A "Proper" Winter Jacket

Zoe's been complaining about not having a "proper" winter jacket. Yes, she uses the word "proper" quite a lot when it comes to clothes. "Proper" as in something she can use to make porma. After searching countless tween stores and brands, I finally found this:

It's from Aussie brand Bardot, which has a tween line called Bardot Kids. The adult sized jacket is about 330 AUD on the online store, but the kid sized ones are about a hundred bucks less HOWEVER ... because I found Zoe's from Myer which is having a clearance sale at the moment, I ended up paying 112 AUD for this jacket. I went for a slightly bigger size so Zoe can still have a "proper" jacket till the next winter or two.

I'm a bit jealous, I should have gotten the size 14 - wishful thinking tells me I can still fit in kid-sized clothing. :(

The only bargain I scored for myself lately is a tee from ... *drum roll* Bardot Kids line.

Sale Alert!

Long time, no post. (Read: long time, no shopping!) And that is true!

Today, after a very long time, I ventured into the shops with my newest officemate DR and we passed by this glaring sign by the Nine West store:

DR and I went in immediately and went straight for the boots. Prices range from the 160-180 AUD for the knee-high ones. I tried on 3 pairs, DR did about 4.

I almost bought this and DR this but instead of being kunsintidora to each other's impulses, we stopped each other from buying those shoes just because they were on sale. There's finally some sense injected into my brain, don't you think? :)

-----------------------
P.S. I think I should start reporting on Zoe's shopping haul - lately she's been the only one who gets to hoard stuff - well, just about right for a growing girl. (The other day I bought her a pair of skinny jeans in size 9 (her age) and while the length fits her like a glove, the waist was too small!)

My Not-So-Bargain Finds

My recent venture into the city shops have caused some damage to my bank account. No, nothing major. I honestly think they were good buys - probably not 100% necessary - but my excuse is that I felt I had to take advantage of the mid-year sales. (And I need another pair of black shoes.)

... which leads me to point out that Australian sales are crap. Prices are too high to begin with so even if stuff go on sale, they will always be comparably higher than their overseas counterparts. Like this Nine West shoe for instance.

(I know it's so boring and bordering on matronic but they are practical shoes for someone who works in the city and walks around much, i.e. shops around during lunch time.)

Anyway, this pair in the Sydney stores cost 99 AUD. Go to the Nine West US website and they are on sale for 29.99 USD. Alright, the US site no longer has my size but still ... Just disappointing but not much of a choice either.

I also got this organic cotton tee from French Connection - I figured if I buy sale stuff, I might as well do something nice for the environment by supporting organic stuff like this tee. This is on sale for $19.95.

I also got Zoe this baker boy hat in black. So cute on her. :)

That's pretty much it. See? I've been good!

Bargain Buys from Valleygirl

Yesterday was the first time I ventured out into the shops since the stocktake sales began. This entire week all I did was stay at home ("working from home"), instead of working in my office in the city, where I'd be hitting the nearby shops because I'm too bored.

I didn't intend to buy anything for myself but I went to one of the best stores for cheap thrills - Valleygirl - and look at what I scored.

This one's on sale for $19.95, marked down from its original price of $30. It is made of silk and is in a very vibrant colour of violet. The embroidery is decently done, with rich colours of yellow and other shades of violet.

The other super-bargain I scored is this jacket (but mine's in a navy blue color). It's very well-lined, the fit is great, and most of all, it's only $25!

I think Valleygirl is our version of Forever 21 ... cheap clothes of dodgy quality (most of the time) but will still give you your shopping fix, I'm sure you know what I mean.

Valleygirl's website is here.

SATC Hangover

I can't believe I lost a long draft post about my current shoe obsession fueled by SATC The Movie. Kainis. Complete with pictures and links pa naman yon!

Anyway, I'm still not over the movie. It feels like I have this prolonged hangover, which was partly cured by the coffee table book that was released after the movie. It is sooo damn good. It's a nice supplement/companion/souvenir, if like me you are a big fan of the series.

All I want to buy these days are shoes. But none of those Manolos or the Choos or Louboutins - when it comes to shoes, I am not a big spender although a few Marnis and Chloes are sort of making me rethink my position when it comes to shoe budgets.

Anyway, while browsing through online shops, I found some shoes that are almost identical to some of the shoes worn in the movie. Focus on Carrie only though. I have yet to do my "research" on the other girls' shoes.

