HK Does Vintage!!

After weeks of hard work, I am proud to present you with HK Does Vintage @ Rachel's Kitchen! After sleepless nights preparing the workshop to surprise HK with hundreds of vintage cups and cutlery... we hope you all enjoyed a little time travelling back to an era of fine english elegance! 

There was music, cakes, dancing, hot tea and even a vintage baby! The event was a success, much to the support and kind patience of our valued customers and helpers. Without you, the weekend would simply not be the same! Your interest and enthusiasm has inspired me to do this a million times better next time! 

A Million thank you's to all our supporters!

Visual Merchandising: A british flower garden...

inspiration for many cup designs

HK's first Vintage BB!!!

Haha.. I feel like I've won a prize!

Vintage family!

Thanks to my friend Lok for coming from China to help out!

It's been too long, lets catch up over a nice cup of tea!

It's been too Long! Let's catch up on a nice cup of tea! Ever since moving from Yahoo, i have completely neglected my blog. Unfortunately I feel like many blog friends and vintage lovers have been lost.  From now, I promise to keep in contact with all of you again! 

Since my last post, semester two of university has taken up most of my time. Considering it's the last every year of my studies (unless in the distant future i want to continue my PHD...you can never stop learning),  I am trying my best to concentrate on my projects. However, unlike my undergrad studies, I am trying hard to balance my social life with work and this time round, I have made some lovely new friends from all around the world and all walks of life. 

Stay tuned for a quick summary of my past three months in the next couple of posts!

Anyway back to this post. Since i've been away, I have still magically managed to find time to treasure hunt for more vintage chinaware! Exploring markets and antique fairs gives me the chance to escape work... it's my guilty pleasure. Also since my entire family are also vintage lovers, we try to make it a family activity. I love sharing my passion with Mama and Papa and all we are waiting for is Rachel to come over from HK and we are ready for our road trip across the UK to continue our treasure hunt!

A dreamy afternoon nap with macarons and lots of TEA!!!

Royal Crown Derby trio

Adorable blue Shelly cup and saucer

I generally love blue and white designs, the gilding 

adds to the elegance of the long and lean shape .

Sometimes the most simple design can leave 

the biggest impression. 

This is understated elegance

Hand painted coffee and tea cups. 

Around 1910-1920, unmarked.

50's cake Doilies 

Rare Shelly pink tea set! So difficult to find

and the condition is excellent! This is going to 

be my wedding dowry haha!

Gatsby Art Deco coffee cup and saucer

Seasons at Rachel's Kitchen Finally Printing!!!

Happy Birthday to Seasons at Rachel's Kitchen! After all the hard work and sleepless nights.. you've done it Rachel!!! The book is finally printing! I enjoyed every minute of this project and working with you was so incredible... our artistic visions collided and I am so proud of what we have done (although there is always room for improvement obviously). Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you for all the 'after' work... I had the fun part and you were left behind with all the hard work!  I am sad that i can't be around Hk when it comes out but I can't wait for our next project! 

Here is a behind the scene look: 

Gatsby...1920s Girl

After falling in love with the Great Gatsby, I was inspired to try out the glamorous 1920s look. Like the movie, i wanted to keep the look modern and wearable, so i took the key aspects of 1920s ravishing make up and upgraded it to a more relevant 2013 look. If you see Carey Muligan's make up on the set of Gatsby, she has a much softer and romantic take on the classic 20s style. I wish i was much better at styling hair, but this was the best i could do. I create a fake bob effect by tucking in my long hair under itself and pinning it in place. My bob wig with the full fringe would take the look closer to original 20's fashion, but i wanted to make this look wearable and not too fancy dress. Next time i will try to create the finger wave effect for a more genuine 20s look.

The make up was relatively simple:

1. Smokey eyes. The 1920s version was very heavy and used dark black pigments to create the smokey effect. I wanted a much toned down version, so i used a dark brown KATE eyeshadow palette darkened with a charcoal grey MAC powder shadow. To add on the glamour, pearl shimmer was used on the centre of my lids to create a 3d effect. No false lashes or eyeliner were used.

