Week of Product Reviews: Formula 10.0.6 Best Face Forward Foaming Cleanser

Lately, I have been on a quest to find the right face wash for my ever changing skin. It seems that every one I try either dries out my skin, creates breakouts, or simply doesn't get the job done. The other day while at ULTA, I decided to take the leap and test out Formula 10.0.6's Best Face Forward Foaming Cleanser. I had previously tried a few other products from this company's line with great disappointment, so I didn't have high hopes for the success of this product.

To my surprise, I actually like the product and it is helping with clearing up my skin. The smell is fresh and pleasant; having more of a fruity smell. I don't feel that the face wash really foams, but it does create a nice lather in which a little will go a long way.

I really like how my skin feels after using Best Face Forward. It leaves my skin feeling clean without that drying out effect that so many cleansers seem to have. I also love this product's price point -- at $6.99 it is affordable, even on a grad student's tight budget! :)

I have purchased the product discussed above and am not associated with Formula 10.0.6, nor was I compensated by any means for this review. This is my own personal opinion of the product.

Week of Product Reviews: NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red

Welcome to a week of product reviews here on Livin' Vintage. I hope you enjoy!

Ever since dying my hair red, I have been meaning to get some new powder to fill in my brows with. After strolling the aisles at ULTA, I came away with NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red. I must say, I am quite smitten with this product! Not only does it give my brows a more auburn effect, making them blend better with my new hair color, the powder is long lasting and is very pigmented.

I also am in love with the brush the kit supplies. Up until now, I had been using a run-of-the-mill cheap-o eyebrow brush that got the job done. However, since using NYX's, I will never go back to my cheap-o brush. The bristles are stiff, much like on a child's paintbrush, but they hold onto the powder well and apply it to your brow in a wonderful fashion. My only complaint is that the handle is short, to accommodate compact packaging, but that really isn't that big of a deal.

I also like that this kit supplies some eyebrow gel and a lash brush. I don't use this feature of the kit much, but when I have used it, it has worked out great; setting the powder and the shape of my brows for the remainder of the day.

I can't say enough about this product! It also helps that it is pretty cheap ($4.99) without slacking on quality.

I have purchased the product discussed above and am not associated with NYX, nor was I compensated by any means for this review. This is my own personal opinion of the product.

$5 Vintage

One of the vintage clothing stores in the area has been having a $5 per item sale and I stopped by the other day to check out the selection. I found a lot of really great pieces and it was great to see my dollar stretch.

I picked out this house dress because it zipped up the front (a favorite style of mine) and because it still had its original belt -- something I am a complete sucker for! Plus, major bonus points for the sweet rose print and color scheme.

So, next week I am planning a whole week of product reviews, as I have tried a lot of new beauty products lately, some hits some misses, and I wanted to share my experiences with you all.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Emily

50s House Dress: Chocolate Vintage

Sweater: Target

Tights: Kohls

Boots: Uggs

Selling Vintage at the Ferndale DIY

So, I have been a bit quite lately, but I have a good excuse. Besides starting my final year of grad school a few weeks ago, this past weekend I did my first event selling vintage. I had a blast and it was a very successful weekend!! Ferndale, MI, a super hip area right outside of Detroit, has starting having a yearly street fair featuring a DIY ethic and this year I decided to join in on all the fun. I really enjoyed doing the event, so much so that I am planning on trying to do some more events in the area.

My mom helped me set up my booth (which you can see in its entirety above). I can't remember what blog I saw it on (if it was you, please leave a comment!), but one of the other vintage bloggers out there that does events used a plant stand to showcase some of their items. I thought this was a fantastic idea and decided to do the same in my booth.

Besides selling vintage clothing, I sold a few vintage housewares and some classic movie memorabilia. I also brought Morocco (the lamp above) to find a new home. As my beau has pointed out, I have quite the collection of lamps, so it was time to pass on this one to a new home. He was, however, bought by an antiques dealer whom I know is going to flip this purchase. Oh well; I made quite the profit on him so I am not too bummed about the sale.

It was warm enough one of the days to wear my new hawaiian set that I found at a killer estate sale. What was so crazy about this was I found the exact same set a few weeks earlier in a smaller size at the thrift store. I have only ever come across a few "vintage twins" in my life and this was certainly one of the most exciting. I am looking forward to wearing this set (which came with the most adorable shorts) next summer, but until then, I am loving the dress with my orange tights.

