REVIEW - Lucky Lou Shoes Rockin' Tiki Heels

This week I'm reviewing these beautiful heels from Lucky Lou Shoes, they are the Rockin' Tiki with leopard ankle strap and I am in LOVE, not only with the style but with the craftsmanship, quality and comfort! 

First up heres a bit of info on who Lucky Lou Shoes are and what makes them so special…

Lucky Lou Shoes was started in 2004 by Linda Lou von Hochtritt as a direct result of her love of all things vintage and beautiful.  Having purchased several pair of shoes in San Francisco with little palm trees and huts carved into the wood heels, Linda Lou researched these designs and discovered they were called 'Bahaykubo' ('little village') and had been carved during World War 2 by craftsmen in the Philippines for Allied soldiers to bring back to their wives and sweethearts as souvenirs.  Although the shoes Linda Lou bought were beautiful and intricately-carved, they were not very comfortable.

Upon moving to Austin in 2002, Linda Lou spent a year finding the descendants of the original carvers from the 1940's and asked them carve shoes for her new company, Lucky Lou Shoes.  Her original designs included a faithful homage to the original 'Bahaykubo', as well as designs including cherries, Lucky Charms (dice, horseshoes and clovers), anchors, a flaming heart and the classic Rockin' Tiki.  These carved wood shoes were now comfortable, with padded vamps and rubber soles. 

So on to the review! The shoes came in their box, wrapped up in their own red shoe bag with padding to the front strap so they were really well protected and means I can keep them nice and safe when they aren't being worn. It's great when companies put that extra thought into the packaging and made them feel all the more special!

The shoes themselves are lighter than I thought they'd be (which makes them really easy to wear) and are incredibly well made. Looking at the soles, joins and the AMAZING tiki heel they just scream craftsmanship and quality, I spent a while just looking at them to be honest rather than the usual tearing through the packaging and whacking them straight on. I've never owned shoes like these and I almost feel like making a special shelf just to display them proudly!

So onto the main attraction; the heels! These are awesome, they are such an eye catching design, look really impressive and well basically are just cool. The heel is 4"which sounds like a lot (to me anyway) but are totally walk-in-able. I'm rubbish in heels and these gave me no trouble, even with not much movement in the sole, it's perfectly curved to make walking nice and easy. The sole is also padded for extra comfort and the rubber base gives that extra grip, which I love in a pair of heels! 

I went for the ankle strap version of the Rockin' Tiki because as I said I'm rubbish in heels and thought I'd take the extra help with the strap! I've glad I did as the shoes totally hug my feet, keep them in place and feel secure when I'm walking in them. The straps are nice a soft across both the ankle and toes. I was going back and forth with the plain black leather and the leopard so I asked my sister/boss at Le Keux which one she'd go for, she basically said, DUH, go for the ultimate it tiki: leopard print, and I'm so glad I did. This combo makes perfect sense and they are totally a go to statement shoe! 

So as you can tell I pretty darn pleased with these shoes, not only in terms of them being gorgeous but I'm thrilled to feel confident in wearing them out and about in comfort. Well done Lucky Lou, for making beautiful shoes with a nod to the past with all the modern comforts, you're awesome! 

Diablo x

REVIEW: Vivien of Holloway Geisha Bloom Sarong Dress

Vivien of Holloway are famous for creating the ultimate pin up hourglass shape with their boned halter neck dresses, they do wiggle dresses, full skirt and my new favourite; the sarong dress. Up on my review list this week is this incredibly gorgeous dress from Vivien of Holloway, it's the Geisha Bloom Pink Sarong Dress with matching bolero and the print is out of this world illustrated beautiful perfection!

 

I'm going to talk about this print first, it's a limited edition fabric and feels so very special it reminds me of an illustrated painting, it's full of roses, blossoms and lots of lovely delicate details. The fabric itself is quite light and soft, yet firm enough to hold it's shape too. As soon as I saw this print it was love at first sight, it's something you don't come across to often and feels so very 1940s elegant!

The top is fully boned which nips in at the waist and curves around your bust and accentuates it at the same time with a sweetheart neckline; wonderful! The halter neck strap is also really flattering for anyone who has concerns over armpit bulge (I wish there was a more ladylike term for that but you know what I mean!) as it is placed just below the curve of the bust and skims over that area comfortably, see the picture below for what I mean...

The skirt part of this dress is like I mentioned, in a sarong style which skims beautifully over the stomach area and gathers on the hip, which I think really flatters anyone who may be a little conscious of their tummy area. The sarong style allows for a little more movement in the dress, it's split to a very modest area so no worries about flashing either! The skirt then tapers down to create a beautiful hourglass shape. 

Oh plus it comes with this gorgeous matching bolero which is cut perfectly to suit the dress, it sits just on the waist and has a little collar and capped sleeves, it's such a nice touch to add that extra bit of glamour to the ensemble, also if you prefer to cover your back a little or tops of your arms it's well, perfect!

