Bling My Thing Blog

It was a pleasant surprise to see that many bloggers followed up on my previous article about our blinged Chevrolet Captiva. One blogger wrote at the end of his article: “Wonder what happens the first time you hit a carwash…”.  I would like to get some facts straight in order to prove that these blings are for real, and they stay on for a long time!First of all, the Captiva, which was presented in the motorshow, is not one of those  fragile, dust-free show-cars, but it’s been driven on a busy road in Bangkok everyday. Our crystals stay on for a long time, and being scrubbed in a carwash does absolutely no damage on our crystallized surface. It’s all because of our specially formulated glue and years of know-how in applying crystals

We wash it every week (thanks to smog in Bangkok) and so far no crystal has come off from the car. Some kids even tried to scratch some off the car thinking that they are diamonds. So far they have only managed to break their nails off!

To prove the point further, we even took the ride to Koh Chang, a rather primitive island (although second largest one in Thailand) over the Songkran festival, the Thai version of New Year celebration. There awaited: dirt road, dusts, sand, lots of water and people who throw nasty white powder at every opportunity they get!

According to Wikipedia: “The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this “blessed” water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.”

So you can imagine what can happen when you drive during this period of time. People are waiting for you at 10m interval by the road, or many equip themselves with barrels of ice-cold water, water-guns and buckets…. and they show no mercy in making others soaking wet.  I wonder if anyone stays dry! What’s really nasty is the white powder… they just throw it over your car and smear it all over your face (if you ride a bike, you are wet AND white all over!).

This is the picture of our car a day after we arrived at the island.

Our car got dirtier during our stay but when we took it to the carwash in Bangkok….it all came off perfectly without any damage to the bling!

The carwash guys found it funny to discover all these sparkly crystals underneath all that dirt

Sparkly yours,

MOAB from Bangkok, Thailand

  Here we are in Bangkok, again, being the successful bling bling match-maker  This time we got Chevrolet and Swarovski together, and our Chevrolet Captiva has been definitely one of the most photographed car in the show so far. I bet that’s because they can feel much LOVE poured into making this! Using over 150,000 CRYSTALLIZED TM - Swarovski Elements, every crystal has been applied one-by-one by our skilled craftsman. Over 300 hours have been spent in creating this masterpiece, decorating almost every outer chrom parts with diamond-like “Crystal” colour whilst adding some glamorous accent on the gold Chevrolet logo with “Light Colorado Topaz” CRYSTALLIZED TM - Swarovski Elements. Interior of the vehicle, on the other hand, has been mostly crystallized with Black Diamond, which sparkles with subtle elegance.  The vehicle is an ultimate model-car, which presents all the possibilities of how one can upgrade their vehicles with CRYSTALLIZED TM - Swarovski Elements with ease. It was not at all my intention to create something which can only become a show-car with ridiculous prices. This Chevrolet Captiva presents a collection of all the available, REALISTIC options one can choose in personalising their vehicles, and yes, it is affordable, too! If you like colours, choose one (or more!) from over 60 different stunning colours from Swarovski - or construct some patterns or add motives. Personalise it with your own initials or names.  The complete customisation including crystals on the custom wheels is priced at 1 million Baht (approx. 21,000 Euro). We already have orders to crystallise the number plate frames, logos and emblems. Let’s see, how fast the bling epidemic would spread across them!Sparkly yours,M.O.A.B. 

We are known to be the first crazy company who dared to bling the whole Xbox360 console with CRYSTALLIZED  (TM)- Swarovski Elements. The first one was commissioned by EIDOS, the company who developped the Tomb Raider games. It was crystallised mostly with SS5 (1.8mm) crystals and took weeks to complete - this is how I got a “tennis elbow” by working on it!  Then there came an additional order by Microsoft in the UK to produce several Xbox360 consoles with the Perfect Dark Zero design, one of which was given as the wedding gift of Ashley Cole and Cheryl Cole!

Doing such complex designs are fun. But sometimes I like working on something simpler, but stronger designs, like the UNION JACK!

