Just "one thing" sewing project and room make over.

 Hello Everyone!

I know that I said that I would try to post a recipe this weekend, but I got caught up in a project.  Unlike many people who have spent the pandemic being creative and productive, I have spent most of my time working looooooong hours trying to keep the theatre that I work for operational during a time when a live theatre can't do live performances.  (Can anyone say virtual performances and Zoom Meetings?)  So, when I wasn't working, I spent my time face down in my pillow.  My craft room became a storage room.  My guest room became the most unorganized closet you have ever seen as I just piled things on the bed.

It was disheartening.

Alberto Vargas 1920. I chose this picture because of the vase. And because she looks a little down or pensive.

Then my husband gave me a piece of advice to try and it started to turn my attitude around.  He told me "Just do one thing.  It doesn't matter how small it is.  If you get one thing done, that one thing is done and you have accomplished something."

At first I thought that he was crazy.  Could he not see the mountain of things that needed to be done in our house?  There were rooms that needed to be reclaimed.  (Pretty much all of them but the living room and kitchen.)  Crafts that needed to get done that were just piling up everywhere.  Mending to be mended.  Piles of laundry to be cleaned.  And much, much more...... I needed to make lists of what needed to be done!  Then, from there, I had to figure out what was most important and do that first.  But it was all so overwhelming.  Some things were equally important.  And the important things weren't the fun things that I would rather be doing if I got the energy.  So instead of doing anything, I did nothing and got more and more unsettled as my life around me seemed to be slowly degenerating into messy chaos.

With something that sort of resembled panic, I thought that I would try my husband's advice.  I mean, it couldn't hurt anything.  More importantly, he didn't CARE what my one thing I got done was.  Did I do a load of laundry?  Great!  Did I make a craft project that I wanted to make?  Well, that was fine too.  Did I just clear off a table in one of the rooms that needed reclaimed?  Wonderful!  I got one thing done.  And then something amazing happened.  As I started to do "just one thing"  I found myself doing one small thing,  And then moving on to another small thing.  And then another.  Until I was actually tackling big things again.

And they weren't all things that I felt I should do.  In fact, the first thing "one thing" that I decided to start was the first step in a sewing project that I wanted to do.  I have wanted to learn to sew from a pattern for ages.  But they always seemed like Greek when I read the instructions and I never had the time to get together with my friends who sew so they could teach me to read the pattern.  Even though several of them were willing to do so.  I watched YouTube videos on how to sew the way other people watched Grey's Anatomy.  Relentlessly - over and over.  I had the basics of sewing - my grandmother had taught me that.  I knew to backstitch to secure my stitch.  I knew to follow the lines on the guiding plate of my sewing machine to sew a straight line.  I had made pillows and curtains.  Just not an article of clothing.

Then the pandemic hit and Gertie from Charm patterns started putting out daily videos.  And then she put out a free pattern to make Harlow Pajamas.  

https://charmpatterns.bygertie.com/shop/harlow-pajamas-free/

Vintage inspired lounge wear for people who were staying mostly in their houses.  And the pattern was appropriate for beginning sewers.  But most importantly?  She put out a video on YouTube that STEP BY STEP walked you through how to make the pajamas.  From laying out the pattern on your fabric to the final stitch.  It was like having my own beginners sewing class!  And if now wasn't the perfect time to be alone in your home teaching yourself a new skill, then I didn't know when would be a better time.

So I downloaded the pattern.  Which I guess is technically a "one thing".  But my first "one thing" in my eyes was to put the pieces I had printed together to make a pattern.  I sat on my floor - because I didn't have a table big enough-- and I cut and taped for hours.

This is me putting the pattern together.  As you can see, the pets were very helpful.

The pattern ready to become a garment.

It wasn't something practical, like laundry, but it was "one thing" done and I was proud and happy.  And inspired to move on to the next step the following weekend.  I had decided the next "one thing" was going to be laying out the pieces on the fabric and cutting them out.  With YouTube tutorial on my laptop, I ventured forth to sew.      

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HhEwFVjWJQ&t=5613s

And I did it!!!  It took me three total weekends because I was only doing a little at a time, but it was done.  And I felt amazing.

