Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials

Kenosha (like most towns) host a Summer music series in the park. Ours is oh so cleverly named Peanut Butter & Jam. Yesterday Perry and I made sure we went down to see the fun. We have missed all the shows up until then, but we made an extra effort to go to this show. Perry knows the drummer of the band and hadn't seen him in years. Lil Ed and the Imperials were playing and it was some amazing jump blues. These boys had the crowd out and dancing from the beginning. It was really nice to see everyone just unclench and dance. You don't see much of that anymore. It was just as enjoyable to watch everyone have a good time as it was to watch the band. The outdoor dancefloor... scratch that... outdoor dancegrass, was a pretty big area considering the amount of people who came out (I would guess it was near 500). Perry and I only danced the last song - and we barely did at that! The floor was jam packed so we had to grab a little spot just off to the side. Perry and I barely get to dance together anymore. So when it does happen I eat it all up!

Now that I know how enjoyable the Peanut Butter and Jam is, I'd like to go again, but there is only one band left for the series and it is truly doubtful Perry would go see a disco band!

Make up Review: Pink Quartz Minerals Lipstick

This past Saturday I hosted the Miss Symco Pin-up Pageant at the Symco Shakedown. More on the show in a later post. As part of the swag bag there was lipstick from Pink Quartz Minerals. Pink Quartz Minerals is a vegan mineral cosmetic company out of Neenah, Wisconsin run by Doree Klassen. I thought it may be fun to do a review on the free goodie so that is just what I will be doing. Pink Quartz Minerals did not offer the lipstick for review, I am just doing it on my own. *After looking briefly on the site, it seems these were specially named and designed for the Pinup Contest*

Look:
I received the lipstick in the shade of "Rumble". Though the label is an orange red, the actual shade in tube is a pink red - a slight hair away from being a pure magenta pink. The visual consistency is thick opaque with darker mineral dots.

Texture:
I wore this lipstick for a whole day to get a real feel for the lipstick. This lipstick is definitely an eco lipstick. The base wear is a vaseline texture, but not waxy. It felt a teeny tiny bit gritty to me at first, but that is because I am not used to natural makeups.

Color:
The color wears more like a stain than a lipstick. When applying the lipstick, it goes on very light, but with a few swipes across my lips I found it quickly got darker. It's not a pure opaque shade of pink, but rather a blushing color of the lips. It's more like a tinted moisturizer than a traditional lipstick. The nice thing however is that it is in stick form, so no dirty stained fingers and goopey outlines.

Longevity.
You will have to reapply semi often. Not for the texture, but for the color. It does fade, but when it does it is an even fade, so if you can't touch up right away, no worries. Due to the petrolium base, it does come off in eating and drinking, but the color is even when it comes off.

Suggested Use For:
I suggest this lipstick for girls that aren't comfortable with a traditional solid red, more natural vintage girls that just want to add color without looking made up, or for those casual days where even your favourite red lipstick looks too made up. Outdoor activities like camping, beach going, or hiking will be a great time to wear this as the lipstick will be moisturizing and the color will be just enough to keep you at your pinup pretty without looking like you are trying too hard. Being that it is a Vegan Mineral lipstick, I think Eco-Girls will like to try this as well.

Overall:
7 of 10 stars
I like that it is a vegan product. I may be a fur wearing vintage gal, but I also believe every little bit helps. I like that even though it wears like a tinted moisturizer with stronger color, it isn't messy to apply like many tints and stains. I prefer solid mattes, so I would like it more if it was a traditional based lipstick that isn't glossy or chapstick-y and I would also like it if the color was stronger.

Lolita Haze for Miss Tayva Jewelry

Not going to lie... I am so excited to make this post. One of my best friends has started a new jewelry making adventure. You can imagine how happy I was when she, Miss Tayva, asked if I would model her jewelry. I already knew from her pictures of her goodies that her stuff was awesome, but I was not prepared for what came in the mail. These pieces are even better in person! It made me kinda nervous about shooting in them. I was starting to stress that I couldn't do these pieces justice. Especially since I was doing EVERYTHING with the shoot. I mean everything!! I did the styling, hair, makeup, photographing, and editing! But in the end I think I got some decent images.

Her pieces are vintage inspired. So were the images... from the 50's, 80's, and today! Each piece is really hot and fun. As Jem would say, Truly outrageous!

So seriously... Go get yourself some fun bright jewelry! You can find her at Miss Tayva Jewelry

photos by Darkbloom Imagery

Hot Pink Summer Fun with Arthelia's Attic

Click on any photo to enlarge

Last Sunday bright and early Perry and I made our way to Lake Michigan to shoot the latest and hottest color of snood for Arthelia's Attic. I enjoy shooting photos for Naomi that illustrate the versatility of the product and not just pretty pictures of me. So I came up with the idea of shooting at the beach. Turns out that the beach is the perfect place to wear a snood!! Unless you are swimming, the snood is perfect for keeping your hair off your neck and keeping you cool on these hot summer days! Even better they still have you looking stylish and neater than just a ponytail. So for you gals out there that wonder how you can keep your vintage beauty while being active and enjoying life, a snood is the way to go! I know I am going to spend more time down at the beach and the snood will most certainly be part of my beach attire!

