Hello and it’s been a bit since my last recap! I decided to start lumping them together so I’ll try to recap every two months or so.
What I Did
Opened the Fairly Curated Shop with Huppy dental floss, toothpaste tablets, and Dick Taylor’s Chocolate: Like I said in my post when talking about the store, opening this online store is really just an experiment and present to myself. Since there aren’t a lot of items yet sales has been a bit slow. But I don’t mind, I just hope by the end of the year I have a wonderful selection that you guys will like! I also don’t mind dipping into my chocolate bar stock when the mood strikes 😂. Also, tied to the shop, I started a monthly eco-minded, sustainability-inspo newsletter (that you can subscribe to here).
Continue to wear my closet and sell the items that don’t fit: So far I haven’t purchased any new clothing though I did get quite a few new things (see below). This has led me to fall in love with my secondhand babaa merino sweater (which I just reviewed last week). And now that sweater is in heavy rotation. I truly don’t need any new clothes, even though I’m itching to go thrifting. Also by doing this I’m able to cull through my wardrobe and finally sell some things I no longer wear (or no longer fit). I sell most of my good clothes on eBay here.
Went to South Lake Tahoe and did snow tubing for the first time: We tried Hansen’s first because it was the closest but I definitely don’t recommend it with small children. The one lane run is not well groomed and it’s quite treacherous. But we all had a blast at Tube Tahoe (yes it’s double the price but believe me it’s worth it). Anyway it was a great time with family and Emi’s first time seeing snow!
Updated my Birkenstock Boston Mules review, Celine box bag review (with all the info that I talk about below on this post), my Quince jewelry review, and my Huppy toothpaste tablets review.
And I really liked Kristy’s run down on how to spot a fake Polene bag. I knew they were out there but I didn’t realize how common they were. So buyer beware and read up on her tips to spot a fake!
What I Bought
{A little side note: I usually do a No Buy January (no new purchases on a month that starts with “J”) but I slipped up a little this month. The first three purchases are technically late December buys, and the last two were purchased on Jan 1st because of necessity (the rain boots) and a sale (the mugs).}
Loewe Flamenco Mini Clutch Bag in Chocolate: This was actually a Christmas present to myself but since I was on vacation and not working on the blog I didn’t have a chance to add it to December’s recap. I purchased this at the Loewe’s in Hawaii, and like a lot of luxury stores in Hawaii they have “Hawaii (or Asia) prices” meaning it’s usually $200-$300 lower than the usual retail prices (FYI this is true for Celine, Valextra, and I think Saint Laurent but not for Chanel, Hermes, or LV). So the mini Flamenco retails for $1990 but I got it for $1700 (and with Hawaii’s 4% sales tax). I was also considering the Celine Triomphe and Valextra Series S, but in the end I couldn’t stomach the new Celine prices and Valextra didn’t have any of the colors I wanted. So I chose the Flamenco, which I had been eyeing off and on for a couple of years. I really love the wonderful Loewe leather and can’t wait to share a review of it with you guys soon!
Celine Tabou Bag: So this was an impulse add when I was looking at the Celine Teen Box on Fashionphile. I know I shouldn’t have added it to the checkout bag since it became an added temptation. However after much thinking and polling on Insta, I decided to keep this and sell my Chanel crossbody that I never use anymore (plus I didn’t keep the Celine box). I think the Tabou is more my current style and way more practical than the Chanel. I still have my one Classic Medium Flap that I plan to pass onto my daughter, but the rest are gone. Anyway I’m very excited to be review this Celine (and the Loewe) after I use both of them more. I was also a little iffy about the color (Aubergine, which is a dark purple). But in person it’s not too purple and in some lighting it looks black. You can see the current selection of Celine Tabou bags on Fashionphile here (and the prices are pretty good—I guess because this isn’t a super popular bag style).
Merry People Rain Boots: During those weeks of rain storms in California, I finally caved and bought some proper rain boots. I used to have Hunter boots but I only bought them for their looks and I always found them heavy and hard to walk in. So this time around I wanted rain boots specifically for short legs (and also not so heavy). Well my search pulled up Merry People, a brand from Australia (where they call these Wellies lol). I specifically went for these because of their neoprene lining so that the boots are super comfortable and the rubber of the boots don’t rub against the front of your leg (a complaint I saw with the Hunter version of these same boots). I got these navy and brown pair of Bobbi rain boots and I really love them.
New bag, new mug, and new clock (from Target)
Cecile Preziosa Mugs: I first saw these in-store at Flora and Henri in Marin Country Mart, but I could not spend that much money for a mug. But I found myself thinking about them even months later so when they had a 23% off sale for the new year, I decided to buy two. And I know say this a lot, but it’s really true this time: I have no regrets lol. I loooove the lightness of these mugs with the thin-walled lip. And at the same time, they can hold way more coffee (or tea) than the Heath mugs that we were using. My husband still prefers the Heath so he lets me enjoy my two mugs all for myself. I think if it’s something you use daily, then it’s worth that splurge every once in awhile!
Bamboo and silicone ear buds: These are a disposable Q-tip replacement, but that being said I’m not a huge Q-tip user. However I wanted a gentler way of cleaning my ears, so I decided to give it a shot. And wow the silicone tip with the little bumps is great at getting all the ear wax in a really gentle way. The other ends of the Q-tip are great too. I dipped one end in makeup remover to get some smudged eyeliner (thanks Jones Road) off of the bottom of my eye. Overall I think it’s a great tool and one that would be super handy for anyone who uses a lot of Q-tips for cleaning.
What I returned
Celine Classic Teen Box: I also purchased this in late late December after seeing the Celine Triomph Teen Bag at the Celine store in Hawaii (and not purchasing it). I loved the size of it, and it reminded me of the Celine Classic Box but it was lighter since the Triomph had one less compartment (as compared the the medium Box that I once had). But in the end I couldn’t pull the trigger because of 1) the price (even with the Hawaii price of being $300 less than retail, with tax it was going to be just under $4000 and that’s how much I paid for my new Chanel Classic many years ago 😱) and 2) I’m just not 100% about the new Celine clasp hardware with the two C’s (to me it screams Hedi Slimane Celine and I’m pretty much a Phoebe Philo loyalist even though I am a huge fan of the Tabou bag above and that’s a Hedi era style). So I went with a secondhand Classic Celine box (from Fashionphile) in the new-ish Teen size. Unfortunately the leather on the box is super stiff and not forgiving to aging. The leather was quite creased, to the point of almost cracking in a year or so. So back it went. Oh but if you’re interested to see what fits (and also what I’m talking about on the leather) you can see my video of the bag in my Insta story highlights—just scroll to the end).
What I Was Gifted:
Big Wall Decor: This business is the ruggable of the wall art world (and that’s how they found me—through my ruggable review). There are three different kinds of frames to choose from and the wall art canvas is just a cloth that can be stretched over the frame. So if you want to change your wall art, you can just unstick one canvas, roll it away, and stick on a different one. It’s great for those who want to change up their wall art once in awhile without having to store large bulky frames. But truth be told I’m a bad blogger and have yet to take it out of the box 🙈. I’ll report back when I do.
Jones Road: I was gifted their Face Pencil (a concealer), The Best Eyeshadow, The Best Pencil (eyeliner), and their pencil sharpener. And let’s just say I like the pencil sharpener the best. I probably won’t be writing a review for them because honestly I would not purchase these items (gah-I hate burning bridges with brands but I gotta stay true to myself and this blog, right?). I keep seeing Insta ads for their foundation and that might be a winner but sadly that’s not what I tried out (also because their foundation doesn’t come with spf which is a must for me).