Love, life & everything in between » Raid My Bag | Love, life & everything in between

WHAT’S IN MY BAG: ANTI-HOTNESS

acupofgie — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:43:56 +0000

The weather in Singapore is brutal; you can have this big blazing sun frying your hair one moment and the rain suddenly come pouring down at you the next second. As I’m writing this, it is raining while the sun shines. In other words, the rain not only doesn’t bring coolness but adds to the high humidity level and it means major bad news for my make-up and hair. Can someone invent some giant big-ass dehumidifier already?

Still, a girl needs to stay cool, or look that part. These days, I bring my trusty foldable fan with me wherever I go. It’s slim so it fits nicely even in my slimest clutch.

From top, clockwise: ASOS leather clutch in mustard; Kikki. K 2012-13 organiser/notebook and pen; Sephora Rouge Cream lipstick in Seduce; fan from Shanghai; Samsung Galaxy SII; Furla namecard holder.

“Where’s the umbrella?” you might ask. I’m in two minds about the umbrella; not the biggest fan of the frumpy equipment. Besides I don’t spend much time out there to validate the presence of an umbrella and putting a big bulge in my clutch. In fact, applying adequate amount of body lotion with sunscreen protection is more practical and efficient way to block out the sun’s harmful UV rays.

A fan. The fan. Hot can be chic too. I have at least 10 of these foldable fans from Shanghai in an array of colours. Grey, charcoal, pastel yellow, pink, lavender, bronze… I loved the ones I bought during my first visit to Shanghai and got a little carried away during my second. Beats fumbling all over the bag, trying to look for scrap paper to fan oneself.

I have to give special mention to an unsung hero – TISSUE PAPERS. If the government taxes me for the number of tissue paper I use a day, well, you can imagine.

xoxo,
Gie

WHAT’S IN MY BAG: BLACK & GOLD

acupofgie — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 01:00:44 +0000

My bags are getting smaller recently and The Mother is getting worried.

“How to put water bottle? You got enough to drink?”

“How to fit umbrella in there? It’s going to rain!”

Well, there’s always a way to get around it. There’s no lack of water in restaurants or taxi around, no?

But a girl on a date shouldn’t be carrying her entire assets on her shoulders. Be a little more carefree, I say. Stop worrying about lugging your entire make-up kit and whether this is your fifth time on your three-hour date.

Charles & Keith Handbag in Black & Gold

CK Lipstick in Trust; Palmer’s Dark Chocolate & Cherry; Lip Butter; Maybelline Jelly Glow Blush in 04; trusty mobile phone

I call this bag detoxing. Once you realised how much unnecessary (and collectively heavy) items you’ve been carrying around, you will be immensely surprised. The result is liberating too.

If you must, just these few items in your handbag will get you through the day:

1. Lip Balm/Butter
2. Lipstick
3. Compact Blush
4. Tissue
5. Mobile Phone

What are your must-bring-along items in your bag? Share!

xoGie

A GIFT FROM JAPAN

acupofgie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:30:28 +0000

A business partner from Japan never fails to bring chocolate and sweets whenever he visits. Once, he brought something different – a Samantha Thavasa tag.

I tried to unravel the use of this beautiful tag which allows you to insert your namecard. It has a longer than usual brass chain hence making it a little awkward for a luggage tag, no? Also, it’s too pretty to be placed at the mercy of rough baggage handlers. I’ve lost two prized luggage tags in my course of travel so I know better.

A bag charm? Still a tad too long for most of my handbags.

Umm… What do I do? Suggestions?

xoGie

WHAT’S IN MY BAG / OF CHAINS AND ‘STYLE’

acupofgie — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:06:12 +0000

I have recently acquired a fine faux leather handbag from Charles & Keith. *surprise surprise* I usually think its heels are rather decent and value for money but this is one of the rare instances I take fancy at its bag goods.

Chain shoulder strap is not a popular choice for most because it hurts your shoulders if you put one too many things in the bag. Unlike many, I am simply attracted to it. The bigger the loops the better! In fact, my mind is wandering to the Miu Miu clutch bag that my fingers were caressing against the other day… That fine buttery-soft Napa leather with gold brass chain strap. Much coveted!!!

Seen here with my favourite bag charm

Now, what have I been hoarding around in my new bag?

