[Taipei] Shoes Haul

I am on a strict shop ban now (self-inflict) but the urge to shop's really killing me...slowly. Yeah, call me a die-hard shopaholic! Don't get the wrong idea, I don't mean a shopaholic who goes for luxury products, but more for the interest.

Right now, I do have the urge to shop for shoes even though have dozen pairs of shoes stuffed ipwithin my shoe cabinet. alright, perhaps more than just a dozen...and since I couldn't get hold of any new pairs now, I guess I can only drool over my most recent shoe haul from Taipei. I think back then, It was a serious overkill on my shoe buys.

Most people who know me knows I have a serious infatuation on skulls. Thankfully, I found 2 pairs of skull shoes to my liking when browsing around the night markets!

1st pair ~ Beige skull flats. The skull pin was coated in gold with gemstones in it. Cost me less than 18 bucks. :)

2nd pair ~ Grey skull wedges. Just like the beige flats, it is coated in gold with gemstones in it. Cost less than 18 bucks too.

I really love this pair of loafers cos this is by far the only pair of loafers with heels that I found. When wearing this pair of loafers, it really gives an elegant feel ^^. Once again, it is less than 18 bucks!

I don't think anyone's gonna believe me but this pair only cost me less than NT100 which is less than 5 bucks! I have yet to wear this out but am looking for the right outfit to match with it!

Bought this flats at less than 10 bucks. Though it doesn't look exceptionally pretty, it is ultra comfy. :)

This is my 2nd pair of shoes that is so bright in colours. It gives a dainty feel to my outfit and almost matchable with any sorts of smart casual look! Not sure if you can believe it but it's less than 15 bucks, hehehehe!

Blogging about these shoes really makes me all the more eager to shop for a new pair of shoes to add to my shoe collection. But I know I can't buy anything until I manage to settle an issue on hand. I will looking forward to an indulgence of splurging thereafter! :D

 

[Taipei] SOPHiCA - A Sweet Place for Sweethearts

For someone who had been to Taipei for a few times, it was a shock to me when one of my colleagues brought us some goodies from Taipei. Due to their captivating packagings, I made a promise to myself that I would patronise the shop should I step into Taipei again. And so I did! The reason I was so bent on patronising was because...they look like this:

Yes, in the form of syringes! But not to worry, they are not medicine syrups. The liquid in the syringe is in fact candy syrup jelly which is totally edible! Not only that, they have a fair varieties of products which are totally weird, odd and ridiculous, yet intriguing!

Did you find some items on the shelves look very out of place? Frankly, they are! To think condom boxes, TCM pills, syringes, sanitary pads, first-aid plasters are placed all over the shelves. However, they are rightfully shelved and not to mention, the most hot-selling products of the shop! Please do not freak out, they are not exactly real stuff. When I said they aren't real, I meant they only look real from the packaging. What's inside the packagings in all of them are mostly chocolates.

Now, a close-up to see just how convincing the packagings are.

Interesting concept, isn't it? My colleagues and I spent really a long in there, lost in the huge varieties they have in store for the consumers. If you are not the type to buy exotic-looking products for your friends, this shop does sell chocolate in the right packaging...I mean, in normal way of packaging, hehe. Honestly speaking, the chocolates taste really yummy, so don't assume they may taste just average due to their out-of-ordinary packaging.

Feels like giving this shop a try? Like I mentioned in my blog title, SOPHiCA is its shop name.

Looking at those products, I'd never expect to see its shop looking like that. Standing at its store front, I swore the first thought that came into my mind was, 'Is this an accessory shop?'

If you are interested to go to this SOPHiCA, it is located in Ximending. This district is a famous shopping district, not to mention wide-spread with many small alleys, thus, watch out for this street name within Ximending:

Writing post like this really aggravates my urge to gobble some chocolate down my throat...

 

Coach Wristlet from Aussie

Well, quite embarrassing to say, I have never owned a wristlet among my many bag hauls. I also didn't know what crazy thought I had gotten myself into that drove me into borrowing my colleague's hands to buy me a Coach wristlet from Aussie. Hah, a damn truthful confession from a shopaholic alright...

