Review: Introducing the most comfortable heeled sandals...

M.gemi has always been high on my list of to-buys, but the shipping cost to Singapore always held it back. Was it worth to ship shoes which are considered heavy items all the way here? In my mind, I made a promise that I will buy when I see THE SHOE that I really like.

Here comes The Attorno, seemingly the perfect shoe for me with it's medium height block heels and in neutral tone. M.gemi has it in 3 colours - black, spice and taupe.

I'm always looking for apparels that are versatile so that's how The Attorno caught my eye. Some of M.gemi's designs were too flashy for my liking while others too caught up in curent trend. The Attorno seemed effortlessly classic and nailing it in all technical aspect.

I chose spice, although taupe (as seen above) looks great too. If I were in the states, I'm pretty sure I will be buying both colours!

The sandals arrived in the best packaging I ever come across for online shopping. Each shoe was wrapped in foam and stuffed to protect and retained it's structure. It was then wrapped in a pretty paper before being enclosed in a neat box. When opened, the first thing you see will be a personalised note from M.gemi. How cool is that! It is no wonder the entire package weighed more than 2kg and costed me quite a bit for the shipping :( That's basically the only cons I have about this purchase.

The sandals were P.E.R.F.E.C.T. no joke. I was very surprised with The Attorno and how comfortable it felt despite it being a heeled sandals. The heels were of perfect height, just to give me the extra height without being taxing on my feet. The inner leather lining and padded soles made it so comfortable to wear. I had also no problems with the leather straps being too loose or too tight since it's adjustable.

I know some of you wanted to know how does M.gemi stack up against Everlane's loafers and flats. While the Everlane shoes that I bought were quite different in style to The Attorno, but I can safely say that M.gemi's Attorno is much more comfortable than the two Everlanes that I own. If I'm looking for my next pair of shoes, it will probably be M.gemi instead of Everlane. That said, Everlane's other products are still pretty top notch and the design of their shoes does me feel like owning one!

I wish M.gemi would offer free international shipping or sale/discounts for international customers. The shipping is crazily expensive and is holding me back from buying out all colours of The Attorno haha.

Review: Grana Denim

I have been eyeing Grana items for some time. The materials they used for their products are said to be some of the best quality. It fits the needs of minimalists yet the funky colours add some personality. If you are a fan of Everlane, Cuyana or Zady, you would love Grana.

Their jeans were the ones that caught my attention since I needed some new ones due to my growing waistline. It is made of Japanese denim, which I am clueless what's so great about it. Nevertheless, I had to get it to see it for myself. I carted it out the moment they had it back in stock. Together with the high-waist jeans, I also ordered their A-line denim skirt which was another item I happened to want.

I added a size up because I hated tight jeans. It was a wrong move because it ended up looking at bit loose at my thigh area. Nonetheless, it was still wearable and I am not sure if my usual would be comfortable enough for me.

The packaging was beautiful. Shipping was fast. Everything was neat.

Didn't quite like the huge product name and sizing but wasn't a major problem since it is on the inside. The denim felt smooth and substantial. The design of their A-line skirt was very classic and definitely worthy of anyone looking at a capsule wardrobe.

A closer look at the stitching details on the high waist jeans. 

As you can see, the high-waist jeans fitted a bit loose on me. The high-waist is true to it's name - HIGH waist. I felt that it was too much that it looked a bit forced... like someone who wanted to look taller or have the illusion of long legs and end up over-doing it. I would give it a 7/10. 2 points deducted for being too high waisted, perhaps shortening the rise by 1.5cm would be good. 1 point deducted just because I ordered it slightly large and didn't fit me exactly.

The jeans and skirt were definitely true-to-size and comfortable enough. They do have other denim products as well as silk, poplin, cotton etc. Sign up for an account using this link and get 10% off your first purchase at Grana!

Understanding Gmarket's Smile Cash, Smile Point, Gcash, Coupon and Gstamp

For Gmarket users, you would be familiar with the various payment supplements or benefits that Gmarket has. Log in to your Gaccount and you will be greeted with a overview of your points, gcash, coupon and gstamps. With so many different types of benefits, I wished they would streamline some of them or expand them to make staying loyal with Gmarket more worthwhile.

I will describe the uses of each benefit in order of their value i.e. from most valuable to least valuable.

Smile Cash
This is cash. Your refund, compensation or shipping fee differences will be returned to you via smile cash. Another way of getting smile cash is through converting your smile points (I will touch on this later).

Gcash
This is similar to Smile Cash in the sense that they are both cash. However, you can only receive Gcash through events by Gmarkets. Another difference is that while you can withdraw Smile Cash to your bank account, you can't do that for Gcash.

Smile Points
Once you reached 10,000 smile points, you can convert it to Smile Cash. They have an expiry date of two years from when you first received the points. You can receive smile points through the daily lucky draw or applying for it when you clocked certain days of attendance.

