Fur Coat, No Knickers

I don’t rate her columns much, but Eva Wiseman certainly has an eye for vintage Chanel. This choker that she tweeted about t’other day is the stuff of dreams. My obsession for ostentatious gold 80s costume jewellery is getting out of hand, isn’t it?

Check out the ring I picked up at New Look as part of my afore-mentioned spree. £2.50!! I have freakishly big hands, and this covers the length from hand to knuckle on my middle finger. The ‘pearls’ are super shiny, although I fear I might lose a few on my next night out.

This post is not sponsored by San Miguel, but if they’d like it to be, it can be.

I’ve been a member of designer sale site Cocosa pretty much since the day it launched. I like designer clothes, but I don’t like spending money; it’s a no brainer. So far I’ve bought three things, the most recent of which you can see above…

First up I got a ludicrous jewel encrusted Christian Lacroix bow brooch, which is so big I don’t really know what to do with it. My second buy was a Nougat dress for my friends’ wedding last month.

Earlier this week I invested in the Mawi necklace above, for a third of it’s original price. It’s huge, heavy and very shiny. Walking around the office today (it arrived first thing, hence the decorative subbing backdrop), I jingled and jangled like a one man band. The pendants include a chunky pony medallion and a skull – what better combination?

I’m a huge fan of sale sites, particularly Cocosa which gives you previews of what’s coming next and even allows you to add sale dates to your Outlook! Perhaps the only good thing about using Outlook?? Sample sales can be so hit and miss, and are usually held at particularly inconvenient times/locations. After the Outnet debacle – and the fact they usually only have sample sizes – I have to say this kind of mailing-list/only sale is a much nicer way to shop.

Anyway, I also want to take a moment to give Cocosa some appreciation for their customer service. Earlier in the week, I foolishly hit ‘block’ on my emails, thus deleting myself from their mailing list. Smart move huh? And apparently not an easy one to undo. Their support team have been amazingly helpful and deserve some kind of award for patience. Ta!

I’m well aware that agate is fast becoming this year’s owl/robot/wishbone, but as someone with a bonafide interest in geology, these Earring Boutique gems are right up my street.

My pa is really into mines, so when we were kids my brother and I spent a lot of time waist-deep in water in various caverns hundreds of feet below ground in the wiles of Wales. He also had a huge collection of semi-precious stones, which lived in a chest of drawers in the garage. Those drawers are now my dressing table, but I can still remember peering into them as a chab and seeing the carefully arranged piles of gemstones.

Sadly, I didn’t pay enough attention to know if agate really counts as a semi-precious stone, and if it does, whether high street ‘agate’ really counts, but this is one fad I’m happy to get behind. I can’t wait for the dad puns when pop sees these swinging from my ears. Literally, can’t wait.

PS The pink ones look like… well, you can see for yourself. Tee hee.

The Gogo Philip concession in Topshop Oxford Circus is a weird and wonderful place. I’ve written about it before, but the truth is, every time I shop in Topshop’s flagship branch these days, I have to make a quick diversion to Gogo for a cheap and cheerful gold jewellery purchase.

Everything in the Gogo Phillips range appears to be under a tenner – I would say it’s under a fiver, but I don’t want to make any sweeping statements… I’ve never spent more than a fiver there thus far, and have bought earrings, necklaces and bracelets. It’s a strong possibility, but I’d hate to let anyone down so let’s just go with ‘it’s cheap’. Cheap-er than Topshop’s own brand jewellery.

My latest purchase from Gogo Phillips via Topshop is this A-OK necklace. It’s a lot like a GirlProps one I’ve had my eye on for ages but I actually prefer this one. Sorry GP, you know I love you heartily. Reasons I prefer it are: a) I didn’t have to pay postage equal to a big shop in Waitrose, and b) I love the scratchy, etched text.

Another reason to love it is that I say A-OK a lot in emails. I dunno about you guys, but when I email PRs for the day job, I kind of find I write in a way that isn’t truly representative of my speech.

There’s a lot of kind regarding, of course, but also a healthy smattering of ‘love it!’-lexis, which is actually not indicative of my native Sheffield ways. At all. A-OK might not be PR speak, but it’s also something I’d never say in real life. Open that Outlook though, and it’s A-OK Brill Fab Marvo all the way.

This little beaut cost me… actually, I couldn’t say – I went feral in the Topshop sale and this was the sole moment of sanity. It was cheap, anyway.

Gogo Phillips, you’re a mystery to me. Who you are, I don’t know. Why you sell such cheap, tasteful jewellery, I also don’t know. Who your design team are, I might never discover. What I do know is that for about five days of every week, I wear all your gems.

I have to hang around in the office for 1 1/2 hours because my FRIEND can’t meet me until 7pm. I’m trying to avoid doing work for that extra 90 minutes so here’s a picture of my new gems instead. I was on birthday present duty yesterday and instead of buying presents… I bought myself things. Fly earrings from Topshop, big black ring from Primark (£1!!) and spiky gold bracelet that looks a lot more expensive than it was, also from Topshop by the mysteriously named Gogo Philip.

Here are me lucky charms. It’s almost pathetic how much I rely on them. The other day I picked the necklace up and they all fell off and I seriously thought the world might end. It didn’t, but a volcano happened. COINCIDENCE? I think the hell not. The big silver wishbone charm came from… some designer. The icon came from a priest in Venice who tried to chat me up. The rest actually came as one on a pendant from Urban Outfitters about…. actually, no idea, years ago. I was on holiday with my family in the US, so it must be pretty old. Thanks lucky necklace for all your lucky powers. Shame it’s the only silver jewellery I own, makes coordinating outfits around it pretty tricky.

Never realised how lolarific the Lucky Charms advert was — that Oirish accent makes me think of Soupy Norman. Is Soupy Norman funny or did I just watch it when I was really preposterously hungover at Oktoberfest? Well the latter is definitely true but I think the first is too, just spent lunchtime watching it and snorting to myself.

I can’t stop thinking about this. Every time I close the tab I have to open it again and think about it more. Kinda pricey but will my life be the same without it? Squirrel Necklace, £145, Les Bijoux de Sophie at The Moon & Mars.