Polka dot perfection

olka dots make anything whimsical and fun, don't you think?

I happened to be at Indigo today to buy gifts for my son's former daycare teachers as he moved to a different class last week. I can never leave that store without buying something for myself. That place is dangerous! They had all their Mother's Day stuff out and I wanted every single thing. I would have taken pictures of some of the stuff to post on Instagram, but I left my phone at home.
They had great vases, Voluspa candles in the prettiest packaging and so many stationery items. I may have to ask my husband to buy me something from there for Mother's Day ;-) Meanwhile, I picked up one thing for myself- the cutest clutch that I've ever seen! Doesn't it remind you a little of Kate Spade?

The zipper area has a hot pink accent. The piping on the sides are also hot pink.
They also had smaller sizes with different colours and patterns, but I ended up getting
the largest size- the clutch. I also wanted a smaller pouch with lime green accents.
It would have been great to have that in my purse…

The lining is hot pink as well. This was only $16CAD. You can find it here.

Hello my pretties

ccessories are now becoming one of my favourite things. I used to always buy clothes with a lot of embellishments, but this year I'm all about buying basics and then accenting them with accessories. You guys know how much I love Forever 21. I happened to be in there last week and I couldn't resist picking up a few more jewelry pieces because 1. They were so cute and 2. They were so cheap!

A heart arrow necklace. I think this would be a great layering piece.
This was $1.80CAD. Can you believe it?
I know Forever 21 jewelry aren't made of the greatest quality so I read somewhere that
if you spray them with Krylon Acrylic Crystal Clear spray in the Gloss finish it would
prevent them from tarnishing. I got mine from Walmart. 

Reminded me a lot of the House of Harlow Pyramid Station necklace, but at a fraction of
the price. This was $6.80CAD.

These bow earrings reminded me of my Kate Spade bow ring. This was $1.80CAD.

This is a double layer cross necklace. I've already worn this and although I love the look
of this necklace it does get tangled easily. I also wish it was longer… This was $4.80CAD.

So fresh and so clean clean

y philosophy is- Every detail counts. I always want to buy stuff that are well-designed and beautiful, even if it's a bar of soap. Maybe it's the designer in me that dictates that… But I've always been like that ever since I was young. That doesn't mean I like to splurge every time on designer items. Absolutely not! 

A couple of weeks ago I was at Winners just browsing and I came across this line of soaps from The Scottish Fine Soaps Company. I've seen it the past few times I was there, but I didn't have time to smell them. This time I had some time to kill so I opened up the beautiful tin that it came in to smell the soap- OMG, it smelled amazing! The oatmeal one smelled good too, but I settled with the seaweed soap scent. It was so fresh and minty. I got it for $4.99CAD, down from $9.99CAD. Yes, it's still expensive for a bar of soap, but I like buying good quality soaps and I know I can reuse the tin for something else in the future.

I didn't realize until I got home that it matched my guest bathroom accessories perfectly. I'm going to be leaving this out for when my in-laws are visiting :-)

Chalkboard labels

ne of the items on my to-do list was to make chalkboard labels for all my glass jars. I have jars for everything- flour, brown sugar, icing sugar, regular sugar, ground espresso, coffee grinds, oxiclean, the list goes on and on. I thought having chalkboard labels would make them easier to differentiate and they would look cute as well. I was waiting for the weather to be nice because I was going to use chalkboard spray paint. 

What I used:

- Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Paint (I think I bought mine at The Home Depot. They also sell the paint can version, but I wanted to use the spray paint because I wouldn't need paint brushes. Plus, it was cheaper than the paint can)

- newspapers

- painter's tape

- sandpaper

- chalk

- glass jars

First I taped the glass jars with painter's tape in the size that I wanted it. Then I made sure to cover the rest of the jars with newspaper so that I wouldn't get chalkboard paint on them. I lightly sanded the area to be painted with sandpaper (you can also use a primer after sanding to make the paint adhere longer, but I skipped this part). I then laid the jars on their backs (to prevent any uneven pooling of paint) over newspaper to start the spraying process. Make sure to spray paint outside when it isn't windy as it could blow paint everywhere and even get small particles stuck on your labels. I sprayed the paint evenly, making sure to overlap on each swipe and I sprayed it 3-4 times after a few minutes of dry time. The paint dried in about 20 minutes, but I waited for about an hour before removing the paint. Make sure to peel the painter's tape slowly and on an angle to prevent any peeling of the chalkboard label. I did have some seepage of paint in some areas, but it was easily fixed using my finger nails. I waited a full day before actually writing on the labels. I prepped the chalkboard labels by first going over it with chalk (using the sides of the chalk) and then rubbing it off with a cloth. Afterwards my chalkboard labels were ready!

A quick snapshot I took of the jars getting sprayed outside.

And here's an example of one of the jars after I peeled off the painter's tape.
You can also see the chalkboard paint can to the left.

My jars after they have been labelled with chalk. 

Now I can tell which is the espresso grinds and the coffee grinds!

It's all about purple

urple is one of my favourite colours. It's so feminine without being so overly girly like pink. I find that a lot of people don't know how to wear pink in a classy way. It can look too princess-y or tacky. What do you guys think? Whenever I do incorporate pink in my outfit I try to only wear one thing that is pink. And it's always a coral pink or a more saturated pink- never baby pink!

I find purple looks great with neutrals. I do love my dark purples, but since it's Spring I've been wearing a lot of lighter purples.

I'm wearing Essie's To Buy Or Not To Buy and Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday
on my ring and middle finger.

I love how this combination looks on my fingers.

Gotta love my Balenciaga City in Jacinthe with regular hardware. Yes, it's a purple bag, but I
find it goes so well with a lot neutral items in my wardrobe. Sorry about the plain outfit
here. I was out shopping and I always try to wear comfy outfits that I can get in/out of easily.