Not that Coach is a favourite brand of mine, but when my colleague told me he was going to a Coach outlet in Aussie, my shopaholic six sense decided to act ahead of everything! Next thing I knew, I was looking for various designs of wristlets I wanted him to look out for me -_-

Though I did not manage to get the wristlet I wished for, I did manage to get my colleague to help me buy this little sweetie, my first wristlet at the price of USD75.

I'm afraid, now that I got the hang of carrying a wristlet around, this may just not be my one and only wristlet in days to come....:P

[Taipei] 罗志详 Show Luo's (小猪) Boutique - STAGE

During my recent business trip to Taipei, I had the opportunity to shop a little before I began my work and thanks to my colleague, I finally had the chance to patronise 小猪's (罗志详) Boutique - Stage at Ximending! To think I've been to Taipei so many times but never been to his boutique!

Initially I was quite hesitant to enter his boutique because we were dressed damn casually. Alright, sloppy could be the word. In the end, we still stepped inside. How could we throw away such opportunity when it was right in front of us?

I was captivated by this wall decor and frankly, no photography was allowed within the boutique. This photo was shot when the sales crew went to get my item and I didn't knew we weren't allowed to snap shots then.

小猪's boutique theme is pretty punky, not to mention the products he's selling there. They're not exactly expensive, but I'll say mid-range pricing perhaps. Tees may cost from NT1200 onwards (that's about SGD50+?). A pair of shorts caught my eye but it costs SGD100+! I felt it's a tad too expensive but yet I couldn't help but to keep putting my eyes on it. Ultimately, I gave up buying the shorts cause it wouldn't fit me.

I had to buy something from there, I HAD TO. How could I leave the boutique, or leave Taipei without any haul from Stage? That would not me, the shopping queen (titled by my colleagues) anymore, yeah? Hence, I did buy something. :D

A red tee for my hubby. Simple yet showing Stage logo clearly. It was also by far the most suitable tee for him (the rest's too...young?).

I also got myself a pink stripes tee! It is not very uniquely-designed, but quality is a guarantee. I also bought 2 more tank tops but they're nothing special apart for the logo, so I decided to skip posting the image up here.

Some say Stage has nothing much to see nor buy. I'll say just go for the exposure. If you have not been there before, then I'll strongly recommend you to go, to finally get to visit and know where this boutique is. Unless you really like his designs, I'll say 1st visit shall suffice :)

The address to his boutique is right on the first photo of this blog. If you are heading there, do enjoy and hope you'll walk out with some loot from Stage, just like me!

 

Taobao Haul #6

I realised that though I've been buying from Taobao for so such a long time, I've never really posted my haul up on my blog. Perhaps a few of them but not really in details. So...I decided to share my joy and also let other Taobao-lovers know of some good buys ^^.

This batch, I ordered hell lots of iPad sleeves! Can't really blame me since iPad's my latest new gadget and I really love to protect it! I also bought a clutch bag embossed with my favourite skulls on it!

Girl in Snow, by far my most commonly used sleeve for iPad. This sleeve cost me less than 6 bucks only! Durable and pretty!

The skull clutch bag that only cost me less than 8 bucks! ^.^

Isn't it punky? I love it sooooo much, especially I bought it at such a steal! great for functions or parties! It also come with a chain strap so I can sling it if I ever feel tired or holding it!

This is another iPad Clutch sleeve I ordered. Likewise to the clutch bag, this iPad clutch sleeve cost me less than 8 bucks only. The striking neon pink simply captivates me.

Frankly, this is a really good iPad sleeve, only that it is too small to fit an iPad which already has a casing in it. I'd really hate to carry my iPad without a casing, thus, this clutch sleeve was rather wasted. However, since I already bought it, It'll be wise to use it creatively for another purpose rather than leaving it in my cabinet to rot. And so, I decided to use it as a clutch, for real this time!

Of all my iPad sleeves bought so far, none of them beats the beauty of this...