Emily

60s Hawaiian Dress: Estate Sale

Tights: Kohls

Boots: Uggs

Vintage Bakelite: Estate Sales

The Best Spent $25

This past Thursday, I headed to a promising estate sale that claimed to have tons of vintage clothing, accessories and housewares. I got to the sale a little more than an hour after it opened, since I wasn't in the mood to compete with dealers and resellers. I don't know how sales are where you live, but here in MI, the first hour of a sale can be complete chaos. Estate saling really is an extreme sport!

Anyway, I was pleased to discover that the two lucite bags were still available when I got there. I was really surprised, because at only $22 I was sure someone would have snatched these up... apparently not. I thought the price was great and especially since this bag is for my own collection, it was quite the deal. The other bag had a broken handle and the company still wanted $22 for it. The man running the sale tried to convince me that "a little super glue will fix that right up," ummm.... yeah, sure....

I loved the detailing on the top and its honeycomb shape. I also liked that it was marked at the bottom. My other two lucite bags are unmarked. I am thinking that this bag might have been in one of the cheaper lines, since the plastic is thinner and the handle is a bit less sturdy that my other two bags. Regardless, I was thrilled to added another bag to my collection, as they are not easy to find here in MI and have had to rely on the Internet to find my other two.

When I first walked into the sale, which was still in full chaos mode, I checked out the jewelry table and came across these two bangles. I was pretty sure they were bakelite and were the only two bakelite pieces amongst the jewelry. They didn't however have a price tag and I feared that they would be like $15 or $20 each, which is a little high for my taste. Hoping for the best, I continued to clutch these while I shopped the rest of the sale. Much of the vintage clothing was in kinda rough shape and priced too high, but I did find a few pieces for a festival I am selling at this weekend. I also found the cutest little owl light for only $3.

So, when I finally reached the check out, I got a price for the bracelets.... "how does $3 for both sound?" SOLD!! WHen I got home, I checked he bracelets with my semichrome and they passed! Yay!!! :)

This was really some of the best $25 I have spent in a long while.

Have you found any good deals lately?

Emily

What One Can Find in a Basement

I have been slowly moving more of my things into my Grandma's house a.k.a Retroville. I bought this bookcase a month or so ago at an estate sale. It was found in the basement. Like I have said a few posts back, the basement is where I tend to find the best stuff. Estate sale newbies take note! ;) Because of this, I have started to carry a flashlight on a regular basis now, verses only bringing it to sales that look dark. Anyway, back to the bookcase. I talked the lady down from $40 to $30 and was thrilled to get it for that price. Once I get it all filled up with my vintage books, I'll post an updated photo.

The plant stand (also found in the basement at the same sale that the bookcase was found), was a steal at $1. The following weekend, I found the pot (again, in the basement!) and scored it for $2. Fast forward a few weeks, I found the same plant stand (in the basement hehe) at a sale I went to. I got that one for $1 as well. Now I am hoping I can find matching pots to put in them and I will move them to either side of my faux fireplace in the front room.

I promise I will post up close photos of all the stuff in this photo, but for now, let me tell you about those awesome hanging lamps! They used to be the "chandelier" over the dining table, but when my Dad was helping my Grandma redo her house, she decided to get a different light for over the table and moved these to their current spot. There are three of them and my Dad saved the other one, which my mom told me I could have! I can only imagine how cool and mid century modern they looked in the dining area. However, I kinda really like them here too.

Emily

80s does 40s Dress: Value World

Belt: JC Penny

Tennis Shoes: Target

Product Review: Nutrisse Ultra-Color, Shade R3

I am pretty much an exclusive at-home hair colorer. I rarely go to the salon to get my hair done. This is probably because I am pretty particular what I choose to spend my money on. Plus, I feel if done right, you can achieve the same results coloring your hair at home as at the salon.

In comes this hair dye. Several months ago, I attempted to go red, without the results that I was hoping for; after which I finally accepted that I would not be able to get these results without lighting my hair first. However, a few months later, I got another bee in my bonnet to give it one more go. While strolling the hair dye aisle, I came across Nutrisse Ultra-Color Shade R3 which claimed to be formulated especially for dark hair. I figured, why not? and bought the dye. For less than $10, I felt it was a safe gamble.

