Tiara King's Blog: Jewel Divas Style, page 79

TODAY’S LIFESTYLE: Jealousy really is a curse!

I want to discuss something that happened a few weeks back. I’ve thought about this and figured it warranted a blog post.

On four of my posts a girl, and I call her that because not only did her name give her away, so did her language, made comments that made me disgusted by its viciousness.

On one MY STYLE post her comment was: One. Hot. MESS!!

I never did like that term, I think it’s stupid and an insult to most and told her as much.

Second, when I did a blog post on how the great bargain of $3 Kmart leather gloves turned out to be a style failure because they were both right hands, she got more insulting and not only trashed me, but Kmart as well.

Her comment was: K-Mart gloves aren’t the only style failures on this page!! Actually I don’t think the words “$3 k-mart gloves” AND “style” can EVER be used in the same sentence!

Clearly she has a HUGE problem with Kmart for some reason, and clearly doesn’t know what style actually is.

Thirdly, she attacked my couture jewellery. Her comment: MEANING OF COUTURE noun:the design and manufacture of fashionable clothes to a client’s specific requirements and measurements. This is NOT couture. A hot mess yes, but couture NO! Just no!

How rude! She clearly doesn’t understand that couture also refers to jewellery.

Fourthly, she got absolutely vile on a cancer post I did when I had mine cut off. I spoke of my personal experience but it clearly wasn’t bad enough for her.

Her comment: This would have to be one of the most appalling blogs I have read about cancer!! You are so incredibly clueless!! You absolutely cannot compare your tiny skin cancers to all the other cancers out there. You did not end up in ICU after having a tumour removed. You did not require intensive & gruelling radiotherapy & chemotherapy treatment & suffer severe side effects. You have not spent months, years even, in & out of hospital & unable to function. You are in no position to pass opinion or even advice on this matter. It’s bad enough to speak the way that you do but to publish something like this is woeful, absolutely woeful & you should be ashamed.

And by the way, your jewellery & “style” is absolutely horrendous! I am embarrassed FOR you! I have never seen anything as disgusting, cheap & tacky as what’s displayed on your page. You really shouldn’t be using the terms “couture” or “fashion designer” either, you are buying cheap crap online & mashing it up together into a hideous mess, THAT IS NOT COUTURE OR DESIGNING!! There is a reason barely anyone acknowledges your social media posts!

PS: and if you keep eating burgers & chocolates for breakfast, or all that ice cream, or quarter cheesecakes!!!! or hot chips, or packets of chips you’ll end up with more than a few tiny skin cancers!

Seriously! I mean….seriously!!!!!! I seriously have no idea why she’d be embarrassed FOR me or be worried about what I eat. 

Normally I don’t call people jealous unless you can really hear it or see it, and you can definitely see it in her comments. You can tell when jealousy is afoot because the attacks get personal.

And she assumed a lot.  There’s a saying when it comes to the word, assume. “It makes an ass out of you and me”. It’s supposed to be the easy way of remembering how to spell it. But I’ve changed it to “it makes an ass out of the person doing the assuming”.  Never assume from one or a chain of photos because it’s never the whole picture. The saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover” works well here. Never judge a situation by one photo.

She assumed a lot about my personal life, including that I don’t know about cancer because I haven’t ended up in ICU or had therapy. No, but my mother and father both did. Skin cancer is not a tiny cancer; it can lead to death and is one of the biggest killing cancers in this country. Had I not caught it in time then yes, I would have been in the ICU, losing a limb or worse. I have been in an out of hospitals with my mother since I was ten when she had her cancer cut off, a gaping hole is still in her arm and she had a skin graph from her leg. My father had a brain tumour out when I was 21, something he could have had since birth. NEVER ASSUME you know about someone simply because they don’t mention it.

Second, she personally attacked everything, my style, my jewellery, what I wear, what I put in my blog posts, that my couture isn’t couture, because she has no idea about what I have made, and called it all a hideous mess. Mind you, she even came back the night after to make another comment on another post.

Then she attacked me on the social media front. I follow a lot of people who may have a lot of followers but barely get any comments. So what! I’m not desperate for likes, likers or followers. I’m not into it for that. As long as my posts are seen in people’s feeds, that’s all I need because people will also comment on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. It really shows immaturity when they attack you over the lack of response on your social media and shows they clearly have an addiction to being liked and needing responses from others to make them feel better, bigger, more liked and more powerful.