Coupons
In most instances, you will only encounter coupons during your purchase. You can either exchange for it using Gstamps (refer below), through daily lucky draw or the basic monthly coupons.

Here's where you can download your monthly coupons:

You can check the conditions, expiry date and amount of your coupon in your Gaccount:

The coupons can be applied to your purchased product either on the product page or in your cart.

Gstamps

Basically kind of useless. You can only use it to draw or exchange for coupons. Like I mentioned earlier, in most cases there will not be lack of coupons, so I seldom have to use Gstamps. They are also one of the easiest to obtain - from daily lucky day to writing product reviews.

Review: Everlane's The Modern Point

If you followed my blog you would have read my review on Everlane's Modern Loafer which I said I was pleased with the look of the loafer.

Now, the very first shoe at Everlane that caught my eye wasn't the modern loafer, but the modern point. I was hesitant to get it because of the price but ultimately, the need to have it overcame my hesitancy. I was looking for a comfortable and basic shoe for everyday work wear and Everlane's The Modern Point just looks to be the one.

When I first opened the box and took out the pair of modern point, the first thought was 'wow, it's huge'. For a moment I thought I could have gotten a size larger. However, when I put it in, it fitted like a glove.

Like what the other reviews said, the leather used in the modern point is definitely softer than the loafer. Design-wise, it probably won't be much of a head-turner as compared to the loafer but at least it's sleek and clean-cut. For the record, I ordered half a size up from my usual size and it was the right decision. The modern point is more suitable for semi-formal and casual wear with the pointy toes giving it a more upgraded feel.

The soles are still an issue. You can see it has a plasticky shimmery look, so I added some anti-slip stickers to the front part. I would highly recommend buyers to do that as it can get slippery at times. I do appreciate the white strip design at the heel as it adds a touch of elegance to a otherwise standard looking pair of flats.

So far so good, I like how it looks on me though I have yet to walk long distance on my modern point, Hopefully it performs better than the loafer!

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Update: I figured I needed to size up by another 0.5! I'm a standard 6.5 but have gone with a 7 for the modern point based on Everlane's recommendation. Still, I feel it's a bit pinching on my heels and toes for one of my feet.

Review: Linjer Doctor Bag in Navy

The long-awaited review of Linjer's doctor bag. Ordered this from kickstarter almost half a year ago and finally received it in March.

First look
It came neatly packed, with the Linjer box nestled within a standard cardboard box. One look and you know this packaging is definitely fit for gifting. Everything was packed so neatly, from the padding of the bag down to the tying of the drawstrings on the dust bag.

The Bag

The leather smells divine and smooth to touch. The brass metal parts added a touch of elegance to the bag. It was slightly bigger than I imagined, and because it is a structured bag, I figured petite women might have an issue with it. Nonetheless, I have nothing to complain about the look of the doctor's bag.

After admiring my bag, it was time to open and see the insides. Like I said in my earlier post, the major problem of this bag was the hinges. It was so darn hard to open. In fact, I couldn't open it at all. I wasn't sure whether I should apply more force sor was I opening it the wrong way. I decided not to risk damaging my bag and drop Linjer an email.

Roman replied pretty fast, and suggested some ways to loosen the hinges. His reply did gave me some reassurance that things will be solved somehow. It made me feel that a real person is actually trying to help me solve my problem so I really appreciate that.

Here's a screenshot of Roman's message for those who are facing the same issue. Hope it helps.

So... I did try the above but it didn't help at all. I even got my mom to help with it and no matter how hard we pull or press or push, it didn't bulge a bit. At one point, the flap even sink further in until it was really hard to have a good hold of it to pull open the bag. Because of the pulling and pushing, my bag ended up with some finger nail marks :(

I dropped Roman another email, telling him that his methods didn't work. He was very apologetic and said he will send a new one over together with a small token that is not available on the webshop.

It took another 2 weeks or so before the new bag arrived. The small token wasn't there but that wasn't my motive so it didn't really bother me much. I tried opening the new bag the usual way and it still wouldn't open! Twice in a row, could it be that I really didn't pull it hard enough? I got my mom to help me again. We tried until our arms were aching and it didn't move a bit. 

My mom suggested putting some 'lubrication' so she got out her needle oiler and carefully put some at the hinges. We tried again. This time, it seemed there was some progress with the slightest creaking sound of two layers rubbing against each other. We worked on it for almost half an hour before it finally opened! The hinges were seriously too tight and it wasn't easy to close it too. Once closed, it took us a long time to open it again. 

While I appreciate Roman's effort in helping me solve my problems, the technical aspect of this bag is one major flaw. What's a bag if it's not functional? I have decided to take it out once in a while to open and close it to loosen the hinges before I dare to bring it out. I cannot imagine if I'm rushing for time and I had to struggle to open the bag just to get something from my bag! I do believe that over time it will loosen and it will be a lovely bag, but having to overcome this first obstacle is a big problem.

