Mac brings Wonder Woman to Selfridges

It's been a while for Design Girl, I know.  Life has got super busy with 'work, rest and play' (thanks Mars for that everlasting strapline).  As a result, her side-kick blog has somehow been suffering.  Anyhoo, all she needed was a little inspiration, a little sparkle to catch her eye and bring it all flooding back - the need to chat shit about cool stuff, that is.  So, she found it... (and will stop talking in the third person now...)

Friggin Wonderwoman at Selfridges, brought to us by none other than everyone's favourite and by far the coolest make-up brand on the planet, M.A.C.  Seriously, I didn't think the brand could get any cooler.

The range includes make up bags in radiant red and bulletproof blue, utility belt brush sets and an invincible mirror.  Love, love, love the stuff!  Whipping out the mirror to check your vivacious visage is like a NYPD cop pulling out his badge to pull rank.  Noticeable.  If you're part of the in-crowd, you'll be carrying one of these bad boys (or bad girls?), for sure.

Make sure you watch the official M.A.C video - it's hotter than a bunting bull in a pepper patch.  So hot, in fact, that two trees were fighting over a dog.  Hotter than an armadillo's arse in a desert heat wave.  Ok, just stupid hot - I think you get it.  Quote:  "Surrounded by a bevy of transformed Plain Jane's on Paradise Island, Wonder Woman is awed by the magic of M.A.C".  Hilarious. In a dream world we would need truck loads of the stuff to deal with some of the Beverly Maccas out there.  Yikes. Check this out:

                          

Wonderwoman rocks my world.... and as for M.A.C, I salute you.

Check out Selfridges windows and in-store to believe it....

Till we meet again.

POW!

Issey Miyake for Evian

                            

The Miyake Design Studio (Issey Miyake), has teamed up with evian® to design a limited edition "...pure bottle, glowing with both optimism and freshness". The press release continues in this chirpy manner, talking of the "shimmering flower" being an "essential source of life" and "symbol of youth".  Yuk!  This sickly piece of blurb was almost enough to take away from the cutesy and quirky aesthetics that the bottle does in fact offer.  Sometimes it's best to let the visuals do the talking - isn't that the whole point of design?  Anyway, that being said, the bottle itself was enough to make me smile again.  (Don't forget I am born and bred a Londoner - I have to find something to complain about first, before I put a positive spin on things.  If I do.  Naturally.)

Anyway, I'm certainly not a fan of floral (shock horror!) - but with a contemporary twist expressed through a nod towards the Pleats Please range from Miyake, I will most certainly be tracking down one of the two limited edition bottles, for personal keep-sakes.

  

In the end, I am a bit of a sucker for collectable design objects (some may even call me a hoarder) - and whilst this may not be the most mind-blowing collaboration in the world, I am certainly not offended by it (press release aside).  Just remember, whatever you do, don't drink it!  Place the bottle on a safe shelf and dust every so often - give it minimum of 10 years and then put it on 'ebay'.

Available to buy at either one of the Issey Miyake Stores in London (Issey Miyake on Conduit Street or Pleats Please on Brook Street - both W1).  

Ho Bloody Ho!

Passing through Selfridges (yet again), I almost had a heart attack when I realised that the infamous Christmas store was already open - can you even bear it?!  I guess, with this wonderful summer we're having (full blown sarcasm intended) it shouldn't have come as such a surprise that Winter is fast approaching.  Seriously, don't even get me started!   I only managed to right size my feelings of anticipated dread when I spotted these Santa Balls, which pretty much sum up my feelings towards the festive season - ho bloody ho, indeed!

The entire range plays out like music to my ears!  I know, I know, I'd better be nice - I don't want Santa to be mad with me now do I?  After all, I do have my eye on a few nice bits 'n' bobs as usual (sue me!)

**I promise!**

Perrier 'Teeser'

The world class, world famous burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, has taken the web by storm since signing on as the face (and body) of the Perrier brand.  Dita hosts the Perrier mansion website www.perrierbydita.com where she invites guests to select one of two doors – one named ‘the dark room’ where you can capture the sexy star in various poses, or another room, where Dita uses a game of dice to tease men (and women alike) with her charm.  It’s totally seductive – and then the star showers in Perrier!   Hmmm.  

No matter what people say and whether you like it or not - sex sells.  Always has, always will.  Yes Sir. Thank you Maam.  I'll take two cases!

iPhone 4

Despite all the negative speculation around the new iPhone 4, I couldn’t be happier.  I’ve even given my all singing and all dancing friend a name.  Joffrey, (if you really want to know).

After hearing concerns around the issue with the antenna, I decided to make it a priority to buy a case so as not to avoid this alleged ‘death grip’, as it’s been called.  Disappointingly, neither Vodafone nor the Apple Store on Regent Street had received stock of the necessary accessory, so I went straight on line and found a selection of non-branded cases on Amazon.  (I also saved money in the process.  Score!) I received my case within two days and have had no problems whatsoever.  I’d like to also add, that I’ve not had any problems with a discoloured or broken screen and my camera works perfectly. 

There is always going to be hype around any new product, especially one as highly anticipated as this.  It just proves that online communities can sometimes be counterproductive too.  Saying that, I may just have been extremely lucky. We have to remember, that the same way that big organizations have picked up on the social media frenzy, the ‘word of mouth’ approach is also becoming a strategic opportunity for corporations to manoeovre our thinking.  Just as there are Social Media Manager jobs nowadays, there are also Community Executives which are responsible for driving chatter in their brand’s favour.  Whilst community collaboration can be extremely beneficial (especially when looking to find out about what’s hot and what’s not), sometimes it’s still best to make up our own minds rather than just believe the hype.

Having said all that, my one piece of constructive feedback to Apple would be about the shape of the phone.  The iPhone 3 was ergonomically perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  I don’t understand how Apple could have even considered going back to the previous shape.  As the age old saying goes,  ‘if it ain’t broke, don't fix it!’  If it is 'broke', on the other hand…. sort it out!