I wanted to hop on here to do a quick review of the Songmont Small Gather Bag. Since moving most of my content-making to video I don’t know if I mentioned here that I bought and then returned the Loewe Flamenco bag in brown lambskin. Don’t get me wrong, it was beaaaauuuutiful. So very lovely and smooshy. However because it was so pliable, whenever I put my daily essentials in there, the bag looked sort of wonky. It didn’t hold it’s shape unless I scrunched the bag into a little ball. And there was nothing wrong with that, except I prefer a more rectangular shape. Plus is was $4k+ which was a bit 🤯. So I returned it.

Hi guys and I’m back with another Hermes review. I know some of you guys on here are very sick of this brand, and I get it—they’re total snobs. But as a bag lover, their craftsmanship, leather choice, and repair service is pretty hard to beat. Anyway I’m going to be reviewing the Slim Arcon and the Petit Arcon today.

Hi all, sorry for neglecting this space for a bit. But I’ve been really working on making video bag reviews lately. I’m not sure if you guys caught my last review of the Delvaux Coolbox MM vs Mini, but I thought I would do a quick recap here for those who prefer to read their reviews.

First off, I should mention I have never owned the 24/24 in the 21 size so take my review with a grain of salt (I’ve just tried it on at the RealReal in Marin). But I have the 29 size (in Etain Togo and Swift leather from 2020) and I have to say, I don’t like it.

When I first got the The Row Margaux 15 I was in loooove, even though it wasn’t a practical bag for me (see my review of The Row Margaux 15 here). And I thought my problems would be solved with the Margaux 10. Well almost a year after I wrote my Margaux 15 review I got my hands on a relatively well priced Margaux 10. So did I love it as much as I thought I would?

For those who follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been a fan of this bag since the day I got it. I teased it, then did a Reel on it, and then posted about the Songmont price increase, but have yet to do a full review of it here. So I apologize for the delay but better late than never I guess?

On a recent trip to Oahu, I was able to get away for a couple of hours of luxury reconnaissance. I visited Loewe, Bottega, Celine, Coach, and Valextra, to try out some of their pieces as well as learn of any “Hawaii prices” (usually a bit lower than the mainland US pricing). I have a 2025 Hawaii Luxury Shopping guide here, where I’ve bolded my April updates.

It’s been awhile since a Polene bag excited me enough to click “Buy,” but when I saw the Mokki Mini I liked it right away. My last Polene bag was the Beri (Polene Beri review here), which I bought almost four years ago. So I thought it was time to try another Polene bag. So what did I think? Is it a keeper?

If you’ve been following along here for a bit, you know I just bought this secondhand Loewe Lazo Tote in November of last year, but I’ve been wanting it since October of 2019 (having a blog to record every want and purchase comes in handy 😂). Well the price finally came down enough (sub $500) that I thought, why not? And wow I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been waiting for it for so long or because it really is a great bag, but I’ve been using it so much ever since I got it.

I’ve been on a K-brand (Korean brand) bag kick ever since my first Korean Brand Bags Review. I originally thought I might tack this on one to that first review, but I’ve gotten enough interest (and I have enough to say) to make this a stand alone post. So without further ado, here is my review of my first (but probably not last) Margesherwood (yes all one word) bag.

I’ve been interested in the Hermes Plume bag ever since The Row came out with their own version of it (The Domino bag). The Plume and Domino have a fairly plain and classic look, but isn’t that just what’s “in” these days? I honestly didn’t think I would love the Plume 32 as much as I do.

Back in June, I wrote a post about my most used bags for the first half of the year, so here’s the ones I used the most for the latter part of the year.

This In-The-Loop 23 was the second bag I got straight from the Hermes boutique (the SF one), but my first new bag after getting back into Hermes (the first was my Evelyne, which I ended up selling). And for awhile it stayed on my shelf because I found the top-handle only style very inconvenient to carry.

As I mentioned in one of my monthly recap posts, I got this bag from the Hermes boutique in Waikiki during one of my visits home. I found a really nice SA there who offered me this after the purchase of the Roulis wallet. Even though Picotins are pretty common on the resale market, they’re also commonly faked so I decided to play it safe and get it straight from the store (even though it’s about $1-$2k more than resale prices). So how do I like it?

Growing up in Honolulu, about a 10-15 minute drive from Ala Moana, I never realized how blessed I was when it came to luxury stores. Some luxury brands offer a “Hawaii price” that’s cheaper than the Mainland (that’s the continental US) price. Not all brands do this and the following list (in alphabetical order) details which of them do (or don’t) and what percentage is offered.

First there was K-Pop, K-Dramas, and K-Beauty. Well now there’s K-bags 😂. Since going to South Korea I have a greater respect for the fashion brands coming from that country. They tend to be on trend but also super affordable. Let’s just say these Korean brands make really good dupes without being an exact carbon copy (they usually make it just different enough). The construction also tends to be fairly solid, but as I found out the materials used can be a bit of a mixed bag (pun intended lol). So far I’ve tried these Korean bag brands and this is what I think of them:

So as I disclosed up top, I got to borrow this bag for free from Fashionphile for a month. And I took them up on their offer by borrowing this Goyard Sac Cap Vert in green. Well, would I buy it now after trying it for a month? It’s a definite possibility.