I picked up a beautiful light lavender top from Forever 21. It was $21.80CAD.

Here is a change room OOTD of myself wearing the top. I absolutely love this top. It's
semi-sheer so I have to wear something under it. It looks more expensive than it really is.
I tried it on with a pair of cobalt blue skinny jeans from Forever 21, but I didn't end up
getting it. I wish I did though… 

Every little detail counts

ver since I got my Balenciaga City bag, I've been wanting to organize my purse better. Whereas before I had pens floating around with a risk of getting pen marks on the interior, I decided it was time to look into getting a pencil/pen case for my purse. Once I started looking into that, it got me to start thinking about the kinds of things that I wanted to carry in my purse. Here are a few things that I've recently acquired that will help me to organize my life better.

I got 3 faux-leather card holders from eBay.
I had a card case that wasn't very pretty which I stored all my points cards, but it got
so full that I wanted to get another one. I decided to get 3 of these cases because they
were so cheap ($2.99USD + free shipping) and each card case holds 24 cards. I plan
on using one to hold all my points cards, one to hold my coupons and one to hold
misc. cards.

The downside of these card cases were that they have a strong chemical smell and they
didn't look exactly like they did in the eBay listing. The lining was completely different also.
I was annoyed about that because that's what made the cases so cute. Also, the yellow case
was more of a sunshine yellow in the photo, but in real life it was more of a mustard yellow.
The pink case also didn't button as well as the others. Nevertheless, I decided to overlook
these issues because they were only $2.99 each.

*UPDATE: I left a negative feedback for the pink case because it didn't button that well
and the seller sent me a threatening message. I'm going to choose to ignore it, but
I have every reason to give a negative feedback! I still left neutral feedback for the other
2 cases even though the cases were so different from the listing photos.

Since I liked the turquoise colour the best out of the bunch I wanted to put my most used
cards in there- all my points/club cards.

In the yellow card holder I keep all my coupons.

And lastly, in the hot pink card holder I keep my misc. cards- stamp cards from coffee
shops and restaurants, etc.

I've been obsessed with Rilakkuma lately. I think the bear is so cute! You guys know
I got the key caps not too long ago, but I wanted to get a few more Rilakkuma things.
I got a little notebook to keep in my purse to jot down notes. I got it at my local Asian mall-
Pacific Mall. I love how the cover is covered in plastic so that it will be protected.
I think this was $3.99CAD or $4.99CAD?

The inside of the notebook is the real selling point. They have different graphics for
different pages. So cute, right?

From the same Asian mall I got a pencil case for my purse. This was the best one I could
find. I didn't want anything bulky and too cutesy. I'm not crazy about the quote on the
case as it doesn't make any sense, but I like the colour and the size.

Surprise, surprise- more Rilakkuma items!
I got the 2 smaller pens from the Asian mall and the 2 longer ones at the back from eBay.

So the top 2 pens are from eBay (seller is romanticdon). It is super thin- 0.38mm and
they are both in the colour blue. I got it for $1.99USD + free shipping. The bottom 2 pens
I got from Pacific Mall. I think they were $2CAD each? They have 2 colours- blue and red
on each pen and you push down the ears to get the colour you want. I also see it on eBay
so if you want it you can search 'Rilakkuma pens'.

Un, deux, trois…

hy is it that you always find the best stuff when you're not really planning on buying anything? Today, I wandered in Winners (similar to TJ Maxx and Marshalls for our American friends) because I was looking for a toy for my son. He's been obsessed with this Tonka garbage truck toy that his friend had at his house. My girlfriend told me she saw it at Winners the other day so I went to see if they still had it. Of course they didn't…
However, since I was already there I checked out their home section and then their accessories section. That's when I spotted the brand Deux Lux. I've seen their stuff here and there (Hautelook, Shopbop, boutique shops) and I always thought it was cute, but I never bought anything from them. Well, I found 3 great things today and was tempted to get all 3, but I only ended up only getting 1 thing.

The first thing that I saw was this glitter zip wallet.
I know I already have a Kate Spade wallet that I bought not too long ago, but I find it
too heavy and bulky.
They also had a gold glitter one, but I loved this one. I love how the zipper is gold
and it has the mint green accent. Did I tell you I'm obsessed with mint green this Spring?

Here's the interior. It has gold polka dots as the lining. Super cute, no?
I believe it is made of faux leather.

The wallet was only $24.99CAD. What a great deal! It says the original was $40CAD.
I checked online and some stores have it for $50+

The second item from Deux Lux was this wristlet/pouch.
It's a beautiful coral colour with gold accents.

The lining is a beautiful purple.

This was also a steal at $24.99CAD, compared to $50CAD.

Here I am holding it against myself for size comparison. They also had it in a fuchsia, but
I think coral is more on trend for Spring.

The 3rd item from Deux Lux was this cobalt blue hobo bag with gold studs.

I believe this is also faux leather, but it feels real!
Although I'm not crazy about studs as it is literally everywhere, but I think it looks really
nice on this bag.

It was only $49.99CAD. 

Although I wish I got all 3 things, I really shouldn't be shopping so much… So I ended up only getting one thing. Can you guess what I got?

I got the wallet!

I decided to use my good camera to capture the beauty of this wallet.
The silver glitter exterior is actually coated so that I don't have to worry about glitter
getting everywhere.

Deux Lux is known for their silver coin charm that has their logo on it. I love the mix
of silver and gold.

The label inside the wallet. The wallet has tons of pockets for all my cards.

There is a zip pocket on the inside for your coins. It has a beautiful, purple satin lining.

Here I am holding the wallet.

A close-up.