V&A 'Ballgowns' and 'Hollywood Costume' Exhibitons

As a bit of a geek I heartily enjoy going to museums and exhibits about pretty much anything. But the V&A always has such wonderful exhibitions I don't feel the need to be embarrassed of my museum passion. There are 2 on at the moment which I would love to go to.

Firstly, running since May this year until January 6th, is the Ballgowns: British Glamour since 1950 exhibition. I love looking at the vintage dresses and imaging how it would've felt back then to wear such a creation to a ball or other social event...a far cry from  what is considered 'going-out wear' for us today. However, I think it's pretty similar to the 'Golden Age of Couture' exhibition that ran in 2007/2008 that I went to, as I've spotted some of the same dresses being included. 

Two of the dresses from the Ballgowns: British Glamour exhibition. 

Images from http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/ballgowns/in-the-gallery...

Another exhibition currently running is the Hollywood Costume exhibit, running from 20th October to the 27th January. I think this would be great for anyone to visit, not just fashion lovers as it includes numerous costumes from some of the greatest characters in cinema. Here's what the V&A say about it on their website...

'The V&A's autumn exhibition, 'Hollywood Costume', explores the central role costume design plays in cinema storytelling. Bringing together over 100 of the most iconic movie costumes from across a century of film-making, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the clothes worn by unforgettable and beloved characters such as Dorothy Gale, Indiana Jones, Scarlett O'Hara, Jack Sparrow, Holly Golightly and Darth Vader'

Will you or have you visited either of these exhibitions?

What's in my basket...

@ Miss Guided

Though I've never purchased from missguided.com, every week or so I enjoy perusing the site and thinking what I would buy if I had more money. The general style of the pieces is right up my street- a lot of leather, studs, collars and lovely jersey basics. 

1 and 2: Everywhere's been copying the Zara leather jacket with khaki sleeves, but I prefer this take on the contrast sleeve trend (however, this also comes in khaki if your loving the military trend) 

3. Love the length, the neckline, the color...and the price. For £12.99 might have to get this in several colours- comes in many perfect A/W shades such as berry and charcoal

4. I also like maxi skirts for winter (hoping they won't get dragged through puddles). I have a plain grey tee and these boots too, so will be pretty much copying this look

Have you ever purchased from Miss Guided?

Low cost Polish

Recently in Boots and Superdrug I have been impressed by some of the polishes being introduced by the lower cost make up brands. If you swing by Miss Sporty (a brand I  usually think of for tween-agers) they have released several duochrome polishes similar to the Models Own Beetlejuice collections called ‘Metal Flip’, with names such as Aurora Borealis and Beetle wings (rip off, much?). Here's them featured on the Miss Sporty Facebook page :

Image from www.facebook.com/miss.sporty.makeup

As well as the duochrome polishes they have a pretty glitter topcoat and a UV topcoat that would look amazing on a night out under a black light. 

Every brand is hopping on the glitter train too- Barry M’s new glitter collection is pretty impressive, with four new colours Pink sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst and Gold mine. There's also Rose Quartz and Yellow Topaz- don't think these shades are brand new but I've rarely seen them in stores (though to be fair,  my local Boots and Superdrug are pretty tiny). 

Top L-R: Pink Sapphire, Gold Mine, Rose Quartz

Bottom L-R: Ruby, Amethyst, Yellow Topaz

Photos from barrym.com

Other brands have introduced different glitter top coats too- check out 17 and NYC. The newly rebranded Collection (formerly Collection 2000) has some pretty impressive glitters for a budget range- check out the Bedazzled collection

Rimmel isn't getting left behind either, with it producing duochrome polishes in its 'Metal Rush' collection, and glitters in its 'Precious Stones' collection- admittedly the glitters aren't as exciting as those offered by other brands.

Rimmel Precious stones and Metal rush. Image from  www.glam.co.uk

I think its great that cheaper brands such as these are realising how popular nail art and different effect polishes are- makes a nice change from having to spend £££s on higher end brands such as Nails Inc, OPI and Ciate. 

17 Holographic polish

As I was doing my usual aimless wandering around Boots, I was rather excited to see that the fairly low cost brand 17 have released a holographic nail polish. Like many, I had admired GOSH’s original holo polish, but had not been able to lay my hands on it when it was originally launched, and was no way paying the extortionate prices that people were selling them for on ebay. So I popped one in my basket and here it is…

 L-R: under a direct light and in natural light

It’s hard to capture the effect on my fairly crap camera as the colours only really show up in bright light. Otherwise it pretty much just looks like a silver nail polish. A bit disappointing but for £3.99 its not the end of the world.

NOTE: Imagine my annoyance/ delight when I saw in Superdrug today the original GOSH holo polish is back! Can I justify buying it when I've just bought the 17 one (along with about 6 other polishes...)

Models Own- Wonderland and Mirrorball

Despite being thousands of miles away, like any other polish addict I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Models Own Mirrorball and Wonderland collections. However, now I have returned to England with a near empty bank account I could only allow myself a select few. I decided on Jack Frost and Snowflake from Wonderland, and Dancing Queen from Mirrorball. Jack Frost is an irridescant glitter that leans mostly blue and purple in the light, and Snowflake a golden shimmery ‘flakie’ polish. I chose Dancing Queen from Mirrorball as swatches Ive seen of this over various colours looked the most interesting to me.

L-R Jack Frost, Snowflake and Dancing Queen. 

Now we know with glitters the best way to apply is to gently ‘blob’ the polish on, as if you try to apply like a normal polish the glitter won’t stick to the nail. I have to admit I did find this a bit more difficult with these polishes and I ended up with quite a thick layer of the clear polish that the glitter’s suspended in. The Snowflake polish was probably the most difficult to apply, as the flakes stick together and it takes some time to get the placement right. However I think they are beautiful enough for me to put up with the hassle of application ;)

Here are some swatches of each of the three over a few different colours so you can see the different effects that can be achieved

Each picture L-R: Dancing queen, Snowflake, Jack Frost . 2 coats. 

   Over Look Beauty shade 29- Vintage               Over Barry M 47- Black                  And over Revlon White on White

I thought the Wonderland polishes looked cute and christmassy over the white polish, however it made it slightly discoloured and gave it a yellowish tinge. All polishes had a more dramatic impact when layered over the black polish, so I think a darker base polish is the way forward and I'll be trying a variety of other bases for them. 

Have you purchased any of the new Models Own polishes? Blizzard and Disco Inferno are next on my list.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome to The Gilded Wardrobe. I've been reading blogs for the past year or so and always wanted to get one going, but the timing wasn't right. What with dissertation and final exams of my third year at university  and a 3 month trip round south east Asia straight afterwards, I thought it better wait.

Now I'm back and despite my extremely depleted bank balance I will be blogging about clothes, make up and beauty items as well as the odd DIY post. As a nail art addict I'll also be posting some of my handiwork

Hope you enjoy :)