Monday, April 21, 2014

Trends For Less: Gladiator Flats


Fashion trends come and go. I know this all too well.

This is why I avoid spending big bucks on trendy pieces that would probably gather dust in my room once I grew tired of them.

I do not claim to know (or even care) what the latest fashion trends are. But owning an Instagram online shop and following random people gives me information as to what potential buyers want.

For summer 2014 (or summer in general), I noticed that one of these "sought-after items" were gladiator flats.


 I do not own this photo. No copyright infringement intended.


 I do not own this photo. No copyright infringement intended.


I've been eyeing gladiator flats for a long time now but thought they were too expensive for me. Most shops sell these for at least 1000 pesos (22 USD) or even as high as 2000+ pesos (45+ USD). Other online shops that sell these for a cheaper price seemed suspicious to me.

Imagine my delight when I found gladiator flats (on sale) similar to the first photo during my visit to the Trendsetter's Bazaar last March.

I bought the brand new gladiator flats (called Tonic Loiuse) from Tonic Bags Shoes Manila for only 750 pesos (17 USD), buy one take one! That's like 375 pesos (8 USD) per pair!

I say that's pure awesomeness! 



Gladiator Flats: Tonic Bags Shoes Manila
Cream Lace Cape: Simone's Closet Shop
Octagon Sunnies: Wear Vintage PH



Gladiator Flats: Tonic Bags Shoes Manila
Rainbow Dress: Hershoppe PH
Heart Sunnies: Love to Style PH


The only down-side to these lovely sandals is the fact that putting them on takes forever! These babies do not have a zipper mechanism that would make them easier to wear. But given the price I got them for, I can certainly live with that. *winking at you right now!*

Incidentally, the other items featured in my outfit layouts were also bought from Philippine-based online shops as well. (Click on the links to check them out!)

However, my search was not yet over. I still wanted tall brown gladiator flats similar to the second picture in this post. It took a while, but I finally found the perfect tall gladiator flats that were made of good quality material (and actually keeps its shape when worn!)


Meet the Teri Glads from Vaintage PH!


These were only 799 pesos or 18 USD per pair! :D


When I browsed the posts of Vaintage PH on Instagram, I realized that the Teri Glads came in either gold or black. But I was looking for a particular shade of brown so I asked them if they had the brown color I wanted. I was so delighted when I found out that they could actually MAKE my Teri Glads in the color I wanted! Yesssss!

Score for Kal!

Just a tip though. Give them the measurement of the biggest part of your leg so that the Teri Glads would fit you well. That's what I did. And when I finally got the package, I found out that they fit me PERFECTLY! 


Definitely love at first fit y'all! <3



I hope you enjoyed reading this post! I provided links to all the items featured in this post so if you want to check them out, please feel free to do so!

Thank you for reading and have a thrifty day! ^_^

Friday, April 18, 2014

Shop Your Closet + DIY: High waisted denim shorts


When you are on a tight budget, the best place to shop is actually your own closet!


Yes, you read that correctly! :D

This is especially true if you have a rather vast closet like mine.

Bring out that old denim shorts or that old top you forgot you owned! Either wear those long-forgotten treasures the way you found them or get those pair of scissors and do a little DIY magic!

Last summer, I brought out my old white beach cover up, my Aunt's hand-me-down striped pedal pushers and two old denim high waisted mom jeans.

I decided to make the jeans into distressed high waisted shorts so I did a little online research on how to distress denim. I found this YouTube video particularly helpful.



After preparing the tools I needed for the DIY (a pair of scissors, tweezers, a whole lot of patience and a laptop playing episodes from Criminal Minds Season 4), I proceeded to do what I could with my long-forgotten closet treasures.

I made the white beach cover up into a cropped top by (as Jenn Im from YouTube would say) "hacking" them off. Then I made the striped pedal pushers into shorts. I do not own a sewing machine so I did the hem entirely by hand. (Yes, that's right! BY HAND! XD Just imagine how many episodes from Criminal Minds THAT took me to do! XD) Then because it was summer, I decided to make the denim mom jeans into high waisted distressed shorts.

Excess fabric were kept for later use. And it turned out that I actually needed them! XD

I distressed one of the shorts too high so I used fabric from the beach cover up to make the shorts wearable (and not too skimpy).

I also tried half-bleaching the other distressed shorts but failed because the bleach seeped to the other side.

#EPICFAIL

Because of this, I ended up making patchwork shorts to cover up my mess using the excess fabric from the beach cover up and the pedal pushers. I have to admit that the patchwork shorts turned out rather nicely.



What I appreciated most about my DIYed patchwork shorts are the intricate details and its one-of-a-kind design. (It's one of those "I can't believe I actually made that" kind of thing. :P)



Everything was sewn lovingly by my hand! (Excuse the body part cameo on the lower right.) I still can't get over the fact that I was able to do this kind of thing!

Here's a photo of the patchwork shorts when worn.