And I even made a "scarf" so that I could tie a turban so that I didn't have to worry about doing my hair when I was wearing the outfit - yeah, that's quarantine fashion for you.

And after that it was like I was on a roll.  I started doing "just one thing" a day.  Sometimes I would just sew on a button for Mending Mondays.  Sometimes I would work on a craft project.  Or start reading a book that I put aside.  And slowly, my just one things, started looking like completed big things.

And one of these big things made of "just one little things" was what I was wrapping up this weekend.  

Before the pandemic, I had started redesigning my guest room because I HATED it.  I had the idea that I was going to have rose gold/pale copper walls as accent walls and instead, it just looked like..... well my husband and I called it baby puke orange.  

It wasn't a bad room. (In fact some of you may remember me showing you the decorations for this room years ago.)

 It just was one that hadn't turned out the way that I wanted it to and it never felt right.  My husband and I would joke that it didn't have any feng shui  (We don't know feng shui, we just knew the room wasn't working.)  Plus, going in it made me sad because it was the room my dad stayed in to visit me right before he passed away.  Memories were great, but wanting to cry every time I went in - even after two years- was getting to be a bit much.  So I had decided I needed a change.

To start off (again pre-pandemic and before I started doing things "one thing" a day), I decided the orange had to go and the layout needed to change.  (I had firmly decided the bed needed to go under the window instead of at right angles to the widow and that the tall dresser needed to be moved out of the closet because I needed the closet to hold my fall/winter wardrobe.)  I also have always wanted vintage Hollywood glam mirror furniture, so I thought I would do some research and see if I could make that happen.  AND, I am the Frugal Femme here, I wanted to change the whole room for $200 or less.

And I got sooooooooooo far before the pandemic hit.  I really did.

First I replaced the ceiling fan with a chandelier - which was purchased for $25.  (I say I replaced it.  This was actually done by my husband as he does all the electrical stuff in our house.)

Here, as you can see, I have moved the bed, and piled it high with clothing and items that needed to be put in the room, but the wall is still orange.

Got rid of the orange and got a Frenchie to help me.

The next step was to paint the accent wall a metallic turquoise and do antique gold accents to match the chandelier on the trim.  The paint for this cost $40.00.

Then it was time to try to turn the golden brown furniture you see above into the inspiration furniture pictured below.  I already had the paint for this because I had purchased it years earlier to do the trim in the bedroom so my bedroom looked more like Dita von Teese's.  This was yet another project I had not got around to doing yet, but I had the paint and thought that I would use it.

The mirror came out of the main bathroom when we first moved into the house.  It was too big for what we had in mind for the bathroom, but it seemed a shame to throw away a perfectly good mirror, so my husband had stored it in his shop for me until I found a place for it.  So the mirror cost me nothing.

I put on some bedding that I had in my apartment before I got married.  It was silk and I loved it, but it had stayed in a drawer for over a decade.   It was too small for the bed I shared with my husband and it didn't go with the room when it had orange walls.  I took it out of storage, ironed for what felt like ages and put it on the bed to see if it would go with the color scheme I had chosen--- because I REALLY didn't want to purchase bedding because that would have just blown my budget to smithereens.

I thought it looked great despite the quilt like aspect of it.

Keep your eye out for the faux fur blanket.  It was falling apart as a blanket, so I repurposed it.  Which you will see in later pictures..

Then it was on to curtains.  I cheated with curtains.  I couldn't find any pre-made that I liked that were in my budget and we have an interior designer that donates unused fabric to the theatre where I work.  I got to choose fabric I wanted for curtains (that the theatre could afford to let go) in exchange for doing tasks that our costumer didn't want to do. (So many buttons...........)  The cream, gold and silver fabric I adored did not have enough yardage to make curtains that covered the windows.  So I had to carefully measure the fabric and the windows and create panels in grey to "frame" the fabric and extend it enough to cover the windows.

I wish the picture did these justice.  They are gorgeous in real life.