Isn't it gorgeous?! It is so elegant and lacey! I have to admit, I didn't expect this to be of good quality (looks good on picture only). However, it surprised me with the fine details of the lace design, the material of the pouch, and the thickness of the whole pouch. Though this cost much higher than the rest, it is definitely the best catch out of those iPad sleeves from .

These are not all I've ordered from Taobao of course, but since most of the items I ordered are iPad sleeves, I shall leave apparels post till next time :)

Now I can't wait to order the next batch!

SUPRÉ Haul

Temptation never fails to circle around me, especially when it comes to online shopping! With a successful instigation from my colleagues, I've come across an online shopping site - SUPRÉ. Its products were all on sale and seriously, with my colleague's discount benefit and sale, how am I suppose to turn my back against this?

And so, I ordered a few pieces of items from SUPRÉ. I wondered if I'm becoming more and more daring cause for this round, I've purchased outfits which I do not usually wear at all.

Outfit #1 - A sleeveless dress, coloured 'poppy'. It was so freaking bright and outstanding, not to mention it is in the colour of peachy-pink. I really didn't know what went wrong in my mind to have ordered this but somehow, it looked just splendid when I wore it. Phew! Oh, I also forgot to mention that since it's on sale, I only got this piece of dress for less than 8 bucks! Good quality, cheap buys!

Outfit #2 - Sleeveless black dress with floral prints. Alright, this is really the type of outfit I would never dream of wearing, nor wanted to wear. Like I said, my mind could be malfunctioning for all I know cause all the outfit I ordered were not my normal style! However, when I first wore it to work, many colleagues of mine who saw this dress said it looked nice on me. Guess it wasn't such a bad attempt afterall, hehe...and...this dress only cost me 12 bucks!

There's one more dress I've ordered from SUPRÉ but till date, I do not have the opportunity to wear it yet. It is a black laced dress which in my opinion, was my best buy from SUPRÉ. Let me have the ocassion to wear it (it is more of a formal type of dress), and I shall post it up here!

 

Miu Miu and Marc by Marc Jacobs

I have two bags recently added to my bag collection from Reebonz Sale (which I'll blog separately) and here are my 2 beautiful victory loot!

Miu Miu Vitello Caribu - Double Zip
Saw this baby almost right from the beginning when I stepped into the Sale. Being made in calfskin material, the touch of the bag is so smooth & pleasant! Not only that, it comes with a sling strap so I can sling it on my shoulder should I feel tired from hand-carrying it! By the way, this year's bag trend tend to all come in straps.

Some may not find this anywhere unique or exclusive due to its colour being black, I do like the fact that it IS black. being the type of person who will go all careful and cautious when bringing a luxury bag out for fret of dirtying it, I won't need to worry that much when the bag is in black ^^.

So how much did this Miu Miu bag cost me? Retail price of this baby was going at $2,100. After a 20% discount and $100 voucher from Reebonz Sale + a further 5% discount using Mastercard for payment, she only cost me $1,520! That's a good $580 discount in total! I must say, it's a real steal! I have yet to bring this lovely bag out but I believe it won't be long. :D

Marc by Marc Jacobs - Rubber Croc Tote
Another steal I bought from the Sale will be my Marc Jacobs tote bag! Its croc-embossed design on the tote simply caught my eye! It was a daring buy from me though I usually hate to buy light-coloured bags precisely for fret of dirtying it, and feel damn guilty about it. However, this tote bag is in an unique shade of nude which made me re-consider. of course, price factor is another reason why I just simple bought it that day.

After going at a 40% discount from Reebonz Sale + an additional 5% discount from Mastercard, this large-size tote only cost me $200! For a Marc Jacobs bag of this size, $200 is really a snatch! This bag may turn out to be my work bag afterall, hehehe!

I will love to own another bag anytime but getting hold of them without further damaging my pocket should be a wiser move! Cheers to Sale!

 

Shoe Haul from Rubi Shoes Sale

This year's GSS is a really fruitful one for me, especially when it comes to shoes. For one, I've managed to grab a few pairs of shoes from Rubi Shoes! All those pumps, flats and heels going at crazy prices, who won't bring them home?!

