My nutty-looking iPhone is a point of personal pride. It’s true. These days, we have the ability to customise practically every aspect of our lives… & we should!

My phone, which is encrusted with teeny-tiny toys & casts rainbows around rooms when the sun hits it, is an incredible conversation-starter. Women squeal when they see it, little girls flip their wigs, & even tightly-laced dudes in suits have something to say about it (usually along the lines of, “Wow, that’s some phone case!”). My Japanese manicurist tells me every time she sees it that it is “really kawaii”, which in my mind, is the ultimate compliment!

It’s not fun to hog all of this stuff for myself. I want to encourage you to dress up your phone, too!

But be warned! I am telling you now, once you start to do a little research — otherwise known as falling down the rabbit hole — you will be astounded, amazed & slightly disgusted by the amount of crazy things you can do in the quest to thoroughly “personalise” your phone!

I’ve mentioned a lot of iPhone stuff below, but the great news is that there are plenty of alternatives for other phones, too. So don’t feel left out! (& don’t think this lets you off the hook, either!)

My case is from LUXYLOLI on Etsy. I really have swept the entire internet for the coolest, most interesting phone cases, & I haven’t seen anything that beats hers. (Not even those Swarovski-encrusted My Little Pony ones.)

I love her cases so much, in fact, that once my iPhone 4 finally bit the dust, I commissioned her to make me one for my 5. It is glorious.

If you want one of her crazy cases but you don’t have an iPhone, don’t fret! LUXYLOLI will make a custom case for you, no matter what kind of phone you have. (Kat has one for her Android, & loves it.) She can even make the whole thing pink, purple or rainbow if that’s more your style! Hooray!

But if a toy-encrusted iPhone case isn’t quite your speed, don’t worry, I understand! You have other options, for sure…

Yes, a pink glitter case can be practical! This 3D leopard head isn’t really, though. Nor is this very blingy peacock, but it sure is fabulous. Bows & pearls! A very chunky & rather over-the-top collection of toys! Hello Kitty’s face in Swarovski crystals! Leopard print & pink & crystals! (Kinda want that one for myself…) Hot pink cheetah print!

If you want your case to look edible, you’re in luck! This one is a veritable smorgasbord. This one too. Waffles, anyone? But perhaps you’re more of a macaron girl. Or do you prefer chocolate mint? There are also crackers, bacon, toast & Pop Tart options. This one is more general pastries.

This case is very spiky. This one is for you if you wish your phone was a Leica… Or a twin lens reflex camera. This one is for the steampunk in your life (!!!) & this retro phone-shaped docking station is kind of rocking my world. (I mean, they’re not strictly iPhone cases, but they’re too cool not to include!)

I’m secretly a bit afraid of this Little Mermaid iPhone case! This girl will make you anything you want. This is perfect for Barbie fans. (The same girl will also do you a pretty chic YSL or dripping Chanel logo…)

Phew!

I can’t believe I couldn’t find an astroturf phone case, though… ! SURELY that is a gap in the market!

If you want to be astounded, simply type “dust plug” into Etsy’s search box. It’ll give your mind quite a thrashing!

I didn’t even know these things existed until I walked into Patricia Field’s boutique one day. I immediately selected a bedazzled pair of turquoise bunny ears, which have taken pride of place in my headphone jack ever since.

So, plug something into your headphone jack, why don’t you? If you’re stumped for ideas, how about a dangly rhinestone heart? This is easiest the sparkliest pink phoenix I’ve ever seen (if not the only one!). You can plug the gap with a macaron, a fluffy pom-pom, a McRib (?!), a bowl of Lucky Charms, a hedgehog, a painted or crystal skull, a sparkly whale, a little knitted hat, a leopard bow, a donut…

I love this pink skull, sparkly star, little Volkswagen, bizarre bunny, sparkly snake, pink camera, & I am so into this pineapple!

The choices truly are endless. There’s enough stuff in there to push your husband RIGHT over the edge, I tell you!

There are even Starbucks dust plugs, which totally crack me up!

Rhinestone rabbit ears, though, are to me the clear choice.