1. Dior Extreme gladiator sandals - Carrie first wore this with the white dress in the opening scenes of the movie. I think even non-shoe fiends who have seen the movie noticed these shoes.

Dior Extreme

Here's what I found on Aussie brand Wittner's website. *drum roll, please* Wittner Vixen gladiator heels, for $169.95.

Wittner Vixen

2. Walter Steiger red strappy pumps - I can't remember when Carrie wore this pair in the movie but in the lookbook, she's pictured wearing a black pair of undies, red cardigan, and these shoes.

Walter Steiger shoes

And still on the Wittner website, a very similar-looking pair exists! This, below, is Wittner Camilla, on sale for $49.95!!!

3. Carrie wore this Gucci pair with those odd-looking YSL beige pants in the movie.

Gucci heels

Guess who has a very identical copy? It's Nine West! Theirs is called Olavera.

Nine West Olavera

That's all I can post for now. I know there's a couple more designer-inspired pieces from chainstore brands - will try to update later. ;)

Bursts of Yellow

Motivated by boredom and inspired by my yellow Bayo bag, I had a bit of fun re-creating outfits and throwing in a yellow piece. Not to be tempted by yellow skinnies - I think they are too teeny-bopper for me - I think I'll just settle for basic pieces in yellow.

Black and Gray ...

... and then a burst of yellow!

(Outfit: Express gray tee, Witchery scarf, Decjuba blazer, SFAM Flynt jeans, Nine West gladiators, Bayo bag)

Monochromatic earth hues ...

... and then a bit of sunshine!

(Outfit: Tyler cream knit shirt (worn under the jacket), Kookai brown jacket, Zara wide-legged tweed pants, Tony Bianco bone-coloured round toe wedge pumps, Bayo bag)

Black + Gray + Pearls + Yellow Shoes

(Outfit: Sportsgirl black/gray striped turtleneck tee, Witchery vest, Marcs slim pants, Schu yellow pumps)

Black + a mustard yellow coat

(Outfit: Cue mustard yellow coat, Cotton On black l/s tee, Marcs slim pants, Sapato Manila ocelot print wedge pumps)

That's it for now! (I'm supposed to be working!!!)

Pinas Shopping Report

Because I toggled between Makati and Bulacan during my two-week stay in Pinas, it meant that I was away from the shops at least half of the time. Also, the rains didn't help and the fact that all stores carry their spring/summer collection which I can't wear until the next summer in Oz, and by then I'm pretty sure they've already lost their fabulousness so sayang lang. I won't be able to post all of my haul - it doesn't mean there's a whole heap of them, konti lang talaga I swear - but here are my favourite ones.

Shoes - I've said in the past that for me, Pinas isn't the best place to buy shoes from. I can count in one hand the best local brands in terms of design and quality, but at least there's an abundance of international brands na, lalo pa ngayon. I didn't have very high hopes for finding nice shoes although I kept an open mind and still scoured the shops. I was looking for gladiators and something I can wear for the Aussie winter. Ito ang mga na-score ko.

Nine West Sulliban

(This is still being sold at full price in Nine West stores in Pinas, kahit sa US naka-sale na sya. :( I bought na din kasi next year pa yata ito ilalabas sa Australia. Double :( )



Schu

Schu was having a buy-one-take-one promo when I went to their store. IMO, this was the most decent looking pair in the store, the rest are fugly. I think this is nice with black tights for autumn/winter to match with girly outfits. I also like that it's a very light shade of yellow.

Bags - There were two only bags I had in mind: a yellow one from Fossil (which I discovered shortly before I left for Pinas) and the Longchamp bag with the fashion victim illustration in pink - these ones in particular.

I know that Rustan's carries Longchamp so I checked if they had this bag. They only had it in white. :( The Fossil store in Glorietta 4 didn't have this bag, or any yellow bag for that matter. I saw some patent yellow ones from People Are People in Power Plant but I thought those looked a bit tacky, but I was *this* close to buying one. Buti na lang I went to Bayo and I saw this.

It's patent and it's yellow and it's less than Php 1,500.00. Winner!

Then much later on, at the old NAIA on the day I was flying back to Sydney, I saw that some Longchamp bags were on sale. They didn't have the one I was looking for but they had the bag with the colour, the size and the band length I've been wanting to get because of its practicality.



Longchamp Le Pliage in Large

This was originally USD 140 but was on sale for USD 126. In HKIA though, this was being sold for USD 118. So buy in HK!