2024 has been a banner year for buying bags for me. I finally let myself buy the bags that I want, and yes I may have gone overboard (especially thanks to a newfound Hermes addiction). So amongst all the bags in my collection, which one did I use the most? Here are my top five:

In the past I would never have sold a bag without doing a full review of it here on the blog. But in the last couple of years I’ve started to let things go without a review. Is it laziness? Perhaps. It’s probably also a sign of overconsumption (I’m getting bags faster than I can review them). Though if they were all stellar bags I’d definitely be reviewing them, so maybe I’m just in my phase of not wanting to review bags I didn’t absolutely love. Anyway without further ado, this is a brief review of three bags that I sold (mostly on Fairly Curated closet) did not fully review on the blog.

My very first bag I got from an Hermes boutique (with no prior spending or purchases might I add) was the Evelyne III PM in the Etoupe Taurillon Clemence leather. You can read my Hermes Evelyne III PM review here. Any-who, I ended up selling that bag on eBay (at a $1000 loss I think), which is a shame. But I figured lesson learned and I didn’t go in to an Hermes boutique for another couple of years. But currently I’m in the grips of an Hermes obsession and I have this vintage Vespa bag to thank (that and the Havane Picotin 22 I didn’t buy at the RealReal). And who would have guessed it would be the Evelyne’s close cousin that would get me back under the Hermes hypnosis.

Thank you to all of you guys who have requested this review and waited patiently for it! Unfortunately even though I love this bag I haven’t used it very much so I didn’t think I could give it a fair review. But I’m not sure when I’d be consistently using this bag and the fact that I haven’t really used it might be a great data point as well. So without further ado…

Thank you to all those who’ve been patiently waiting for this review of the Loewe Mini Hammock bag. As you can see from these photos, I purchased this bag in late Fall and have been using it off and on for about four months now. I used to have the original Loewe Hammock bag (review of it here), but ended up selling it because I didn’t really use it. I think I stopped using it because of the way it aged and the fact that the bag is so open. So how would I compare that to the new Mini Hammock bag?

I accidentally bought a fake The Row Park Tote from my go-to eBay seller (who didn’t do me wrong for five straight bag purchases). I actually bought this one for a friend so I was quite bummed when I got it. I knew as soon as I felt it that this was a fake. The leather was rubbery and the handle was too stiff. But since that’s not much to go on, here’s the various ways I knew this was a fake (and it was a really good fake at that too).

I received this Toteme T-Lock Clutch bag as a Christmas present from the family (but of course I picked it lol). When deciding between the clutch size and the regular size, I decided to go with the clutch since the regular one looked so much larger. But I did want a top handle to hold it with since that’s my favorite way to hold a bag so I added a chain I found on Etsy and it’s the perfect combo.

For those who’ve been following me on Insta, you know that I’m completely obsessed by The Row’s N/S Park Tote. I first encountered it secondhand in a shop in Ginza, and even though it was quite worn I couldn’t pass it up (I went back the next day for it). Ever since then I’ve been on a hunt for secondhand Park Totes (I got them all from Japan) and have gotten two mediums (one in the pebbled leather and one in smooth), one small, and one large, along with a brand new pebbled medium one from Saks in cognac.

In late July I ordered two Loewe Puzzle bags from Fashionphile, one in the mini size and one in the small. after watching some Youtube videos from Maggy, a fellow handbag enthusiast, rave about it. Plus the Puzzle has been around for so long it’s starting to become a classic. And the news of the classic Puzzle being phased out, motivated me to give them one more chance. And I’m glad I did!

Back in August I had a bit of a bag-buying spree that was kicked off by this navy Longchamp Le Pliage XS crossbody bag. While there I also checked out the leather version of the XS bag, called the Le Pliage XS Cuir, but didn’t really want to spend the extra $300+ for the leather upgrade. However when I saw this cuir version secondhand at the RealReal for just $20 more than what I paid for for the nylon one I couldn’t resist. And now I have two Le Pliage XS bags, but I plan to keep both!

Every once in awhile I’ll do something crazy like buy two Hermes wallets at the same time. Well it all started when I was browsing Instagram (isn’t that how many impulsive consumer tendencies begin? Well at least that’s true for me 🤦🏻‍♀️), and I got the notion to have a wallet that’s large enough to fit my usual card case items + my phone. I think it’s something a lot of people do, but I hadn’t really the need until I started working (and switching bags). I like my minimal card case (an oldie but goodie from Everlane), but I wanted something that could fit my phone. And like I’m wont to do, I went straight to Fashionphile to see what they had in stock.

As I did in the Quince fine jewelry review and Quince linen review, I thought I would round up all the Quince bags I’ve purchased in one review. As a bag lady, I’m quite particular about my bags (see my whole bag review section here). And having tried everything from Hermes and Valextra (brand with bags handcrafted by one artisan) to Longchamp and Moop (canvas bags sold on Etsy), I feel like I know what quality bags look and feel like. And I have to say Quince makes great quality, practical leather bags at a really good price point. Most of their bags are made of Italian leathers and some in Florence, a location that is known to produce high quality leather goods. Without further ado, here are the Quince bags I’ve tried thus far.