Overall

More photos of the bag's interior and close-ups can be seen below. Tight hinges aside, it really is a lovely and quality bag. The bag is spacious, sturdy and thoughtful. I would definitely see myself carrying it to work or a dinner. 

Linjer's next step is to really work on solving the hinge issue.

Preview of Linjer's Doctor Bag

Has anyone else received their Linjer doctor bag yet? I did!

Haven't seen much reviews on their doctor bag, except on purse forum. Shall do one real soon. Heads up, it's like what people said on purse forum, it is really difficult to open. Hmm...

Review: Yuul Yie's YY Cream Pumps 16 Spring

When I first saw these pumps on instagram, I knew I had to get it. I love the shape of the toe box and the cream colours.

The price point seemed expensive for a brand that isn't that well-known on the international stage yet. I have heard of Yuul Yie from Kpop idols wearing it, however, there wasn't much international review of the quality their shoes. Their main line 'Yuul Yie' is the more lux version and also more expensive. These pumps are form their YY line which I think is their more affordable range. Still, it costs about US$150 for it.

After debating for some time, I finally placed my order at their international site. It wasn't the most user-friendly of sites. With a shipping fee of about US$20, I would expect the delivery to be faster. The status remained as 'getting ready to ship' for a week and I had to drop an email to them. No reply from them, but a tracking code secretly appeared beside my order status a few days after my email.

Here's a look at my pumps and a low-down on it.

I got the orange-red one. Accordingly to the specs listed on their website, the outer material is made of cow and sheep skin while the inner material is made of PU. Heel height is 6cm. I usually wear a Korean size 235 and YY's pumps are generally true to size.

Pros:

- design, when seen from the front and the side is love!
- orange-red colour (although more red than orange) is exactly like in the photos
- comfortable enough without causing major blisters on first wear

Cons:
- a bit pinching on the toes
- design when seen from the back not that great because of the chunky heel
- leather quality not that great

The reason why I said the quality of their leather isn't that great is a scratch line appeared after a gentle brush against the left of the table (see below).

Review: An honest review of Everlane's Modern Loafer

Was excited for my first purchase at Everlane after being lured by it's 'transparency' motto. Everlane does not provide international shipping currently, so I had to use a forwarding agent to get it in Singapore.

For my first purchase, I wanted to play it safe even though I heard many great reviews about Everlane. I decided to get something which was on 'offer' and another white v-neck tee which was their cheapest item. They did a 'Choose What You Pay' for their black-brown Modern Loafer in patent leather so that's what I got.

The Look
True to the description, the pointed toe and sleek silhouette gave it a very elegant look. It has a slimming effect on one's feet. Given a choice, I would not have gone for the patent leather simply because many times it will end up looking cheap, but this is definitely not the case for Everlane. Thumbs up to Everlane on the design which was what I was looking for in a pair of loafer. I ordered half a size up accordingly to the recommendations by Everlane and it fitted me well.

Comfort
When I first put it on, it wasn't as bad as I thought. It is definitely far from being super comfy, but I thought it was bearable given some break-in period. I wouldn't try wearing it out for a long period in the early stages. Till now, I have only worn it around at home to break in and for a short walk outdoors (say 15mins).

Besides the usual friction against the heel part, I also experience the sides of the shoe pressing and rubbing against my ankle bone. I wished the shoe wasn't so 'deep and the sides of the shoe were not so high. It resulted in this blister from that 15mins of walk.

Quality
I felt that the quality of Everlane's shoes needed a bit more attention. For the price, it was reasonable, but he soles wouldn't last as long as everyone thinks. From that 15min walk, there were already holes on the rubber soles from tiny stones pressing against it.

Also, there were some sloppy work with the stitching, or maybe I just got a slightly defective one. I noticed the sloppy stitching on my left shoe when I first tried on it because it jutted out and causes some friction against my feet. It is acceptable to me if this sloppy stitching appears at just one part, but that's not the case. I have since then feedback to Everlane's customer service.

Wear-abilty

Lastly, I would want to talk about it's wearability. This shoe is very versatile and works well with both pants and skirts. It gives your whole look a bit more edge even if you are say, wearing a sweatshirt out to the market. I can foresee myself wearing it with casual wear or in an office look. I would think it suits people with narrower feet, although with it's supposedly slimming effect, it will improve the look for those with wider feet. For my height of 1.69m, my shoe size is usually a US6.5, which is kind of small. I also have thin ankles and many shoes make my feet look bigger that it actually seems. This shoe will lengthen my feet without making it look wider.

Having said that, given that it's almost entirely made of leather, wearing this outdoors in a tropical climate like Singapore without socks will tend to make your feet sweaty and slightly uncomfortable. The half-size up from my usual size will only allow room for me to wear a thin sock.