Sent by an online buyer on Instagram


It took some time to finish the DIY projects but I was very pleased with the results. Just for the record, all these DIYed pieces were made Summer 2013.



Wearing my DIYed distressed shorts and my SimonesClosetShop lace cape as a scarf!




What do you think of my DIYs? Did you like them? What are your thoughts?

I hope I was able to inspire someone to shop their own closet and do some DIYs as well! It's really fun, I promise! :D

Please link to me any of your own DIYs and I would gladly check them out! ^_^  Thank you so much for reading and have a great thrifty day! :)



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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Thrift Haul: My Bag Collection


I have never been a big fan of bags. Which is kind of ironic considering what this first blog post is all about.

To some of you, I realize that this might be quite unusual for a female.

But stereotypes aside, this has a lot to do with the fact that I hate changing bags. You have to know that I carry a ridiculous amount of stuff in my bag with me every day (and even guys think that my bag is too heavy). And dumping all those things in another bag just to look fashionable is simply not worth the hassle for me.

However, when I do find bags that I absolutely adore, I could not help but rave about them. And even more so when I get them for a cheap price! And hence this blog post! (I hardly think people around me are interested in this, but I thought maybe some one out there on the Internet might be!)

I rarely thrift for bags (mostly because the ukay ukay smell is soooo hard to get rid of). But when I do find pieces that are eye-catching and unique but still in very good condition, I cannot help but make my wallet a little lighter.

One thing you need to know though. The bag haul I am about to share with you guys were thrifted on separate occasions. Okay??? (Hahaha, defensive much? Lol!)

Because you might think, "this lady bought so much bags and yet she says she's not a big bag fan. Hmm…"

#indenial

But of course, we're not here to talk about my shopaholic issues, so let's just proceed to my ukay ukay bag collection! :)


Bag Number 1:

This was actually the first bag that I thrifted in my entire life. The design of the fringe bag was too awesome to pass up so I looked past the fact that it was from an ukay ukay and bought it. (At the time, I wasn't too open to buy items that were difficult to sanitize.) On the plus side, I found out it was from an expensive brand from Japan called Jeanasis.

Jeanasis suede fringe bag
280 PHP or 6 USD


One thing I have learned about thrift shops here in the Philippines is that they tend to overprice bags, especially those from known signature brands (even when they are actually fake, meh!).

One time, I found a St. Jack leather backpack that I adored so much. When I got to the counter, the lady told me it was friggin' 480 pesos. I thought to myself, that is simply too expensive for a second-hand bag that isn't even in excellent condition. I could even buy a great quality brand new bag for that same price! But I didn't know what the brand was at the time so when I found out it was actually an expensive brand, I decided to go back for it the next day. I thought to myself, maybe I could just recondition the bag since it was genuine leather. Maybe. But when I got to the thrift shop, I felt indignant when the same lady told me the price was 690 pesos. I told her that it wasn't the price she gave me last time and she really didn't give a good explanation for that. Needless to say, I ended up not buying the bag simply because I felt like I was being bamboozled by the lady in the counter.

I learned my lesson, though. When you find a bag you adore that has excellent quality (i.e. genuine leather), buy it immediately or they will jack up the price on you!

Lesson learned well. Because now I am able to find amazing pieces for a fairly cheap price in thrift shops!


Bag Number 2:

09J8 black tote bag
350 PHP or 8 USD


What attracted me most to this huge tote bag was the details! It looks very exquisite and Victorian, don't you think??? :)



This huge tote bag was in excellent condition and I couldn't pass it up because of the room space. I was not very successful in finding out which brand this is from so if any of you might possibly know, please comment below because I am dying to find out! :D


Bag Number 3:

Genuine Leather Vintage satchel bag
350 PHP or 8 USD




I had to think twice about the price of this one (since it was only small and compact), but I remembered my St. Jack experience and bought this with my eyes closed. The feel of the leather is so supple and soft so I simply could not pass it up! (It's even more nice than the leather feel of the St. Jack one!)


Bag Number 4:

Teenie Weenie Bear Classic Travel bag
350 PHP or 8 USD


I was actually planning to sell this one but I decided not to let it go anymore. I was attracted to this bag because of the beautiful travel details on it. It even has teddy bears all over and I thought it was a very unique piece! :D

Beautiful, right???


When I googled to search for the brand, you could imagine my amazement when I found out that this popular Korean brand actually retails for as high as 8,000 PHP when converted! Awesomeness! :D


Bag Number 5:

My best thrift find (for the bags section) might actually be this black suede fringe bag. I did not think much of this bag at first, but the suede was so soft and amazing to touch. Plus the bag was practically brand new, so I decided to buy it.

Axara Paris black suede fringe bag
140 PHP or 3 USD


See the price??? Amazing! :D



And there you have it! :) I hope you liked my ukay ukay bag collection! If you have a blog sharing thrift hauls like mine, please comment below and let me know so I could check them out! Thank you for reading and have great thrifty day! :D


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