Day #2 Fireworks by .allieee

Steal from friends.

Do you have a friend who is an obssessive vinyl collector? Who proudly shows off their neatly filed, carefully alphabeticised, colour-coded, genre cross-referenced collection whenever you visit? Sure you do – so why not snafffle a couple of choice items while they’re in the bog on your next visit? This technique is also commonly referred to as ‘borrowing’, as in “Hey can I borrow this for a couple of weeks, I’ll do a copy and bring in back next time I’m round”, the reply to which is usually “Yeah, course you can, no problem”, accompanied by a heavy inner sigh coupled with the resignation that you will in fact never clap eyes on said item again before Satan gets his ice skates on.

Steal from Charity Shops.

Your local chazza shop is a goldmine of useless tat, hideous odours and potentially, priceless gems just waiting to be uncovered amongst the Hot Hits compilations from the seventies and copies of Now 4 (one record missing). Charity shop employees, with an average age of 98, are legendarily the most flat-footed pursuers of opportunist thieves on the high street, so help yourself to an armful of vinyl safe in the knowledge that your getaway needn’t break in to more than a casual saunter.

Actually, don’t do this, it’s really wrong and immoral and so on.

Offer sexual favours to record pressing plant production line employees.

Why faff around when you can feed your passion by going straight to the source for your fresh, hot vinyl? Probably, many employees of such establishments are male, so if you too are male, this may involve some temporary homosexuality. They won’t have a problem with this, as even at these far-flung reaches of the entertainment industry, it’s well known that most people do in fact tend to be quite fruity. If you have an issue with this, perhaps you should be looking for another hobby. What’s the problem, huh? Don’t like gays or something? Some kind of queer-bashing hate-mongerer? That’s it, I’m calling the police.

Bonus Tip: Microwaves are friendly!

If ever I want to shrink something, I put in the microwave. This is ideal for all those 12 inch albums you may own that were full of filler tracks – just pop it in for 267 seconds, Gas Mark 99 and Defrost, you’re back catalogue of tedium is reduced to just the singles, and that one with the cool bongo fill around 2:38.

It’s hardly surprising they can’t get their shit together enough to find a picture of “Dr Hoffman” either. I’d have just stuck a photo of Belinda Carlisle up, nobody’s going to notice.

Step 1: Contrary to popular belief, you should wait until the dead of night before even thinking about opening your make-up box, bag or hidden floorboard compartment.

As you can see, I will be applying my slap tonight under cover of darkness. Look out the window; is it dark? Don’t be afraid to fly in the face of convention – most experts agree (not that they would let the ‘mainstream’ know), it is always better to apply make-up under dim, artificial light. In fact, turn all the lights off. By saving electricity, you’re making an important contribution to the fight against global warming. Pour a glass of wine to congratulate yourself.

Step 2: Let’s get started. Now, it’s understandable that you may feel the need to purchase an incredibly expensive foundation marketed by a multinational swank-emporium in order to provide a good ‘base’ to work on.

Rubbish. Your FACE is the BASE. Have acne? Pah! Bit blotchy from all that wine we just opened (you should have finished glass 2 at this point)? Au naturel is the theme here.

These are cost-conscious times, and even the top cosmetic peddlers are cutting back. Stay ahead of the fashion curve with this exclusive tip: STICKERS. Glamming up with a few well-placed adhesive illustrations really draws attention away from blemishes and puffiness.

I’m modelling a few choice examples from CBeebies magazine here – £2.50 every Wednesday for christ sake – but feel free to go for a cheaper alternative, such as corporate branding you may find on an everyday bunch of bananas (‘Fyffes’ are in) – or, make your own, for real individuality.

Step 3: The key to lipstick application is that there is no such thing as too much. Be bold. A slash of bright red lippy sends a strong signal – I am a sexual being, and proud of such. Do not be afraid to express yourself!

It’s a good idea to shave before this step – but you should be on glass 3 by this stage, and there could be repercussions.

Don’t be afraid to experiment here. I have improvised with a couple of swipes to the side-brow area – why not try the same across the eyes, or for maximum effect, using lipstick across the entire facial area? Obviously, my example is quite subtle, but try blending in with a little margarine spread across the brow area (Botox is so passe), or even a combo of several colours (stripes are big)?

Step 4: It can be disheartening when even after following these instructions for several minutes, you may not be quite as attractive as you had hoped (try opening another bottle of wine, and repeating).

Rumour has it that ‘digital manipulation’ is used to make many celebrities, who may otherwise be judged as ‘actually, quite ordinary’, look far better than otherwise might be the case.

Now, I’m not sure if this is true -surely celebrities wouldn’t lie to us – but why not Photoshop such a celebrity directly onto your face? I’ve provided a handy template in the image above, onto which I personally plan to embed a Flash slideshow montage of covers torn off the front of aspirational magazines in WH Smiths.