A Brand New Butter Toast

Oh hi. Yep, another 10 days without a post...please forgive. It's been a busy, busy couple of weeks at the Toast...Went on a major shopping extravaganza for the shop last week....and boy-oh-boy did we find some amazing vintage gems. Our store is SO packed with new merchandise that we have to add more racks! Sadly, we are losing the mini craft shop, Merry May Handmade, in the second room of our shop... But we will be filling the spot in no time with handmade pieces from local Phoenix designers and of course, more vintage! We will be spending the rest of the week rearranging and reorganizing the shop to accommodate all the new goodies. Come First Friday, we will have a brand new Butter Toast!
And, by the way, I did achieve my goal of getting all of our former online merchandise transferred to the new Butter Toast Etsy shop last week, hooray! However, I have not had much time for new listings...expect more later this week.

Here's a little toast for your Tuesday. <3







sources: click the pics.

Ta ta. xo

Xen Tan Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe

Introducing the long-awaited, beautiful bronzed and fabulous addition to my life- Xen Tan Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe.

Xen Tan have described this product as the "darkest, richest and most luxurious tan to date; one that offers a tan that will last longer than any other fake-tan product", and they couldn't get a more accurate description. I don't claim to have tried all of the Fake Tan's in the market but of all of which I have- this is by far the best.

I ordered as soon as it became available to buy and could't wait to cover myself in it.

It definately isn't the cheapest tanning product with an RRP of £34.95 for a 236ml bottle, but in my opinion its 100% worth it. There has been a little bit of an uproar on Twitter with complaints of the price and although I would love for it to be a little bit more friendly to my purse I do believe the price reflects the quality in this product.

The amount of product you need to use is minimal, and if your anything like me- buying fake tan all the time, then its worth the money in "cost per use" thinking.

There isn't any fake tan smell- which to be honest has never really bothered me anyway, but I do wish that maybe it had more of the delicous marzipan scent that Xen Tans Dark Lotion has, as this is more chocolatey and a little bit richer.

Please ignore the paleness and slight redness to my leg here, I had been cosey and tucked reading all of your beautiful blogs.

I just wanted to illustrate to you how little product you need. The colour guide isn't as dark as the Dark Lotion or any other colour guided fake tan I've used but Xen Tan do recommend this product to the "Experienced Tanner" and I believe this is probably why. If you struggle without the darker colour guides, the results that you will gain from the beautifully bronzed colour will probably leave you with quite a few visible streaks, so be careful!

The pictures below were taken after one application. I'm such a happy girl.

and this just to show you the intensity of the colour on a night out.

(Slightly worse for wear on the toilet floor in Tiger Tiger- Classy!)

I would definately recommend this product to anyone that adores a delicious, deep bronze colour and will 100% be repurchasing.

Happy tanning my little beauts- get ordering!

www.xen-tan.co.uk

xx

Hello, I'm back

I haven’t blogged for a while as I’ve had a bit of a low with my ME/Chronic Fatigue and little Lily’s had a week long tummy bug, meaning lots of carpet cleaning (eugh) and an expensive trip to the vets. After lots of rest I’m getting back on my feet and Lily’s feeling much better and thoroughly enjoying her probiotic meat paste.

I hope everybody’s having a lovely Bank Holiday. It was a nice surprise to wake up to sunshine this morning and I may even get on with planting my newbiscus. I’m definitely not green fingered and have no idea what type of plants to buy for the garden, other than lavender, lavender and more lavender, but the sign on the newbiscus stating ‘XXL Flowers’ made me buy it. I could also do with mowing my lawn but embarrassingly I still haven’t bought a lawn mower. Up until now this hasn’t been a problem because my cousin’s home from uni until the end of September and since he had decided not to get a summer job he was easily bribed with £10 to bring his mum’s mower over and do my quite large lawn. However, he realised (rather late) that having no job meant he was limited in what he could laze about doing and apparently he’s bored of watching ‘Four Weddings’ and the Disney Channel and now has a job.

So now I’m forced to do my own lawn, which I’m quite terrified of having never mowed a lawn before. So why wasn’t a lawn mower on my list of essentials when moving into a house with a big lawn? Well, as I explained to my friend yesterday, I haven’t bought one for exactly the same reason I have a TV that’s probably older than me, I hate spending money on things that aren’t for decorative purposes. She reminded me that for most people it would be the other way around. I have recently bought a new laptop, but I think that’s totally different since my Netbook was on its last legs with wires hanging out of the back and a great big crack where the hinge should have been, and I lived in fear of not being able to access the internet. I don’t really live in fear of getting lost in my very long lawn, although I probably should. Hmm, I suppose I really should buy one, but £60 on something with a very boring purpose?

Fake Bake Beyond Bronze Self Tanning Mousse & Xen Tan Absolute Luxe

Hello my lovelys,

Its been a while since I reviewed a product but since the summers weather in the UK is a little bit dull I thought I'd return with a review of my favourite kind of product- Fake Tan!

A few months ago I was converted from Fake Bake to Xen Tan. I didn't blog about it because literally every blog I read, there was a review. But it was the Xen Tan Dark Lotion and it is to die for!

