No recession on here, wha'?

Hard luck if you were hoping to get your hands on one of these embroidered silk-jacquard Alexander McQueen capes: them's all sold out over at Net-A-Porter.

That's despite a price tag of - wait for it, waaait for it - €29,980.

Ment. Al.

Ooooooh / How do you like my ruuug?

If the title of this blog post didn't run to the tune of More More More in your head, Rachel Stevens and I are very disappointed in you.

Now, to business. This is the rug in question:

The super observant among you may be thinking that this looks rather more like 15 sheets of 8'x4' plyboard than a rug. You'd be right: it does. It is. 

Which might lead you to wonder why there is there enough plyboard in my sitting room to carpet every house on my road.

Well, we are going to floor the attic with the stuff, but someone (*cough* Himself *cough*) accidentally ordered the wrong size sheets (they should have been 8'x2'), and the bloke in the hardware place miscalculated how much of it we need (the attic is teeny). So that's why there's so much of it.

Why is it in my sitting room? Ah. The hardware place was closed by the time Himself realised what had happened, and the chap who craned the plyboard into the back garden off the back of a lorry told me it couldn't be left outside for more than an hour or two. So in we carted the sheets one by one for fear they'd warp if left out overnight.

I really hope they agree to change them. There's only so much rustic chic a girl can cope with, y'know?

Talon-tastic Thursday: A DIY duochrome

What's better than a bottle of glittery nail varnish?

Why, TWO bottles of glittery nail varnish!

What we have here, ladies and gents, is a manicure that has eluded accurate capture with my camera lens. This blurry shot was the closest approximation I could get to how it looks in person, and fails to do justice to its true awesomeness. There's a great depth to it, and it's really darker and moodier than it appears here. I think (a) it would make a nice change to all the bog standard red/gold/silver paint jobs that will no doubt be doing the rounds next month, and (b) I am TOTALLY wearing this some Halloween when I eventually get to dress up as Probably My Favourite Baddie EVA, Maleficent.

I carefully layered a thin, sheer coat of Essence Choose Me! over two coats of GOSH Gasoline to allow the purple glitter of Gasoline to peep through. The result is a gorgeous, super shimmery duochrome effect that is nowhere near as blue as it looks on camera and at once flashes green and purple. 

Love.

Rap Safety Authority get down with the youngsters.

via the RSA website

I see that the Road Safety Authority are getting hip to the kids, yo, with their current Safe Cross Code campaign. It features six creepy looking animated childer who put me in mind of zombie children, rapping the SCC. 

Cher Lloyd, eat your heart out.

There's a dance (how modern!), and a forcefield that blocks the road unless you invoke the code (ooh, futuristic), but all I can think when I see the ads is that I miss Judge from Wanderly Wagon. And the amazingly catchy song. If you're of a certain vintage, I bet you remember every single word of it - is that rap really going to stick in kid's heads in the same way? 

I seriously doubt it.
 

The original & best, via dinadangdong on YouTube

Inspiration on the tellybox: 'Mo Thinteán Féin'

In honour of the fact that interiors show Mo Thinteán Féin is an Irish language programme, broadcast on the Irish language television channel TG4, I started to write the introduction to this post as Gaeilge.

Then I remembered that, as bad as my conversational, spoken Irish is, I have no confidence at all in my written Irish, so it was back to the Béarla with a bang.

Anyway, Mo Thinteán Féin follows Eimear Nic an Bhaird as she does up her new-to-her gaff in Kilmainham, Dublin 8. Interiors junkies like myself will no doubt recognise the name: Eimear was formerly the editor of Irish interiors mag House & Home, so it's fair to say that the lady knows her arse from her elbow when it comes to decor and design. 

Every week, Eimear tackles a different space in the house, visiting gorgeous Irish interiors like Bellinter House and The G Hotel for inspiration. She also travels around the country to top craftspeople who help her create some gorgeous bespoke pieces for her home. 

At a time when "craft" has almost become a dirty word thanks to the proliferation of Martha Stewart wannabes and the kind of rubbish that you see every day on Regretsy ("Where DIY meets WTF"), I think it's fantastic that Mo Thinteán Féin showcases some of the truly awesome Irish craftspeople that are out there. 