A personal attack means jealousy and her comments led me to believe one of two things. She either cannot buy the amount of clothes and jewellery I do (regardless of it all being drastically reduced on sale) or make jewellery the way I do, and so has a problem with that and decided to take her anger and hatred out on me, or she blows all of her money (or mummy and daddy’s money) on big name designer duds and Kmart wear is so way beneath her. She trashed a store for God’s sake and that showed her problem with Kmart. Regardless of what it is.

Her jealousy is eating away at her and makes her angry; hence she unleashed her hate fuelled venom on me. Couture does apply to jewellery and I have no idea why she has such a hatred for what I buy. She clearly has no idea about designing either. I believe she would have read my side bar where I say I’m a jewellery, accessory and fashion designer, creator, collector and consultant and then wrongly believed that meant everything I had to wear had to be made by me for me to be considered a designer. But I’m sure even then she would have criticised.

I make jewellery, I buy jewellery, I have also made clothes, which I’ve posted in the past, that MAKES ME a designer. I also buy a lot, which MAKES ME a collector. She has assumed and wrongly labelled me with her jealousy, ignorance, and arrogance.

Then she made it even more personal and attacked the few food photos I’ve posted to Instagram, wrongly believing that was the food I ate all day every day and I would be getting more than a few “tiny” skin cancers if I kept eating. I’d posted 33 food pictures this year to the date of her comment, and apparently that’s the way I always eat, according to her. She must have gone all the way back with some of what she mentioned. The quarter cheesecake was shared with my mother as were the corn chips and two litre tubs of ice cream. She clearly thought I ate everything myself.

Wow, how freakin’ rude! What I eat is no one’s business. What I wear is no one’s business. My style is my style and I don’t give a fat rat’s whether anyone likes it. I’m forty freakin’ years old, why would I care what people think of me? I have no idea why she would feel embarrassed for me, that’s rude too because she’s ASSUMING I’m embarrassed, or at the very least, would be embarrassed by what I wear. Never mind the millions of comments I get when I go shopping, yep, they know style and individuality when they see it. And to attack me so personally shows her immaturity and insecurity in her own style, or should I say, lack thereof, the fact she cannot buy the amount I buy and the fact I also make jewellery would have set her jealousy meter off.

You don’t attack someone so personally, make a bunch of stupid assumptions and insult someone unless jealousy has set in. Jealousy fuels anger, anger fuels hatred, and hatred makes you rude. Insecurity shows immaturity and they are both a very big turn off. If you’re jealous of what I buy or make, I don’t want to know about it. They are your issues to deal with not mine. I did not make you jealous, angry or full of hatred. They are already within you and nothing to do with me so keep them to yourself and off my blog.

MY STYLE: WHAT I WORE

OUTFIT
TOP: Kmart for $5
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas Mardi Gras jewellery set and part bracelet stack (left hand), ebay and chain store bangles and rings.

MY PERSONAL COLLECTION: End of Winter Clothing Bargains

Now that Spring is here in Australia (we use the beginning of the month due to the Roman calendar apparently, while other countries use the 21st of the month as the official date due to the solstices and equinoxes), stores have once again been throwing out bargains. Because we tend to follow American trends, when it’s winter we get summer clothes in store, when it’s summer we start getting winter clothes, and it has been this way for decades, ridiculously so, but times are slowly changing where the clothes come in a little bit later every year. Summer clothes hit the shops back in August or so but tops are available all year round.

It’s funny, about ten plus years ago clothes were quite expensive in stores and as eBay and other stores emerged, especially online, we could buy cheaper on the internet than in store. With the GFC a few years back that trend reversed. I have found that prices, especially for shipping, on eBay has gone up quite a lot, while here in stores the prices have been dropped dramatically. Many retailers realised they could deal with the manufacturers themselves, as Kmart has done, and could then on-sell at a lower price to customers. They also did this to compete with online stores because we were all buying online. 

I was also buying a tonne in op shops because they were also cheaper, but alas, their prices have gone up and where I could buy a good looking second-hand top for $5 in the op shop, I can now buy a brand new one for the same $5 in store.  My, how times have changed.

Below left: Kmart $8 with pearly sequins on the white stripes | Below right: Millers $18 with small silver studs and stones.

Both of these were on sale and our Kmart can keep their prices down because they run their own manufacturing plants in Bangladesh and China so they have no wholesalers to deal with. 

