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the burberry “april showers” trench makes me happy
Apr 13th, 2011 by shallow

it’s red, it’s slick, it’s transparent and it looks like your mackintosh.

like the jil sander market bag, this trench from burberry’s “april showers” capsule collection makes me happy.

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trilby and fedora: spot the difference
Mar 22nd, 2011 by shallow

doesn’t it just bother you that some people call this hat fedora, while others call it trilby? ok, maybe it doesn’t bother you, but wouldn’t you just like to know once and for all whether it’s a fedora or a trilby? no particular reason aside from adding to your stock of trivial knowledge.

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the quirky cool accessories of karen walker
Aug 11th, 2010 by shallow

described as anti-”it girl”, new zealand-based label karen walker gives us high street casual with inspirations so diverse, the style can’t be boxed into any particular category. but aside from the clothes you’ve just got to get your hands on, do check out the kooky sunglasses and jewelries that are guaranteed to create statements without making you look as if you were trying too hard.

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layer these
May 31st, 2010 by shallow

it seems the most common fashion deprivation complaint in the philippines has something to do with layering clothes. that is, the impracticality of it. with the climate, there is no sense in piling on coats and jackets and scarves unless you want to suddenly drop unconscious with heatstroke and dehydration in the middle of the street.

i myself am one of those who complain quietly about it, but i’m glad that this past year or two, ladies in the tropics are able to make up for the lack of clothing aggregation with a hollywood trend we can follow to our hearts’ desire: layering necklaces.

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je ne sais quoi: you’ll know it when you see it (a promod stylista challenge)
Apr 27th, 2010 by shallow

je ne sais quoi, literally “i don’t know what”. it refers to that abstract quality in a person that makes her attractive or makes her stand out from a crowd. it’s that elusive “it” factor, that certain “something” we often refer to when we know one looks distinctively stylish yet we can’t come up with words to describe why it is such.

in simpler and local terms: may dating. how many times have you encountered a lady who looks so beautifully individual in her manner of dressing and demeanor that you turn your head to look at her in awe but can’t find the adjectives to describe why you like her look? that’s may dating. that’s je ne sais quoi.

and this is where the fun begins. french fashion retailer promod challenged bloggers to come up with five different looks that embody that intangible quality better known as je ne sais quoi. for this rare stylista-for-a-day opportunity, jill of kikay exchange was gracious enough to invite me as her partner.

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spot the difference: genuine leather vs. faux leather
Apr 19th, 2010 by shallow

you know if you buy your leather goods from high-end stores where items cost an arm and a leg that you have got the genuine article.

hey, i have nothing against faux leather, i use the material an awful lot, but i sure want to know how to tell one from the other so i don’t get highway robbed in bargain situations. and i sure love tiangges.


from gadis kooky.

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featured seller: bijoux de lou
Apr 3rd, 2010 by shallow

i have included her merchandise in several posts (here, here and here), i think it’s about time i feature her site.

from my favorite multiply jewelry retailer, bijoux de lou.

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want-stricken in march
Mar 18th, 2010 by shallow

wanting is my least favorite feeling. that is, if you call that a feeling. otherwise, wanting is my least favorite action. because in order to satisfy it, one needs money. and if one is not willing to part with money, the feeling has to be suppressed. or the action has to be corrected, if you consider it that. whichever way one wishes to deal with wanting, it’s not a very pleasant business.

as for me, whenever i feel a strong sense of wanting things, i write about them. it gives me a feeling of accommodation… a very misplaced security, but security nonetheless. as if by committing images of these things in my blog makes them mine in a very existential sense. ok, it’s a very perverted view of consumerism, but it sure beats the hell out of overspending. besides, i’d probably end up actually purchasing one or two of the things in consideration (especially if they are on sale; in which circumstance, i can blame marketing for ruining my budget). then i can move on with my life.

chloe eau de parfum. chloe’s concoction bearing its signature represents the unfettered me.