I got a set of ornate vintage light switch and electrical outlet covers for $20.  But I thought they were missing something, so I painted some of the filigree antique gold.  

And then pandemic and quarantine happened and I stopped working on the room.  Even though I only had the trim around the closet and putting away the items on the bed left to complete.

I did, however, decide to try to raise my spirits during quarantine by making my own version of a Gerda Wegener painting.  

I didn't have a large canvas, but I did have six small square canvases that I had got for $7.00.   So I spaced them as one large canvas, changed some of the color schemes to match my room better and began creating.

The painting as a work in progress.

The painting completed.

The original and then mine.  I'm no Gerda, but I still like it.

And then for months....   NOTHING.  I did nothing.  I pretended that the room didn't exist.

But, last weekend, I decided my "one thing" would be to finish painting the closet trim.

 And because I had to wait for it to dry, I put away the items on the bed.

Then I hung the curtains and started decorating and, before I knew, the rooms was done!

The sheepskin rug on the floor, that's the faux fur blanket that was on the bed in the previous picture.

And so is the sheep skin rug on the opposite side of the bed.
The feather fans I got for $1.00 each at the theatre a few years ago and had hidden in a closet.  The plan, at the time, was to bling up the handles a little bit, and I probably will still do that once I figure out how I want to bling them, but for now they go on the wall for a touch of glamour.  (I was going to try to be a toned down Dita von Teese for Halloween one year.)

For those of you who were wondering, I got the rug on clearance on eBay for $25
The Closet curtains were $10.
The mirror accent night stand came out of my craft room to make space for my sewing table, so I already had it.
The bird painting was one I had done for the original room and I thought it worked in the new room.

For those of you wondering about the artwork by the Gerda painting.  No, I did not paint those.  Those are images taken out of an eight year old calendar that I kept because I liked the artwork.  To frame them, I used two of the frames that were previously in the room, but I spray painted them antique gold.  (It was some spray paint I had left over from spray painting pine cones for Christmas one year.)  Then to "matte" them I used the same wallpaper matte that I used for the other photos, but this time I painted them metallic turquoise with some of the paint left from the wall.

The grey rabbit throw I purchased for $15 and then lined with a silk sari throw rug that my dog had chewed a hole in, and I had saved thinking I could use it to make pillows.

And I decided I needed a touch more silver blue on the bedding to match the curtains and the rug more strongly and I got those pillows on clearance at Marshall's for $20.

I did this before I saw the Vargas picture, but don't you think the trees look similar?

The decorations by the closet are baskets that I was already using to hold my tights and some sweaters.  

In the vase are floral bead things that  I purchased for Mardi Gras about two years ago for a center piece at a ball. 
The vase someone was throwing away and I asked if I could have it.

The branches came from my yard and the birds I use for different mantle piece "scenes" I do throughout the year.  So that little area cost me nothing except a walk around my house.

Then there were the 1930s vintage lamps.
SQUEEEEE!!!!!

I was still in budget, so I splurged and spent $40 for the pair of these lamps that were still in working order and that I love!

And I accomplished this simply because of deciding to do "one thing" that then cascaded into finishing a big thing without me even thinking about it.

I adore this room.  Since I basically use it like a closet, my husband teases me and says that it is one of the fanciest closets he has ever seen.  Although not all of it is glamorous.  I mean, I am using it like a closet.  I thought about hiding those pictures from you, but then I thought, how fair is that?

Yup, that is a basket holding shoes that didn't make it into the closet or the shoe rack.  
The rod is a towel rod that I put shower rings that have the clips on on them and I have put my scarves through the rings and the clips hold my hats and belts.  Not very swanky I know, and if my closet was big enough to hold it that is where it would reside.  But it isn't.

And speaking of closets, I know y'all are saying "Yeah, those curtains are nice, but how does the closet look?"

Well.......Like this!

I had to get a rack that hangs from the closet rod so that I would have a place to put my pants.  I had purchased that and installed it preCovid-19 for $15.00.

AND, you may have noticed I am not done labeling my shoe boxes yet.  So I guess, technically the room isn't complete quite yet.  But I still thought it was close enough to share.