I was particularly enamoured with the stained glass panels that Eimear and Bianca Divito created for the bathroom and bedroom doors:

... and the hand-printed wallpaper made with Paget in the Dublin Textile Workshop that eventually adorned the stair risers:

This lovely white lightshade with its geometric, textured design also caught my eye:

There's lots of DIY - and DadIY, my kind of girl - here, and it's refreshing to see a homes show that's really focused on creating an affordable personal space. 

As opposed to one that's focused on throwing telephone number sums of money at a new build (Grand Designs, where the windows are always late and the missus always winds up pregnant halfway through), painting everything magnolia (oh hai Property Ladder, where the presenter always winds up pregnant halfway through), or confusing the words "classic" and "classical" in every episode (*cough* Showhouse *cough*).

All images via TG4

Note: Mo Thinteán Féin has now finished its run on TG4 but, as of today, you can catch the final three episodes here, on the TG4 Beo Player.

Talon-tastic Thursday: A blinging leopard-print pedi

There's a reason that this post is just barely squeaking into Thursday. See, I'm hoping any food you've consumed during the day is well digested at this stage and unlikely to make a reappearance on seeing a picture of my foot.

This paint job is two coats of a completely random bottle of fine gold glitter polish with holographic sparkles that my sister picked up in Tenerife (the brand is "Easy Paris" - that Hilton wan puts her name to anything.) It's a real pity that my camera couldn't capture it more accurately: there's none of the sandiness you're seeing here In Real Life, just spectacular shimmer and glitter and bling.

I drew on the leopard print freehand with a nail art pen and I absolutely love the result.

Bet Lynch is my style icon, yo.

X Factor Fashion Fever, Part II

So. We all agree that Dannii's earrings looked fab on Saturday night (and I am very tempted to do a post composed entirely of photos of her outfit choices on this year's X Factor - am style crushing on Dannii's wardrobe in a big way.) 

As predicted, they're kind of on the expensive side, with a price tag of £25,500. While that gets you a whopping big pair of 18ct diamond and Amazonite yellow gold earrings, I think they might have looked better on the telly than they do In Real Life.

 source: Bochic

Don't they look a bit like something Katie Price's alter-ego might pair with a particularly klassy outfit?

Anyway, here are a few of my picks from Etsy that won't do quite as much damage to your pocket!

Clockwise from top left: ELEVEN13, $28; BrooklynArts, $36; sparklecouture, $28; LuzDesigns, $21; CloudCuckooLand, $18; ArtWark, $23; WishByFelicity, $16; brideblu, $16.

Alternatively, you could always try getting someone to custom make a pair of turquoise earrings to your exact specifications through Etsy's "Alchemy" service. This involves creating a wanted ad detailing what you're after and how much you'd ideally like to pay, and then Etsy sellers bid for your business to create the item. 

It's a service I haven't used myself, but a friend designed her own bespoke ring and then had it made through Alchemy and it turned out beautifully so I think it's pretty magic. (Couldn't resist.)

X Factor Fashion Fever, Part I

We are feckin' glued to the X Factor every weekend in this house, and one of my favourite bits of the show is when the judges first emerge onstage every night so I get a chance to have a good full-length goo at what Cheryl and Dannii are wearing. 

And shout "what the feck is that?!" at the telly when Cheryl does her little semi-salute thing as her name's announced.

Dannii has been streets ahead in the style stakes this year as far as I'm concerned, and I rather liked the look of the statement turquoise earrings she wore on Saturday night. She's been sporting Annoushka jewellery religiously throughout the series, and last weekend was no exception.

I suspect that these laddies might be just a leetle out of my price range, but stay tuned - I'll have some suggestions later in the day about how you and I can get the look on a shoestring budget.

Talon-tastic Thursay: Penguin power

Today's mani is inspired in part by the cold snap... and in part by a pair of my favourite David & Goliath pyjamas.

Fingernails: Essence Just Rock It (a nice basic flat navy creme.)

Thumbnail base colour: Eyeko Rain (skinny brush, formula manages to be both gloopy and streaky, "hidden" shimmer is totally invisible. Disappointing.)

Happy Birthday, A|wear!

