Identity Crisis

Today's outfit was a bit of a mish mash... I had a bit of an over-excited morning as another of the articles I wrote for The Times on my work experience was published today! Woop! It was a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how Me & Zena make jewellery. I so enjoyed the process of meeting and chatting to interviewing Zena and then picking out the comments that would be most interesting for Young Times readers. And to have it published is ridiculously rewarding. Very surreal to be on my hands and knees at work today, tidying up after crazed shoppers treating the place like a car boot sale whilst knowing my little article is in the paper... "Do your own tidying, swines!! For you are in the presence of the most influential writer the UK fitting room has ever seen". Haha, I kid! But you get the picture... I definitely love this writing lark and need to get published again ASAP! I feel like a journo junkie.  

(Me & Zena emailed me today and told me to make sure I let y'all know you can use the code at the end of the article too! 20% off!) 

So yes, it was a mad scramble to get dressed before work this morning... I couldn't decide between slutty goth (lippy and leopard leggings) and granny chic (vintage boots, chunky knit) so I chucked it all together and ran out the door hoping for the best! Notice Roxy's cat kennel in the background? Haha!

Posing for a quick air-smooch with my loyal photographer...

Ma lipz. I used my 17 Hot Chilli lipstick, which is a reddy orange colour (obvz). Not for the faint-hearted but available here if you're a badass. Can't tell if I applied it wonkily or my mouth is lopsided. Both?

One more thing, I must tell you this hilarious thing my mum texted me today. I was joking with her about my name being misspelt in the article (there's an 'I' in Royston-Claire!) and she replied this: 

I was once spelling my surname to someone and said 

"I've got an 'I' in the middle... like a Cyclops". 

Hahaha! If I can cling onto my immaturity until my fifties as she has done so brilliantly, I'll be one happy lady!

Spk sn,

xo

Tuesday Tip: Turn old leggings into no-sew bows!

Because I walk everywhere, my leggings don't seem to last much longer than 5 minutes. In the interest of my mental health, I've been having a little brain storm session lately on how I can turn my usual feelings of 'Aaarrgghh, world, your leggings are so shit!' into 'Ooh, a new DIY project, yay!'

So I give you... NO-SEW BOWS! I spent this morning experimenting with my little brainwave and am so pleased with the results! 

You will need: 

- Leggings

- Scissors

- Bleach (optional)

Chop a strip of material from the thigh - this will be the head band. 

Chop a chunk of material from the ankle or thigh (depending on how big you want your bow) 

Chop another strip from the leggings to tie the bow onto the headband. Knot it, and trim off the excess.

Optional: Jazz up with toilet bleach, wash and dry!

Ta-da!!

You can also use this method to make an impromptu bow tie! 

Other ideas: 

- Making a turban style headband. 

- Creating plaited headbands and bracelet.

- Chopping the ankle into strips to make hair ties.  

So, the next time you get the dreaded holey leggings, get your scissors out and remember - the glass is half full! 

I hope you've enjoyed this tip. I am desperate to post them more regularly but I've found working constantly is such a drain on my creativity. I have loads of ideas but finding the time to experiment and photograph stuff is so hard. These sporadic Tuesday Tips shall have to suffice for now! 

Please keep me posted if you have any crafty ideas to share! I will always link to those who have inspired me.

For now, TV and those amazing Belffles belgian waffles are calling me...

xo

My week in pictures!

Whew! One of the most intense weeks of my life is over!

I've been a busy bee, what with long shifts at work, going to a gig in Brighton and being filmed for Channel 4! It's taken it's toll now as I seem to have a cold. I've been a watery eyed sneezing mess at work today. Anyway, I've taken some little snap shots along the way this week, so here they are... 

My little Roxy chillin' in the sunshine earlier this week. She's loving our rather wild garden... Lots of very dead plants and dry dirt as opposed to pretty flowers and soil! She's been rolling about in the dirt loads, it's so sweet to see her getting back to nature! Could live without her crapping in the flower beds, but she's kicking that habit now. 

I went to Brighton to see NFG with my brother and friends and forgot to bring nail polish with me on the train. All I had was my new Models Own nail art pen (freeb) so I decided to try leopard on naked nails! I think it's a pretty awesome look!

We nipped to H&M in Brighton to get my brother a hoodie because he was a bit nippy, and I had to get a snap of this lovely lady's outfit! The playsuit, the hair - love! We exchanged bloggy links and you can see hers here.

I met up with the my gigging BFF from my youth, Emilie. We met in 2002 and used to meet up at every pop punk gig in London together! This is us sat outside NFG's tour bus swigging WKD like old times... My brother's a well-know NFG superfan (they know him by name and even exchange the odd Facebook message!) so I'm used to lurking outside venues so he can hang out with them.