Only 5 bucks!

My first pair of shoes from Rubi Shoes. Not only was it a first buy for me from Rubi Shoes, it was also my first attempt in buying/wearing floral-designed shoes!

Likewise, it's my first attempt in trying on bright-coloured shoes, especially turquoise!

Green-minty heels. Not that i'm a lover of green but the colour of this pair of heels just made me unable to resist the urge to bring it home with me!

Another pair of flats added to my shoe collection. I simply couldn't resist buying buying white/beige shoes.

Why am I so crazy buying so many pairs from Rubi Shoes? Not that I'm really crazy over Rubi Shoes but their sale prices for those shoes were simply dirt cheap! None of my shoes from Rubi Shoes cost me more than 10 bucks each, including the minty heels! I'm so gonna ensure I'll always watch out for any Sales from Rubi Shoes in future!!!

 

Travelling Extravaganza - Seoul

This is, I believe to be the last travelling extravaganza I'd have until a few good months before I'll get to travel again *cross fingers*.

Though my eye was still under recovery then, I applied nail lacquers for the trip for vanity's sake and also to console myself not to keep thinking of my condition. With that, I took Color Club's Otherworldly from my nail lacquer stash & applied them onto my nails.

Seriously, I've bought it more than 3 months ago but I had no idea why I did not use it till now. Perhaps I was hoping the blue and the glitter will elevate my mood somehow. Nonetheless, the application for Otherworldly is very smooth and I only used 2 coats for this.

Being one who love Seoul, this trip wasn't very enjoyable to me due to one and annoying reason - my eye. As mentioned in my previous blog post 'Eye Infection Gone Bad', my eye's condition had gone terribly bad during my trip there. I was really thankful to my partners in Seoul who took such good care of me & even offered to bring me to an eye specialist just to get my eye checked. Without them, I'd have freaked out in a foreign land!

话说回来...although I did not truly enjoy my trip (physically), I did manage to do some retail therapy there, heh. My shopping desire in Seoul was pretty objective - Hair accessories, anti-dust caps if any and foot masks (since I'm allergic to most korean skincare products). My most extensive loot? Definitely the iPhone anti-dust caps and hair accessories! I basically had a serious overhaul on these 2!

iPhone anti-dust caps!
Some are giveaways, some for self-keeping of cos!

Hair accessories overhaul!
Some on the right were for my girl, the rest...MINE!

Honestly, I bought more than those...but somehow, due to my eye, I wasn't in the best of mood to take a lot of pictures and thus, these 2 were the only ones I took when I was in Seoul. When I came back from Seoul, I was literally focused on seeking a cure for my eye and didn't think of taking any other loot I've brought back from Seoul anymore. Am truly sorry I couldn't share the joy of Seoul's shopping haul for this time.

Let me get my eye fully recovered and I'm sure I'll be able to tune my mood back to normal & blog with more energy again!

Travelling Extravaganza - Taipei

As mentioned previously, I was travelling madly since Jan 2012 and after BKK, Taipei was my next destination for business trip.

Honestly speaking, I wasn't so upset being appointed to go to Taipei for this trip. Which woman will resist Taipei!? Though I am under a travel craze from company aspect, I was still pretty much happy to step my foot onto Taipei! After all, I could go shopping after work due to their night markets!

Let's get started on the yummy-licious part...FOOD! There are just too many delicious food all over Taipei, hehe! Here's some I've ordered and taken during my stay there. Most of them were my breakfast & lunch during the business appointments and etc.

银座拉面: Their katsu and rice sets are pretty nice but I heard from my colleagues who ordered ramen commented that the noodles weren't that good...

便所餐厅: What more can I say? Patronised this restaurant previously during my last trip & LOVE their hotpot, thus, couldn't resist but to drag my colleague along this time to let her try it out!

Ikari Coffee: This is a Americanised cafe serving Amercian style of breakfast. My FAVOURITE. Served delicious breakfast and won't hesitate to re-visit again if I go back there!