Below left: Red Glitter stripe cardigan for $20 | Below right: lightweight pink multi quilted jacket for $5, yep, $5.

Both of these are from a small boutique called Lesley’s and they’re not only new to my shopping centre but they’re always marking things down. And they cater for larger people as well.

Below left: black and white cardigan for $12. Right: Retro/Channel style sparkly crop jacket for $20, both from Millers.

Both of these tops are from Millers, both on sale. Left was $18, right was $10. I’m a member so I get extra bargains.

I finally found a pair of summer pants, $18 from Millers of course, and they are lightweight and cool on a warm day. I’d been looking for a pair since last year and finally found a black pair that was plain enough to wear with anything. Although I doubt snake print would be considered as plain.

I also bought this tunic for $15, and if it looks familiar….

It’s because I have two more which I’ve shown in previous posts. Both of those were only $8 each on sale and all of these are from Kmart. Bargain City!

Have you guys been stocking up on end of season bargains? Stores here in Aus seem to be on sale all year round, constantly churning out new designs so old ones get dropped in price and jewellery is also cheaper in store than from eBay these days as well.

FASHION STYLE: Inexpensive Workout Clothes from Kmart and Target

On Tuesday I posted about my brand new exercise bike and how I’d been on a diet and exercise plan for two weeks, today, it’s about stylish and inexpensive workout clothes from Kmart and Target.

Below are Target’s workout tops for $20 and $7. You cannot go past a bargain of $7.

Target’s Crop tops priced at $15 come in a variety of colours.

Target also have shorts and pants in colours, stripes and patterns for $15.

Kmart recently released their latest catalogue chock full of bargains to be had and prices that are ridiculous.

Years ago, in my early 20s when I had lost all of my weight, I was wearing stylish exercise wear. I have kept many and the long tops are even handy for wearing around the house as many have built in crop tops/bras underneath. You also don’t need to wear much when exercising as you heat up and sweat.

Do you wear name brands or go for Kmart or Target clothes, and do you buy new exercise gear every year or do yours last for a few years before needing to be replaced with the fancy bargains in store? 

WANT IT WEDNESDAY: BANANA TREE necklace

This week the spotlight is on the AFRICAN SAFARI BANANA TREE multi row necklace. I came up with the AFRICAN SAFARI collection back in 2008. Yes, it has been a long time, and yes, the collection is still available due to circumstances I won’t go into, but I will go into the story behind the piece.

AFRICAN SAFARI came about because I had plenty of animal charms. I also bought a lot of pendants and divided them into silver and gold. Then I thought about the colours that would go with those pendants and charms. The wild deserts of Africa needed lots of golds for daytime and silvers for night time. Black and white added to not only zebras but the black of the sky and the white of the stars.

Rich browns, yellows and oranges added to the warm richness of the African heat, as well as eagles, monkeys, giraffes, snakes and zebras. I chose semi precious stones such as Snowflake Obsidian, Onyx, Goldstone and Amber. I chose rich pearl or stone look resin beads in banana, browns and blacks plus Cat’s Eye and glass beads. I added magic beads and silver and gold filigrees.

For the BANANA TREE necklace I used pearl resin beads in brown and banana, black onyx twists and ovals, gold filigrese, magic beads and Swarovski crystals. The giraffe is a brass pendant, the chain is costume.

The collection came together over two or three weeks of long hours and longer nights. The problem was, it was October 2008 and I’d just had nose surgery so was sitting there at the table in the dining room with a cotton wool bollard stuck up under my nose because I couldn’t blow it for a week and had to let it drip, gross, I know. So the weeks wore on and the collection grew to somewhere over 130 pieces. The names came about years later when I read an article about naming your products and it was fairly easy to name them all as each mini collection within the collection had a name. When I started selling on Madeit I also decided to put all the hair accessories together into hair kits, another idea I came up with.

The AFRICAN SAFARI collection is a rich luscious bed of African desert colours and wild animals. Each piece is a one off that you will never see or buy again so you’re guaranteed a piece of fabulous jewellery no one else has, and each piece is handmade in Australia with love and care.

HEALTH & BEAUTY STYLE: Setting up an exercise bike is hard work!

Who would have thought setting up the exercise equipment you want to use could be such hard work in itself!