Accessories - When I think of accessories in Pinas, I only think of a few things: pearls, native wood, and indigenous materials.

I was so tempted to buy a Chanel-inspired pearl necklace from Sportsgirl before I left but I thought for about the same price (40 AUD), I can get really nice pearls from Pinas na kahit pano, may value. So I went to Greenhills and bought two long strands of pearls. (Later that day, I wore the string of pearls to my SATC movie date night with friends. So very Carrie! (If you saw the movie, I'm you'll know what I'm talking about.)

Speaking of pearls, this set of strands are added to my small collection of pearls. (Earrings not in the photo.)

Another favourite purchase is a set of bangles made of kamagong wood with semi-precious stones as charms, from Tweetie de Leon's accessory line called Ice Crystals. I got this from Rustan's Essences, where there is a stall inside that carries these accessories. Daming nice! I should have gotten the rose brooch carved out of kamagong wood.

Lastly, this rather simple bracelet from TANGO, which I think would make for a good all-year-round accessory.

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

I didn't buy much clothes because as I said, there's hardly any that's practical for winter. I bought a couple of dresses which I wore in Pinas, and I doubt if I can wear those here before the next summer in Oz. However, I still had to buy from Tyler and Zara - two of the stores I missed the most. I got a few things from Souk also, and was so happy to discover The Ramp already in Glorietta. I'll try to post my clothes finds later.

Just A Tease

I have quite a bit of shopping report to post about as I had lots of good finds while I was away in Pinas and for a short time in HK (en route to Manila), but it's no fun to post without photos obviously so I will have to do this later this weekend.

I have to mention though that I'm so glad I posted about the shoes I'm loving at the moment (see prior post) because (1) I was able to get 2 out of the 4 styles I previously wrote about, and (2) I remembered I've been trying to source yellow or orange Dr. Marten's for Zoe and moi and have found these online.

So more to come tomorrow. I'm dozing off now.

Them Impractical Shoes

I'm obsessing about impractical shoes (bordering on stupid almost, due to to the potential damage they can cause to my back, not to mention to my pocket considering they will most likely hardly be used). Today I realised I've only bought "practical" shoes lately and have not bought anything "statement". So I've been prowling on the net for some ideas and here I found ones I don't mind having. :D

The Gladiators

(NineWest Heech, image from ninewest.com)

I probably don't have the legs to pull this one off really well but what the heck, I'd still love to at least try these on. Too bad they aren't sold in Oz yet. Hmp.

(Paul & Joe, from shopbop.com)

I have fat calves and there is no way I can wear this without looking funny. I wish I have model-thin legs.

Bold Colours

I'd like to get something in a ridiculously bold colour too. I haven't bought anything other than black or nude or brown for the longest time. I'm thinking blue or yellow would be good.

(Tahari, from piperlime.com)

(Leopoldo Giordano, from shopbop.com)

Stacked Heel

These are very retro and yet so now. They're not too bad to walk on as well cos the heels are pretty stable. I think among the three styles, this is what I'm more inclined to go for.

Two Lips, from piperlime.com

(Frye, from shopbop.com)

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

I don't think now's a good time to buy these types of shoes in Oz. It's winter and all the stores are carrying boots and booties and "normal" shoes in shades of gray and black and tan. I will try my luck overseas. :P

Dressing Up

I'm still obsessed with dresses despite the autumn chill and in the last few weeks I've bought a few.

Witchery print dress:

In the Melbourne cold, I wore this dress with a black skivvy, black opaque tights, black round-toe wedge pumps, and a khaki trench coat. It was very girly. I love the girly-ness of the dress and its vintage-y look.

Aboutthislabel.com Dress (from General Pants)

My love for black & white must have come from my years of wearing the Paulinian uniform. When I saw this dress in a magazine, I quickly went to General Pants and checked it out. I loved it instantly. For less than a hundred bucks, I think it's a bargain cos I can wear it across seasons. On not so cold days, I wear this with leggings and black flats and some colorful bag. For the cooler days, I wear it with my knee-high boots and some loose cardigan and a scarf.

FCUK print canopy dress

I saw this dress on the FCUK website as the main picture for Women's Wear collection. (See here). When I saw it was on sale (for a cheap 40 bucks), I bought it and blatantly copied the colour combo on the page. :D I used my fave biker boots with it, to give it a bit of tough-ness. On a casual night out, I wore this and a very stylish lady complimented me. ;) (It must have worked then!)

