Time flies When You're... (BIC Soleil!)

Having fun? I know i know, it's been forever since i've blogged and i feel awful about it, but i am definitely not exaggerating when i say that i really just have not had time! So much has been going on the past couple of weeks i wouldn't even know where to begin.

However, if you follow me on twitter or facebook you'll know all about BIC Soleil! You'll recognise them as the lovely people who make the razors we shave our legs, pits and other places with and generally as the reigning rulers of ladyscaping. Over the past month or so i've been taking part in their "Just Live" summer campaign and blogging for them weekly on different lifestyle, fashion and beauty topics, and it's been super fun!

The thing i've really enjoyed about this campaign is that it's not focused on fashion or beauty specifically, but different ways that you can make the most of your summer and feel awesome. They also have lots of fantastic competitions and giveaways, and are being fabulous with it. 

You guys know me; it's pretty unusual for me to back a campaign unless i totally believe in it, and this one as definitely been an awesome experience and the people over at BIC Soleil are genuinely lovely people to work with.

What's not to love? Head on over to the BIC Soleil Just Live facebook to see my latest blog posts, and their twitter for all the gossip!

Normal blogging for me shall resume shortly. I hope you've all been doing wonderfully, and thank you all so much for your messages and questions regarding my haitus! I've missed you all!

Love always, 

Paul's Boutique Grows Up

I don't know about you but for me, Paul's Boutique has a somewhat questionable reputation when it comes to style.

I can remember first coming across the brand when i was still in school; seeing chavtastic minors with croydon facelifts walking around in huge army surplus style jackets with PAUL'S BOUTIQUE emplazoned on the back in bright pink spraypaint  lettering...was this a new marketing ploy from The Beastie Boys?

And  of course, the giant multicoloured handbags with gems hanging off them (not to mention the unfortunate incident when a girl i knew bought a Paul's Boutique handbag and the inside/lining STANK of rotting fish for some reason...)

Tacky tacky tacky (and not in the good way.)

The brand itself seemed to be to be trying to convey a punky but girly aesthetic, with definite nods towards Betsey and Westwood, but in a conventional, boring and mass-produced way that made me feel a bit ill.

I was definitely not convinced.

Fast foreward to 2011, and i am super excited! The progression that their designers have shown is awesome, and i honestly can say that i love a lot of what they're doing right now. I'm still on the fence about their clothing, but their handbags and purses are the stuff dreams are made of. The bight clashing colours and patterns are still present, but they seem to have refined their style and grown up into a fully fledged label to be reckoned with.

Here are a few of my favourites;

1) Amy £50.00 2) Ellie £50.00 3) Mollie £56.00 4) Polly Padlock £66.00

5) Maisie (Large) £61.00 6) Olivia £76.00 7) Polly Padlock £66.00 8) Backpack £45.00

And the purses i'd be proud to have my loose change jangling about in; (because that's undoubtably all i'd have left after visiting the Paul's Boutique site...)

Peggy Purse £31.00

Polly Padlock Purse £31.00

Pipi Purse £19.00

 Lizzie Purse £31.00

Lizzie Rouched Purse £31.00

Ruby Purse £31.00

Sufficed to say, i definitely would be proud to walk around with a Paul's Boutique piece hanging from my arm.  It's so nice to see a brand get it right!

Are you a fan?

Love always, 

 

DIY Make Your Own Milani Jewel FX Polish!

It's no secret that i'm cheap as chips (in the best way possible.) I've been after the Milani Jewel FX nail polishes for ages, but you just can't get them in the UK to my knowledge, and the shipping costs are horrific, and more than double the cost of the polishes themselves! So i decided to make my own.

Milani Jewel FX polishes that i can't afford. Cry.

I had a couple of tubs of Snazaroo Glitter Dust knocking around my makeup bag left over from my kids face-painting heyday, and a bottle of half used Boots No7 glitter polish. The Glitter Dust particles are fairly large, so it works well. The premise is fairly simple and i'm pretty sure you can work out the rest. 

Onto the pictures!

Added a layer of Barry M shatter, i like it!

The Snazaroo pots of glitter retail at only a couple of quid, and you can buy them on ebay for mega cheap!  Or you could use Barry M glitter pots, or any old loose glitter you've got lying around. I'll definitely be experimenting in the future. If any of you guys have done or plan to do anything similar i'd love to see the results!

 Love always,

You Can't Spell "Grape" Without...

Hello everyone! I hope you'e all doing wonderfully. Last week i decided it was time for a change. I only went a changed my hair didn't i!
Over the years my barnet has gained notoriety; when i was in my teens i experimented perhaps a little TOO much. I started dying my hair black when i was 13, and an array of styles followed. I bleached it white, dyed it pink, blue, green, stripey, got extentions, cut it all off, shaved it into a mohawk...you name it, i did it. However the past few years have remained dull and bleak, with me choosing to try and live a normal life and keep it black in an an attempt to find a normal job.