As you can see in the photos, I am wearing a snood in hot pink. Like the green that I modeled previously, the pink is another exciting color that gets one away from the traditional seen red and black (although I believe those should be a staple in the vintage wardrobe). The bright pop of color adds spontaneity and fun to your look and can only enhance your summer frocks! The wonderful thing about the hot pink is that it can be both dainty and edgy, so whether you like traditional vintage or modern interpretations of vintage, this color is amazing and will be perfect for you!

Once again I would like to thank the talented and ever beautiful Naomi Chambers of Arthelia's Attic! She has been a joy to work with and I can't thank her enough!

Now go and get yourself one of these snoods today! You can get them over at her etsy store here She has a wide range of colors to choose from and they are modestly priced too! As always her snoods are handcrafted in the USA! So for you Americans out there, remember shopping small businesses helps rebuild our economy and nation! As for the rest of the world, you get a wonderful product at a wonderful price! Could you ask for more? :)

photos by La Fine Photography

Weekend fun in Kenosha!

I had a lovely weekend! It's funny as it seems I have done more things since moving back to Kenosha, than I ever did in my near 20 years in AZ. Maybe not as much "toury" stuff, but for sure, more local fun.

                                        

As always, click on the photos to enlarge.

This past weekend was the Homecoming carshow for AMC and Nash only cars. It was nice to walk around and take a look at 300 or so cars. I would have perferred more deco and war era cars, but the 98% of the cars were muscle cars. There were a small handful of "my era" cars, so that was a nice treat. I wanted to practise my "car photography" skills, but it was really hot and humid so our walk through became just that and I lost patoence for trying to make awesome photos. Hahaha You will see below that I didn't really try hard to shoot photos and then when I went to edit the photos, I started to play around with hdr type imagry. I am no expert, but I enjoyed tinkering with the photos and creating the images. I think I would like to continue tinking and work on my post editing skills with still life.

Having biked to the carshow and then walking around it, we became quite hungry. Luckily for us, Taste of Wisconsin was happening as well by the lake so we headed on over to check that out. We were slightly disappointed as the Taste of Wisconsin was more like the Taste of Kenosha. I'd say 95% of the businesses there were all located in Kenosha. :( We were hoping to discover new yummies, but alas, nothing really caught our eye. Don't think that stopped us from eating there! We ended up having hotdogs from Chubby Dogs, where their motto is Have you had a Chubby today? Yes, the juviniel in me LOVES that! I actually liked having a Chubby Dog. It was good! I really hope they sell their t-shirts. It's too awesome not to have! Timing is everything because right when we got our dogs, a band I have been wanting to see was getting ready to play. Pat Crawford Big Band. I kiund of roilled my eyes assuming they would be a 5 piece band if that, but I got really excited when I saw a whole bunch of gents setting up. Now, you know being a vintage gal, I am picture Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman, and even Kay Kieser all dressed so fly in their suits and polised instruments -- so I honestly was a bit disappointed when all the gents (ranging in age from late teens to 60's) were all dressed in theirm polos with logo.

But hey, at least they matched, right? In the end I enjoyed the band and will hopfully see them again, but I was a little disappointed on the song choices. Nothing was really out there swinging. It was all easily listening. I wanted to see jump-jiving and wailing. But I suppose beggars can't be choosers in this town. As it is our 1 rockabilly band broke up. Crap. :( The Pat Crawford Big Band did have a fun mc that was laying eggs right after the other. Let me tell you he was the flyest of all the men there in his white slacks and white shoes with silk tiger shirt. I am seriously loving the guy -- not making fun.

In the end Perry and I had a good time although it was hot and we were tired.

Sunday morning was a treat too. It started out with a trip to the beach for my latest shoot for Arthelia's Attic Snoods. A post for that to follow soon.) After the shoot, Perry had been wanting to go to a place called Apple Holler. It's an apple orchird and restaurant. I thought the place was amazing and neat, but Perry thought it was stupid. Hah! Firstly and probably the only part we could agree on is that breakfast was super yummy. Both of us had simple eggs and meat. We didn't try any of their apple specialties. Actually, Perry tried their apple butter on his cornbread, but he didn't care for it too much. As for me, I didn't even try it as I am not a fan of cornbread at all.

After breakfast we took a jaunt around the Apple Holler Fun Farm (I am not sure of that is the name -- ). There were goats and chickens, cutouts and mazes. Fun things if you have children or if you are me. Perry was getting hot an cranky so my fun was cut a bit short, but I do give Cranky La Fine credit for trying and putting up with me just long enough to get a few photos. One thing I did notice is that a lot of the area seemed slightly over grown, like the farm/orchird hadn't been taken care of for a while. My guess is lack of daily interest in the fun area. I mean the restaurant was full and my guess is they get plently of business for food, but as part of the farm area it didn't seem like there was much interest in the place.

For me the lack of interest in a place like that as a fun family activity makes me sad. I love those "old fashion" type places. Parents will spend 100's upon 100's of dollars to give their kids game systems and other techie gizmos to keep them selves busy, but they won't spend under 10$ (or free most of the time) to creatye fun and memories with their kids to go to places like this, unless it is a holiday like Halloween or 4th of July. It makes me really sad that places as charming as this go out of business. Anyhow I am rambling now...

I hope you enjoyed my weekend recap and liked the photos. (More photos can be seen at my official candid photo gallery in the member's section of my website - LolitaHaze.com)

Tell me about places like this that you have been to. Any hometown joints that are charming to you?