I have found that my girth has expanded in recent years, like most other people, and am not the svelte self I used to be. I know that’s mainly down to lack of exercise and so I decided to do something about it…hopefully.

Once upon a time when I was in my early 20s, I was able to lose weight just by cutting the carbs and eating protein, but alas, times, and decades, have changed. In recent years I could only lose roughly 3 kilos (half a stone or 7 pounds), by drinking meal replacement shakes twice a day. You get quite sick of them after a while, and quite sick of not losing the weight you want, so, it’s an exercise bike for me…from Kmart, of course. 

For $59, weighing in at 11 kilos (almost two stone or roughly 26ish pounds) it measures in at 74cm long, 46cm wide and 100cm high, so quite small compared to the ridiculously huge Elliptical Trainer I had ten years ago. I shredded both of my knees on that but thankfully, I have only had a sore butt this time around and probably due to putting my lower back out as my chiro told me when she pushed me back in.

It took me just over an hour to put it together as most of it was relatively simple and straight forward. The only hard, or long parts, was trying to connect the tightening mechanism inside the posts and getting the black rubber grips on the hand section. I needed to use furniture polish, this is recommended in the instructions, and it took about fifteen minutes for both handles.

And here she is, and she’s BLUE! You all know I love blue and pink and didn’t even realise it was blue until I got it out of the box…even though the picture on the box is of a blue one…doh!

I’ve been going two weeks now and yes, I’ve also changed my diet. A one egg omelette with cheese in the morning, a healthy salad and meat wrap for lunch, and soup or veggies for tea. I stopped all Pepsi Max except for the weekends so it helps reduce the gas in my stomach, and I cut the carbs except for Saturday lunch. I jump on at 3pm when Extra is on, go as long as possible, and then lift weights for ten minutes. I’ve been feeling fine, except for the sore butt. I’ve had no cravings for sugar, chocolate or other carbs, nothing, and I’ve currently lost…….

4 kilos in two weeks, or 8.8 pounds or just over half a stone. Yay me!

MY STYLE: WHAT I WORE

OUTFIT
TOP: Kmart for $8 on sale. It has pearly sequins across the white stripes
JEWELLERY: Jewel Divas beadie bot necklace and bracelet stack (right wrist). Lovisa earrings, bangle, bracelet, rings.
SHOES: Kmart for $19, very comfy but alas, as with most shoes, there was a part that started rubbing and causing a blister. Over all, great shoes.

MY PERSONAL COLLECTION: More blue and green jewels

A few months back I bought a red version of this green ring and loved it so much that when I saw the green one I knew I had to get it. So a few weeks ago Lovisa was having a sale, as usual, and it was buy one get one free ring. So, I snapped up the green version (plus the one below) and only paid $17 for both.

I had to get this ring because it matched the bangle I showed you a few weeks ago. Had to make a matching set.

The only problem with the cuff, as with most cuffs, is they are not made properly unless you have skinny arms and can squish it closed a bit more than what it is. Hence my fat arm sticks out of the gap or it slips off at my wrist. Either way, they look good in front of Nancy Drew!

TRAVEL STYLE: Dreamworld

Oh Dreamworld on Queensland’s Gold Coast, how I love thee.

One of Australia’s best theme parks since the early 80s, December 15th 1981 to be exact, when it first opened but alas, it has really changed since I first went there when I was a kid. I’ve been back twice since, the last being 1999, and since then it’s changed again. The old Thunderbolt roller coaster got torn down for something new, and the old steamboat ride with it’s bush rangers is also gone along with my favourite southern fried chicken restaurant, but at least my two favourite rides are still there.

The Rocky Hollow Log Ride, which I go on, and on and on again.

And the Thunder River Rapids Ride. Great on a hot day.

Dreamworld is also host to our version of Big Brother.

And a recent addition is Zombie Evilution

They also have the adorable Tiger Island, where you can feed, take pictures with and watch adorable tigers go for a walk around the park, with a store to buy adorable stuffed tigers and other things.

And we would always end the day, around 4:30pm, with a chocolate sundae from the Ice Cream Parlour before winding our way out the door.

I love Dreamworld, it’s one of the Gold Coast’s best attractions and has millions of visitors every year. I still can’t believe it’s been open for so long.

Check out their website here, their Facebook page here.

WANT IT WEDNESDAY: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ bracelet stack

This week I’m talking about the CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ bracelet stack from the GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD collection, available here.