But who am i kidding? Deep down, i really am Grape.

Dress: New Look

Creepers: Underground UK

I used:

Jerome Russell Bblonde High Lift Powder Bleach and 40vol Cream Peroxide

LaRiche Directions in "Violet"

We all know how bad bleaching is for hair, it leaves it dry, damaged and generally depressing. But i truly feel that life is too short. It's just hair. I love to keep mine looking lush and hydrated, but at the end of the day if you mess it up, it grows back! I bleached mine twice with 40vol peroxide, and now it feels like shite but it looks rad and that's all that matters right? No pain, no gain!

If you ARE going to bleach your own hair though, remember to always do a strand test. And to be honest i really don't reccommend doing it yourself unless you know what you're doing, i've been bleaching mine since i was a kid and i've made big mistakes and seen it all break off in chunks. I know what my own hair is like and how to handle it.

Anyway, i hope you like it!
It's a killer to maintain and i have to redye it regularly, but i feel like a kid again! You might also have noticed that i've put my lip piercings back in.
To hell with being a responsible adult.

I actually feel more like myself than i have in a long time.

Love always, 

BOYCOTT URBAN OUTFITTERS

So unless you've been living under a rock, this week you probably would have heard about pretentious trend-murdering chain Urban Outfitters continuing their grand tradition of marauding plagiarism and blatant stealing from starving artists and independent designers.

Stevie Koerner recently unfortunately discovered that Urban Outfitters had started selling a practically identical replica of her "United States of Love" necklace line, the jewellery venture that had apparently enabled her to finally quit her day job and make her jewellery-making dreams come into fruition. 

Stevie wrote on her blog;

My heart sank a little bit.  The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job.  They even stole the item name as well as some of my copy.

I’m very disappointed in Urban Outfitters. I know they have stolen designs from plenty of other artists. I understand that they are a business, but it’s not cool to completely rip off an independent designer’s work. 

I’ll no longer be shopping at any of their stores [they also own Free People & Anthropologie], and I’m going to do my best from here on out to support independent designers & artists.

Please feel free to pass this link on. I really appreciate all the support & love I’ve received today."

The proof is in the pudding. It's completely obvious that Urban Outfitters' design is a total and undeniable act of bootlegging thievery.

It's so shocking that a multi-million dollar corporation are unable of coming up with their own ideas and designs, and that they think they can get away with ripping off people who work hard to get noticed and get their work out their to earn enough to survive. Clearly they think that they're status makes them untouchable. 

"Koerner's pendant is called "I Heart New York," and Urban Outfitters line is called "I Heart Destination Necklaces." "Wear your love," reads Koerner's copy. "Wear your locale love," says Urban Outfitters. The key difference between the original design and the stolen one, is that Koerner places her cut out heart down around Poughkeepsie, while UO chooses to put theirs up near Utica." - Huffington Post

It's not the first time that Urban Outfitters has been flagged up and their piracy is well known on Etsy and other crafting communities, and evidence of their design-jacking goes back as far as 2006.

This design was apparently stolen in 2007:

And this one in 2006:

But the matter gets a little more complicated. Urban Outfitters made a public statement surrounding the controversy on their blog (that you can read here), denying the claims and  surmising that actually, Koerner 's work is not original and therefore they have no responsibility towards the allegations.

"In her recent blog post and on Twitter Koerner claims that Urban Outfitters stole her designs or was inspired in some way by the items in her Etsy shop for our I Heart Destination necklaces. In fact, a quick search on Etsy for ‘state necklace’ reveals several other sellers with similar products (as seen here on Regretsy) who offered their wares as much as a year earlier than Ms. Koerner."

Okay, so Stevie's designs are similar to that of others, but there is too much evidence to suggest that they ripped her off specifically. All one has to do is compare the names of the lines and individual pieces to see it. 

You could argue that the idea of originality doesn't exist, and that "inspiration" and thievery are practically one and he same nowadays in the design community, but the bottom line is that Urban Outfitters have a reputation as design falsifiers, and their infringement needs to stop. Right now.

As far as i'm concerned, i don't care WHO the original design came from, but it came from individual independent designers that make a living off their work, and Urban Outfitters have absolutely no right to pilfer these designs. Wonders never cease to amaze.

Even though i'm not a regular Urban Outfitters customer, i still shop there on occasion and i'll no longer be doing so. I do my best to support independent designers, and ceasing to shop at UO will be one more step i take in showing my support to the indie fashion industry.

What do you think?

Love always,