Union Jack is powerful… love the strong colour combination of blue, red and white. We use Capri Blue for blue normally, but Cobalt can also create fascinating result. Light Siam is definitely the best colour for red.

Rather than posting a photo of the console, here is the rotating video of this most fabulous gaming console in the world! Enjoy…

Today I read an article about a teenage boy from England, who just changed his name to “Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined”.  What an awesome name…! If I could change my name, it would be something like “Ayano Also Known As The Mother of All Blings Who Just Wants To Make The World The More Sparkly Place”. How wicked would it be!

I was thinking, it would be a nightmareif he wanted to order some bling from us with his initials, then it would be CFFTSSBWTHATFCG…  Then I would say…. “could you consider just using your first name, “Captain”?

In Japan nobody has a second name. There is just one name so it is very simple. I really do not understand the point of having more than one name…. although, I always dreamt of having an English middle name when I was a little girl :) I envied my friends from Hong Kong who could just have English names… once I even met a girl who was called “Milk”! 

I just worked on an iPhone case with the coolest initials, which is A.A.A. Amna is a young, talented professional photographer from Qatar, and wow, it look amazing. A is also my initial & favourite alphabet so when I received a request from her, I felt jealous - wow, this person has 3 of my initials! So cool! Never thought that 3 of the same initials can be so vivrant!

All Rights Reserved © Amna A. Al-Thani 

This was the first time we used the new colour “Indian Pink”. Amna wanted to have her initials AAA on the background of Ruby to go on the iPhone case… but since this design comes in a gradation, we needed to come up with another colour. The choice was either this Indian Pink or Burgundy. The latter would have made the whole design more subtle and darker, so she went for the first colour to go with Ruby. It was the most amazing colour combination we have ever seen! We have seen a plenty of “pink” combinations so going for such a new combination was very refreshing for us.  So thank you Amna for giving us the inspiration, and now we have discovered the charm of Indian Pink… !  Soon I would love to try three colour gradation. Burgundy, Ruby to Indian Pink. I think it would be very beautiful.

I love A. Especially if it is not symmetric. It has more interesting character than any other round initials.  For me “A” is confidence, self-conscious and know where it stands! lol, it is just an alphatbet but hey, I am attached to it!

Sparkly yours,

MOAB x

Before showing off with some fabulous photos of this new Pentax K-m digital SLR camera, let me explain how amazing this camera is! According to Pentax, this camera is specially designed for entry level digital SLR photographers. It is a simplified, user-friendly camera with compact and lightweight body.

With our bling, this camera has reached the next level - while it takes you into the world of professional photography, it will certainly convert you into another BLING VICTIM! 

… I have a confession though: I had no idea what SLR meant! It stands for”single-lens reflex”, and “it uses an automatic moving mirror system which permits the photographer to see exactly what willbe captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to non-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly different from what was captured on film”.

HUH? Let me simplify that for you. Basically these cameras take much better photos than our small compact digital cameras, AND it has more area to be blinged!  The latter is definitely the most important point - the more bling, the more sparkly the world would become!

So ladies and gentlemen…. let us present you the new Pentax -m digital SLR camera with the BMT ornament design!

Ahhhhhhhhh! Look at that! A lot of effort went into creating this masterpiece… over 30 hours of hard work and thousands of crystals to fill the surface. The pattern is of course hand-painted prior to applying crystals. The colours we have used are: jet, light siam and crystal. Personally I would have used White Opal…

The camera is not the only thing which is blinged. The belt is also blinged with the elegant swirl pattern with Jet Hermatite, one of the most exclusive coated crystals available from Swarovski. It is metallic black so it has a very subtle, shimmering effect.

We are proud of this camera, and yes, really, we are looking forwaring to blinging more.

Here is the video

Sparkly yours,

MOAB x

Finally an article about us was published in the TIME magazine with a stunning picture of a BMW motorbike blinged with Swarovski crystals.

 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1841866,00.html 

We have had many press coverages but TIME? We were so proud of ourselves to be in such an international magazine! Yay! 

Even Reuters reacted to Yasmin’s article in TIME and they came to film us early this week.