2. BLUSH cheeks. The cheeks were always over the top in the 1920s, so i applied ample amounts on the apples of my cheeks. I opted for a slightly peachier pink to compliment my skin tone... which has tanned quite a lot in the past month for some weird reason considering the lack of sunshine in UK. 

3. LIPS...Exaggerate the cupid's bow. The shape of my lips were altered just slightly to fit into the 20s era. My peaks of my top lip were exaggerated and my bottom lips were made slightly smaller by using concealer. This is a much more wearable and day friendly version of the icon lips. The 20s usually used dark browns and reds, but like the new Gatsby, a dark rose colour was used instead to make the overall look fresher and younger. 

4. BROWS. I noticed that the girls in the movie had much thicker brows than the typical 20s droopy and drawn on brow. So to bring the 20s to 2013, i just extended the ends of my brows with a brow crayon to add to the effect.

Accessories like jewellery and hand held fans creates the extravagant 20s look. Lots of sequins, peals and gold. My dress was bought years ago for a new year's party, who knew it would go perfect with my next Gatsby or 20s themed party.

Vintage Dior Brooch...circa 1970... but the design is very Art Deco to me and perfect for the look!

Hand painted fan from 1920s. I love the story and history behind handheld fans. They were used as semophores for lovers...this deserves a post of it's own...  

KATE shadow palette and Blusher palette. Loreal lipstick in Burn, topped with a little Mac gloss in dark plum. I tried my new YSL base under my Laura Mercier foundation for a matt finish. 

The Great Gatsby

I have anticipated for this movie for over two years now. Ever since i found out that Leonardo Dicaprio was going to bring one of my favourite literature characters to life, i knew this would be one cinema experience that i would never miss. And.....the wait was well worth it! The Great Gatsby by Lurmann Baz is is GENIUS! Once again he has produced magic with Dicaprio. After their rendition of Romeo and Juliet, classic literature has reinvented itself. The two can amazingly make any old fashioned literature connect with the youth. This Great Gatsby was effortless, chic and very contemporary. A fast paced storyline with glamour, champagne, romance and betrayal... the movie wasn't all about the splendour of the roaring 1920s, but it was also very poetic and evoked great emotion.

The movie was groundbreaking in the sense that it dared to collide contemporary with such a classic tale. 1920s flappers dancing to Jay_Z and R n B music? Worked wonders! The clothes were absolutely breath taking and totally on trend for 2013. Designed by DIOR, the decadent lifestyle of the 1920s were captured to perfection. 

The two things that made the film so special for me were:

1. The art direction. Each second of the film could be captured as a beautiful still picture. Like an editorial shoot from Vouge or Bazzar.  The amount of detail that went behind this film made it truly breath taking. The explosion of colours captivated me. Every prop was so gorgeous to me. The 1920s Art Deco backdrop was absolutely magnificent! 

2. For me the actors were all well casted. At first I was unsure about Carey Muligan playing Daisy Buchanan. As shallow as i may sound, i always pictured her to be like an angel, and to me, there were many actresses prettier than Muligan. Muligan proved me so wrong. She was captivating, endearing and i understood why the great Mr. Gatsby would fall for her. She played the perfect 'angel villain'. She was the lady in WHITE and BLACK. All the other characters were good too. I particularly liked Toby Mguire (spiderman) as he too was endearing.

Of course, the one whole stole the show was Leonardo Dicaprio. Although this might be a little biased since i have been a fan of from the Titanic days, I could imagine no one else as Gatsby apart from him. He is one talented actor and his performance bought a tear to my eye. His bittersweet relationship with Daisy bought out so many different emotions. 

Without spoiling the storyline too much i will leave this post as it is... but trust me, this contemporary take on the classic literature will definitely not disappoint.