The Carole Landis Dress

Photo borrowed from the Carole Landis Project
When it came to style, actress Carole Landis had plenty of it. A pretty, polished, and patriotic blonde, she even managed to look fresh and fashionable when performing for the troops overseas during WWII. Case in point—this amazing floral print sundress with peek-a-boo cutout. Carole is positively luminous, and that dress—what a stunner! I decided I needed one just like it, and Kim of NudeeDudee was just the lady to make it. After finding the perfect fabric—a similar cheery floral print with added bright polka dots—Kim set to work recreating the sundress.

She did a fabulous job, and I’ve decided this will be my go-to dress this summer!  Kim has three variations of the style listed for sale in her Etsy shop--one made in up in the reverse color scheme of mine, and two tie-front versions in a red tulip print and Mexican novelty print.  Go check 'em out!

Matt Carson photograped me at the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix.  I'd never visited the gardens before--the setting was lovely and would be a relaxing place to visit in cooler weather (it was bit warm the day we took these pictures, even early in the morning!)

xoxo,
Amanda Lee

I recently modeled this dress in a recent photo shoot for Vee Vin Tage.  The beguiling yellow and black roses were too much for me to resist, and so now this dress has a home in my closet!

Vee Vin Tage is taking custom orders for this fifties-style dress, which features a fold-over neckline, wide straps, and a floaty skirt.  I cannot sing enough praises for this mother-daughter design team—no detail is overlooked in any of their creations!

These photos were taken by my friend Matt Carson on a lovely Sunday afternoon in the town of Jerome. 

xoxo,Amanda Lee

Makeup Tips and Tricks--Manicures

Since I’ve been asked by a few of you what nail polish I use, today’s post is all about nails—an episode of Makeup Mondays on a Wednesday!

I’ll preface this post by saying that I don’t have great nails to begin with—I’ve struggled with peeling for a few years (and I don’t tolerate a lot of polish brands), which has always made it a struggle to keep polish on for more than a day or so.  Last year I heard about a new type of product, a hybrid gel polish that promised two weeks of chip free-wear.  Intrigued by these claims, I went in for my first manicure—and was thrilled with the result (over two weeks of perfect wear—wow!)  I started getting regular Shellac and Gelish manicures, but after awhile, I decided that the expense was too much.  Right around that time I noticed that Sally Beauty was now selling both the nail colors and the UV lamp required to cure this type of product, so I decided to splurge and picked up a starter kit.  I found it fairly simple to apply at home, but I ran into issues when it came time to remove the product.  I’m rather impatient, and in my haste to speed up the removal process I ended up damaging my nails scraping and peeling off the color.  After about two months, I was left with very thin, weak, and sensitive nails, and I knew I needed to give them a rest.

So it was back to regular polish again—but luckily, even though I’d weakened my nails, the Gelish seemed to have almost completely resolved the peeling issues.  So, for those of you who have the same issue I did, you might try getting Gelish/Shellac manicures to see if that helps the peelies grow out!

My current fave products are made by Revlon—the “Post Trauma Nail Treatment” is an amazing base coat, and it has definitely helped strengthen my nails and eliminate the remaining peeling.  After removing the old polish and pushing back my cuticles (I use Blue Cross cuticle remover for this step), I start with a single coat, allow it to dry for a couple of minutes, and then apply two thin coats of color (Revlon Red, Love That Red, Fire and Ice, and Cherries in the Snow are my go-to shades—in the hair styling videos, I’m wearing Fire and Ice.)  Then, I apply a thin coat of Revlon’s “Extra Life No Chip” top coat.  I find that although this delivers on the promise of no chips, it takes a little too long to dry (did I mention that I can be impatient?)  So, I top this off with a layer of Seche Vite, which provides a glassy finish and dries in just a few minutes.  With this combination, I get a good two weeks of wear with minimal chipping or peeling.  And when it’s time to redo my manicure, it takes only a minute to remove the polish and start over—no more endless soaking and scraping!

Anyway, those are the secrets to my vintage manicure—I hope you find them helpful!

xoxo,
Amanda Lee

Join the Space Rangers!

Just a few "recruiting posters" from a project Doug Monce and I are working on--we'll be filming a short video to go along with this retro space look!

The costume is another amazing design by Vee Vin Tage.  Seriously, this creative team can make anything you can imagine!  This outfit was based on a 1940s pattern and made up in the super space age "liquid lame."  The boots I'm wearing were a F21 impulse buy from a few years ago--I had to have them but had no idea how to style them.  Now that I have my very own space girl outfit I finally know what to wear them with!
xoxo,
Amanda Lee

Witchcraft

A couple of weeks ago, the Collings Foundation's collection of WWII-era aircraft made two stops in Arizona, and Doug Monce and I took a trip out to the Scottsdale Airpark to shoot some photos with these amazing warbirds.  We'd been invited out by the Arizona Ground Crew for a photo op, and although the day was unseasonably chilly and windy (so windy I was ready to go back inside after five minutes, thank goodness I wore one of my snoods from Arthelia's Attic or my hair would have been unfit for photos in mere seconds), we had a great time checking out the airplanes and chatting with some of the other attendees.  I even got to sit in the cockpit of the B-24 "Witchcraft"--it was no small feat climbing up there wearing a dress, stockings, and heels, but oh so worth it (and thankfully, free of any stocking casualties!)  

xoxo,
Amanda Lee

Dr. Atomic Thunder drew a new picture of me, based on a photo taken by Atomic Age Pictures for Jitterbuggin (if you're curious, I'm wearing her Nicolai blouse in the photo.)  I think he did a fabulous job--to me, this looks like it was taken right out of a 1940s noir comic! 

I hope you like it as much as I do!

xoxo,
Amanda Lee

The Amazing Disappearing Amanda Lee

Looks like I pulled that disappearing act again! The past couple of weeks have been incredibly busy, between my regular job, modeling, and everything else that must get done each week. This meant that my blog posts took a bit of vacation--I've had things to talk about, but no time to talk about them!

At any rate, I went to VLV this year; it was a bit of a last minute decision to go, but I was invited to appear with the 5&Diner car at the car show. Of course I couldn't pass that opportunity up, although my Sweetie couldn't join me as his band was booked on Saturday (which has been the case the last couple of years; he's promised me that we'll go together next year ;-))

It was a whirlwind trip--I headed to Vegas late Friday night, as I'm working at a new job and didn't have any vacation hours, and came home on Sunday. I did thoroughly enjoy the car show though, and I managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping time too (I picked up a wonderful painted western tie for my Sweetie). I only have a few photos at the moment, so I'll post more as I get them!

xoxo,
Amanda Lee