For those of you keeping tally wondering how much I spent on the room renovation.......

$192!!!!

Which i don't think is too shabby for a whole room renovation.  But it did help the pocket book that it took months to get done.  I could purchase things about once a month without it hitting the pocket wallet too bad.

So like Design on a Dime, I'm going to show the before and after pictures together.

And that, dear friends, is why I did not post a recipe this week-end.  But my "one thing" includes this blog and I want to start getting back to my regular weekly posts, so the next post that I do will, hopefully, be soon and will be a recipe post.  

See ya soon.

Bye!

The Results of My Grandmother's Skin Routine Experiment (Hint - She did know best.)

Hello Everyone!
I love to follow vintage fashion videos on YouTube.

As everyone is trying to find new and entertaining things they can do in their home to keep physical distancing and flatten the curve, one of the popular videos for the last couple weeks for vintage videos seems to be "I tried a vintage skin care routine." or "I tried a skincare regime from my grandmother's beauty book."

This reminded me that I had never completed my posts about my experiment of trying my great grandmother's skin care routine in this blog, so I decided that maybe now was the time.  Don't worry, if you haven't read the other posts, I have linked them in this blog so that you can have your memory refreshed.   In this post, I was going to share how I used the products and whether the results were successful...... so lets find out shall we?

Previously on the Frugal Femme.....

Isn't this adorable?  I have to go back to this site and see if I can't find more cute gifs.  I got this at https://www.primogif.com/p/rhBq4nGXglGqk

In April of last year, I had gotten completely fed up with my middle aged acne.  I had gone online and done the research and tried most of the suggestions that were posted from the beauty blogs, but they were not working for me.  In fact, they seemed to be making it worse.  So, in desperation, I decided that I would try, the best that I could, to follow as near as I could, my great grandmother's skin care routine - because no acne, as far as I could remember, dared to ever have the effrontery to appear on her face. And I figured that, since we shared the same genetics, maybe what worked for her would work for me.
When I first started this post I had been doing this regime for one month, (Because I believe in being thorough.), but it has now been almost a year, so I will let you know what I kept the same and what, if anything, I changed. and in this post I am going to go through how I applied the product and what the results were.

Night Time

The first post in the series listed the products that I was planning on using, their history, and why I had chosen them over other products.  For the full article you click on the link below and read the first part of this series.
https://frugalfemmecarole.blogspot.com/2019/04/living-beauty-vintage-frugally-or-was.html

I had decided that I was going to use Ponds Cold Cream, Thayer's Witchhazel,  Oil of Olay, Frowniers, Smith's Rosebud Salve, and body butter in Kus Kus from Bourbon French Perfume.

Application
Step 1. Slather my face with cold cream.

This is a still from the very first episode of I Love Lucy.  Lucy is reading a murder mystery book and not paying attention to where she is dipping her cracker.  Every time I see this little gag it always makes me smile.

As I have shared before, I do not like washing my face with water at night because it wakes me up and then I can't go to sleep.  So I decided to go with cold cream so that I could do my entire night time ritual in the comfort of my own bed.  (Yes, I am that person.)
I watched several vintage videos to try to figure out if my great grandmother would have applied the cold cream differently than we would today and the only thing that I could notice was that they used an appalling amount of cotton balls and tissue to remove the cold cream.  Now, I am not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do try not to be a completely irresponsible human being when it comes to the amount of waste I produce.  I, therefore, decided that, rather than use tissue or cotton balls, I would use a soft flannel and terrycloth reusable wipe to remove the cold cream.  For this, I decided that I would use a smaller version of the "reusable paper towels" I keep seeing on Etsy.

Now, I could make these, and one day, I probably will.  But I found 10 of the cloths for $5.00 on Etsy already made and they had pastel unicorns on them and I was sold.  Perfect.
The other thing that I noticed in the vintage videos was that they ALWAYS used circular motions when applying and rubbing in the cold cream and made sure the circles always went upward NEVER DOWN.  In fact, several narrators on different videos couldn't seem to stress the NEVER DOWN enough both for the scrubbing of the face and the removing of the makeup on the face.
So circular- upward motions it would be.

