Wednesday, August 10, 2011

New Foundations

We've added a few new foundations to the shop today to complete that perfect vintage silhouette! Long line bras with that "perky" retro shape perfect for sweater girls and pulling off a super hourglass figure, plus the perennial pin up favorite the full length girdle for a super slinky smooth vintage shape under even the clingiest of dresses!

I've been teaming up my bra from this line with the waist cincher lately for the pulling power of the 2 together love the results with my favorite belted in dresses. I hope you guys will enjoy the new items as much as we do here at Quaintrelle HQ!

Much of our boudoir shop items are items I've bought, tried and loved for myself (the only exceptions are things we make and love!) and wanted to be able to offer to all the lovely peeps that shop with us so they can get the most out of the designs the same way I have. I figure if I love them then hopefully you guys will too! I even got a bit of a kick when I started noticing some of these items (or something super similar) popping up in the Mad Men episodes I was watching last night.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

J'adore Montreal

Hi again everyone! Back from Montreal and back to blogging! The trip was a bit of a lucky one all in all, my husband had a work trip out there and it was the perfect opportunity for me to tag along and see a city I've always wanted to visit.

The area is such great blend of North America and Europe, it felt a lot like being back on my old continent.

We got to check out some great vintage shops filled with some wonderful clothes from the 20's through the 60's, and also neat nicknacks. One great little pocket was on Saint Laurent  street far off the metro that had Kitsch n Swell (40's-50's house stuffs and clothes) Rokokonut (60's-70's kitsch and clothes) and Fripperie (20's-80's clothing and accessories) all next to each other kind of like a vintage super shop!

Kitsch n Swell and Rokokonut are both run by a super vintage loving couple and were such fun shops I wish I lived close enough to visit every week! My haul from there was 2 pairs of 50's/60's cat eye glasses frames. My eyes are starting to be a little less sharp these days and after finding such cuties at such a good price I figured I'd pick em up ready for when I need to call upon them for ultra swanky visual correction!

Another great place we found was Retro-Ville, literally floor to ceiling fantastic finds! The lady that runs the place was so friendly We spent ages in there going through the shop and looking at her personal collections of fantastic vintage buttons and purses, extra bonus points for Treasure, the friendly fluffy in store cat too! Couldn't take the shop cat home but check out the neat cat cookie jar we found there! Now the new home to out everyday tea stash (no more standing on tip toes to pull down tea bags from my on the hour decaf brews)


More than just great old stuff was some great new stuff, my figure I owe in large part to a love of interesting food! We managed to get some reservations ahead of time for some of the cities best restaurants and got to enjoy all kinds of things I've never tried before (sweetcorn sundae for eg). The markets were also stellar. Got some nifty local ground cherries I'd never seen before and tea! the place was a surprisingly wonderful tea destination! Kusmi tea is probably one of my new favorite tea companies I found on the trip, it's every where and they have some really interesting blends once enjoyed by the Czars of Russia.

All in all we ate, walked alot, saw a ton of cool things and met a lot of cool people. I already have a list of things I want to do on our next trip out here, I just can't wait to go back!

( for now though, I have a head full on inspiration and a cat head full of tea, so I'm going to ride this wave and turn this great trip into a Montreal worthy collection of designs for the Fall/winter season ;p)

I got a few posts to write up so we should be back to regular blogging once again!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Standing By!

One of those lame apology posts I'm afraid today, but I just wanted to say I'm still alive and soon to be blogging I promise! the past few weeks have been a marathon of rush custom orders (photos to come) and at the end of it all I flew off to Montreal yesterday for the  next week! So whilst the bad news might be that I haven't been able to keep up so well with things here lately, the good news is I should have tons of cool things to write about when I get back!

So far totally loving this town, pretty things, tasty things and lovely people. Hope you guys are having fun too, catch you all again super soon! (with infinitely more interesting things to say for myself.)

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Sunday Best: Lavender Field

Things have stayed pretty hectic chez Quaintrelle Life, but I took a day to hang out with my fella, get some frozen custard and enjoy a break from the oppressive heat! Seemed like the perfect excuse to break out my new dress and try a cool Summer hairstyle!

Outfit Rundown:
point of style: Soft colours
Dress: Day dress in a vintage style print
Jewelry: Society pearl set (white)
Gloves: Dents
Shoes: Kurt Geiger
Purse: Vivienne Westwood
Hair: Basic pin curl set pinned into a false bob
Lipstick: Besame Dusty Rose

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sunday Best: Shirtwaister Day



Not had a great deal of time for blogging lately so mu appologize for that. But I did promise to keep up with the Sunday Best posts so here is this weeks!

The lilac is staring to fade from my hair, but I'm still kinda loving the soft lilac/blonde it's turning into now.

Outfit Rundown!
Dress: Cocktail shirtwaist dress (preview!)
Accessories: Moon Glow beads and a fab 1960's corsage I picked up from a flea market in Tennessee! The belt is from a UK trip.
Shoes: Can't see em but I swear they are cute! (See em here on my Poupee Girl)
Hair: Trying to make an effort to wet set more often, This little do was just a basic pin curl set loosely brushed out.

Friday, July 8, 2011

We Can Do It!

My Hair is feeling a little sorry for itself lately, so I'm trying to lay off the hot rollers for a while, which for me of course means either dead straight hair or the wet set.

Curlers are a big faux pas, we all know it, pin curls are something of a faux pas too whilst they are setting, but sometimes a girl just needs a nice wet set, and has things to do!


Today I decided to take a desperate plunge before heading out to the fabric store and post office and Rosied up hair so I could get the job done and still have bouncy curls for tonight and the weekend.


I figured the best way to go was to really sell it as a fashion statement! With a scrubbed face it was all too Nora Batty, but I figured perhaps with a comfy period appropriate day dress and some red lips and eyeliner maybe I could sell it as a bold style choice, and get my work done nice and easy. I mean it worked in the 40's right?


The result... compliments for the ladies at the store! Might not be a look I'd rock if I was going out to lunch with ladies who do that but for a day on the job followed by a glamorous evening, grandma knew best! Sunday Best worthy? Not so much, but it might be a way to get those wet sets setting when we've got things to do.

I'm sure it'll all be worth it when the pin curls come out!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Sunday Best: Strawberries and Cream

This weeks outfit started out with my new favorite shoes (which are designed to look like teacups!) and some strawberries and cream themed accessories! The red was a great way to brighten up my favorite black and white gingham dress.

Outfit Rundown!
Point of Fashion: Eating strawberries on a picnic
Dress: Daisy Cutter Sundress from Cute Salad
Accessories: Ultra Lux Sunglasses in strawberries and cream from Tres Noir, Society Pearls in white from Candy Violet, Strawberry Purse also from Candy Violet
Shoes: Teacup shoes from Miu Miu (I lovelovelovelove these shoes! High heels and teacup handles!!!!!)
Hair: Basically a ponytail today, with super easy bumper bangs using the wool hair rat like in the Quaintrelle Life tutorial)!

 

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