In the space of about 2 months I purchased two bottles and raved about it to possibly everyone I know.

In a state of emergency, with Xen Tan sold out in House of Fraser I picked up a bottle of the "New Improved Formula" Beyond Bronze by Fake Bake Mousse. Those of you that have read my blog will know that this used to be my favourite. But not so much now..

It was on special offer for £15 from about £23 in Superdrug so I thought why not, especially seeing as I was heading down the extremely pale route.

I'm not quite sure what part of this product is new and improved. I'm sorry if that seems rather harsh but I don't want anybody to be fooled. Its no where near as dark as it used to be, the results are extremely poor and leave a rather yellow looking colour, the consistancy is alot thinner and the bottle is ugly. I much prefered the results before, the pump bottle, the thicker consistancy and the darker colour guide. Its even gone up in price!

This is a little bit of a rant because I am actually so disapointed. It has been put to me whether I have just gone off Fake Bake because of my new found love of Xen Tan but to be honest, I think anyone that has used the old and the new Fake Bake would both have the same opinion.

Below is a few pictures I snapped on my iPhone whilst I was applying..

Okay so the colour guide colour isn't THAT bad, maybe a little more human than the darker colour that used to come out, but honestly- it all comes off in the shower. If it was an instant wash off, then it might work. But its not.

Theres not much to heart about it, but you can see in the little heart photo that the consistancy is just so watery and runny as soon as it touches your skin or mitt.

Thank god that this little beauty came in my post today..

Xen Tans NEW Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe. I've been waiting for its release for ages now and its finally here! I prepared my skin for it and I can't wait to apply it tonight. I promise I'll get a review up as soon as possible.

I'm sorry if this post seemed like I hate Fake Bake. I dont, I'm just really disapointed. However, I can say I have used the Instant Fake Bake since my last fake tan post and have grown to like it a little bit more.

I'd love it if someone could proove me wrong and just tell me I had a faulty/gone off bottle of the new mousse..Pleasee?

xx

Big News: Billie Goat Vintage is now Butter Toast Boutique

Hello Saturday!
I've been absent for a week and a half....I'm so not very good at this blogging thing. I had a difficult week, so I wasn't much into sharing all that much, but I'm back to my normal self, and yet again, will try to jump back on the blogging band wagon. Now that we are approaching September, I'm finally starting to get excited about life again. The Phoenix heat can really take a toll on one's motivation. As soon as it cools off a bit more, I know I'll be such a happy lady. I have a really good feeling about this autumn....

One BIG change I've been working on this week is the tranisition of our online store (Billie Goat Vintage) into the new name of Butter Toast Boutique....We've been using two different names since we decided to name our physical store something different from the online shop when we opened Butter Toast in Novemeber 2008 (at that time BGV was on ebay, now etsy, soon to be extinct). It didn't make much sense...and it made it quite hard to recognize that we were basically the same store, just two different forums, and two different names... How silly of us.
Anywho, I've been transferring listings from the Billie Goat Vintage etsy shop to the new Butter Toast Boutique etsy shop....It's been a long process that is still only about half way done...eyyyy. Hopefully by the end of next week, I'll have everything transferred. Lets cross our fingers.

Although it's a bit late in the summer, we decided to shoot most of the vintage swimsuits in the shop to list on etsy...sometimes you just can't tell how wonderful a swimsuit is unless you see it on a person.
These are a few of my faves that I already had a chance to list.... there are many more to come plus so many more great vintage pieces. Check out Butter Toast Boutique on etsy! (Still under construction, obviously)

MIA..

hellllo ladies :)

I've been moaned at for being so MIA, so my deepest apologies! I've been incredibly busy at work, more busy than I have probably ever been..

I want nothing more than to find a few spare moments to blog but its seeming quite impossible.

Nothing worth sharing has happened over the last few weeks anyway to be fair- except I did turn 22 and I have had a bunch of my hair chopped off :) eeeee!

Heres a few recent photos before the hair was cut..

I'll be back very soon.
 xx

good day, wednesday.

Today was a nice little change from my weekly routine. Typically, I'm always at Butter Toast open to close on Wednesdays, but not today...My lovely business partner, Jasmine, let me take it easy while she manned the shop all morning.
And I definitely did take it easy. Woke up around 8am with my babe. Made us a yummy breakfast. Watched a few episodes of Weeds. The went back to sleep for 3 hours. It was such a lovely little break.

I'm looking forward to Craft Night hosted by Merry May Handmade tomorrow night. I'm finally going to put the finishing touches on the little gnome I've been working on. Here's a little looksy of what I've finished so far <3

The porcelain fawn modeling my gnome-in-progress is one of my favorite buys ever, also from the lovely Ashley at Merry May Handmade.
All I have to do now is add a beard and some button eyes, stuff him, then sew him all up! Please come join us for Craft Night every 2nd Thursday of the month. Located at Butter Toast Boutique, 5pm-8pm.


Tonight, we are rounding up our photoshoot crew to for yet another vintage shoot for our online store.
Maybe I'll snap a few behind the scenes shots and share them you all soon!!