All these details, style and shaping is why you buy from Vivien of Holloway, they know how to cut a dress to create a fabulous shape on EVERYONE, we've had their dresses in our salons and as part of our pin up photo shoot wardrobes for years and believe me even the most unbelieving customer has been completely converted by these dresses! So if you've ever thought about it, you just need to trust in me when I saw you won't regret buying from Vivien, one word of advice though; make sure you measure yourself correctly as they work on a bust, waist and hip measurement, they also are slightly different to high street sizes so just make sure you measure up before buying!

Thanks for reading!

Diablo x

Hair flowers (perfectly matching may I add) including the orchid with waterfall blossoms are from the lovely Rosie Alia

REVIEW: Long Hair Dreams with VP Fashion Extensions

Check out my awesome new super long 22" clip in extensions from the lovely people at Vpfashion.com!

My previous experiences with hair extensions:

Now I'm no stranger to hair extensions, I've worn clip ins and have the tracks glued in many years ago, these days it's quite hard to know the quality of hair you're actually buying, especially from shops and online! I've been stung in the past by brands saying they are '100% human hair' then I go to dye them and it's clearly got synthetic fibres and it just looks patchy and awful! I've also noticed that the pack weights are getting pretty stingy, with wefts being singles so you have to buy a couple of packs if you've got thick hair or want the extensions to look half decent!

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VP Fashion approached me with an offer my Disney hair loving self couldn't pass up, they sent me the details to their White Blonde Human Hair extensions and asked if I'd like to try them for myself. I had a good look through their site and saw great reviews online, as well as other bloggers that I've following for ages wearing (and loving) the extensions, so I thought why not! 

Here's the stats on the set I received:

White Blonde (613) Indian Remy Human Hair - 22" - 220g

Heat friendly and completely dye-able

One 8'' wide wefts(4 clips) 

One 7'' wide wefts(4 clips)

Two 6'' wide wefts(3 clips)

Four 2'' wide wefts(1 clip)

On first impressions the hair was really thick and silky, the clips are pre-attached and the pack had a few extra as well. Each piece looks at least double wefted, maybe triple, I got the higher weight pack as I have pretty thick hair and I've always had to buy extra hair to bulk previous extensions up! Not with these though, there is definitely more than enough hair to create a gorgeous full look!

I've filmed a tutorial on how I dyed and styled this hair so I won't go too far in to the process here, (I'll post a link to the video once it's online) The dying process was really easy, the hair took the colour really well and I only had to do one pass, which is pretty great because I mix my colour down with conditioner which can make it a little tricky to apply evenly, particularly with that much hair! The extensions have maintained its quality and texture after dying, washing drying and styling and there was minimal shedding during the process as well! 

The clips are nice and secure and once all the hair is in you don't feel like you can't move your head in fear of them coming loose! Again the hair feels awesome to the touch and brushes out to blend with my actual hair so easily. I like to wear my extensions curly and I find it's easier to blend the hair with my own that way too, it's incredibly soft, brushes lovely and holds styling really well.

Overall I'm incredibly happy with these extensions, I've worn other hair pieces in the past and have always been disappointed, but this hair is gorgeous! When I'm wearing them I feel like a Disney character! I'll keep you posted on how they do over time, the site says the product life exceeds over 1 year so lets hope so as I've got loads of styling ideas for this hair!

Thank you for reading, let me know if you've got any questions about dying and wearing extension!

Diablo x

VPFashion also gave me a lovely discount code: diablorose01 so that you can get $10 off your purchase on their website!

REVIEW: Lady K Loves 'Hug Me Baby' Jeans

When I first heard about these new 'Hug Me Baby' jeans from Lady K Loves I was very excited; they are specifically designed and sized for curvier ladies who have a smaller waist and larger hip ratio than usual sizing, a ratio which makes truly well fitting high waist jeans pretty hard to come across! 

My measurements are waist 27" Hip 41" so I opted for the jeans in a Medium (you can see the full breakdown of sizes on their website) On opening up my delivery I was really impressed with the craftsmanship, the denim is super soft and has a little stretch to it, they are also the perfect dark denim so will go with anything. 

So first impressions are good, now for the ultimate test, the fit! Now I know this may sound overly dramatic but when I put on the jeans and zipped them up it was like the ultimate 'Hallelulah!' moment! These jeans are PERFECT, perfect fit all over, super comfy, hugs-in-all-the-right-places perfection. I've genuinely never owned such a well fitting pair of trousers/jeans and I couldn't recommend them enough to any of my rockabilly style loving gals who are slim waisted with a little more junk in the trunk!

The legs are nice and long so you can opt for a rock'n'roll turn up, they have this gorgeous sweetheart joke on the tush which is really flattering and I think accentuates the fitted waist even further, I've seen lots of other ladies sporting these jeans online and they make everyone's bums look great!

So as you can probably already guess from my gushing review I am in love with these jeans and if you've ever had that depressing changing room experience of not being able to get jeans up over your ass so they'll fit your waist measurement (and becoming a little bit trapped in them in the process), then I think you'll love them just as much as I do!

Diablo x