It was a fun interview although doing an interview both in German and English was really strange. I think my brain thinks and works differently when I am in a certain language mode. Joanna, the journalist, asked me the same questions in both languages, and I had completely different answers. Amazing. I wonder what I would have said in Japanese?

Talking of Japan, we also appeared in the largest national TV channel in Japan (NHK) - the whole thing was about us introducing the Japanese “deko-den” culture to Europe and being successful blah blah blah, but it was amazing because they gave something like 10 minutes for it. It is a big deal - sounds very short, but it is a damn good coverage! Shame, I haven’t had a chance to see it yet!!! I hope they can send us the DVD soon… I am soooooooooooooo curious because they are the only one so far who has filmed our cadillac in action!

Oh, few weeks ago I was also interviewed by a radio DJ in Ireland - www.spin1038.com is the website for this station, The Spin. My first live radio interview. It was fun!

Actually both Reuters and the Spin wanted to know, what the weirdest objects we have ever blinged. For Reuters, it was the electric screw driver from Bosch. For the Spin, the vibrator! Well, I know where and how I should behave :) When I find some time, I will post another thread solely dedicated to these precious little toys, but for now, it’s time to say… LATER! got to get some beauty sleep :) 

Oh yes. At last our dream comes true. Bling My Thing finally launches “The Bling My Hairbrush” Project with Denman International, the worldwide leader in styling tool innovation and technology. Their hairbrushes are best known as “professionals hairbrushes”. Bling My Thing is the only company, who is authorised by Denman International to crystallise their hairbrushes - as you know, we only work with Swarovski crystals, so every brush will be supplied with a label “Made with Crystallized - Swarovski Elements” with our serial number to guarantee the authenticity of the products being made with Swarovski elements only.

Right now we offer Denman’s famous paddle brushes in medium and large, styling brushes in small and medium, and compact brushes to accompany you everywhere. If you want to have a complex design, go for paddle brushes. If you want something small with simple bling, choose styling brushes or compact brushes. But I would still recommend to go for the paddle brush, because it is simply amazing.  I’ve been using Denman’s paddle brush over a decade. I’ve never found any other hairbrushes which made me happier…

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Here are some more information on the brushes:

[PADDLE BRUSHES]

For gentle grooming, detangling and straightening, Denman Paddle Brushes are perfect for gently grooming all hair lengths and types. Ball-ended nylon pins set into an air-cushioned, natural rubber pad gently penetrate the hair without damage to straighten, smooth and dress the style.

What’s so good about a Denman Paddle Brush?

The Paddle brush is a multi-purpose styling tool suitable for most hair types and styles. The cushioned pad and rounded bristles make brushing hair a soothing and sensuous experience.

Special features and benefits include:

       - Soft rubber air cushion

       - Staggered pin patters

       - Ergonomic design

       - Textured non-slip handle

       - Heat and chemical resistant

       - Deal for soothing scalp massages

       - Hygienic and durable

[STYLING BRUSHES]

All the classic stylers are characterised by smooth, firm nylon bristles embedded in a pure rubber base. The nylon bristles are rounded at the ends, so do not scratch the hair or scalp. The rubber base is semi-circular in shape and this becomes more defined in the larger sizes. During blowdrying, you can rotate the brush through the ends of the hair, adding slight curl and bend. The classic stylers are heat resistant, so they can be used with a blowdryer. They can easily cleaned in soap and water. 

Small Styling Brush D143: it has only 5 rows of bristles however the handle length has been extended (Total brush length = 7.5″). The compact size makes it the perfect tool for shorter hair types, or for shaping wisps and bangs.

Medium Styling Brush D3: 7 rows of bristle. The D3 is recommended for medium to longer hair. It is Denman’s most popular styling brush.

Now we have a website for our blinged hairbrushes! Visit www.bling-my-hairbrush.com!

When we started, there was a company called NYC Peach. I visited their website some time ago but it was closed. I really wonder what happened?

Well, if you are looking for an alternative, I am sure we would be able to help you. Visit our website www.bling-my-thing.com and choose a perfect design for your favourite items!

Sparkly yours,

MOAB xxx