(from left, clockwise) Metallic pink earphones; Pote Goma cookies, Royce; coin & key pouch, Chocolate; Caramel lip balm, Betty Crocker; high shine lip gloss in Pink Pout, Elizabeth Arden; Strunk & White, The Elements of Style

I wouldn’t be truthful if I said these are just the few things I cramp in my bag. More like, just few of the many things. Lesser of useless items, they tell you much about my recentness and well, my personality. I know I know! Cliche as it sounds, but true to the bone.

I’m 24/7 hungry. Not that I can gorge an elephant down my throat in a single meal, rather, I am accustomed to having many small meals a day. Coupled that with a history of gastritis, I cannot go hungry for long. Hungry person is an A N G R Y person. Mark my words. Hence I carry biscuits and sweets with me.

Lately during a sharing session, a Marcomms colleague introduced the team to a very useful reading source – Strunk & White, The Elements of Style. Before you think this is some ala Tim Gunn’s guide of fashionable dressing, The Elements of Style is probably the single most useful book for the better of one’s usage of written English. I lament why Singapore’s English educators fail to promote the use of this book to all students. Instead of burrowing our heads in those useless ten-year series, we could have mastered written English much efficiently with Strunk & White’s book.

Did I mention the book is merely a centimetre thick?

If you know the difference between it’s and its, and which one of them is a possessive noun, congratulations to you. If you haven’t got a clue, go get the book, read it and pass it along to your friends and family for the better of society.

By the way, we should consider Tim Gunn’s style guide to schools and rid the society of Crocs and visible panty lines. Doncha think?

xoGie

SIGNATURE COLOURS

acupofgie — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:46:02 +0000

What changed my mind about lipsticks? Didn’t I used to think they are passe, belonging to my mother’s and grandmother’s era?

For the last few years, lip glosses have been the rage, providing sheerness, glossy lustre with a hint of colour. Nothing too ‘in your face’. But you know what, we turn out all looking pretty much the same; the weak subtle colour doesn’t help making one stand out.

Where has all the sexiness gone to? The visual pleasure? The signature red kiss every girl wants to plant on her man’s cheek? The last thing I want to leave on The Boyf’s face is mud sling of oily sticky petroleum jelly. And no colour. Bleargh.

Colour me life!

“Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.”
- Gwyneth Paltrow

xoxo,
Gie

HAVE A BERRY MERRY…

acupofgie — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 06:38:22 +0000

B I R T H D A Y ! ! !

Darlings, Christmas is round the corner but my birthday is only two days away! ! ! LOL. Pardon my excitement. I’m not one to say, “Oh it’s just another birthday… I’m getting old, no need for celebration.”

Nonsense! I celebrate life. That’s more than enough reason to put a smile on my face. Thanking God for giving us life and love. Unlike the past few years though, I’m spending my birthday week on a quieter mode – meeting the girls of my life tonight at TAB and having a crab feast with my family tomorrow and a few catch-ups to do next week with some long-time friends. Mostly I’m spending with myself. Shopping for myself, detoxing my wardrobe and some reading to improve my copy-writing skills.

Recently work’s been piling steadily. Can’t complain though; I’ve so much exciting stuff to learn! Most importantly the colleagues are great wonderful people. The Marcom girls are such lovely bunch to hang out with.

As always, while doing my Christmas shopping, I can’t help thinking getting a birthday gift for myself . I thought of the beautiful Aigner ring I saw a couple months ago.

Gold-plated, patterned after its signature horseshoe logo (which looks like an ‘A’. ‘A’ for Angie. Geddit? LOL), the ring stood out immediately as a worthy piece of jewellery I can keep for a long while.

At age 19, The Mother bought herself a diamond ring. I always admired her for being the strong independent woman and lament the fact she could be so much more successful if she chose a different path to take (or rather different husband). Anyways, I haven’t gotten myself anything very significant to mark a milestone. Well, except the Gucci canvas handbag from my first intern pay.

So mighty pleased at the thought of it, I hurried down to Tangs to take a second look at the ring and the rest is really history.

Strangely I’m in the mood of all things red. Never thought this would happen to me! Like gold, I used to think red is such gaudy colour and I could never wrap my mind about wearing red clothes, let alone red lipstick. But my my, how time has evolved the perception of this colour which Cleopatra gave her royal approval to. Red is now represented by a multitude of shades – crimson, coral, plum, berry, nectar and etc. Getting round the reds is such fun mind-boggling activity. Haha.

