My Ingredients for Retro Pin Up

Yesterday I attended a White Gloves Brunch with my two BFF's Ann and Rachel at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus.

Now I know the theme was "Ladies who lunch," but I ended up looking more like Traci Lords from Crybaby rather than a proper Southern Belle.

I learned how to do this look when I was a huge Masuimi Max fan girl. I had never seen an Asian American pinup model before, and because of her I began to experiment with Bettie Page bangs and 40's up dos.

The retro 40's/Rockabilly look is a little over saturated in Los Angeles, so I've been a little hesitant to bring it back.

In order to do this hair style you have to set you whole in huge curlers, spray a shit ton of hairspray, tease furiously from the root, and start rolling your hair from front to back. Then you pin. I would recommend large bobby pins. I didn't have them this time around, so my hair was sort of falling by the end of the day. Once I set the rolls, I just curled the bottom with a large barrel curling iron. However, I'm going to invest in some hot rollers, because that what they used to use in the back the day, and it will hold the curls better.

There are a ton of how-to videos, and I wish I had one to recommend, but on the real, I just stalked some rockabilly girls on Myspace back in the day, and I just copied as best as I could.

As far as makeup is concerned, I contoured, used minimal eyeshadow, but had a wicked cat eye with MAC boot black liquid liner. Donned some fake eyelashes and red lipstick and I was hitching for a ride like Miss Traci Lords below.

Here's my Inspiration and also product list of what I used to get this look:

Okay back to our hot brunch. When we booked this brunch I immediately knew which dress I wanted to wear. I finally got to sport my gray business dress from the Banana Republic Mad Men Collection. I didn't know how committed to character we were going to be, so I didn't get a fancy hat that a nice Southern lady would wear. I instead opted for curling and rolling my hair, which went with the outfit just fine.

However, when I arrived I was pleasantly surprised on how each of us interpreted the theme of the day. Of course my girls looked at beautiful as always.  Ann's look was more Mary Tyler Moore and Rachel was  dressed as a hot society wife in NYC in a cute strapless dress.  I seriously have to be friends with these two forever, because they know too much about me and it would be a security risk if we were to part :)

We had a great time gossiping, ordering fancy food, and just being girls. I've been grateful to have these two as my girls for almost ten years now. The three of us are so different in aspirations, style, and personality, but when we are together all we do is laugh.

Thanks for the blessings and the giggles ladies... till we meet again.

Raja Inspired: How to Contour an Asian Face

Contouring Tools by boothebootch on polyvore.com

The first time a makeup artist tried to contour my nose she made me look like a Klingon. Not only was I saddened that she was trying to reshape my nose, but the lines that she used to contour my face were too harsh and too obvious. In the Philippines they use this method for T.V. so that they can create the illusion of a thin pin nose, but when the contouring is too obvious it's pretty horrible.



I have a love/hate relationship with my nose as you can tell by over butt-hurtness of the Klingon situation. It wasn't until I saw Raja (WHO I LOVE) on Rupaul's Drag Race, that I started to understand the purpose of contouring, and how it can accentuate an Asian face without butchering the beautiful nose that was god given.

I'll be the first to tell you Raja as a dude is FIONE. With absolutely no makeup he's gorge and perfect just way he is. When he gets in drag he contours the sides of his nose and his cheekbones.  As a result showcases his eyes and lips more and displays a more feminine look.

There are a tons of videos on YouTube that will show you how to do it, but after much research on  I found that this video best explained how to best "blend in" the contouring without looking like a Klingon.



After much practice with the right tools, and the proper tutelage, last night was my best contouring session.  Not only was I happy that my efforts reshaped my cheekbones and nose, but I was able to kind of hide my ole forehead! I rarely go out without my bangs, but because I contoured it, I definitely felt more comfortable showing my dome.





  The two godsend tools that make contouring success is the MAC 187 brush and the Sephora concealer brush. To set it up you have to the do the tribal warpaint step that they show in the video,  and that's what I use the Sephora concealer brush for. The MAC 187 brush is what I use to blend everything together. This is the miracle brush, and also my most favorite of all my brush children.

I further highlighted my cheeks with a MAC peachy blush, and voila! You have a contoured face :)

I'm all about loving one's face. Everyone has features that are not their favorites, and contouring is not a way make them vanish, but rather to a way to embrace the face that you have. The links below have the product info for all of the contouring tools. Enjoy!

Contouring Tools by boothebootch on polyvore.com