These things, sadly, don’t last forever. My turquoise bunny ears bit the dust a few months after I bought them: the bendy plastic stopper finally bent too far. Boo! I think it can probably be fixed by someone crafty (like my husband), but I wanted to let you know that this kind of thing is usually not a “forever” purchase.

Still want to go ahead? Yay! You might want to buy a couple, or if you’re feeling DIY-tastic, you can buy the plugs & then attach whatever you damn well please!

P.S. I’m sure you don’t need anything else for your phone by now, but they also make sparkly charging jack plugs & bedazzled buttons… Just thought you should know!

There are so many fun accessories for phones. For example, the iPhone scuba suit means you can take your phone underwater & shoot photos or video with it. AHHH! (They don’t have a version for the 5 yet, but hopefully they will soon…)

This keychain tripod means you can film a video of yourself anywhere. Set up your phone in the woods & start filming! (Awesome.)

One of my newest obsessions is attaching different lenses to my phone. It makes using your camera so much more fun, & encourages silly creativity.

I have decided I need this set of Holga iPhone lenses! They are too cute. As they say, this set includes “lenses for dreamy vignettes, vibrant red and green color lenses, multi-image lenses for Spidey-vision (double, triple, and quadruple images), a macro lens for beautiful close-up detail and red, yellow, and blue filters with clear centers for framing your subjects!” I mean: YES!

Kat, Shauna & I played with these jelly filters when she was in town for The Blogcademy. We ended up with pictures like the one above, this & this! Pretty cool!

These magnetic macro, fisheye & telephoto lenses seem like must-haves. Oh, & if you need somewhere to keep all those lenses, how about in this little pouch?

One of the coolest iPhone accessories is something designed by Will.i.am: the iam+ foto. sosho. It’s essentially a case for your phone, but it has its own camera with interchangeable lenses & a crazy amount of megapixels. I saw Will using it at the EKOCYCLE event, & swooned hard!

You can use your phone to take great pictures, & I’ve written pretty extensively about how to take amazing photos with your phone.

I’ve since discovered a bunch of other fun camera apps since writing that piece, & here are some I’ve loved playing around with…

PictureFrames allows you to put a few photos together: great for showing multiple angles or a full-length shot with some details on the side.
Postagram allows you to make postcards of your photos. This is one of my best friends when I’m travelling! So much love.
Popbooth takes four photos of you & arranges them into a little photobooth strip. Then you can send that photobooth strip as a postcard!
Ink was created by the same company that did Postagram & Popbooth, & enables you to send 5×7 cards using photos from your phone. The designs are slick & cute. Love this app, too.
LensLight is great for adding bokeh (especially heart-shaped bokeh!) to a picture.
Picfx has a selection of cool filters. Again, some really nice bokeh!
Pici Booth makes your iPhone into a little photobooth! It takes three shots in succession, then compiles them into a strip.
PhotoWonder allows you to do really weird things, like enlarge your eyes, “delete” your blemishes & “thinify” your face. I mean, wow!
Kaleido Lens & Kaleidoscope turn your camera into a psychedelic wondertrip.
GirlsCamera gives you approximately three trillion stamps that you can apply to your photos, just like being in a Japanese photobooth!
Afterglow is a great photo-editing app which gives you circle frames & lens flares, among other cool effects.
ShakeItPhoto only develops after you really do “shake it like a Polaroid picture”… !
iBlendBabe takes two photos & combines them. The results are weird & sometimes beautiful!

On the non-camera side of apps, I love…

Day One is a clean, simple & easy journalling app. You can even set reminders so that you remember to update it.
MakeupAlley which is great for looking up makeup reviews while you’re in the drugstore!
Amazon which I mostly use as a way of adding things to my shopping list, books etc.
Yelp because I can never remember the address of anything, & I am compulsive about reading reviews.
KAYAK is an international playgirl’s best friend!
Fandango is the easiest way to book a movie ticket…
Etsy which I used in the Apple store to buy my new case before my iPhone 5 had even been rung up.
MyFitnessPal which I use to log my food & exercise. I know, I’m a nerd!

So much fun can be had with your phone. Do you have a case, a dust plug or an app that you’re completely crazy about? Tell me all about it!

Sparkle on!