Create Big Brother Bedlam

If this year's Celebrity Big Brother is an experiment in how interiors affect your emotional psyche, then game on Channel 5! For the CBB House, full to the rafters with references of sorcery and witchcraft, has cast its ugly spell.

By now it's likely you're getting a bit bored of the bitching (very Un-Glamuary). But don't switch off too soon - you can always turn the TV on mute and focus instead on some cracking House Candy.

Anyone else loving the gorgeous Birdcage chandeliers dotted about the place? Whilst the real thing requires something of a celebrity pay cheque, it's easy to create a similar vibe using a wire cage and a simple string of fairy lights.

In the CBB bedroom department, things are less horny and more thorny than in previous shows. Still, a wicked witch has to put her pointy toes up somewhere and she should find this year's collection of pretty painted iron bedsteads a welcome change from her usual sleeping conditions.

I've got the very similar Primrose bedstead from www.next.co.uk in my guest room. Concerned it was a bit Prom Queen and not enough Rock Princess, I styled it with some sexy animal print sheets from www.very.co.uk It's now the perfect place for poor little Patsy to hide in her cute matching Onesie.

But it's here in my French inspired Darcy Bed from the dream makers at www.loaf.com where I await true love's kiss. This mattress is so comfy that in all my thousand year's slumber I have never felt a single pea. And in this Super King version there's more than enough room for a Handsome Prince or two. 

Elsewhere in the CBB house it has been slightly disturbing to note many more similarities between Big Brother's decor choices and my own.

1) There's the big owls and their eerily silent gaze...

2) There's the abundance of parody in the form of trompe l'oeil wallpaper… 

3) There's the unnecessarily large, cauldron-like silverware…

4) And there's the poor animals turned to stone…

All I need is a secret Diary Room  - oh and one of THOSE Abigail Aherne lamps please and I can host the next series! So Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it's off to therapy I go ... but what of this year's housemates?

Will the handsome Anglo/American Prince find true love charading as an ugly sister?

Will the wicked stepmother be choked by her home grown poison Ivy?

Will good overcome evil and Cheggers land a new TV contract? 

Spoiler Alert  - I have it on good authority that Big Brother's Fairy Godmother will send them all safely home, a little richer and a wee bit wiser. And of course they all live happily ever after in the land of make believe. Well apart from Katie Hopkins, who turns into a fat, lazy, ginger haired frog, named Charmaine.

The morale of the story: Decorate wisely and NEVER trust a snooty cow with a crooked nose.

The End.

P.S Thank you to the Genie that came up with the brilliant idea of auctioning off all the CBB furniture for charity - Grab your little bit of Big Brother Bedlam here www.gumtree.com 

January Stinks

Not a whiff of the winter blues at my desk.

Beach in a bottle, courtesy of www.jomalone.co.uk

Mid-week slump? Run out of nuts and berry super mix and reaching for the Wagon Wheels? If you're hiding extra pounds under your boyfriend's t-shirt and remnants of glitter gels are clinging to your toes, you need to seriously GlamUp. Welcome to Glamuary, Part 4: The Big Stink.

For this one I think you are ready to employ one of your newly detoxed senses...

The pine needles are on the compost heap, the plug-ins are running on empty and all that is left of the scented candle is a blackened jar of Christmas past. So enter Jo Malone and her unmistakeable scent of luxury and indulgence. Guess who just unleashed her new Room Diffuser. And she's not afraid to use it. 

Now with post Christmas finances as they are, I suspect room diffusing is low on your list of priorities. Mine too. But let me tell you of the simple pleasures this little pot of smelly water has brought to my life today:

1) I can see mess. I can hear wind and rain. I can taste vitamin tablets. But at least one of my senses gets a hit. I can smell sweet Lime, Basil and Mandarin. And it makes me happy.

2) I get that Jo Malone feeling every time I enter the room. The one where I go in the shop and candles are burning. Hands get rubbed in nourishing creams and life suddenly feels incomplete without a bow-tied bag.

3) The persistently wet dog is no longer offending my nostrils.

It's true. This is the Rolls Royce of room diffusers and there are lots of lovely alternatives out there that are more pocket friendly and less status symbol, but in my opinion none do the job better. Here are a few that hit the right notes:

1) Great budget option in a chanel-style bottle from www.yankeecandle.co.uk

2) A bit of Orla Kiely never goes a miss from www.johnlewis.com

3) Aromatherapy a-go-go  from www.nealsyardremedies.com

So with the toughest month of the year in full swing, don't give in to the Haribo addiction and its gummy grip. Get up off the sofa and give that fitness DVD a go. Ditch the dry shampoo and grab your curlers.  Glam Up and smell the room diffuser. 

Pay day may be a while away, but suddenly I'm stinking rich.

Happy Glamuary, love Claire xx

Soak It Up

It's foul out, which means we have two choices:

1) We can brave the wind and the rain, try to see the funny side as the brolly flies inside out for the tenth time, and ultimately wish we lived on Necker Island.

2) We can stay indoors and listen to the howling storms from the comfort of a hot, bubbly bathtub.

But wait, this is GlamJan remember so we're going full-on hour -long bath hogging, in broad daylight, whilst the children throw lego at one another and quite possibly starve downstairs.*

*No children were harmed during this experiment.

Yes, the only way to soak up the luxuriousness of bath time is to be totally and utterly selfish. Oh and to get yourselves an amazingly plush deep pile bath mat, so that when you finally thaw out, the exit becomes is a tiny bit more bearable. This rag-rug beauty is from House Of Fraser and sadly (for you) is currently out of stock so I have kindly rounded up a few alternatives that will do the job just as nicely:

1) Get the red carpet treatment at House of Fraser:
www.houseoffraser.co.uk

2) Add a touch of luxe from The white Company:
www.thewhitecompany.com

3) Trust your animal instinct at BHS
www.bhs.co.uk

4) Go Supersized at John Lewis
www.johnlewis.com

5) Add some sparkle at Next
www.next.co.uk

For those glutenous Glam-Jans out there who just can't get enough of this month long glamour fest, don't forget to exfoliate first and once dry, smooth on some fake tan … Et Voila! that January-just-off-of-the-plane look all the supers are coveting. Kate Moss went to Brazil, you went for a bath. Same difference.

Any GlamJan tips yet? I'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment and Follow, Follow, Follow for more essential tips on surviving the month everyone … OK ... someone is talking about …  GLAMUARY!

Claire x