I soon realized, the very first evening in fact, that the cold cream did an excellent job of removing my make-up, including my 18 hour lipstick that I usually have to remove with special make-up cleanser.  (So score one for the old school routine.) Also, I did not get the odor free version and I loved the smell.  (Yet another point...) The little re-usable cloths worked like a dream, but they did not leave my face feeling clean,  I still felt like I had too much cold cream left on my face but I had already thought that may be the case.  Which moves us directly into step two.

Step 2.  Cleanse/tone face with Witch Hazel

To help clean my face of the excess cold cream, I decided that Witch Hazel was the way to go.  Again, I was against using the tissue or cotton balls that were recommended in the vintage advice that I was finding.  (It just seemed wasteful.)  I could have used my unicorn reusable wipes, but I decided to use something else instead - crocheted cotton reusable makeup remover pads.  

(I already had these in my possession and knew that I loved them.  I purchased my first set from Etsy and then figured out how to crochet them myself.)  I find the "nubs" naturally created by the crochet process itself work as a natural exfoliator.
Keeping the upward circular motion, I would put the witch hazel on the remover pad, and gently remove the rest of the cold cream that hadn't soaked into my skin.
Oh my goodness, this I loved!!!
I had decided to go with Thayer's Coconut Water Witch Hazel.  The combination of the Ponds Cold Cream scent and the Coconut scent was divine.  I quickly grew to look forward to this part of my routine every night.

Step 3. Moisturize
I started the routine thinking that I would use Oil of Olay both at night and in the morning as my moisturizer.  My great grandmother swore by it and I really wanted to like it.  The problem was, I HATED the smell.   I just couldn't get past it.  Plus, I was feeling that the cold cream was already sort of moisturizing my face, so I quickly decided to nix the Oil of Olay.
(UPDATE:  I do use the occasional moisturizer at night when I feel like I may be getting dry and that my skin needs a little help. I am ashamed to say that my favorite thing that I have found to use is not something that my great grandmother would have used.  However, it had all of the ingredients that several old school homemade face creams did, so I thought I would give it a try:  Korres Wild Rose Night Moisturizer.

This smells divine, but I do not use it every night,  I opt to use it almost more like a light weight facial mask and only put it on about once or twice a week.  I will say, a little of this cream goes a long way, so you can be prudent when applying.
To apply this moisturizer, rather than using the circular motions that I use with all of the other products, I do a gentle tapping of the fingers to "press" the moisturizer into my skin.)

Step 4.  Moisturize some more........
After cleaning my face, I then slather on the body butter to the rest of my body.  Originally, I was using KusKus body butter that was made at a local perfumery in New Orleans.  However, my husband didn't care for the smell, so I had to go back to the drawing board.  (I know, I know, it sounds like I am obsessed with smell.  I swear I'm not.)
I ended up using the same company that provides the hand lotion that I get cranky if I have to live without it: Weleda.

And this one friends is vintage.  Weleda has been around since it was established in 1924 and was in the United States by 1931 - so I don't know if my great grandmother did use it, but she could have and that follows the rules that I have set for myself.  So I slather Weleda Skin Food Body Butter on my legs arms and chest and then use the skin food hand cream on my hands.  I do this step now because it gives time for my cold cream or moisturizer to sink into my skin before going on to the next stage for my face.
As a side note, my husband loves to use this body butter on his tattoos.  He says that they keep his tattoos looking as bright, intense, and colorful as the day he bought they.  So if you have tattoos..........just sayin'.

Step 5.  Frownies
This is the step that I was most skeptical about.  But, the product has been around for quite a while and I do want to get rid of my "elevensies" so I was willing to take a risk.  I was also willing to look ridiculous because there is no way to wear these and look glamorous. NO... WAY.
Don't believe me?
Check this out.

That picture is Gloria Swanson using Frownies in the movie Sunset Boulevard.  This is not her best look.  And before you say that she was supposed to look rough and old the entire movie.

