The British Belles Bibliography of British Brands

(We do love a bit of alliteration at The British Belles.)

Here you will find the ultimate list of Vintage & Repro brands and boutiques based in our very own land of hope and glory. This list will be ongoing and if we have missed out your UK based brand or boutique, just let us know on our instagram @thebritishbelles or through our Contact page.
List after the jump!

The British Belles - 1k Instagram Followers Giveaway!

We are SO pleased to finally announce our 1000 instagram followers giveaway!

The winner will receive 'The British Belles ultimate Pinup Picks', including a vintage styling book, a custom flower hairpiece by our very own @miss_amy_may, pinup makeup essentials from our top 5 lists and many more! (pics to follow)

The rules are simple:

1. If you don't already, give us a follow on our Instagram (@thebritishbelles) and a like on our Facebook! So we can be pals when you win! 

2. Tag 2 friends who you think would LOVE this giveaway in the comments of the relevant picture on Instagram and Facebook. 

3. Repost/Share the relevant posts, making sure that you tag us (@thebritishbelles) and include the hashtag #BBgiveaway, so that we can find your entry! 

4. Entries are limited to once a day for the week, therefore we cannot count duplicate entries on the same platform in the same day. However if you would like double the chances, you can enter on both the Instagram and Facebook.

And voila! That's it! 

The competition will run from today, Wednesday 21st January, to Wednesday 28th January. A winner will be announced on Thursday 29th January.

Best of luck to you all, we can't wait to show you these amazing handpicked goodies! 

The competition is now closed and we are pleased to announce that @thatrosiedoll on instagram is our winner! Thank you to everyone for entering and we look forward to our next giveaway which will be bigger and better!

Love,

The 12 Days of Christmas - Miss Alice Donnelly

I am a young nurse in the making with a penchant for tattoos and red lipstick. When I’m not being a nurse, I love to show off my teeny weeny waist in clothes of the 40s, 50s and 60s. My icons include Dita Von Teese, Marlene Dietrich and Frida Kahlo. Strawberry milkshake and fried chicken is my staple diet.

The roots of my love for the vintage style stems from when I moved to London to study. Inspired by the masses of culture here in the capital of England, I decided that I needed a change. I started pin curling my hair, wearing bright red lipstick and wearing dresses so tight I had to waddle down the street (seductively, of course!) I am constantly learning new things about the vintage look everyday through social media sites such as Tumblr and Instagram and also through vintage-style blogs. 

 What I couldn’t live without in my day-to-day life:

• Lipstick (in case you hadn't guessed)
• Vintage clothes - anything from wiggle dresses, to swing skirts to high-waist capris!
• Eyeliner flicks (they are never perfect, and never will be. It is all part of the charm).
• Curled hair - My hairstyle of choice is the page, as shown below.

We apologise for the change of schedule...

In order to comply with some of the other beautiful ladies in the UK vintage scene, we have made the collective decision to re-brand from 'shells to Belles. 

As we are still in the early stages of our little journey, we hope that agree with us when we say this will not affect things too much!

Nothing but our name is changing (even our initials are the same!) and we hope you will continue to stick with us on our exciting adventure.

The 12 Days of Christmas will continue as usual tomorrow with our wonderful Alice.

Love and sparkles,

Tips and Tricks - Mini Post #1!

We were asked on our Instagram by @rockabella___ how we store our hair scarves, as she always finds them balled up in the bottom of her wardrobe! 

Here is our answer!

The hanger is a simple accessories hanger from Primark, however I'm sure you'd be able to pick one up from any home-ware store! This way of storage is so effective, especially if you have a tenancy to lose or tangle your nylon scarves. I usually keep mine hanging on my wardrobe door, however you could easily keep it on the rail or even up on the wall as pictured! The hanger itself cost a staggering £2, so it's not really a bank breaker. Cheap and easy!

If you liked this tip and want to give it a try, make sure to take a snap on instagram and tag us @thebritishbelles along with our hashtag #thebritishbelles as we would love to see. Alternatively, send us a link in the comments below.

Love and Kisses,

Pin Up Problems

We all have them. There's always going to be a morning where we look at our slightly lack lustre pincurls or chipped red manicure and think to ourselves- WWDDD? (What would Diana Dors do, of course...)

Now, in most cases, Diana would have probably dropped everything and had a wild sex party. Seeing as that isn't really on the cards for most of us Belles, we must turn the situation around and make the most of it.

Here is a list of our top 5 Pin Up Problems, and how they can easily be solved.

The Black Friday Phenomenon

Black Friday is a blessed thing. Ignoring the mania and sometimes-scary happenings that come out of the in-store sales in America, the Black Friday savings phenomena has spread to our favourite domain: the online shopping world. And there are few domains we love more than Pinup Girl Clothing's.