Vintage Lipstick : Think Pink!

Raven Brookes for Bésame Cosmetics. Photo Scott Chalmers

Pink to make the boys wink - a saying encapsulated in the imagery of endless 1950s cosmetics advertising campaigns, showing glamorous women catching the eye of handsome men with their amazing new beauty products. We have now become a great deal more sophisticated about the meaning of make-up in women's lives, and any cosmetic advertisement that explicitly connected "how to catch a man" with wearing a particular cosmetic product would probably get short shrift nowadays from the Advertising Standards Authority. So just as women are now better positioned to negotiate their own beauty and glamour, despite the onslaught of cosmetic advertising, pink is a fantastic authentic colour for completing a stylish vintage look, day or night.

Catching the girls young to think about men's
makeup preferences (1947)

Pink really came into it's heyday as a lip colour in the mid to late 1950s and as the decade transitioned into the 1960s, pinks got paler and suited the new decade's preference for ever stronger eye make-up balanced with a nude, or lightly frosted lip look.

Vintage inspired make-up brand Bésame Cosmetics re-launched a fantastic bright pink lip colour in 2013, Exotic Pink, which screams 1950s and is a wonderfully glamorous alternative to the vintage reproduction red colours they are already highly acclaimed for. Notwithstanding the wide range of red colours from Bésame that are matched perfectly to the authentic fashions of different eras, not every woman feels at home in red lipstick, so now's the time to explore a little further and Think Pink!

Matching lips and nails, a 1950s obsession

With the wedding season about to start in the spring, the appeal of a vintage look for the bride is irresistible. Compatible long wearing lipstick is therefore worth some time to research. A bride wants to look and feel glamorous but also glow as a natural beauty. The elegance of the 1930s is a perfect starting place for 21st century vintage bridal looks, and here Bésame triumphs again with a stunning Portrait Pink colour that is easy to wear, immensely flattering and has a perfect vintage authentic tone that will complement any classic vintage look from the 1930s onwards. We've also found it works great for 1960s looks, and is the perfect everyday lipstick for contemporary settings too. One for the make-up bag, without a doubt!!

Raven Brookes for Bésame Cosmetics. Photo Scott Chalmers

Lucille Ball wearing a very similar tone to Dusty Rose

Another versatile colour is Dusty Rose, with a soft mauve hue which gives a richness to the pink without "retro" brightness, and can be used for wedding looks, daywear or for alternative 1950s and 1960s looks. The colour has been a revelation to us at Vintage Hair Lounge, as it takes on the perfect finish to a whole host of different vintage looks. For example, it will read as a deep pink when combined or overlaid on a Portrait Pink base, or read much more raspberry when used directly onto the lips. The perfect "red" for when you don't actually want to wear "red"!

It's always worth trying out lipsticks with the assistance of a make-up professional, to make sure the application and coverage is pitched perfectly, and the tone is right for your complexion, which is precisely why the same lip colour won't necessarily suit everyone, and a little bit of blending the correct tones goes a long way to getting the look you want right.

Shay-Anne Aboud for Bésame Cosmetics. Photo Scott Chalmers

And so the 1960s, where paler pinks with frosted finishes take the cosmetics industry by storm! 

A pink lipstick frenzy from the sixties!

Get the pink right for a 1960s look and all that work on getting the eye makeup right and the hair right will be worth it! A little bird at Bésame tells us that some special edition 1960s colours may well be on the way for the autumn, but for now your key swinging pinks will be Portrait Pink, Dusty Rose and Debutante Pink. This frosted looking pink is more sheer than the semi-matte formulas of many of the Bésame lip colours, but is a knockout on the authenticity stakes.

Our recent photoshoot for the Bésame Classic Color Lipstick Collection threw up a stand-out image when model Raven Brookes posed in the colour, evoking sixties nostalgia of Mary Quant and Christine Keeler, it really changed her whole persona. Who knew, it would be Debutante Pink that our alternative goth model was going to blossom in! We were right chuffed and no mistake! Never mind the boys winking, we were ALL winking!!

