Saturday, September 24, 2016

New-In (Accs) : Laduree Macaron Keychain


I'd like to dress up my bags with little bag charms and/or scarves, and I always like how this Laduree macaron keychain looks like on other people's bags, so of course I wanted it for myself ;)

They are so cute and pretty, and they come in many colors. They are not cheap though, so I always hesitate to buy them. They are also not available in my country so I have to purchase them via a personal shopping service that can get you stuffs from abroad. 


Husband finally got me this Laduree keychain as a Valentine gift. We ordered it from Laduree Japan via a shopping service. It came in a beautiful box and the keychain is super cute !

I chose the brown color because I intend to put it on my brown colored bags such as my LV Neverfull Damier Ebene or my Michael Kors Jetset Tote in luggage. 

[UPDATED] : I also find it looks cute hanging from my Longchamp Le Pliage Small Tote in Beige (new bag!). Below is an example of when I use it as a bag charm in both my LV Neverfull and my Le Pliage :



Now don't they look cute together?
Thankyou hubby !


And here are my other bag charms using scarves :

LV Neverful bag adorned with a Fendi scarf 


Michael Kors JetSet Tote Bag with Laura Ashley floral scarf 



-----------------

Monday, September 19, 2016

Bag Review : Longchamp Le Pliage Tote (LLH) in Gunmetal

One of my most worn bag last year is definitely the Longchamp Le Pliage Tote Bag. There's nothing fussy about the bag. It's the easiest bag to wear. All I have to do is just grab it and fill it with anything I wanna take with me that day, zip it up, and I'm ready to go! Such an easy-breezy, one-size-fits-all everyday tote bag. Definitely one of my best pick!

Longchamp is considered as the entry door to designer / luxury world. Their most popular item is their iconic Le Pliage tote bags - which is also their most affordable item. The Le Pliage series is considered as "lower-end" in the designer brand hierarchy, because they have a "more affordable" price range compared to other designer bags. So the Le Pliage are usually the choice for girls who just ventured into "the world of designer bags", or girls who wants to buy their first designer bag but don't want to splurge too much as it is their first dip into the luxury world.

I got this bag for FREE (!) from a work-related job I had back in the days. As I have mentioned before, I felt really blessed and very lucky because some of my first designer items were free. Including my first ever designer item which is the Coach Madison Lurex Coin Purse, and my first ever designer bag the Kate Spade Georgina (both I won in giveaways), as well as a couple of other luxury brand items that were gifted to me from family or from jobs such as this one. I got very lucky and didn't have to pay anything for them, including this Longchamp Le Pliage Tote Bag. I am very thankful for all of it.. and still can't believe my luck :)
  

So anyway, this Longchamp tote bag is actually my third designer bag (first is the Kate Spade Georgina, second is the Michael Kors Jetset Tote). As part of a job I took I was given a credit voucher that I can use to purchase anything from any reputable online market. So I purchased this bag from a popular online designer outlet and then got reimbursed for it later. So this was another Free one indeed and I felt very blessed and thankful for that :)

I chose this bag because : (1) the credit voucher I was given had a limited amount and this Le Pliage is the only one I want from that budget range. And (2) because I've been wanting a Le Pliage ever since I learned about how easy and durable they are. 

It's "the versatile daily bag that every girl should have".


As you might probably know, the Le Pliage bag is a cult favorite. It is an ultra lightweight nylon canvas bag inspired by the Japanese art of origami. Simple yet eminently ingenious it has become a firm favorite all over the world.

The Le Pliage is known for their sturdy nylon material that even comes rain or storm the bag would stand it all. The material is waterproof, scratch-resistant, very durable, and can hold a ton of things inside. It comes with a zipper and flap for maximum security, and the nylon material makes it easy to clean (just wipe it off!).

Mine is a Longchamp Le Pliage Large size with Long Handle, in the color Gunmetal. I chose the long handle because I like bags that I can carry on my shoulder, especially for larger size bags. My petite figure doesn't allow me to carry heavy bags, so I personally think that larger size bag would be more comfortable if I can wear them on my shoulder. I thought with large bags we tend to bring a lot of products inside, and if it's a hand-held bag then I imagine it would be painfully excruciating having to hold that many weight on our hand for a long time. And I'm always a shoulder-bag-girl anyway :)

The color I chose is Gunmetal - which to my eyes it looks like a blue-ish dark grey. I originally wanted to get the black one or the blue one, but there were not that many options on the website at the time when I got this bag, so I went with this shade instead.