This shirt dress

This dress is from General Pants' website, from a label called Don't Ask Amanda. This style has been done by various brands, I got mine from Country Road. (In fairness, I think Country Road was the first chain store brand to come up with this style cos I've had this dress na for a while now.) I like how I can wear this dress in various ways and how each one is a different look. You just have to experiment.

Target has also been a source of some cool and cheap dress finds, including the Zac Posen for Target dress - (part of the Glamour Collection, 1st dress on the second row), and a skivvy dress from Free Fusion. I don't have pictures of these but you can check out the sites.

I thought autumn/winter would kill renewed love for dresses but obviously not. :P (That's why we have boots!)

Melbourne Effect

The long absence of post in this blog did not mean another dry spell in terms of shopping - not this time. After all, I've spent a lot of time in Melbourne so I defied the rules of practicality and bought quite a few. Yes, I didn't exactly shop up a storm (although I kind of wish I did) but I still bought even though no one thinks I need any more stuff.

I did my washing today and realised that I had none of the pinks and the yellows and greens in the loads of my own clothes. The new stuff that I bought, even those I bought in Sydney over the last few weekends, were all either gray or black. That is what I call the Melbourne Effect.

All of a sudden, I find the "add a splash of colour in your wardrobe" fashion rule sound too passe. I embraced dark and black (not goth though), and have forgotten about how I have bold pinks and yellows and greens and reds. (When I embraced colour, I embraced them bold.) I was never into pastel - with the exception of the daintiest shade of pink in a striped business shirt from Tyler which is my favourite. But these days, my love of colour has been pushed back, at least for now. Let's see how the next coming weeks will change all that.

I've got plans for Mother's Day today but hopefully soon I'd be able to post about all of my not-so-secret stash here. :)

Bamboo Is The New Green

One of my favourite (fairly) recent purchases is a gray shawl from Country Road. It is made of 100% bamboo, as it says on the tag. Since I realised it is made of bamboo fabric, medyo naintriga ako ... I didn't know bamboo can be made into textile and a very soft one at that.

Bamboo fabric, it seems, is still relatively unknown. I asked my colleagues in the office if anyone of them is using sheets or towels made of bamboo and I got a really weird look from all of them. I suppose they, like me initially, were imagining the woody texture more than anything else. Very few "mainstream" shops that I know of carry items made of bamboo, but there's quite a few online shops that sell them.

I only have raves about my one-and-only bamboo item at the moment so I am pretty sure I'd like to get more - bamboo sheets, bamboo towels, and maybe another bamboo shawl. Here's some more stuff I found out about this wonder fabric:

1. It's comparable to cashmere, pero sabi nga ni Lumen, 'sing-lambot, pero di 'sing-mahal. And machine washable pa. (Obviously you shouldn't machine wash your cashmere. I did that with a jumper and nag-shrink. Kasya na kay Zoe ngayon.)
2. It's hypoallergenic.
3. It is 60% more absorbent that cotton. That makes it ideal for gym wear, among other things.
   
4. It is an environmentally-friendly fabric. Bamboos are easy to grow, and the fabric that's made out of them are 100% biodegradable.
   

Come on, anyone should be sold on this already! Buy na! :)

Shoes of The Month

A friend of mine has recently moved from Pinas to Sydney and when I spoke to her last time, she asked me what type of shoes she should buy. (Well we talked about other more important things of course.) She asked me if pointy shoes are still in and my answer was quite indirect (and was in in no way indicative of the actual trend when it comes to shoes) : my recent buys are all round and the torn-between-round-and-pointy type.

I was in some kind of shoe binge last month. (Yes, I cringe at the thought. I can still hear my dad's sentiment he told me many years back: "House deposit na yang mga ginastos mo sa shoes mo.") Back to the topic ... none of the shoes I bought were pointy, all fall in those two types that I mentioned.

Here's two of my most-used pair at the moment.

This is probably the best pair of flat shoes I ever had. Other than the obvious (nice leather, gorgeous colour, understated detail), these also happen to be the most comfortable not-so-flat flats. (The heels are about half an inch or just slightly less.) I think it's "inspired" by a Chloe pair, but these are from Robert Robert, which is an Australian shoe label. I love RR shoes. They fit my wide magsasaka-like feet very well. And their shoes last a really long time. I got these from Zomp Shoez.