Raven Brookes for Bésame Cosmetics. Photo Scott Chalmers

If you have a favourite vintage pink colour that you can't find anywhere, do drop us a line at Bésame Europe at hello@vhldistribution.com and we'll investigate. You never know, it may well make it to the Bésame Classic Color Lipstick Collection.

Bésame Cosmetics, including all the lipstick colours can be purchased from Vintage Hair Lounge at many of our events and you can buy online at www.vhlemporium.co.uk. For further advice on any of the Bésame Cosmetics products we are always happy to answer your calls or emails and provide the expertise you are after.

Vintage Hair Lounge, enquiries@vintagehairlounge.com, 023 8070 1383

A Hat Trick for Goodwood Revival

Shay-Anne Aboud by Scott Chalmers Photography for Vintage Hair Lounge at Goodwood Revival 2013

A touch of film director Tim Burton's world influenced our official Vintage Hair Lounge at Goodwood Revival 2013 photoshoot this year, as we paid tribute to the 1930s stars who played with their androgynous sex appeal, whilst showcasing avant garde styling for a truly memorable day with our effortlessly stylish model Shay-Anne Aboud as the ultimate female dandy with a hint of the gothic. Her top hat "hair hat", photographed by Scott Chalmers, turned more than a few heads, so here's a short photo diary of the morning's work that went into this beautiful image.....

First, we crimped and pincurled....

Francesco Zamolo and Gloria Holloway start the hair prep

We sectioned.....

Sharon Holloway starts construction

And backbrushed....

Pincurled section of hair left intact as volume created on the crown

And backbrushed....

There's a lot of hair here

And backbrushed....

And it's very very long

Until we got shape....

Top sections smoothed and gripped into place

Time for a pause to start makeup....

Prepping the eyes

Working on the eyes....

A combination of 1920s and 1930s green tones

Before airbrushing foundation with Airbase....

Airbase High Definition Airbrush Makeup

And finishing touches to eyes....

Adding top and bottom lashes

Before returning to the hair chair to unclip the pincurls and start work on the brim....

The sectioned off hair is folded and pinned into place to make the hat brim

Making sure we keep a "jaunty angle"....

We're now on the "home strait"

Let the waving begin....

Smart bit of finger waving by Gloria

The brim can now be completed....

Shay-Anne's endless patience is a joy!

Tricky bit round the front....

Blending the brim

Plenty of Davines hairspray on this....

Getting the brim firm

Nearly there....

Oh the concentration!

Shay-Anne gets into costume and has finishing touches....

Katy Leicester from handpickedvintage.com adjusts the cravat

And at midday our models are ready to meet the crowd!

Shay-Anne Aboud and Jen Merchant emerge from the Vintage Hair Lounge marquee

Huge thanks to Shay-Anne Aboud, Jen Merchant, and our fantastic Vintage Hair Lounge at Goodwood Revival sponsors - Davines, Easydry, Babyliss, Airbase High Definition Airbrush Make-up, Besame Cosmetics, Maqpro, PAM, handpickedvintage.com and Scott Chalmers Photography.

All images by Scott Chalmers.

How Casanova led to a Goodwood Revival coup

Jade Hargood by Scott Chalmers. Hair & makeup Sharon Holloway at Vintage Hair Lounge

As Vintage Hair Lounge opens for bookings for Goodwood Revival 2013 this week, a peculiar chain of recent events has resulted in a particularly special coup in securing the involvement of supremely talented Hair and Makeup Designer, Christine Allsopp, and sponsorship by her wonderful The Make-up Brush Company. So how did we snatch 3 times BAFTA nominated designer from the claws of a rigorous international filming schedule to join us for 3 days in Chichester this September?

I could say it began 3 years ago (there are a lot of 3's in this post which probably means it's my lucky number!), when Vintage Hair Lounge first opened, and we began to stock The Make-up Brush Company brushes and makeup bags in our salon. The distinctively pink, and unashamedly retro style brushes have graced my own make-up kit ever since. And then along came an extraordinary photoshoot concept from Scott Chalmers Photography...

