

Lovely readers, Kathryn & The Ancients from St Louis, requested I post some photos of the back of my outfits so they could how my clothes hung , I hope these meet with your approval, gang!

I wore the English-made bruise coloured suede coat I scored for £2 from Banardos earlier this year along with one of my favourite charity shop finds ever, a vintage Adini block printed maxi dress bought for £1 from one of the local clearance chazzas back in 2017. The Indian pendant, studded with amethysts, was £2 from a car boot sale a decade ago. The plum fedora, a rare retail buy, is now in its fourth year, money well spent.

On Thursday morning we were in the swimming pool just after 8am and, as usual, treated ourselves to a 'Spoons breakfast afterwards. You'll have to take my word that I wore a dress underneath this 1970s charity-shopped suede coat (bought in 2018) as I inadvertently deleted the photo. I'm wearing what Jon calls my Gimp Hat (River Island via a charity shop) big enough for me to stuff my hair inside when its raining thus eliminating the need for an annoying umbrella.

The Indian sari silk tote bag was from a fellow trader's stall at Beautiful Days last Summer, the handmade enamel and bronze Evil Eye earrings were bought in Athens earlier this year.

My friend Betty commented on my last post about being surprised at how many pairs of boots I'd got and since I published my blog I've added another two pairs to my collection! Only two pairs were bought new as I'm pretty fortunate with my second-hand finds (I think a EUR 40 must be very common). These fabulous Indian-made studded suede Western-style boots jumped out at me when we were charity shopping on Wednesday, they've never been worn and were a snip at £5. The damp weather is playing havoc with the osteoarthritis in both my big toes, the NHS recommend wearing wider-fitting footwear to reduce the pressure on the joints and luckily for me, these are marked as "wide fit".

The foul weather continues so this morning (Friday) I wore the biggest hat I own (vintage Nigel Rayment), the brim's better than any umbrella! I wore a 1970s Dollyrockers dress, a very generous gift from pals Lynn & Philip, and this 1960s embroidered suede jacket I won for £15 on eBay back in the Spring. It's lined with the most glorious peacock blue silk - I've since found its twin on Etsy for £300!

More new-to-me boots! I spotted these tan leather cowboy boots in the clearance charity shop last week but left them behind - god alone knows why, they were only £3! As they were still there I took it as a sign they ought to come home with me....I'll never be a minimalist. 

They've certainly been well-loved and the previous owner had gone to the expense of having them resoled at some point. Piccadilly for Paskal is based in Naples and still sells Italian-made leather goods although these are a few decades old. As the leather is so soft and well worn they're nice and roomy, I can wear them with my Nordic socks and my big toes felt like they were floating on air. I love the brass maker's labels.

Remember these pendants? They were my holiday souvenir from Corfu back in the Summer. 

I've gone full-on Autumn with my make-up. The brand new Revolution magnetic eyeshadow palette and Barry M Red Sea nail paint were £1 each from the Air Ambulance charity shop.

It's not the weather for taking outdoor photos of the stock we've found for the Kinky Melon rails but here's a few recent charity shop finds we're keeping for ourselves....

When we're in Greece I'm always drooling over Korres products so was very excited to find these shower gels in the clearance charity shop marked up at £1 (they retail at around £15 each). They smell absolutely gorgeous.

 Continuing with the Greek theme, this fabulous (35cm diameter) Poole Pottery charger is from their 1970 Aegean collection and was priced at £3.95

This sculpture, signed A Santini and marked Made in Italy, was a couple of quid. There's some beauties on the company website HERE ( I wouldn't mind Medusa). I can't resist a coffee table art book - Clarice Cliff, Gardens of Delight, The Dictionary of Ornament & Jan Morris's Pre-Raphaelite Women were recent buys from the £1 bin.

Lord Jon was rather taken with this framed, signed lithograph of a very Wintry Notre Dame. I bet it cost the owner a lot more than the £2 Jon paid.

Now hanging on the bathroom wall. 

I'm not the only one with new-to-me boots. Jon found these waterproof Rakim Utility boots on Wednesday. They didn't have a price label but the chap on the till said that they'd have to charge £5 as they're Doc Martens. He was more than happy with that, they've kept his feet lovely and dry this week.

Halloween isn't my thing and I absolutely loathe all that plastic themed tat that'll doubtlessly end up in landfill on 1st November but last year I couldn't resist buying this Liberty Hera print fabric pumpkin, handmade to raise funds for a local charity for the visually impaired. 

I dragged it out of hibernation and it's currently adorning the mantlepiece which I've dusted today (the crazy things you do when it's too wet to play outside!) 

Have a fabulous weekend and see you on the other side!

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