The other one is kind of quirky, and it's not so me but I like this pair a lot. Very nice for spring.

I wear these with pants and dresses with tights. The stacked heels make them quite comfy to walk around town (except the downhill streets of Melbourne). The booty style is something I didn't think I'd wear but surprisingly, this one works quite well for me.

All my pointies are in their shoe boxes and hardly get taken out. The ones that I use to work are the roundies and the almond-toes. I wouldn't claim it's the trend, I think it's more a case of me being practical (comfort before anything else) and old. :P The other pair I wear to death are these:

(I wasn't going to mention this Witchery pair but I felt guilty as these have been used and abused for a while now. So yes, they deserve a mention.)

Shopping Fix

My Melbourne buddy complained about how I don't update this blog regularly anymore. I explained that I hardly shop recently so I haven't had much to write about. Since taking on the Melbourne project, I miss out on Sydney's late night shopping which is on Thursdays; Melbourne's, on the other hand, is on Fridays, which is when I fly back to Sydney. The weekends, for the most part, are spent catching up on chores and friends. (Catching up with the latter is an ideal weekend activity as it usually saves me from the trouble of having to cook. :P ) See? There's no time!

At least I can partly get my shopping fix from online stores. Not that I buy anything (apart from the Sephora loot I bought a few weeks ago) as I mostly just browse and sometimes even "add to my cart". I very rarely buy. Online shopping may be convenient and a lot of times more practical than buying stuff from the "proper" shops (particularly stores in Australia) but the experience of "proper" shopping is still the best. Nothing beats the thrill of going into a shop and scouring through the racks and finding something you like and trying something on in the change room and going out of the store with a bag or two and a smile on your face.

And then of course, there's airport shopping - not just duty free shopping, but also regular shops in airports that have traveller-friendly store hours and regular retail prices ... now, waiting for boarding time doesn't have to be so boring anymore! I am loving the fact that Witchery and French Connection are on Terminal 2, which is where I catch most of my flights from. There's also Mimco, Global Rags (which I have yet to explore), and Bonds.

Anyway, this morning, I managed to get these from FCUK.

Images from FCUK website

I got a pair of black ribbed tights as well to complete the outfit. (I was gonna wear my round toe suede wedge pumps to complete the look.) In theory, this would have been a perfect "Melbourne outfit" - top is a nice simple piece ideal for layering, the entire outfit is dark-coloured and has that "sophisticated" look. BUT nyek! ... when I tried on the skirt, it didn't turn out to be as nice on me. It was puffy in all the wrong places and I looked really frumpy. In theory lang sya maganda. (Of course the skirt is going back to the store on Thursday when I fly back.)

At least I'm going back Thursday this time. (Friday's a holiday, ANZAC Day.) I'll check out Witchery this time. I'm really liking these.

Images from Witchery website

Looks good in theory, let's see.

Time for a Night Cream

Because I've been working with my AFF again (as opposed to BFF) - Affluent and Fabulous Friend, J.L., as I like to label her, I began to notice how nice her skin looks. She smokes and drinks but somehow, those didn't seem do much damage to her skin. In fact, to me it looked like her skin's even more glowing and healthy this time compare to two years ago. (No offense, J.L.!)

One day, from a shopping lunch spree on her own, I found out her secret: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Protective Complex.

She got this plus a bunch of freebies as Estee is having a gift with purchase at the moment in Myer. The GWP is also actually quite good, so if you are in Oz, check it out at Myer.

I bought this as my aging face needs a night cream, I can tell. I've only started using it two nights ago but I am hoping I get fabulous results like my AFF-with-glowing-skin J.L. :)

Yellow Dreaming

Do you know of The Sartorialist blog? I think you should. Since discovering it, I've made a daily habit of checking it out (sometimes even before checking my work email :P).

This beautiful photo from the site has made me wanting a yellow bag of that shade. A happy yellow kind of shade. Is this canary yellow? Not too lemony yellow.

In Australia, yellow is actually "so last season" (if you consider the fact that our seasons are so out-of-sync with the rest of the world) but I don't care. I love the pop of yellow amidst the blacks and grays of winter. I want something in a fun and carefree style.

Michael by Michael Kors from Net-A-Porter




Rabeanco leather tote from BagsnPacks.com.au




Chat Chat tote from BagsnPacks.com.au

I need a yellow bag!!!!