Vintage Rocks, The Time Travelling Hair Parlour is Making Me Nineties

One of the things I love about Vintage Rocks Hair Parlour in Belfast is that if you give them a hair idea, or colour, no matter what it is, you can be confident that when you leave after your appointment, what's on your head will be exactly what you had inside it before you walked in.

I emailed the main woman herself, Clare, and asked her could it be possible to give me an all over, choppy, obviously a fake effect, head of highlights. Now many hairdressers would say yes then go ahead and try to give you a more natural look, they'll assume that's what you really would prefer. With Clare and her team however, they'll do exactly what you want. If that means a full head of mermaid colour, like my friend Claire got recently shown below, then that's what you'll get.

So when Clare saw my ideas, big, choppy, artificial highlights, she knew what I meant and what I was showing her was what I actually wanted done. 

She said it was a 1990s' look that was coming back into fashion. I hadn't realised that, but that makes it even cooler- retro hair! The prime suspect for making this type of highlight a hit was Jennifer Aniston, so maybe I should go the whole hog and get the cut too. Excited to get along and have it done very soon.

In the 90s' we all crimped our hair, soaked it with Sun-In that never worked, and thought we were the bee's knees when we used a pack of semipermanent Glints hair dye.​ Hair mascara was another short term colouring product, which mostly just made you look like a bird had pooed on your head.

Hopefully most of you escaped the spiral perm though, a sneaky roll over from the 80s' which should have stayed there. Perms are bound to make a comeback soon, so don't try to hide if you had one- even Posh Spice did.​

The Ugglys' Pet Shop is Stackable Grossness

Its not too long until we will be hunting for stocking fillers & presents for friend's and relative's kids. The Ugglys' Pet Store is a stackable base for collecting the separate blocks that double as pet homes for Ugglys pets.

It makes fart noises, so obviously it sets kids off with the giggles as soon as they get their hands on it. 

The theme of Ugglys is as you would imagine, totally gross animals. Our favourite from the original series had to be the horrible pet fish called 'The Rank Tank'! He's gone on the Christmas list. He'll probably last longer than any real goldfish we've ever owned.

As you'd imagine, kids love these things. We had Garbage Pail Kids in the 80s so this is a bit like the animal version of those. You can buy them as single toys, or in multipacks, with 101 pets to collect. Some of the sets include blind bag surprise toys, which are the big thing these days.

Michael loved the pet shop, so I'll be hunting down some individual Ugglys for stocking fillers. 

Twisted Twee For the Coolest Kids on the Block

When I had Michael almost eight years ago I got really frustrated at the lack of cool clothes for baby boys.

Back then the only H&M was in Ballymena, so every two months or so I would make the hour's trip to stock up on decently quirky & unusual onesie vests and baby clothing.

I also would buy Gymboree items off eBay. I worked for them when I was a student and loved their designs, but by 2007 they had pulled out of Northern Ireland so the only way to buy their clothes was eBay, usually from US sellers. That made the postage expensive on top of prices similar to Baby Gap. However from working for Gymboree I knew the quality was worth paying extra. Gymboree clothing washes so well, in fact I was able to sell them on eBay all over again when Michael had outgrown each sizing. 

If you have a baby I would recommend searching eBay for the jumpers especially. Try purchasing one & you'll be hooked. They always do an absolutely beautiful Christmas range of clothing each year. About ten years ago the Christmas theme was gingerbread. I managed to get the baby blanket on eBay and I still have it in a box somewhere, I couldnt part with it cause it's so cute.

With a lack of cool baby clothing around for boys, sometimes I even took it upon myself to make my own. Amongst these vests made with photographic printing paper, was this Boba Fett design. Michael looks like he just loved it, doesn't he?

There is one UK brand who I found who actually did sell inventive and unique baby items you just wouldn't see elsewhere and that was Twisted Twee. I love their designs and this will actually be my fourth blog post about the brand. I'm featuring them again for any newer readers, or anyone who might now have their own new addition since the last time Twisted Twee was on The World of Kitsch. 

Enjoy! 

This design with a saddle for Dad's back is fashion genius  

Make Everyone Jealous of Your Amazing Muff.

On Saturdays Michael and I are making a habit and tradition of going for cake in Bob & Bert's in Menary's Bangor. I can usually get away with a quick whizz round Menarys's beauty hall and Tempest's fashion department with very little complaints from Michael, with the promise of cake ahead.

Yesterday we found a new brand in Menary's accessories department, Powder Socks. Both of us were drawn to the bright colours and quirky designs. Michael says he's going to buy me the lime green pair for Christmas.

When I got home I Googled the brand and discovered their other products. Gorgeous felt hats, ladylike gloves with a modern twist, and MUFFS.

 Powder's fake fur collection includes four cosy muffs, at £30 each. The cute little bow is so sweet. I reckon a muff would make an excellent Christmas present. It's the sort of item your always wanted, but might not buy yourself, so gifting one would be a cool idea. 

But remember! A muff is for life, not just for Christmas! 

Broken Warhol Handbag Woes

Years ago I discovered a brilliant handbag I had to have in a local charity shop. It was a shoulder handbag with a bright & cheery painting by numbers design, which turned out to be an Andy Warhol print. 

I totally loved it and used it as my main bag for a good year, until one of the plastic straps broke. I couldn't bear go throw it out and I headed straight to eBay to try and get a replacement. But there weren't any for sale. So I saved the search, and five years or so later STILL not even once has the bag been up for auction or sale.