Ta ta,
xo, traci

Cafe d'amour.

Good Morning out there...

I have the day off my "day" job today, and I'm going to try to make it a productive one. I got a head start last night when I spent several hours organizing my studio/craft room/closet room while dancing & singing to Patsy Cline. Today, I'm happy to wake up knowing I made some progress last night that I can build on today. I just enjoyed my first cup of 'jo, but I have a feeling I will need a few more cups to really jumpstart my engine.







Although I have a million things on my to-do list, one of the cutest things I have to do is to finish the crochet gnome I started on Sunday...Hopefully I'll be back later with a post about that.

P.S.- Jasmine is at Butter Toast today, so go say hello and check out the new lingerie line by Kelly Cabrese we have in the shop now. There are several positive changes headed Butter Toast's way here in September...but I'll touch more on that later.

Have a productive Tuesday loves.
xo, traci

A Tough Decision and More House Stuff

I’ve made a tough decision and have decided to sell my Vintage at Goodwood tickets. I so wanted to go, but decided that finishing the new house should come first and having already had an amazing holiday to New York this year and lots of mini breaks, I couldn’t really justify spending more money enjoying myself. They’re worth £300 with their camping passes and I have just sold them on Ebay for £140, which can go towards getting my front garden turned into a parking spot. Originally I had intended the front to be a little courtyard garden, but with visitor’s parking scarce I’ve decided to have the ground made ok for a car and some stones put down, with an old sleeper acting as a kerb/separator between the parking spot and a couple of vintage Belfast sinks.

Lily's Had Her Hair Cut

 I’m also in the process of putting slate down around my shed and in some of the flower beds to make them look a bit neater. All the untidy woodchip was driving me mad and the previous owners had left me eight big bags of slate behind the shed. I also desperately want a vintage caravan for the back garden and I definitely have the space, but how to get one in when you’re surrounded by houses and gardens? Most people would give up at this point but my eccentric family said ‘no problem, just get a crane to drop it in’, so in a year or so, a crane it will be. I’d eventually love one like the one below, but will need to be looking for a reasonably priced one that needs some TLC. After all, it doesn’t need to be road worthy, since it will be going nowhere once it’s plonked into my back garden. There’s a lovely old caravan sat on a driveway near my uncles house and I’m very tempted to pop a note through the door suggesting they sell it to me, lol.

Last weekend I had a stall at the monthly Bicycle Basket Bazaar. We set up outside All Saints Church in Northampton and it was a lovely venue with lots of customers. The nice weather was a bonus too, with us all watching the sky for signs of any dark clouds. Everyone commented on how lovely my stall looked, but unfortunately I’d forgotten my camera. This neon swimming costume was hung across my bike’s handle bars. It has a lovely low back, buttons on the shoulders, formed chest and a little skirt. I love it.

I’ve also been spending a bit of time organising the house and have had my very sweet Hetty Hoover arrive.

My bedside table and Elvis Teddy Bear. He even plays 'Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear'

Scarves, bangles and pretty china plates loaded with earrings

My little crochet cactus.

I feel like hell this morning. For some ungodly reason I thought champagne on First Friday was a good idea last night. Ooops. But as promised, I brought my laptop in today so I can (finally) share photos of my last crochet project. Some images are from my crappy phone, so please bare with me...

This was the first photo I took. I had completed the main portion of the cactus, and was almost done with the pot for it. (somebody needs a manicure, huh?)

The mister thought it'd be fun to make the pieces into a pac-man ghost fisherman guy...and it was. April, my little bean, also enjoyed it....

Please pardon my super messy house, we were in the process of moving...

At this point, I had made an arm for my cactus, and was in process of adding some soil.

And after making a few cactus flowers and stuffing and sewing everything together, I finally had finished the project I set out to do. I have a bad habit of starting many-a-projects at once then it takes ten years to finish anything...but this time, I got it done in close to a week....that's even with moving! I was fairly proud of myself.

This is where I got the idea from...she gives instructions for how to make it, but after glancing through them, I kind of took my own approach....I didn't quite get the ridging right, but overall, my goal was achieved! Click the photo to take you to her flickr where she gives instructions.

I'm currently working out of this amazing book:

and so far this is what I've done:

I also have about a billion other projects in mind, so I'm not fully sure if I'll make it all the way through the book before starting something new....but when I do, I'll be sure to post about it :)

Take care lovies. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sushi Crochet, Hooray!

Well, hello.

I'm craving sushi. I've been without for far too long. I've been gazing at these lovely crocheted sushi pieces....they are mega adorable, but somehow a mouthful of yarn won't satisfy this craving. I'm going to make a sushi date with my love this weekend, hands down.














Yum Yum Yum!

So, I finally gathered the images from my crochet cactus project I mentioned in the last post...But the mister and I have been having horrible car troubles to I had to walk to the shop today, no biggie, but I so didn't feel like lugging my laptop in today. I pinky promise, I will post them tomorrow....I think it turned out pretty cute for my first time around, I can't wait to make a whole cactus garden!

Gotta get back to store duties loves....It's First Friday, so we must prepare for the art walk.

Have a super Friday night!

xo, traci