Here she is in another scene.  She looks glamorous.  Her forehead also looks "elevensies" free so, yup was gonna try it looking stupid be darned.
So, for me, other than looking silly to my husband, the hardest part of using Frownies was getting them on correctly.  The directions says to use a little water on the shiny side of the Frownies and then apply to your forehead while gently pulling to smooth the skin.  I don't use water, I use more Witch Hazel and that works fine.  But I was finding that I wasn't smoothing the skin correctly before I put on the Frownies,  or I would get it on right, but I hadn't moistened it enough and it would start to pop off.  Grrrrr...
But once I learned the trick, everything became much easier.

The trick I learned is put the water/witch hazel on the shiny side of the triangle.  Then let is set for a few seconds so it starts to get tacky.  Then put on your forehead while gently pulling the skin where the wrinkle line is.  If you feel like it is not staying on, you can add a few drops of witch hazel to your palm, dip your finger into the witch hazel and dab the outside of the Frownies where you feel like it may not be sticking.

Do they work?

I don't know.  They seem to be working, but I don't know if this is the actual case or just wishful thinking on my part.

Step 6.  Moisturize one more time!!!

The final step to my  nighttime skin care routine is the Smith's Rosebud Salve.  Maybe because it is more pigmented, or maybe because I wear it almost from the time that I wake up until the time I go to sleep, red lipstick has a tendency to dry out my lips.  So putting the salve on helps to prevent my lips from getting chapped and dry.  Because, lets face it, it doesn't matter how great and beautiful a shade of red your lipstick may be, if it goes on chapped, dried, flaking lips - it isn't gonna look pretty.

or........after 8/9 hours of sleep.

Morning Routine

My morning skincare routine is for more simple than my nighttime routine if you ignore the make-up part of the routine.
Below is the link of the products that I chose.

http://frugalfemmecarole.blogspot.com/2019/04/living-beauty-vintage-frugally-or-was_28.html

Step 1.  Wash face with water or witch hazel.
If it is cold outside, I like to use luke warm water and a crochet cloth and clean my face.  If is is hot outside, I like to use the witch hazel and a crochet cloth.

Step 2. Moisturize
As I have stated previously in this blog, my plan was to use Oil of Olay because that is what my grandmother used.  I will say that, for the little while that I was using it, it seemed to be working.  But, again, I couldn't get past the smell.  I could have tried a fragrance free version, but it also bothered me that it didn't have sunscreen.  Since I am so pale I practically glow in the dark, I never go outside without sunscreen so I really wanted a moisturizer option with sunscreen.
After a little bit of research, I decided that I would try Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer Sunscreen SPF 30.  It had the same consistency as the Oil of Olay, being more like a lotion and less like a cream, so it seemed like a very similar option but with sunscreen.
Kiehl's has been around since 1851, so it meets the criteria of products my great grandmother could have used, even though I never saw it on her vanity and the Ultra Facial Moisturizers have been around since the 60s.

All of that covered my actual skin care routine, but we haven't even touched on the fun part yet....... Makeup!!!

I was also worried that it could be my makeup that was part of the problem of my face breaking out.  So it thought I might as well go all in and do the same thing with my makeup.
As I posted before, these were the products I had decided would be the best because they were available in the forties and fifties.

Make-Up

L'Oreal Infallible Concealer
Coty Air Spun Loose Face Powder
Cream Blush (Revlon)
Vaseline
Brow Pencil
Cake Mascara (Used as eyeliner)
L'Oreal Voluminous mascara
Revlon Lipstick (Cherries in the Snow and Fire and Ice)

Everyone applies their make-up differently, and there are thousands of YouTube videos showing people how to apply makeup, so I am not going to do that.  What I am going to do is tell you what stayed, what changed and did it work.  (And maybe show some of the vintage application techniques I learned while researching.)

For me, after putting on moisturizer, my next step is doing my eyebrows.  I tried so hard to use the eye pencil, but I just didn't like the way that it looked on me.
So, I created my own method of doing my brows using an eye shadow almost identical to my hair color and Vaseline.
Yup, you read that right.  Vaseline.
Before I tried the pencil, I was using a brow pomade with a brow brush.  But I had finally used all mine and Lorac no longer made the pomade in my color, thus my experiment in pencil.  I decided that I would make my own pomade.
What I do is get a little tiny tin container, like for lip balm.  You can also use the Vasoline lip balm in the tin - the ingredients aren't really that much different, and you can get the lip balm in a coconut scent. Then, I take a stiff bristled makeup brush, I find that my brow brush works perfect for this, and I scrape along the top of the shadow to create a loose "powder".