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show you support pacman!
Mar 7th, 2010 by shallow

good luck on your upcoming bout against clottey, pacman!

online jewelry retailer bijoux de lou has restocked her boxing ring… uh, ring.

in a previous entry about this ingenious piece of boxing fanaticism, i mentioned about boxing glove charms. i have always wanted that. well, bijoux de lou just happened to address that want:

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christmas wishlist come true
Dec 27th, 2009 by shallow

christmas has never tarnished its childlike charm to me. and i always go into the season with the same feeling of wonder and excitement as when i was just waist-high and struggling to read the gift cards. now that i have been participating in the actual buying of gifts (and have been doing so for over ten years), it is even double the merriment that i am able to both open my gifts and watch people open the gifts i wrapped.

some females choose to post their wishlist online probably hoping some of them will materialize (meaning some friends and family will read the entry and buy the stuff) like a bridal registry. i have done it myself before here, and none of the things happened to cross my hands (well, i did get a pair of stella lunas after i wrote the entry, but they’re a different pair. so that doesn’t count). of course, i may have been shooting over my head there even with just three hundred thousand pesos (php300,000.00), but i could have at least bought robyn more books for her leap pad.

today, i am still hankering for a trip to japan and rimowa luggages to travel there with, but i’ll take my return ticket to the philippines and my cheap ass generic brand luggage if it means i can visit home and eat danggit again. nevertheless, i came into the christmas season with a mental wishlist much simpler, more tailor-fit to my current situation and more accessible than my imagination would warrant. but they by all means give the same sense of satisfaction, coupled with the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with being able to take part in another season of exchanging gifts. cheesy? you bet.

i chose not to post any sort of wishlist, despite my fascination with assembling lists. however, i will post some of the stuff i received. because these are some of the things that make up my wishlist and i’m happy-dappy like a little kid.

my favorite scent, 2008′s most awarded fragrance, daisy by marc jacobs. moderately old in designer fragrance years, but still my favorite. too bad i missed the limited edition edp (which strangely cost the same as the edt) by about three days from the when the last bottle was sold, but i’m very happy with it no less. i know fragrance is such a cliche gift, but i don’t think i will ever get tired of receiving them.

a woven raffia roxy fedora with shell, grosgrain ribbon and chain embellishments and…

…a black pinstripe quiksilver “mob” fedora with embroidered crest and same-fabric sash. i started to regain my thing for hats when we had to wait in the sydney airport for nearly seven hours en route to nadi last september. my husband bought me a white-and-black hat that looks like eva longoria‘s and then i remembered how i once really liked hats but the philippines just isn’t a country that exactly embraces the accessory whole-heartedly (unless you are a musician or an artist. which i neither am). now i’m back to liking and collecting them.

coincidentally, i wrote “toothbrush” in our grocery list, and look what i found under the tree! we’ve always meant to buy the oral b electronic toothbrush but thought it too expensive to clean teeth with, so i’m happy someone gave me and my husband a pair of these things.

books from two of my favorite humorists. when you are engulfed in flames by david sedaris and mere anarchy by woody allen. i believe all the hype. yes, they are all that.

ok, i don’t have the least liking for robert greene’s machiavellian laws on leadership and how many of my previous managers so full of themselves live by his books like religious fanatics, but i admit that i read them all the time. yeah, i do, so kill me for being cliche yet again. the very same way i read so many other political philosophies i heavily disagreed with but intensely admired for the thinking behind them (like hitler’s, for instance). collaborating with 50 cent, greene comes up with another set of leadership principles in the 50th law for me to read with intense pleasure then disagree with during discussions. because i’m silly like i just enjoy insecure guys defend their peer-pressured beliefs like they are defending themselves against murder.

the advanced 32-stitch electronic singer sewing machine! with a users guide that reads more like a computer textbook than a home ec training manual. while trying to prioritize things and making ends meet, my husband and i started talking about getting one and we’ve been playing around with figures like how much we have to pay every week or how much we should negotiate for a second-hand one (especially since all of a sudden one day i found that we have to pay every week for a new tv and stereo system on top of basic needs and utilities from a single-income household with an applying immigrant who hates cooking… me, in other words). then lo! i get a sewing machine as a christmas present from the folks! doesn’t the world just work in mysterious ways?

reviews on some of the items later.

hope everybody had a wonderful christmas!

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