Oh Chad... How I wish I wasn't speaking as this photo was taken. I was saying "Keep smiling because sometimes it flashes twice-*FLASH*". D'oh. I just love his smooth and squishy face. Notice how much he's leaning towards me in this?! Move over, Hayley (oh and soz, Alex). Was tempted to doctor this photo and paste the 'Forever Alone' guy over my brother's face - lawl! 

We persuaded the band to come to this pop punk club night at Life afterwards, and they obliged!! Jordan even got on the decks for a bit! 

After a few hours sleep it was back home to Canterbury, and onto a disastrous road trip to Ikea with Alex... Think almost running out of petrol on the motorway... I had to have a 50p hotdog to calm myself after it all! 

The next day I was being filmed for the second series of SuperScrimpers! We filmed quite a few tips and a li'l interview too and I think it went okay... Speaking of tips, I really need to start getting more Tuesday Tips up! I figured I'd have loooads of time after graduating to just chill out, but it turns out making money is pretty time consuming :( 

After filming on Friday, we had our buddies Martin and Jen round for Dominos. We ordered online.. Spot the immature lolz in the delivery info... 

Jen and I had a play with some new Models Own nail polishes I was sent. This was Jen's own nail polish with a coat of pink Smash Up polish and some black leopard print. 

I had filmed some sticky tape nail art for Channel 4 that day using Grey Day and Top Turquoise, and decided to add some kinda wonky black lines. 

Then I got instantly bored and wiped the whole lot off and went for leopard print over Blooboo and attempted to draw a cat on my thumbnail... Jen ridiculed it, but I personally believe it's a masterpiece!!

And finally, some more illustrations I was sent, this time by Carly Watts. I simply adore these, and Roxy was chuffed at her inclusion. May have to edit my blog header to include one of these because they are amazing! Why can't I look this cool in real life?! (Click to enlarge)

Right, I think I've exhausted the topic of ME ME ME. What have y'all been up to? 

I've got a day off tomorrow and am looking forward to catching up on blogs, so leave me links in the comments if you know any great blogs I ought to be checking out, including your own!

Much love! x

Cool stuff!

I now have a shop on MyLabel.co.uk! It's only up for a limited time, and MyLabel have kindly offered you guys 15% off anything you fancy in the shop using the code '15GEMFATALEML'. It's free shipping, too, which is a bonus!

Click my shop header to have a peek! Let me know if you like it :)

Another cool thing is that the beautiful and talented Jaymie O'Callaghan has illustrated this outfit I wore! I'm chuffed! Check out Jaymie's website for more of her amazing handiwork and personal style! 

I'm off to Brighton in a bit to go see New Found Glory! I first saw them 10 years ago, which makes me feel very old! I don't really 'do' gigs anymore, but I couldn't resist seeing them at the Concorde 2 in Brighton because it's so small!

Firstly though, I've gotta go and do lots of annoying things in town like get my hair cut (hate) and buy deodorant. It would run out the exact day I'm going to be sweating it up in a room crammed with overgrown emos wouldn't it?!

<3

New Dress

I tried this dress on at Topshop the other day on a whim and accidentally fell in love with it. I thought it would be all wrong for me. A slight empire line usually means saggy boobs. Cream coloured material is asking to become a stain fest. But actually, it is amazing. Sheer sleeves flatter my quirky corned beef print arms, with the right underwear (the nude version of this c/o Wonderbra, if you're wondering!) the boobs aren't too 'there' and the floaty skirt flatters the tum. Oh, and as an added bonus I noticed yesterday, the underskirt is straight rather than floaty, preventing spontaneous pant flashing in windy conditions. Not bad for £20, the price I paid with my 60% uniform discount! 

(Dress - Topshop, Necklace - c/o Lou Makes, Boots - charity shop)

I wore this outfit to a family party on Saturday night and loved it so much I wore it to work yesterday! I was undeterred by my brother's hilarious quip "I didn't know you were coming to the party in your nightie"... 

I'm gonna get my coffee on now. Twitter followers may have seen me freaking out about a gigantic spider I saw on the landing last night. Well, the post traumatic stress of this meant I slept top and tail with Alex so my head wasn't against the wall and more vulnerable to being crawled on by bugs, then - despite these 'safety measures' - I proceeded to lay awake rigid with paranoia until 3am. Not cool. 5 hours sleep is not enough to get me through a day at work! Anyway, my Twitter helpers suggested putting conkers in the corners of every room (spiders hate the smell apparently... do they have noses then?) so I will be testing this out at the earliest opportunity! 

