Posts Tagged ‘wallets’

Escape Monthly October: California Box review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions,Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Wow, I can hardly believe it was well over a year ago that the other California box came. I’ve got to say, this box introduced me to some great products that I quite enjoy!

Escape Monthly is just under $40 per box (with code for 20% off your subscription – see end of post) and comes with a variety of food, home, skincare items themed around a city/region. Each box comes with a guide for that area. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral commission program.

escape monthly october california box products showing escape monthly october california box info card escape monthly october california box info card opened with fact sheet showing escape monthly october california box info card opened with details of products included(click to enlarge and read full messaging)

As before, I like the skincare items that were included. Guess there are a lot of those great brands out west. The other stuff is pretty cool too and overall this box has more things I’ll use.

Here’s what came in the box:

Frommer’s EasyGuide to San Francisco – This is only the second Frommer’s book that they’ve used. It’s got a ton of maps that will be useful in finding things. I’ve only ever explored SF on my own of things I’d heard of, so I’m curious what the guide will recommend.

Goldrush Sourdough Starter – This is packaged to be mailed like a postcard, which would be a fun thing to do from CA. I love sourdough bread and I’ve never thought about making it, so this should be exciting! I might even take this home to LA with me this Thanksgiving to try it out in my mom’s bread machine.

California Mango cleansing gel and hand & body lotion – As I’ve recently learned, mango skincare products smell amazing. These generous tubes will last me a very long time! I’ll smell fabulous coming out of the shower. The lotion almost smells a little bit coconuty, which is also a super tropical sort of scent.

sisal pouch – I’ve got small pouches with smaller holes for the solid shampoo and conditioner pieces that are too small to use alone and now I have the perfect pouch for my soap! I recently got a cute wool soap that’s meant to do a similar thing. I can also use this as a glove to scrub my body with if I want a rougher exfoliation.

Torn Ranch milk chocolate truffle bar – I just got a bunch of chocolate in Europe, so I’m saving this one to eat later. The truffle bar sounds rich and wonderful – can’t wait to try it!

loofah pad – I’m all about exfoliating, so I’m happy to have this to use in the shower. I might even make soap and pour it around it to make loofah soap, like this one cool bar I once got from Hawaii.

Napa Organics face mist and face oil – Ooo, now these look like luxurious products. I love mists and toners, so this toner mist is just perfect to use after washing my face. I swear the oil smells like some sort of honey (clover honey maybe?) that I’ve had before. It has a nice earthy element to it and feels like it could be a healing tonic with medicinal qualities.

travel wallet – Too bad I didn’t get this before our travels, or I could have used it to keep some money and cards stored away. I think it could just fit my passport in it as well and definitely plane tickets, which would have been nice to help me organize all my stuff.

I think a lot of the focus here was on NorCal products, so I hope that there’s a SoCal or LA or San Diego box in the future, to learn more about products from my neck of the woods. No idea what the next destination is but I’m hoping more Asian countries will show up. There are amazing things to be found out there. What products from this California Escape Monthly box do you like most? If you want to sign up, be sure to sign up for their newsletter to get a code for 20% off the lifetime of your subscription.

[This post contains affiliate links. Signing up through them helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box and wanted to share what I got!]

The right wallet/purse/clutch fit

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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iphone wallet and clutchesFor the past couple of months, I’ve been trying out different wallet solutions. I’ve been bored of the standard purse for a long time and I hardly need it since I sit at work all day. I’d been using little bags like the black one pictured (which is my favorite Ipsy bag), but then I decided to downsize to the bare minimum. I switched to the brown iPhone wallet, which holds my phone and a few cards. There was barely even room for cash. I liked that everything was rather consolidated and I always had my most important things connected to each other. However, after awhile I started to get tired of having a bulky phone every time I wanted to speak on the phone.

When I was in China doing my shopping, I came across some wallet clutches that I liked, but got too ambitious with bargaining and didn’t end up getting one. Luckily, I found that Target has a decent selection of the style I like and I recently got this fun coral bag. I like that it zips around, is large enough for plenty of cards and bills, and easily fits my phone. Now I can just drop my phone in and off I go with all my necessary items. When I need to make a phone call, I can still use the phone separately and not be weighted down by a case. I just need to get used to carrying it around – the very first day I brought it to work, I accidentally left it at my desk. Oops!

I’m sure as time wears on, I will get sick of stuffing my phone in each time I want to zip it up and go, so I’ll be on to the next solution. Needs change and along with them, so too will my choice in wallets, purses, or clutches.

