Spotlight on... Atomic Mingo

Hello kittens! 

I hope that today's blog post finds everyone well. I'm keeping true to my word from my last post and trying to blog on a much more frequent basis and today I'm shedding a little spotlight on a new business that's not long been established but has already gained somewhat of a cult following across social media- it's the delightful Atomic Mingo!

Many of you will already be familiar with the adorable Miss Lixie Lou or CreepyLittleThings on Instagram who is a pinup mama and blogging queen over at misslixxielou.blogspot.com. She is the brainchild behind the fantastic new brooch brand that I'll be discussing today and is truly a woman after my own heart! She has a deep affinity for all things girly and kitsch- sound like anyone you know? Haha! 

A little selection of the gorgeous brooches for offer at Atomic Mingo 

It's no secret that brooches are a common accessory choice within the pinup and rockabilly communities- with brands like Erstwilder becoming increasingly popular it seems as though everyone is after a sweet pin to complete their vintage inspired ensembles. Atomic Mingo however are offering something truly beautiful and unique within the realms of kitsch brooches. Their designs are perfection. Not only do they create sweet little trinkets such as cats, pineapples and milkshakes but now they are carving a real name for themselves making famous cult film characters into wearable art! 

At the time of writing this blog post Atomic Mingo have six film characters that have made their way into brooch form- Rizzo and Frenchie from Grease, Edward Scissorhands and (perhaps my favourite of all) Wade Walker, Hatchet Face and Wanda Woodward from Cry Baby!! 

Now anyone who knows me at all knows of my keen love of all things kitsch, bright and film-related - all of these are elements that I try my best to incorporate into my everyday style as much as I can! Ever since the first designs were released I've been desperate to get my hands on some Atomic Mingo goodies which has proven to be no mean feat- these designs are incredibly popular so be aware that they sell out fairly quickly! 

So many pretty things!

After a bit of time however, I was finally able to make my first order to Atomic Mingo. I had been jonesing on the Frenchie brooch (she is my pastel pink 50's doppelgänger) however she had sold out almost instantaneously so I instead opted for the Rizzo and Cry Baby brooches (Rizzo is a gift for a dear friend, so will be passed on to her after I've styled her into a few gorgeous outfits!). 

Once I had placed my order direct from the Atomic Mingo Etsy store (linked at the bottom of this post) my parcel arrived in Scotland from Australia after about 9 days, which I believe to be a completely reasonable time frame to wait for beautiful things. The brooches arrived wrapped individually and neatly in bubble wrap with some adorable business cards tucked in beside them. After factoring in the current exchange rate and international shipping costs, these brooches cost around £13 each which I think again is completely reasonable for the great quality and craftsmanship you're getting.  

One of the features that I love about these brooches is that they're individually numbered on the back, so you can see where they were made in the batch (mine are 59/60 and 37/60 respectively). It's these little touches that make me such a fan of small businesses - it's lovely to see where your things come from and to see that they've been created with love and care!

My gorgeous brooches 

These brooches are absolutely divine, they are durable, made of solid wood and completely gorgeous and so naturally I had to come up with a sweet outfit to showcase them off to the best of their ability! With the help of my lovely friends Leigh and Melody we jaunted into some local woods to play dress-up and have a little photoshoot fun.

I decided to take influence from the decade that both Grease and Cry Baby are set in, in keeping with the brooch theme and channelled my inner 50's pinup princess to come up with the following look, made complete by the addition of my lovely new trinkets:

Feeling like Snow White

Cry Baby is always close to my heart 

For this outfit, as well as showcasing my brooches I was also desperate to display my new Mary Blair trains skirt from my old favourites Pinupgirlclothing. This is easily one of my favourite items in my wardrobe and I cannot believe how long it's taken me to become a fan of the Jenny skirt! I've seen pinups from various forums rave about how magnificent these skirts are and seen the #JennyJanuary and #JennyJuly tags across websites such as Tumblr and Instagram and still not been convinced that this would work for me, in part due to the sheer volume I was concerned that the skirt would make me look much bigger than I am. I'm pleased to say however that I was happily mistaken! This skirt fits like a dream and the volume is perfect for prancing around the woods (for reference here I'm wearing my usual size of 2x which fits like a dream on my 36" waist).

I'm also absolutely in love with the story behind this skirt- Mary Blair was an American Artist who worked for Disney back in the 1940s and 50s and was responsible for creating concept art for the original animated features of classic films such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, Blair stuck her head up above the parapet using her drive to succeed in a male-oriented world of illustration  and her love of unusual artistic elements to create truly unique and beautiful works of art - a true feminist hero!

After her passing in 1978, Mary Blair is still regaled as an original Disney master, which made her artwork the subject of much interest to Pinupgirlclothing's creative director Micheline Pitt. Working in conjunction with the estate of Mary Blair, Pinupgirlclothing were able to create a capsule collection of beautiful clothing inspired by Blair's whimsical and kitschy prints and designs and this trains print skirt is only one example of this. You can find the entire collection here to swoon after if you so desire!

 

Mary Blair's signature on her train print 

 

I switched brooches to show off my gorgeous Rizzo from Atomic Mingo here

"Eat your Heart Out!"

I feel like these brooches work absolutely perfectly with the little outfit that I came up with. I wanted my colour scheme to be bright and bold with lots of colour co-ordination but to still make my  brooches the star of the show. 

What I also found great about this outfit is that I could switch brooches halfway through our woodland shoot and both the Rizzo & Cry Baby brooches worked equally well! The colours are bold, but not so much so that they overpower the rest of the outfit. These brooches also fasten with a simple pin at the back so there's no need to worry about them leaving holes in any of your favourite clothes either  - another added bonus!  

Alison from Cry Baby or Sandra Dee from Grease- either way I'm channelling my best 50's good girl vibes here! 

Lakeside with Wade "Cry Baby" Walker- can you think of anything better?!

 

Sweet little details 

After wearing these gorgeous brooches about all day I can honestly say that I am completely in love with them! (As I strongly suspected I would be!) I would full-heartedly recommend these to anyone who was considering making a purchase and I cannot wait until payday so that I can get my hands on more of these fantastic designs and style them up with a variety of cute outfits!

Outfit Details:

Top: Dorothy Perkins (size 16) 

Belt: New Look (L)

Hair Flower: Pinupgirl Clothing 

Brooches: Atomic Mingo

Skirt: Pinupgirl Clothing (size 2x)

Stockings: What Katie Did (size M/L)

Shoes: BHS (customized by me)

What do you lovely readers think of Atomic Mingo brooches? I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Until next time jitterbugs, 

Lovelustloves x0