And now, I’m obsessed with red handbags. Clearly I wasn’t going to stop at two. And when I spotted this red box clutch at a random shopping trip ( I wanted to get a red dress instead!), it was almost love at first sight.

Doesn’t it remind you of Alexander McQueen’s signature ring box clutch? This is such a steal!

My colleagues couldn’t understand how such small clutch is even useful. ‘So small! Is that everything you can put in the bag??’

LOL. Well, darlings, that’s why its an evening bag. But really, experience tells me, once you tried carrying one of such clutch bags, you’d realise the rest are simply junks you don’t need. At least for a evening party. Typically I have one debit card, one EZ card, a couple of 50-dollar bills, facial botter pack, lip liner, lipstick and gloss (because unfortunately, no lipstick is thattt long-lasting or stain-free like they said).

Learn to detox your bag’s contents because there’s really no need carrying so much junk that hurt your shoulders. Enduring to prance around in high-heels is one major task I undertake so I’d rather leave my shoulders alone.

Forget about the rest of the make-up junk you think you need to touch up through the night. Get a good primer and your make-up lasts till the break of dawn, I swear.

Now, pout to perfection.

xoxo,
Gie

GRANNY’S ‘SMACK ‘EM’ PURSE

acupofgie — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 07:32:18 +0000

Vintage Leather Handbag (Topshop); Bracelet (Diva);iPhone in Ben&Jerry’s case; Givenchy Matt Lip Lacquer in Lady Pulp; Sequined Coin Pouch

A simple date night with The Boyf usually means booty call to the ice cream palour. And a girl on her quest to conquer her late-night cravings doesn’t need much – a sweet little arm candy would do. And this vintage leather clam purse is always at the top of my list!

I’m still confused what to call this sweetness -purse? handbag?

Whatever it is, don’t you think it looks like what our elegant grannies would bring out to afternoon tea parties? When I first held it, I thought it’s great, simply because it’s really easy to swing this bag around and smack the pervert next door. Right onto his cheek.

Hah!

The handbag’s great for all things small but important Throw in my mobile, coin purse, a lippie and of course it fits a slim digital camera too!

Pouting my lips to a deep wine colour and swinging my bag nonchalantly, I feel like Dita von Teese!

I wonder how small and dainty a handbag could go. If any smaller, can my iPhone fit? I used to think mobile phones are such hassle; I could live without it. I mean it! Aww, but now with my iPhone which has everything I couldn’t live without: Twitter, Facebook, Google Map, Gmail. *GASP*

I am turning into a technie freak, ain’t I?

xoxo,

Gie

OVERSIZED VINTAGE CLUTCH

acupofgie — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:51:50 +0000

Lately I couldn’t keep my hands off this baby. This over-sized clutch came to me courtesy of The Best Friend whom I asked to keep a lookout for while she’s in States. Thank heavens The Best Friend knows good taste and style!

Metallic gold may seem a tad flashy at first, but on a closer look, it’s really just dusty gold (translate: vintage) which goes well with most of my clothes. I can’t say enough the pros of carrying an over-sized clutch such as this. The Boyf had some difficulty understanding why a normal smaller clutch/handbag wouldn’t work. It’s easier to say that for a night’s out, all we girls need is a lip gloss, credit card and our cell phone.

I wish that’s all I would need in my handbag but fairytale ends here. What about camera? Awesome photos don’t come from cell phones, trust me. What about ID, actual money, tissue paper, a couple of accessories (in case you need to up your game against the girl next to you) and other knick-knacks such as the DVD you so need to return to a friend cos she’s been bugging you since forever?

Get the drift?

Anyway girlfriends are girlfriends. She didn’t question my wants and determined my needs and got me this!

Shaped like an old-school envelope, I found the perfect accessory to go with the clutch. I love the nostalgic charm of the keychain - a red English postbox with a sealed love letter (I would like to think so heh ). Spot the difference between the two pictures above?

The Boyf wasn’t too pleased about the keyring but that’s a separate story. I fell in love with the miniature postbox as soon I set my eyes on it. A fleeting moment but I couldn’t stop drooling over it.

The clutch is a size well-done for me. It holds my wallet, a lip balm and lipstick, my mobile and camera just well. Still got space for a few other knick-knacks! I refrained myself from stuffing too much in the clutch. A bulging clutch is as bad as having a bulging tummy.

Simple sophistication is my best friend.

xoxo,

Gie