Well, to my surprise, it actually did what it said it would! I've had it on for about two weeks+ now and haven't really noticed any major fading. Although, for the first few days it continued to wash out, which really concerned me, since most home dyes I have used tend not to do that.

I left it on my hair for the max amount of time, to ensure that I would get the best results. What is nice about this dye is it comes with a small vile of olive and avocado oil to mix in with the dye, plus a conditioner to put on after you wash it out. I felt that my hair was left smooth and silky after the dying process and my ends seem to be the same as before I dyed my hair.

Overall, I would give this dye a 9.5 out of 10. I had to take a half point off since this dye is harder to get off your skin than any other dye I have used before. It's pretty potent.

I plan on keeping up with the color with manic panic. Anyone have color suggestions or advice for using it? I have never used manic panic before, but have heard good things.

Emily

Sabrina at The Redford

Last weekend, Jesse and I went to see Sabrina (1954) at our local historic theatre, the Redford, which plays classic films all year long. Detroit is lucky to have a few theaters that pay tribute to their past by playing old films. I love that at the Redford, they have the ticket booth outside the theatre. I always feel a bit like I have transported back in time when I there.

You also might have noticed that I have dyed my hair. I had been toying with the idea of going red for weeks, many even months, and I finally took the plunge. I really liked the dye I used and will be posting a review on it soon.

The only jewelry I wore that evening was my newly acquired vintage watch, which I had gotten the day before for the mere sum of $3.75. I always check out the jewelry tables at estate sales because you never know what you will find. I normally don't purchase a lot of jewelry at estate sales because lately they have become quite expensive (anyone else noticing this?). Anyway, I spotted this watch, gave it a quick twist at the side and hear it running, so I figured it was worth the $3 gamble.

To my surprise it kept (and keeps!) really good time. An added bonus was discovered when I was looking on the back for a hallmark to look the watch up online. It said it was 10kt gold face and when I flipped it over to look more closely, I discovered two tiny diamond chips that I didn't notice when I purchased the watch -- they had just looked like part of the scroll work at the time! This is probably one of my best bargains in a while!!

Emily

50s Swirl Dress: eBay

50s Watch: Estate Sale

Red, White, and Swirl

Have you seen The Help yet? I am a sucker for any kind of costume drama or period film, so I just had to go see The Help. IFrom a vintage fashion standpoint, it was really good! I thought the costumes and sets were very spot on. I even have some of the glasses that they used in the bridge scene! I'm not surprised at the execution of the costumes, Sharen Davis was responsible for them. Davis has worked on other period films such as Ray (2004) and Dreamgirls (2006). I would totally recommend you check out this film if you are into vintage fashion. My favorite character from the film was Celia. I love her look and think she was a sweetie, even if it wasn't totally realistic. If you have seen the film, who was your favorite?

Emily

50s Homemade Swirl: etsy

Tennis Shoes: Target

Deal of the Day

I have missed sharing my deals! While I may not blog about it often enough, I do hit up a lot of estate sales. And, although I don't always buy, it's still fun to see homes in different towns and just generally take a gander at what that person had. One of my most recent deals was this vintage quilt, which I am thinking dates to the 30s or 40s, due to the feedsack fabric. I bought a lot of stuff at this sale, about 10-12 items, for which I paid $50. So, I paid about $5 for this quilt, if you average it out.

[backing]

I found it in the basement. I swear, my best finds are found in the basement or the attic. It really pays to check those areas! It was on a bed down there that had tons of boxes and things laid about on top. I had to take most of it off to free the quilt and some nice old gentleman helped me to pull it off the bed.

Most of the squares are a bit wonky and don't follow a ridged pattern. From the contents of the home, I could tell the lady of the house was a seamstress, so this might have been one of her first projects? There were also several other quilts, but they were up front with the people running the sale and were pretty pricey. I was quite surprised that I got this one for the deal I did. The sale also yielded me a large picnic basket (maybe a Redman?), a set of 60s silverware, vintage fabric, a metal bathroom shelf, and a lot of other smalls.

This is the third vintage quilt I have added to my collection. Coincidentally, all three are roughly the same size (twin). I blogged about one of my other ones here. I would love to someday have a whole chest of vintage quilts. Until then, I will continue to pick them up here and there when they are $25 or less.

Emily