DIY delights

I think we have a vast amount of creative talent in Singapore, as evidenced by the quick sprouting of little websites featuring pretty, quirky handmade jewellery. Ms Guise brought my attention to the delightful Crymeajustin, and it reminded me of a few other sites I've found while trawling the web:


Adorable brooch from Gleam In Your Eye

Tatty Devine lookalike brooches and necklaces from Frufru.net. They also have funky earrings and retro-looking clothes.


Custom-made jewellery from Divaesque. (Actually I didn't find this on the web, this was a recommendation from a friend)

Update (July 3): With more great recommendations coming in, I'm adding them to this post. Thanks everyone for the links!


Beautiful handmade earrings from Abigael the Beading Lady. I'm going to have to order me a pair soon!


Elegant pieces from Moondust.


Not exactly DIY, but this Singapore site features gorgeous and unique accessories from Paris. Be warned though, L'arti Chaut is expensive.


Summery designs from Summerfly.

Update (11 July): And the links keep coming in!


Intricate earrings from Beads of Lav.


Be charmed by Baileysvodka.

Now what?

I don't know how to fill my nights now that Da Chang Jin has finished on Channel U. I need another show to fixate on now.

Rediscovery

#1

It all started when I was admiring a necklace a new acquaintance was wearing, and she told me she got it from Far East Plaza. I decided it was time to go back there and re-explore Far East Plaza again.

While wandering around, I discovered I really had been away for a long time. Many of the little shops I used to visit had gone and were replaced by newer and shinier shopfronts. I had lots of fun wandering the back lanes, and found a few places that sold cute and quirky jewellery (I found some L'ArtiChaut-lookalike necklaces!), pretty bag charms, vintage dresses and handbags.

But the find that really made my day was a little shop on the third floor which sold designer wear, like Tsumori Chisato, Rebecca Taylor and Marc Jacobs. I was initially attracted by a summery striped bubble dress with matching necklace (I know, after all I've said about bubble skirts, and here I was looking at a bubble dress), and when I went in to look around more, discovered a whole rack of dresses and tops with a protective plastic wrap over them. A couple of women were browsing the same rack, and one of them idly parted the dresses and revealed this denim Marc Jacobs dress. My head went *ding!*, as I recognised it instantly from pictures I'd seen of it on the runway. When they left, I immediately grabbed it, tried it on, and the rest, as they say, is history. The dress is now mine...muahaha.

#2

Not only am I an accessories queen, I think I am in danger of becoming a beauty junkie. Over the weekend, I started clearing through my little container of pots and creams beside my bed. I found:

• 5 tubes of lip balm (Burt's Bees, Body Shop, Dirty Girl)
  
• 2 kinds of moisturiser (Shiseido & The Natural Source)
• 3 mini-vials of perfume (Stila, L'occitane, Philosophy)
• 1 lip-scuff (Body Shop) & 1 lip plumper cream (Lancome)
• 3 types of eye cream (Benefit, Aveda, Phytomer)

And let's not forget the 3 types of face wash, 2 types of toners, 3 types of face scrub, and 3 jars of masks sitting in my bathroom. The trouble is I am such a sucker for the deadly combination of pretty packaging and clever marketing copy. Phrases like "exfoliation that penetrates the skin" and "deep cleansing properties" and "soothe and nourish your skin" immediately convince me that the product MUST be effective.

This is it. I am banning myself from buying anymore beauty products until I finish everything sitting in my room.

Sidenote: The Phytomer eye cream is great! I must buy more of it...after I finish everything else of course.

Bling on the bra strap!

From StrapCouture.com

I've never been big on letting your bra strap show. I always thought it looked sloppy and unattractive. And anyway, there's a reason why they're called undergarments. One of my pet peeves is those apparently transparent plastic straps. They've never looked strong enough to hold up a bra, and aren't even aesthetically pleasing, so what purpose do they serve? Another fad I could never understand was wearing a normal bra with a racerback tee. Eew.

But I think I can make an exception with these blinged out bra straps. StrapCouture has a range of pretty straps to attach to your strapless bra, from snazzy metallic chains, to pretty lace straps and straps with precious stones like jade and quartz. They don't come cheap though, the most expensive is US$150, a price which I cannot justify for what is essentially a bra strap. Now I'm wondering if I can just DIY them myself. :)

I can seeee youuu!

So, back when I was blogging almost everyday, I heard about Google Analytics and decided to sign up for an account, since I was curious to see who visited my blog. Unfortunately all the accounts were used up and I got an email from Google stating they weren't giving out any accounts for the time being and that I would be put on the waiting list.

And I waited, and waited and waited, and after a while I completely forgot about it. Earlier this week, I finally received an email stating that I could start my account. Yippee! I eagerly signed up, inserted the code, and waited for the data to load. And the results were quite interesting. Who would have thought I had visitors from far-flung places like Buenos Aires, Egypt and New Zealand? So exciting! I seem yet to conquer the vast country of China though, maybe I should start writing in Chinese. :) So to all my non-S'porean visitors, helloooo!

The most popular post, aside from the homepage, was my where to shop for shoos post. I'm so glad to see that the world shares my rabid interest in accessories. Perhaps it's time to resurrect Shoo Stories, yes?