That's the print, but I can't even find a picture of the bag I owned, let alone find a replacement one to buy.  

The brand that has turned Warhol's classic prints into bags, phone cases and Mac sleeves is UK company Incase.

As of today they only have one Warhol item in store, a phone case, but a quick search on eBay and you can bid on lots of different Incase bits and pieces. Prices are around £20 for Mac cases.  

My painting by numbers Warhol eBay search remains, but if anyone ever sees these bags on sale in a store, please tell me! 

Accidental Goth & The Most Ridiculous Fake Fur Scarf Ever

Revolution at Superdrug: Make Me Tonight Atomic Shade £1

So tonight while doing my makeup I tried my £1 purchase of last week Revolution's Make Me Tonight lipstick from their Atomic range. I seem to accidentally have gone goth.

From my teenage years up I always dressed punk or rockabilly, but never quite goth. I have sort of evolved into just being a normal dresser with the odd crazy accessory or scarf now and again.

One of my oddest accessories, which I don't often wear, but love, is this plush fake fur scarf from H&M. Yes, it has a pretend fox's face on it. 

As you can imagine it can be tricky to find the right occasion to wear a big fluffy toy fox to, but when I saw it in store however many winters ago it was, there was no way in hell that fox wasn't going home with me.

So it's a few seasons old, and only cost £7 I think when it was on sale in H&M, but I've found two on eBay for around £18.50, should you feel inclined to need to own one too. 

http://r.ebay.com/5zaXP1

Don't be put off by the auction photo having Avril Lavigne wearing it, you know you want one too.

He goes very nicely with my big gentleman fox tattoo. Well, you have to match your accssories, don't you?

My fox tattoo by Chris Crooks, White Dragon Tattoo Studio, Belfast

How to get 20% Off EVERYTHING At Benefit in Menary's & Tempest.

For readers outside Northern Ireland, I'm sorry this post can't help you.  Menary's is your Mum's age group's department store and Tempest curates brands like Miss Selfridge, Topshop, Phase Eight and fashion brands for teenage girls up. My local Menary's/Tempest is in my home town of Bangor and I've been in it quite often recently with Michael as our favourite new coffee chain Bob & Bert's have taken over the cafe concession upstairs.

The small beauty hall in Menary's has a decent sized Benefit counter, and I noticed last week they still had one lone bottle of one of Crescent Row's original trio of scents, 'Something about Sofia'. It's a perfume I've owned before, back when they were new, and a friend Clare told me it had notes of Parma Violets about it. I've tried several violet scent recommended perfumes since, and Sofia still comes closest. As you know I'm rekindling my search for beauty products to make myself into a big Parma Violet, so I wanted a new bottle of this. When I saw it was £29.95, I did what every Internet-savvy lady does, I went home an searched for a cheaper price. eBay had none, the main websites were all sold out, Amazon had a bottle for £100! So I was back down to the only place I saw my one last bottle this week to get my mitts on it.

Menary's always is worth checking for a discount, so I asked one of the beauty hall girls was there a voucher or deal I could us to make this purchase. She helped me right out. Currently if you make ANY purchase you get given a voucher to use throughout this month as often as you wish, on two brands of your choice. There is no minimum spend, but you do have to buy something to get the voucher- as they need a till number etc. before they can issue you one. The beauty girl kindly told me even if I bought a £1 lip balm I could get my hands on this voucher to then get 20% off my Benefit purchases, so I bought a £1.29 Yankee Votive Candle and I was all set. 

The voucher can be used on as many purchases as you want until 4th October, and you pick which two brands you want to use it with. So my bottle of Sofia was just under £24. 

I also asked the Benefit girl for a good sized sample of Porefessional. I had tried a little same I got at the House of Fraser event last week, and was impressed, but I want to try a decent sample of it before I would shell out £24, or whatever it will cost with my voucher. It seems to work well to minimise my open pores around my nose, so it's tentatively on my shopping list. 

Anyway, this face below is the face of a child who has just been told, "okay, you may use my 100 colour eyeshadow palette to paint my face". He used the neon pink eyeshadow on me, and my lipstick looked like Miranda Sings. 

Lighting was bad but I'll maybe make a video next time to show you his skills. Mine are just a little bit better, I shouldn't laugh!

The Next Playground Craze are Stikeez : Where to Get Them & All You Need to Know

Remember trekking round the pound stores trying to get your hands on a pack of loom bands last summer? Well here is a heads up and how you can get ahead with this winter's new craze. 

I heard of Stickeez during the summer in a Lidl leaflet, but I hadn't seen them in store yet. My son came home from school yesterday asking could we go buy some, as they've started being pulled out of pockets in the playground already. 

 They come in separate packs for 29p and my local Bangor store has a stand of hundreds of bags at the till as of this week.

Even the submarine shaped collector box is only £1.99, but I didn't see it available to buy in my store. 

Each bag has a little plastic fish character that can stick onto a table or window. One of my Instagram followers said their children attached them to their wall and it pulled the paint loose, so it may be worth warning kids of that. 

For 29p it's not a bad craze, I'm going to buy a bag of them and use them as rewards for getting spellings, homeworks and things like that done. And until the end of this week you get a free Stikeez bag with every £10 spent! We can all agree though, that like loom bands, this will be hectic for a few months then we will never see them played with again! Good luck, fellow parents! I'll see you in the aisles of Lidl soon!