Dante's Coffee: Introduced this cafe to my colleagues for breakfast since there was one nearby our hotel. Again, they serve American style of breakfast thus, I love it to the max ^^.

集客人间茶馆: That would be the hotpot photo you see at the bottom of the photo above. Recommended and brought there by our partners. Very fresh and clean base soup with pork shabu shabu. Really hard not to like it when the weather's cold enough to make you enjoy it.

Another restaurant I will like to recommend will be the Kazu Cafe. This restaurant is located in an alley opposite of  师大夜市 (Shida night market) entrance. The ambiance of this restaurant gives their customers a very cozy and English-style of feel which really makes you feel at home. They serve a lot of varieties, especially OMUrice which is one of my favourite! And so, off I went to order. :D

Looks delicious right? This is an omelette rice served with minced meat. Frankly speaking, this dish is fantastic, but somehow, it wasn't stated what kind of meat it was and I tasted it to be like of beef (I can't take beef due to health issue), so I kind of took it aside and ate up the rest. Overall, it taste good!

Their choice of beverages are also amazing. Lots of choices to select and I chose a mango ice-blend. Sigh, I asked their waitress countless times to verify if this beverage contained milk. While she said no, it turned out they blended it with milk still, after a few rounds of clarification. TOTALLY WASTED!

Looks so nice but I couldn't drink it!

Given the fact that my 1st visit to Kazu Cafe was much of a good experience even though the ambiance and the food weren't so bad, I returned once again, this time, with my other 2 colleagues who wanted to visit Shida night market (I extended 2 more nights to shop) to taste other dishes. This time, I really LOOKED at their menu CAREFULLY!

Hahaha, ordered an omelette pork cutlet rice on my 2nd visit just to play safe. :D

Enough of food already. Now let's go to the LOOT I've gotten from Taipei. How can I leave them out ya? Be warned, below-mentioned are just some but not all of my loot!

The photo you are about to see is an incredible photo. Reason being.....the outfit you are going to see were all bought from Taipei and I wore it during the trip instantly, LOL!

Beret, coat, scarf, bag.
All from Taipei!

Hat-lookalike (a hairband) & sweater from Taipei

While browsing and walking around at Shin Kong shopping mall with my colleague during her last day of stay in Taipei, she commented why I still haven't bought a single Hello Kitty item. Truth be told, I was puzzled too. Alas, you really can't speak of the devil cause the devil will come to you naturally and speedily!

Hello Kitty watch from Sanrio!

See? End up I got myself a Hello Kitty watch (AUTHENTIC one OK!) just 20 minutes after my colleague made that comment to me. It was not intentional but I happened to be really looking for a watch and this Hello Kitty watch looks just too attractive to me ^^.

Apart from that, I've also bought a few items I feel really a catch as they are just too damn pretty and nice and affordable to begin with!

This owl ring is the prettiest ring out of my entire ring collection,
other than my skull ring :D

My 3rd skull bag! This time, it is bigger!

My 1st pair of boots!

I promised myself I wanted to get myself a pair of boots during my Taipei trip. I almost gave up the thought of buying until the very last night when we were browsing through 通化街 （通化夜市) Tonghua night market as our last shopping ground. The shop was selling all their shoes at 2 for 500NT which is less than 12 bucks per pair of shoes! Which dumbass won't grab them?

Mad and crazy travelling they seemed, but I gotta admit, I did enjoy them too. I always believe, a business trip may be tiring and stressing to some point but if you are able to make good out of it (Work is work, after work, PLAY), business trip can be fun too. :)

Oh yeah, once again, there is this one thing I can never forget about doing when I am in Taipei, especially in their airport. That will be........GODIVA Ice-blended! I can tell you, it tastes like heaven and you will NEVER love any other chocolate ice-blend anywhere else! Too bad I could only taste it in Taipei, somemore in their airport (within Departure hall).

My love. I wish I can drink it again!

I took a picture of myself when I returned to work after my trip full of Taipei loot on me. Since it is impossible for me to post ALL my loot from Taipei here, let me just post this here to close the loot chapter.

下回见! For my next post! :)