Bargaining at Silk Street Market

laelene Posted in stories,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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Visitors to Beijing will probably all be familiar with the Silk and Pearl Market known as the Silk Street Market. It has six floors of shopping, grouped into types. Towards the very top you’ll find the nice fancy jewelers with precious stones and metals. There’s the electronics floor, filled with phone and tablet accessories, headphones, etc. Then are the softer goods, like blankets, cloth, and clothing. Continuing on down you’ll find purses, wallets, and shoes. Somewhere along the way you’ll encounter luggage stalls too. And of course there are plenty of fun little Chinese trinkets and gift items.

stalls of vendors at silk street market in beijing with glass wallsBargaining at the Silk Street Market is pretty much expected (except for food you eat while there). I went there today with the goal of getting Panda a new wallet (or two) and checking out anything I might want for myself. You can get to the market from subway line number 1 (the red line). Go to exit A and up the escalators to find yourself in one corner of the building that houses the market. I like to start at the top and work my way down, so I strolled through some nicer stalls first. Eventually I made my way down to my real goal on level B1: the purses and wallets. The majority were for women, but I found a stall with mostly men’s leather goods and got to work.

My style of bargaining starts with first seeing how much I actually like what they have. After all, it’s no use to bargain for something I don’t really want and won’t be pleased with. So the stall attendant stares at me while I browse through a ton of their items. If I’m not seeing what I like, I’ll ask them if they have it. In this case, none of the wallets I was looking at had a little pouch for coins, so I asked and one of the ladies went to the back to find me some. She came back with four designs, of which two were to my liking. I asked how they were sold and was told ¥460 for one. Err, what?! That’s about $75!! I mean, I can go to Marshall’s or TJ Maxx and get a nice wallet for less than a third of that price.

men's leather wallets in brown and black from silk street marketThese attendants like to ask you what your price is. I like to go lower than I’d actually want it for to leave some room, and also remain as vague as possible at first. I said I came out only expecting to spend in the 10’s (as in not going into triple-digit territory). I kept looking and when I found blemishes, the attendant cleaned them off. There was one corner that was missing a piece, so she went to get a replacement one, but I didn’t like it as much (no more identical ones left). At these places you can usually get an item for less than 20-25% of the original asking price (often as low as 8-10%). So I figured, maybe I can get both for less than ¥100. I started by saying I only wanted to spend ¥50. She lowered the price into the 200’s. Still not good enough – I thought a bit, looked a bit, and decided I’d go with ¥80 (though I was considering saying ¥60). As she protested, I told her nevermind and walked away. As I walked off, she hollered at me to come back to talk and eventually (about two stalls away), I heard her say ok. I promptly turned around and I got my two wallets for ¥80 total – just $13!! If my mom was there, she could probably get both for ¥50, but alas, I’m still happy with my purchase.

Did I get the best deal? Probably not, but I certainly did pretty well. I think part of it might have been because the attendant could tell I’m a “??” (overseas Chinese). I never actually confirmed with her (once again, remaining vague with these people is usually a good strategy), but she could tell from my mannerisms, presence, and/or skin. She said she had a feeling and that my skin was different (presumably not white enough, since mainland Chinese women like to lighten their skin tone). I’m still amazed at how they know, but those people at the Silk Street Market… they always know. After all that interaction with people, I’m sure they’re excellent at reading us all.

cup of chinese frozen yogurt with fruit toppingsI then continued on to another stall, where I saw another men’s wallet, a women’s wallet clutch, and a toiletry bag I liked. When I tried to get all three for ¥100, the attendant started to put everything back in its place. That’s when I knew I was too low for them to even bother with me. No biggie, I didn’t want or need any of those three items anyway. So I kept going and eventually made my way to another floor to explore. When I came across a frozen yogurt stand, I couldn’t resist. I was thirsty anyway and wanted something refreshing. I got chocolate chips, watermelon, cantaloupe, kiwi, and peach jam drizzle on it. I like the Chinese version of frozen yogurt, which is more tart and dense. Some of the American ones are too sweet and soft for my taste.

silk market and pearl market plastic bagAs I carried my food, I continued on and went through a couple more purse/wallet stalls. In one of the larger ones, I saw some that I liked. They were a material resembling patent leather and had a fun, bold Asian-inspired logo on them. Unfortunately the attendant bargaining with me lost interest after I said ¥50 and she came down to ¥200. I guess I was too low again, so I walked away, hoping to find the design in another stall. I didn’t see it anywhere else and my back had started to hurt, so I decided to come home. I did get the one thing I absolutely wanted from there, but I’m considering asking my mom to go back before she leaves Beijing to get that wallet for me.

Oh, and according to the bag, apparently the three things to do in Beijing are: 1. Climb the Great Wall, 2. Eat Peking duck, and 3. Do shopping at Silk Market. I’ve done them all, so I must be properly acquainted with the city then!

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