Subtly Spooky (& Trollbeads Giveaway)

[This post is sponsored by Trollbeads.]

I used to absolutely hate Halloween.

Seriously, I was like the Halloween Grinch or something: one of those people who’s all, “Grown adults in fancy dress? Awkward.” At work, when people would insist on some kind of Halloween-themed celebration, I’d point-blank refuse to join in … unless there was cake, in which case I’d grudgingly don a witches hat, or a pair of cat’s ears, and complain about it until I was allowed to remove them again. Or until the cake ran out – whichever came first. In fact, one of the best things about becoming self-employed for me was knowing I’d never again have to wear a Christmas jumper, or a witch costume, or pink for Valentine’s day, or anything AT ALL designed to “celebrate” a made-up holiday, because all of that was just SO STUPID and SO TOTALLY HUMILIATING, and that was that.

(In completely unrelated news, I was never very popular at work. I wonder why?)

Then one year, Terry and I were invited to a Halloween party. And it changed my life. Nah, OK, it didn’t. It did totally change my outlook on Halloween, though, and after that I was all, “Grown adults in fancy dress? AWESOME.” And it IS awesome. No, really: I love Halloween now – it’s one of the highlights of my social calendar, and not JUST because it’s one of the only things ON my social calendar. I mean, when else can you get totally over-dressed and NOT spend the whole night having people ask where you’re off to and why you’re “all dressed up”? Exactly.

(Oh, and Halloween is also a pretty useful way for us shy introverts to socialise – all those costumes make really easy conversation openers…)

As much I as I now look forward to the opportunity to get dressed up every year, though, I do have some rules about it, the main one being that whatever I do for Halloween, it has to be fairly subtle. I don’t go in for the really OTT costumes – so nothing too scary (OK, my ‘Samara from The Ring’ costume was pretty scary, I’ll give you that, but I only wore that because my friend Ewen challenged me to do something non-“glamorous”), and nothing too ridiculous, either. Honestly, I really just use it as an excuse to get really glammed-up, to be honest, and if I’m going to add a spooky touch to my everyday outfits, it’s going to be something equally subtle, like this bracelet by Trollbeads:

Which, I mean, is creepy, sure… but I think it’s also pretty cute. And I’m sure I don’t have to point this out, but guys? It has a face. You all know how I feel about things with faces, don’t you? I’m an absolute sucker for them: especially ones that are trying to act all scary, but which you know are secretly just big softies at heart.

Trollbeads call this guy their Gloomy Bracelet (I, meanwhile, call him Jim. Because that’s his name. I know because he told me.), and he’s part of their Halloween collection, which is full of pieces which will allow you to add a touch of subtle spookiness to your outfit in the run-up to Halloween – or provide the perfect finishing touch to your costume on the night itself. They’re also offering 1 lucky reader the opportunity to win a Jim – I mean a Gloomy Bracelet – of their very own (Note: yours won’t be called Jim, obviously. Yours will tell you its name when you get it: you just have to listen really, really carefully…).

All you have to do to enter is

A) head over to the Trollbeads website and sign up for their newsletter

B) Leave me a comment telling me what you’d name your bracelet.

C) Check back on October 25th, when I’ll be announcing the winner!

Oh, and while you’re waiting to see if you’ve won, here’s Jim’s video debut, in this Trollbeads video – and if you’re looking for more Halloween inspiration, you can check out their Instagram, too.