I came across these cool jewelry designs called Batucada jewelry. They’re from an up-and-coming design company in France and some of the stuff is just so pretty.

The jewelry is made from an synthetic Eco-friendly rubber, creating a tattoo-like appearance when worn. Because of the material it’s also waterproof and sweat proof. They’re perfect as casual, but trendy everyday jewelry. 

Most of the designs are available in 5 different colours: classic black, moka, silver, gold and shiny purple. Furthermore, two bracelets can be attached to each other to form a choker.

Although they’re a French company I couldn’t discover any European sites that sell them. I did though find a US store that does called Brooklyn5and10. There all the necklaces cost $34.95 and the bracelets $19.95. Sadly they only deliver to the US (shipping is about $10), so I’ll have to wait till I find a store here.

Check out the Batucada website for more cool designs.

I like my pretty gadgets to remain pretty. Preferably I’d stick them in a big plastic cocoon, where nothing nasty can happen to them, but that’s not very feasible. I hate scratches and smudges on my laptop (and phone and camera and well, any gadget), so I want some way to protect them. But at the same time I want them to remain shiny and pretty.

I haven’t tried these Gelaskins yet myself, but I’ve heard a lot of good things about them. It’s a very thin protective cover for your gadget and it uses micro channels to allow for a bubble free adhesion. It also doesn’t leave a residue behind once you want to remove it, so there’s no damage to your precious gadgets.

So far they’ve got Gelaskins for a whole bunch of different gadgets: iPods, phones, laptops (Mac and PC), even Nintendo DS and PSP. Not every design is available for every gadget, but even then you’ve got a huge selection to choose from.

The only problem I have is with the shipping costs. If you order an iPod or phone skin (anything but a laptop skin), it’s fine: depending where you are, the shipping is only between $4 and $6. If you want a laptop skin and you live in the US or Canada, you’re also fine: shipping’s only $7/8. But if you want a laptop skin and you live elsewhere, it’s suddenly $20. Eek! That almost doubles the price and that’s just a tad too much for something like this.

I’d like to get one of these for my laptop, but I’d have to order more than just the one for me. Anybody maybe interested in doing an order together?

Regular readers of this blog know how much I love my Threadless tees. I’ve got 6 of them myself at the moment and have bought 7 as presents for others. And I keep seeing more designs that I want. I’m not typically a t-shirt person, so it’s really the designs that makes me want to buy them. That’s why these new products are perfect for me.

They’ve been around for some time now, but Threadless (teaming up with Blik) offer also wall graphics of a select number of their designs. And most of them are so pretty! Depending on the size and complexity of the design, the price ranges from $30 to $50. It’s not something I could justify buying right now (not with the small flat we have, wouldn’t be worth it), but I can imagine once I have a larger place getting a couple of these.

The wall designs consist (most of the times) out of multiple smaller stickers, so you’re not restricted to arranging them in the same way as the original design. There are a couple designs that are also part of the Re-Stik collection, specially designed so you can use them over and over again (perfect for kids).

The US shop only delivers to US and Canada, but there is also an overseas distributor in the UK. Sadly though, this is more expensive (for instance £40 instead of $45), but it’s better than not being able to get them at all. To see all the designs head on over to the Blik website.