The Make-up Brush Company brushes

So the proposal was for our longstanding client and friend, Jade Hargood, to be photographed in her wedding dress. Now that doesn't sound much of a shoot, until you know that Jade was married in a deep red dress, complete with cape and tricorn hat, in December 2012, with hair and makeup by Vintage Hair Lounge in late nineteenth century meets 1940s glamour style. Mmmm, this could be interesting! Scott and Jade began to create a mood board of gothic images on pinterest for me to have a look at, and the recurring theme was horns. Yes, horns. And not to mess about, Scott actually delivered a huge pair of real ram's horns for Jade to wear for the shoot. So I pondered the images, thought about Jade and her spectacular dress and began to think of the hair and makeup design of the BBC Casanova television series that first aired in 2005. It made a huge impact on us at the time, and was one of the most exciting pieces of period hair design I'd seen in a long time. And that was down to Christine Allsopp who received her second BAFTA nomination for it. So far so good.

BBC Casanova tv series 

Jade has very very long hair! Which will come as a surprise to many who see her featuring in our Vintage Hair Lounge at Goodwood Revival 2013 (Anything Goes) publicity film, where Gloria Holloway's extensive experience in traditional waving and setting techniques allowed her to effortlessly create a stunning short 1930s hairstyle, notwithstanding the sheer volume of hair Jade has!



But the gothic/eighteenth century inspired look for the new photoshoot was left in my hands, so I started with sectioning off two sites on the top of Jade's head where the hair horns would sit. They were crimped and sectioned off again whilst I methodically crimped the entirety of the remainder of Jade's hair, using Davines Defining Ecohairspray on each piece. I backcombed the horn sections and wrapped the hair around itself until the horn shapes began to satisfy, and then got to work on on the front and sides sections, effectively creating reverse "Victory Rolls". On went the real ram's horns, and with some hair padding inserted behind to secure them (they are very weighty items) to the best of Jade's comfort, I then created a huge french pleat in the shape of a heart, to ensure the balance of the hairstyle was in tune and looked spectacular from all angles. With a small section of red hair extension pinned into place from the top of the head and down into the side pony tail, adding a flash of colour to pay homage to the Casanova hairstyling,  the creation was complete.
In between these stages, we had also taken to the makeup, creating a layered effect around the eyes using variations of brown and red, gave the blusher a miss in preference to strong contouring, and perfected the finished look with Besame Cosmetics Classic Color lipstick in Merlot. Once Jade was dressed, it was possible to get out the airbrush and work down her neck and shoulders with a good combination of Temptu foundations, freshening up the face makeup with a mist all around the hairline, jawline and down the bridge of the nose. Thanks to my recent airbrush training with Martina Parmar at the Professional Makeup Academy, this proved a good decision, as the final images show a great colour balance between face and body, that just leaves a haunting look that worked to perfection.

And so, the following day as I was leaving Southampton's shores for a couple of days' May Bank Holiday break, I saw a flash in my Facebook inbox only to find Mr Chalmers had uploaded the image from the shoot online, a fine going away present if ever there was one, and shortly after came the defining moment of approval : Christine Allsopp had seen the image and shared it on her own facebook page, praising the look as something that would have sat more than comfortably within her designs for Casanova all those years ago. Well, one doesn't miss an opportunity like that, so needless to say, I got on the phone to Christine, and the rest, as they say, is history.....

Christine Allsopp will be joining the Vintage Hair Lounge at Goodwood Revival 2013 team (13-15 September) and The Make-up Brush Company will be an official sponsor. Additional sponsors include Davines, Besame Cosmetics, Professional Makeup Academy, Scott Chalmers Photography, EasyDry, handpickedvintage.com and Babyliss.

To pre-book vintage hairstyling and vintage makeup (airbrush) appointments for this year's Goodwood Revival, email enquiries@vintagehairlounge.com