So yeah. Coffee is much needed right now. Have a lovely Monday, people!! <3

Gem in making-effort shocker!

This is my outfit from yesterday, taken from a new angle in the new garden! You can see the strange little log burner thing. Apparently you can burn wood in it and keep toasty warm if hanging out in the garden at night! 

I decided to step out of my flat-shoes rut and wear my lovely little clogs from Sarenza last year. I was glad I'd made Alex take this quick outfit shot of me before I left the house, as I quickly realised it was BOILING and the jacket was completely unnecessary! 

(Top - H&M, Jacket - charity shop in Glasgow, Pink lippy - c/o Eyeko, Shoes - Moheda c/o Sarenza, Necklace - c/o Temporary Secretary (only £6 RRP!))

Tonight I shall be watching Celebrity Big Bro (loving Jedward too much!), preparing for Channel 4 coming round on Friday to film the next series of SuperScrimpers (aaargh!), and plotting an exciting bloggy project I can't wait to launch...

Before I go, have you seen my interview on Motel's blog? Don't forget, if you use my 15% off code (gemfatale) when buying items from my shop, I get a little treat out of it too!

<3

Jersey Girl

I picked up a couple of new tops from H&M the other day whilst shopping with my friend Emily. I haven't bought myself anything in ages and ages, so figured I could stretch to some jersey bargains. It's what H&M does best!

Yesterday: Burgundy V-neck top £4.99

(Topshop Leigh jeans, DM's c/o Very.co.uk)

Fluffy cardigan - Target via charity shop, 'LV' bag... Thailand's finest... 

Today: Camel & Black stripey top - £7.99

(Topshop jacket, sandals c/o Tesco, H&M hair scarf)

(Notice my new garden?! I'll show more of it in a video blog when I've finished pimping it!)

Gotta go eat cake and watch Big Brother! Who else is already hooked?

xo

Home sweet home

Woo, the internet is finally back! 

So, we're settling into the new house nicely now and I've been browsing around the web to find some pretty things to buy with the proceeds of my House of Horrors blog sale! 

I wanted to share some of the nice things I've found on my search, as I know it's coming up to uni time for some of you, and you'll be thinking of how to make your halls look more awesome than everyone else's! Plus, everyone loves looking at pretty home stuff. 

So, firstly, not that exciting but the main thing on my list are these Ikea curtains for the lounge, which are £25.99. I want red, because lots of our cushions and pictures have red in them, so I want to make red even more of a statement colour in the lounge. 

I spied this gorgeous bedding in Debenhams the other day. It has coloured swallows on one side, and is minty-teal with white swallows on the other side - I'd totally have that side up! It's sold out online, sadly, but it is instore for about £30 for a double bed set.

Next are next (ho ho) on my want list, with this spotty, stripey reversible duvet cover set. How cute? I'm all about the reversible bedding, so you can have a change of scenery day to day without having to strip the bed. Isn't changing bedding just the most arduous job ever? I have to bribe Alex to do it all. Anyway, this set is £40 which is a tad hefty for me, but I guess it is a 2-in-1 affair. 

Next also sell these really cheap matching sheets and pillow case sets! You can guess which is my favourite, right? The one with turquoise dots! Only £16 for a double, and I like the idea of the pillowcases matching the sheet instead of the duvet. 

Cuteness overload in Kirsty Allsop's Next range. Pricey as hell (£65 for the duvet cover!), but a girl can dream. I wish my bed looked like this, just piled with all sorts of cushions and bedspreads etc. But you know that as soon as bed time arrives it all gets chucked on the floor, so it's all a bit of a beautiful lie, really! 

Lovely polka-heart kitchenware... Drool! 

 

Gorgeous canisters!

Genuinely think I'll be purchasing this chalkboard, it's only a tenner!

 Beaut tins from Debenhams.. It's always so hard to choose just one set!

 

YES, IT'S A CAT OVEN GLOVE. Can I bring myself to singe a cat's face though? I can't work out whether this glove is cute or cruel, but I've bookmarked it anyway.

Debenhams are literally a haven for pet-themed home-ware at the moment! I am loving it! 

That's a dog lamp by Ben De Lisi. Where can I possibly go after a dog lamp? Time to wrap it up! 

So, Next and Debenhams are very much floating my boat with their pretty home stuff at the moment. Do you recommend anywhere else that's good for affordable home stuff? Jen just did an amazing post on her car boot and charity shop finds. It goes without saying I shall be keeping my peepers peeled for second hand things for the house, too. Any tips on forcing your driver boyfriend out of bed early on a Sunday for some car boot shopping..? I'm stumped! 

xo

This post-  Sponsored? No. Just spammy? Yep.