Blog

Moving from conspicuous to conscious consumption and doing reviews along the way.  Find plenty of unsponsored reviews of Quince, Everlane, Grana, and Cuyana on the site!  I'm working towards a minimal waste lifestyle, and oh yea I love bags >.<

Traveling in Seoul 2023

I originally planned to do a full recap of my trip to Seoul and Tokyo, but since the post is running long I am just recapping the Seoul part here. Stay tuned for my Tokyo recap!

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November 2023 Recap

Yes I know it’s already December, but since I was out of town in November this post got a bit delayed. But without further ado, here are all the things I did and bought in November:

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Everlane 2023 Review: Wide Leg Dream Pants, Organic Cotton Striped Tee Dress, and Felted Merino Half-Zip Sweater [Updated December 2024]

If you’re a long time reader, you know this blog was built on Everlane reviews (see the extensive but not updated list here). So I was surprised to see that I had yet to do an Everlane review for 2023, but then again I hadn’t purchased anything from them until just recently. In the last couple of months I got the Wide Leg Dream Pants (on eBay), the Organic Cotton Striped Tee Dress (from Crossroads—a thrift shop), and the Felted Merino Wool Half-zip (on the Everlane website during their F&F sale).

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Loewe Small and Mini Puzzle Bag Review: Which Size To Get? {Updated August 2024}

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!

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Hermes Regate Scarf Ring and Hermes Scarves Review

After going down a Diane Keaton scarf inspo Google wormhole I got a couple of scarves from Madewell and the RealReal. And in June I decided to go for a scarf ring from Hermes after watching a couple YouTube videos on tying scarves. And since it’s getting to be scarf season, I thought I’d take the time to review both the Hermes scarves and Hermes Regate ring today.

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Yoto Mini Player Review

It looks like my last kid’s review was almost a year ago so I’m due for one. But honestly nothing has really wowed us these days, except for the Yoto Mini Player, which we got a couple of months ago in anticipation for our two-week long RV trip. We knew this time around we would be driving for 4+ hours and wanted something for our kid to do in the car that doesn’t involve screens (we’re still holding out on screen time in the car). And this Yoto Mini Player was just the thing!

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Longchamp Le Pliage XS and Le Pliage XS Cuir Bag Review {Updated May 2024}

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!

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Viori Shampoo and Conditioner Bar Review

As I noted above, I was paid a small amount to write this review of Viori Shampoo and Conditioner bars. I so very rarely get paid to do this work so I want to say a special thank you to Chase and the folks at Viori who recognize my efforts and paid me for my time. That being said, I will try to be as unbiased as possible when writing this review. But lucky for me, these shampoo and conditioner bars are pretty good!

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Quince Packing Cubes Review

I’m easing back into the review-train with a quick review of one thing that I really loved during my RV trip: Quince’s packing cubes. I’ve heard people raving about packing cubes before, but I never really got the hype because I tried some flimsy nylon ones from Muji and never really liked them. Yes, I use them for storing things but I never packed with them. But I was willing to try Quince’s version because I knew I’d be doing some traveling (mostly via RV) this year. And wow, have they made a difference!

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August 2023 Recap

Whew had it already been a month since my last blog post? TBH I’ve missed writing! And thank you to everyone who left me a note to keep on blogging (and not go on substack since it clogs up email—which I agree with). Call blogging old fashioned, I don’t care lol. Anyway since my last post, we’ve done a two week RV trip in our Airstream trailer, I’ve purchased waaaaaay too many bags, and the home renovations marches on.

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Kinfield Review

Since I’m always on the search for a good reef-safe sunscreen (because that’s important!), when the nice folks at kinfield asked if I wanted try out some of their products for review, I jumped on the chance to try their products.

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Nutrafol Review: Women's Balance

I’ve mentioned it in the past here on the blog but I am unfortunately suffering from thinning hair. And this isn’t just some postpartum hair loss since I had my baby four years ago 😆. No, I’m pretty sure this is a genetic predicament considering my grandmother on my father’s side, my father, and my mother all had/have thinning hair. I try not to be too self-conscious about it because this is just my lot in life and how I was made (or rather how my scalp was made). But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to fight the good fight of the receding hair line.

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Loewe Review: The Mini Flamenco Clutch Bag {Updated May 2024}

I’ve always admired Loewe’s Flamenco bag, with its soft structure and two knots on the sides, ever since I saw it on another woman. However, I never thought to purchase it myself until I saw it in the Loewe store at Ala Moana (Hawaii) when I was home for the holidays. As soon as I tried on the mini Flamenco, I knew it was the bag for me because it was everything I had wanted the MG Protea bag to be (and if you remember my Mansur Gavriel Protea review, I was horribly disappointed at how flimsy it was). The Loewe Flamenco has none of the flimsiness, and that’s probably due to the thick and luscious leather.

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