I don't scrape up alot because a little goes a long way.  I put that powder in the top of the tin, then I dip the same brush into the Vasoline and get a tiny dallop of Vasoline.

I tried so many ways to take this picture, but no matter how I tried it always looked a little gross.  I guess Vasoline just isn't that photogenic by itself.

Again, a little goes a long way.  Then, like Bob Ross mixing his paints, I mix the eye shadow and the Vasoline together to create a "pomade".

You would be amazed how long this lasts me.  I won't need to make more for at least another two to three weeks, a little goes a long way on my puny brows.

I then apply the pomade with an angled brow brush.  If I accidentally put too much on and it kind of "clumps" together and looks too heavy I brush my brows with a clean, round mascara brush.

This is a picture of me taken after I have worn my makeup all day.  So they do last.

I love how this works, and no, I don't have a problem with this coming off.  After about five minutes, tops, the Vasoline soaks into the skin and the brows are left smoothly shaped and colored.
I also don't have a problem with this causing breakouts.
AND it is so much less expensive than buying brow pomade.
I know this may not work for everyone, but for those of you with invisible brows like me, its worth trying.
Once I have brows and I stop scaring myself with my own face, I move on to the rest of my makeup.

Concealer
I am a middle aged woman, so I do not use near as much concealer as you see those gorgeous 20 year olds using in their YouTube videos to make themselves look airbrushed.  When I try that, it just settles into my wrinkles and makes me look even older.
A little goes a long way on me so I use it sparingly under my eyes and around the creases of my nose.  If I have a breakout, of course I try to cover the blemishes by using the dab and pat method, but that is is it.

Powder
This is where I have two products that I now rotate between.  Both of these work equally well for me which one I uses just depends on my mood and how long I want to take on my makeup because one method does take longer than the other.
Coty Airbrush Powder
The first thing that I learned both from vintage videos and modern videos from makeup artists was that I had not been putting my powder on correctly.  For decades I had been using a round tip brush and was brushing on the powder.  Imagine my chagrin when I found out that the brush I had been using to put powder on my face was designed to brush powder OFF my face.  Ooops.
Lesson number one that shocked me......

GRANDMA BAKED

And I am not talking about cookies, although most vintage ladies probably did that too.
Okay, so maybe saying that they baked in the early days may be a bit of a stretch, but it's sure darn close.  One of the videos that I watched with appalled fascination was a tutorial by Ern Westmore.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3bB-13dtnQ

For those of you who have never heard of Ern Westmore.
He was a famous make-up artist in the late forties and early fifties.  In a tutorial video that you can find on YouTube (see the link above) you can see him applying loose facial powder to a "regular housewife like you" model.  He applies foundation (vanishing cream), creme blusher, eye shadow, and eyeliner.  Then he takes a powder puff, virtually drenched in powder, and presses the powder onto the entire face - and I do mean the entire face.  Including the eyelids.

But he does under the eyes first and lets that sit for a moment and then powders the rest of the face.


Looks like baking to me!
I have not yet tried to powder my entire face with loose powder.  It just seems like it would feel odd.  Instead I went with the advice of makeup artist Wayne Goss.  Did I go with his advice because he's  not bad looking and has a sexy accent?

..........  Ummmmmmm.........  No comment.

But in his YouTube video:  DO NOT USE A POWDER BRUSH TO APPLY POWDER!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9lyg9DNfsY&t=75s
he says that the brush that I had been using to apply powder was made to actually brush excess powder off of the face, not to apply powder. The best way to apply loose powder, he says is to apply the powder with a powder puff.  Well that sounds glamorous and vintage and wonderful!
So out came my vintage, never been used, lambswool aqua powder puff and my ceramic powder container shaped like a lady and I was in vintage heaven. For the full technique, I would suggest watching his video, but the press and roll technique is the one that I like the best when I have the time.  And did I mention I get to use my powder puff?

