Valen’s Vanity Square

Oh my gosh, I was such a big spender the last weekend! I couldn’t believe this myself - I actually bought my first (two) ever Coach bags!

Err, well, they are neither handbags nor tote nor sling bag, just a large wristlet and a coin purse from the new MADISON DOTTED OP ART collection. I think I went a big crazy that day. I can be very sensible when talk about weight loss and diet pills, but sanity has to be put aside when it comes to shopping for handbags and items alike.

What the heck, the total cost of the wristlet and coin purse are a couple hundreds CHEAPER than my mobile phone, which is by the way less than 1k. So, I am just spending within my means, okay?

I am not able to upload a photo onto this blog, so I have to ‘borrow’ one from the website Glamorous Corner… which by the way is selling the same bag at a slightly lower price. Feel free to visit their website! (I bought mine at One Utama shopping mall.)

Here’s how my MADISON DOTTED OP ART wristlet looks like:

Couldn’t find a photo of the coin purse though; it’s a small, squarish, wallet-like purse with a key chain attached to it. I figure this is what I’m going to use to keep my ID card, credit card and keys, and carry it in the wristlet when I’m out for a dinner.

Come to think of it, I can use my new possessions this weekend when attending my dad’s birthday lunch!

My working bag, ie the bag I bring to work, is a squarish bag with checker prints. I bought the bag because my netbook can fit into it just nice, with some extra space for me to put in my wallet, mobile phone, keys and other stuffs.

Sometimes I carry my netbook to work. Not because I need to use it for work, but to allow me to spend my time surfing the net at Starbucks when hubby can only pick me up much later after work.

I bought the bag at Jusco supermarket, during sales, and for less than RM50. I didn’t really pay attention to the prints that look similar to something else… Within one month using the bag, I have had been asked several times - “Is this Burberry?” “Oh, you’ve got a Burberry handbag!”, or “How much is your Burberry?”

No, no and no! My bag is not a Burberry! Although I will be very happy to have one! But you just can’t relate anything with checkers to Burberry, can you? But I do like things with checkers prints, I realized. Besides my netbook carrying bag, I have a handbag with similar pattern, my netbook skin is also checkers in pink, and today I just bought a pair of heeled sandals with checkers!

Oh well, looks can be just so deceiving these days. Can’t blame people, right? Say, if you would love to have a fireplace in your house but want to avoid the danger of fire and the work of cleaning up, you can actually go for a electrical heater with the look of a Amish fireplace. If you like to enjoy seeing an aquarium in your living room but don’t want all the maintenance that comes with it, you can also have a TV screen-like gadget that shows something like an aquarium scene screen saver.

But if you ask me which look-alike that I want, I would very much want a Bottega Veneta look-alike leather woven handbag.

Ouch! Hurt my finger when I was trying to zip up the luggage bag just now. My finger nail was dented a bit too. Oh well, it’s time to cut my finger nails anyway, but it’s not time to replace the luggage yet even though it’s already 8 years old.

The big, gray luggage bag was given to me by my mom when I got married. It’s quite a sturdy luggage, except that the zipper slider was damaged because it was forced open by don’t know who in the airport several years back. Now there’s only half the slider left with a sharp edge, so I have to be careful every time I zip or unzip the back, or even when carrying it to avoid being scratched.

I do come across nice looking luggage in the shopping mall. The Eagle Creek luggage series sure look modern and chic, but they’re quite expensive. Anyway, I don’t think we need a new luggage at the moment because we’re not going for any overseas holiday any time soon. My old luggage will just do fine for our local traveling. Even if we get new ones in the future, this old luggage can still be used as a storage for old clothes, haha!

One of the designer handbag brands that I like is Coach.

While I was wandering in the Gardens Mall at Mid Valley City last week, some guy promoting HSBC credit card distributed a product booklet filled with photos of luxury items from various designer brands, including Coach.

My eyes were immediately locked on these two Coach bags.

Bleecker Canvas Tote – RM1,600!!!

Perfume Print Top Handle Pouch – RM950!!

*Sigh* Nice to see, nice to hold, but not a nice price to pay.

If I really wanted to own one of these – I mean genuine ones, not the imitations – I probably had to get another part-time job with high return, say, selling life insurance may be? Haha!

In reality, however, I think would rather spend RM1,600 on a vacation in Bali.

My Malay and Indian ex-colleagues used to call me ‘che che’, which is the Mandarin term for older sister.

Then, only yesterday, as I went window shopping at The Gardens, I realized that Che Che - more precisely Che Che New York - is a designer brand that carries very pretty and creatively designed bags that every gal would dream to have a few of them hiding in the closet.

See for yourself. How can one not fall in love with these cool and chic 2008 Spring/Summer handbag collections of theirs ??

Make Me Beautiful

Fantasy World

Magic Moment

What you see here are just a tiny part of their collection. Gals, you MUST visit their website to FEEL what Che Che really is! I bet words like “Oh, so cute!”, “Ah, how sweet!”, “Gosh! I want this!” would blurp out of your mouth as soon as you saw their collection of handbags and coin purse.

Simply lovely!

(And expensive!)

See more of CCNY at chechenewyork.com.

Wow, it seemed like trillion years since I last posted here!

Sorry for the huge post gap coz I was back at my hometown. Internet access was limited and I myself was so caught up in shopping, haha!

During that trip, my sister showed me a website that I’m sure fans of branded bags will love. And it’s mainly targeted to Malaysian fans!

If you are looking for the latest season or limited edition bags that are not available in local retails, you can spot them right here at this website, PrettyDeal.com. You order, they import for you.

Brands carried are Coach, Juicy Couture, Chloe, Prada, Dior, Fendi, and DKNY. Currently, there is a sale going on for Coach bags, with discounts ranging from 10% to 55%!

I myself like this Coach Chelsea Signature Wristlet (discounted priced is RM320, with free shipping) since I’m looking for a new wallet.

However, guess I have to dismiss the idea of getting one coz I have overspent recently! But if you like designs from Coach (or the other brands), and happen to have received a big, fat bonus this year, hehe, then you shouldn’t miss the opportunity!

Image source: PrettyDeal.com

Bags…

Bags again….

More bags…..

Even MORE bags!

(Photos taken from Brand magazine)

I’m obsessed with bags more than with shoes or clothes. Whenever I read women and fashion magazines, these will be the pages I spend most of the time reading. Not that I can afford any of them, but I use them as ‘reference’, so that I can buy bags with design alike but are 100 times cheaper!

I like bags with simple, square-ish design, with many pockets or compartments for practical reasons.

First of all, I can put the three most important items into the bag – my wallet, PDA phone and Nikon Coolpix 5900 digital camera.

After that, what follow will be – apartment keys, a packet of tissue paper, facial oil blotting paper, a Za compact foundation, a small bottle of Olay White Radiance moisturizer, one or two lip glosses, a compact mirror, and a pen.

The above are the minimal things I have to carry with me everywhere I go. ;P

If the bag is even bigger, I may also put in a blusher, a note pad, or even a pocket-size book. Sometimes a bottle of mineral water, too.

The second reason why I like simple designs is because they can match with almost any semi-formal or casual outfits, which I mostly wear nowadays.

I find designs like these few bags from Coach are very suitable for the above reasons. Very suitable for me, hehe.

Photos source: www.coach.com

They are priced between USD650 to USD1,000.

So, no way, I don’t think I’ll ever buy any of these. Even if hubby got so damn rich one day and were willing to buy one for me, I would rather him give me the same amount of money. Then I could spend the cash in whatever ways I like.