Today marks the 25th birthday of Irish clothing store A|wear, but they're not expecting you to hand over a nicely wrapped pressie or even a last-minute petrol station birthday card to say congrats. Nope, instead they've got a little something for you - 25% off purchases on awear.com.

Just enter the code IE25Today when you checkout to receive your discount. Simples!

Image source: A|wear via Facebook

Inspiration for bathroom beautification.

Our main bathroom is in need of some overhaulin'. We haven't decorated it since we moved in 4-and-a-bit years ago, mostly because it's actually a bijou compact cosy really effing small room, and I've never been totally sure what to do with it since there's not much wallspace to make an impact on. 

One wall is almost entirely window, and underneath that is one end of the bath, a storage unit, and the loo. The opposite wall houses the other end of the bath (funnily enough!) and the door, and then the wall on the right is filled with my massive wall-hung mirrored Godmorgon cabinets from IKEA, and the sink and radiator live under those.

Anyway. Let's stop worrying about the limiting practicalities and look at some pretty pictures instead!

photo credit: Rachel Whiting

source: Urban Outfitters	source: Anthropologie

 source: decorpad

source: CasaSugar

source: Houzz

source: Desire To Inspire

source: Simply Natural

source: Living Etc

 source: Lonny Mag

Fab Friday Freebies from O2 Treats and iTunes

If you're an O2 customer and fancy some free choons, listen up! 

They've teamed up with iTunes to offer five free songs of your choice every Friday between now and 17th December 2010. Just opt in for O2 Treats on the website, and then when you click the Download button on this here page of a Friday, iTunes will open and five credits will have magicked themselves on to your account. 

You don't need to use them right away - the credits are valid until 31st December - and they can be used to purchase songs priced at €0.69, €0.99, or €1.99.

I've used four of mine today so far and am enjoying listening to Ryan Sheridan Jigsaw, Delorentos Secret... and, er, Cheryl Cole Promise This and Kesha Take It Off. Oh, come on. They're catchy!

Image source: Threadless

Talon-tastic Thursay: WAH Nails, a week on

Any of you who read Beaut.ie will probably already have seen the deadly paint job that I scored at the WAH Nails launch party in Harvey Nics. (I'm the hot pink leopard print with the Hello Kitty thumbs. Oh yes. I iz very growed up.) 

It's now a week since I got WAHed, so I thought I'd show you how the manicure's been holding up:

Apologies for the rubbish iPhone pic; my camera charger is AWOL.
(Er, also: my fingers don't look that green In Real Life.)

Obviously there's some regrowth at the base of the nails, but other than that I mostly just have tipwear, and very minimal tipwear at that. The lump that's gone out of the Hello Kitty nail is where my thumbnail - as per fecking usual - broke halfway down its length. I promptly snagged it on something and cracked the polish as I ripped some of the nail off.

Still, not too shabby!

To book an appointment for yizzerself, call (01) 2910424 or email dublin@wah-nails.com.

Tamara Mellon, would you ever ChUGG off.

I am in bad need of a sensible pair of walkable-innable winter boots to replace my fake UGGS, but I would have to be blind or drunk or both simultaneously for these abominations to feature on my shortlist.

source: NET-A-PORTER

They might look like something you'd expect to pull out of the bottom of a bargain bin in Heatons, but actually they're the result of a collaboration between UGG and Jimmy Choo.

Not since your woman Ciara started wearing Irregular Choice shoes on The Apprentice have I been so put off a brand.

I think it's fantastically ironic that these boots have been dubbed "ChUGGS" since that's exactly what I wanted to do when I saw them first. If they don't make you lose your breakfast, you'll find them exclusively at the Jimmy Choo boutique in Brown Thomas' Shoe Rooms where prices start from €495. Best get your skates on if you fancy a pair, though, as they're a limited collection.

Thank God for small mercies.

In vino, veritas.

Our kitchen/dining room is a bit small for a free-standing wine rack, which means that we have bottles taking up precious room in the cupboards.

However, we do have an empty narrow wall behind the dining room door that I reckon could easily take a slim wall-hung rack like this one from Vintage View. 

source: Apartment Therapy

Think I'd mount it a bit higher than it's shown here, though. I can just imagine Himself's niece or nephew wrapping an eye socket around those empty low-level hooks!