If I want to get ready a little faster, then I use the other vintage product that I stumbled upon after using the Coty Airbrush for quite some time.

Max Factor Creme Puff Foundation

I have always been a fan of Marilyn Monroe and while reading about her life and her beauty routines I saw that one of the products that she is believed to have used was Max Factor Creme Puff Foundation.  If it worked for Marilyn, I was more than willing to try it.

I love this campaign slogan, and I wish they would bring back the vintage style packaging.

I have used the powder puff method with this product, but usually I use a flat edge foundation brush.  This is faster than loose powder, so this tends to be my go to when I am in a hurry.  It is also my preferred method when I have to travel because I don't have to worry about it spilling.

After concealer and powder I apply the cream blush and do my eyeliner and put on mascara.  (Since I was not breaking out around my eyes, I am not going into depth with these steps.)

But I know your question is:  Did it work?
Did switching to your great grandmother's products work?  Did you still break out or do you have clear skin.
YES!!!!!  It WORKED.
Here are two pictures of me that I took a year after I started using these products and which I have continued to use after the experimental stage.  I have done my brows and put on powder, mascara, and tinted lip balm and that is it for these pictures when it comes to makeup.  And they were taken outside while I lay on my hammock with natural sunlight.

As you can tell, not a blemish in sight.  But I thought that I would show you the procession so you could see how quickly it worked.

So in the first picture, you can see that I am broken out on both cheeks and a little above the eyebrows on the forehead with no makeup.  The second picture was a week later.

About two weeks into the experiment, the right side of my face has started to clear up and the left side is better, but the acne is still there.

And just a few days later, it looks like it had done its job as if by magic.

   

I know, you just can't take this much beauty and glamour.

And for the most part, my skin has stayed clear.  This is a photo of me taken last week with no make-up on.

I do still get the occasional breakout, usually a few days before my lady time.  But never a breakout like I was experiencing last year.  Maybe one or two blemishes that are easy to hide with concealer and that disappear within a few days which is nothing like the almost rash-like acne I was experiencing just a year ago.
So I am very happy that started using products that I thought my great grandmother might have used.  And how does the makeup up look?

Pretty good.
I tried two new lipstick colors by Revlon.  Which, I have to admit I was skeptical over.  I'm sort of a snob when it comes to lipstick and it is one of the things that I splurge on, so I was a little reluctant to change out my department store lipsticks (Mac, Chanel, Dior, Sephora) to a drugstore lipstick.  The two colors I chose because I remember them being in my great grandmother's make-up drawer, and because research showed me that these two lipstick shades have been in production since the 50s.
I went with Cherries in the Snow:

And Fire and Ice:

Neither of these shades look like their advertisements although Fire and Ice was by far closer to its advertised color than Cherries in the Snow.
Cherries in the Snow calls itself a red, but it borders on raspberry pink.  In fact, I think that some people would straight up call it a pink.  I didn't think that I would like this shade because I tend to go for blue reds that are almost a burgundy or maroon color, but I put it on anyway and was surprised how much I liked it.  The pigments were strong and the lipstick stayed on just as well as my department store brands.  As for the color, I soon grew to fall in love with it because it went so well with my spring and summer wardrobe colors. Fire and Ice is an orange-red or tomato red.  It also works well with summer fashion. After a year, both of them are purse lipsticks.  For me, purse lipsticks are lipsticks that I wear almost daily and I keep them in my purse in case I need to make touch-ups.  So I would say they were a successful experiment.

Fire and Ice

Cherries in the Snow

 

So, yet again, vintage has not let me down.  Other people may not like their great grandmother's skin care and make-up regime, but it really worked for me.

Of course, this just means that one other thing other than my wardrobe, many of my cookbooks, my decorating style, and my house are now vintage.  Ah well, as long as its vintage fashion not values, I think I'll be okay.

The next post I plan on doing some more recipes and tell you about my escapades in home sewing.