I love love love this bag. As I told you this is my most worn bag during last year, I wore it almost every day. The bag is very roomy with only one small pocket inside. I can practically put in everything I want in this bag. It fits my 13" laptop very nicely + my big iPad + wallet + huge planner + water bottle, even with an added umbrella this bag would still holds very nice!

The most important thing is how light this bag is! 
This is probably the most lightweight bag I owned so far. It weighs like nothing, so when you put your heavy items into it (such as laptop) then it wouldn't burden your shoulder so much because the bag itself is already very light, so it wouldn't add any extra weight to your shoulder. Nice, right?

I also love how I can wear it daily. It's my grab-and-go bag! Aaannd it's also perfect for travel or for a weekend getaway. With the large size you can fill it with clothes, wet bags, sandals, makeup pouches, and toiletries. Basically it would fit all your necessities for a short trip. It's perfect for cabin bag too!

And to top it off, the Le Pliage is known for their magical ability to turn from a large size into a teeny weeny itsy bitsy size just by folding it ! Yes, you can fold the Le Pliage so you can even bring it INSIDE your other bag for extra storage if needed.


How the Large size looks on my petite figure :
Psstt, I've read some girls also put the folded Le Pliage inside their more valuable bags (such as LV or Chanel bag), so when it rains they just take out the Le Pliage and put their LV/Chanel bag INSIDE the Le Pliage to cover it from the rain :)

I really love the Le Pliage so much it makes me want to get another one (or two more ;p).

On my wish list :
- Le Pliage Small size with Short Handle in black
- Le Pliage Medium with Long Handle in any color.


I also wanted the black Planetes one (the older version, not the Neo one) - but they are not produced anymore so I guess I'd have to hunt for the Planetes online or from private sellers.


Wish Me Luck on finding it!

Saturday, September 17, 2016

New-in (Clothes): DKNYJeans Wool Knit Sweater


Last week (September) there was a charity bazaar held by Club 21, a boutique that sells designer names. The bazaar is basically a boutique sale + designer garage sale that were held for charity. I of course decided to come because it was actually my first time ever coming to Club21 Charity Bazaar. I remember I came at the last day of the bazaar and on the way there I can't wait to see what would I purchase from the garage sale section.

It turns out that the garage sale section didn't really have anything interesting. Sure there were a lot of designer preloved goods (infact, almost all of the items on sale were designer brand names), but there was nothing that interest me, and maybe because I only came at the last day and the last minute so there really wasn't much left. Maybe the good stuffs were already sold out because all that's left was ugly dirty clothes and shoes that no one wants. There's a pair of Louboutins that looks like its still in good condition but it wasn't in my size (and it was still a tad expensive too). There was also a cute and girly Marc Jacobs rain boots for only around $20 but it was in shocking pink color (!) and it's not customary here in my country to wear rain boots, so I had to skip it because I don't think it's worth it. Another thing that I was gonna buy is a preloved travel document holder from Aspinal of London in very mint condition. It was made of rich luxurious leather in a royal blue color that makes me fell in love. I kept looking at it and then picking it up and then putting it down again (repeatedly). It was marked $30 and I didn't buy it, but at home I tried to browse around and I realized that it's retail price was a whopping $142 !

My mistake was I went to the bazaar when I know I didn't have money (yasss, so stupid, I know). But even though I didn't have money I still wanted to come to the bazaar just to see if there might be something cheap that I can take home. So the reason why I didn't get the Aspinal of London travel document holder (that I coveted) is because I already found something cheaper that I wanted to purchase. A grey ruffled DKNYJeans knit sweater that was marked down for 70% Off. Then surprisingly I got extra discount at the cashier so the last price I had to pay for the sweater was only $7 !! And it wasn't even from the garage sale section, it was from the boutique sale section (which means it's a new item from the boutique, not a preloved from club21 members). 
The sweater is a mix of viscose, cotton, wool, angora materials. It is warm and fuzzy, and adorned with feminine ruffles on one side. There are fabric ties on top and bottom of the ruffles, so you can wear it tied for more detailed look, or just let the tie loose. Thanks to the tie the sweater can also be ruched at the bottom, and this is how I mostly wear it, with a little ruched on the bottom side.

Unfortunately I didn't get the preloved Aspinal of London travel document holder, and that day I also saw a row of Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses at the boutique section that were on sale. Sadly the DVF dress was still too expensive for my budget at that time (even though it was on sale around $60-70). So I had to let it go.. But at least I got a brand new angora wool DKNY knit sweater for just $7 ! Ha!
---------------------------