Overall Verdict

I really like Everlane's Modern Loafer for it's design and wearability. I just hope the loafers will break in soon and I can wear it often enough.

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Update: I have taken my loafer out for a good number of times now. The last time I tried it, it still caused some blisters on my feet. I also added anti-slip stickers to the soles as the front part is really slippery.

2015 Taobao Double11 (双11) Bargains!

Come midnight, more than half of China's population will be stalking out at Taobao for their annual big sale. The Double11 (11 Nov) sale. This is the time where things on Taobao are sold at remarkably low prices. Let's examine some of the bargains, and see if it is really worth the effort and the shipping cost.

1. Etude House Eyebrow Pencil + 2 pc Mask set (RMB 19 = S$4.30 before shipping)
Etude house has several set offers but this seemed to be the star item of the year. The offer was being prominently placed on Etude House's Taobao site. I compared with the prices on Qoo10 as well as Etude House official SG site, this set is definitely cheaper. However, as much as I like the eyebrow pencil, I don't really fancy the mask... so it's like buying something which I don't need just because it is cheaper. It is still worth buying if you needed the mask, because the cheapest I have seen on local sites is $4.90 for the pencil only (including shipping).

2. Uniqlo Unisex Sneakers (RMB 149 = S$33 before shipping)
I included this item because it is great for pairing with various outfits and not available in local uniqlo stores. Although it is just a dollar cheaper than if you buy it in Japan, but for those who won't be traveling to Japan any time soon, this is a deal. The only other consideration is the shipping, because shoes aren't the lightest of items, but Taobao's shipping deal to Singapore will probably only cost you an additional S$5.

3. Kate Trap Impact Eyes Eyeshadow (RMB 74 = S$16.50)
I was looking to get a simple eyeshadow palette this Double11 and chanced upon this Japanese brand with good reviews. It is about the same price as you would buy in Japan. The brand has some lovely tutorials on how to apply this eyeshadow here.

4. Staccato Shoes
This is a Chinese brand so for sure it will be cheaper than any where else unless you are from Chian, Hong Kong or Macao. They have a wide variety of ankle boots (cos it's the winter season now) priced at around S$130 during this sale period. Heels and stilettos are in the S$90 range. Good deal considering the quality and comfort of their products.

You will notice that I mainly lists down Asian brands. Reason being they are more likely to be significantly cheaper in China than anywhere else because of the geographical proximity. There are some good deals, especially for clothings, for American and European brands, but you will need to surf through it yourself to see if it suits you.

How do I use Qoo10 Gift Card?

If you noticed, Qoo10 has recently added a $10 gift card prize to their daily roulette. This to me is the penultimate prize from the roulette. I have no idea what is the algorithm behind this roulette, but I guess you stand a higher chance of winning the gift card if you are Gold or VIP member.

The $10 gift card on the bottom right of the wheel

I have only won it once and I forgot to screenshot the steps so I shall just explain it. The way it works is pretty simple. Once you received it, you can go to 'My Qoo10 > Q account > Gift Card'.

Click on 'My Gift Card' to redeem one (if someone sent you a gift card serial no.) or activate one (if you receive it from the roulette Q). You should see something like this:

If you are using gift card verification, just typed in the serial no. and verification no. and click 'Use'. If you received the gift card through roulette Q, the gift card will appear below the 'Gift Card Verification' part and you can just click 'Use'. The gift card value will automatically be activated and deposited in your Q-money portion of the Q-account. This amount cannot be withdrawn but is like e-cash that you can use during payment.

You may now proceed to add items to your cart and check-out through the usual way. At the Step 2 'Place Order' page, scroll down to the part on Q-account/Q-money and typed in the amount you would like to use for this payment. Fill in the payment information and click 'Order Now'.

That's it! Very easy. You will notice your Q-money decreased by the amount you used for payment!

Get rebates for positive reviews on Taobao!

Following my guide on shopping on Taobao, I have another tip to share!
Yes! You can actually get a rebate/refund of RMB 2 to RMB 5 from leaving a positive review of the item you purchased on Taobao! I know that isn't a lot. Averages about S$1 for a review, but it gets credited to your Alipay account and after a few reviews, you can actually have enough to buy a small item.

Here's how it works:

1. Leave a positive review (denoted by a red flower) with at least 10-20 characters
2. Screenshot your submitted review
3. Send a private message to the seller with your screenshot
4. Send the seller your Alipay (China version of Paypal) account user ID
5. Most seller will send you a screenshot of the refund transaction

Things to note:

a) Not all seller will give you a rebate for positive review. Most sellers that have such benefit will enclose a slip packaged together with your purchase. Looks something like below:

b) The general requirement for receiving the rebate is to leave a positive rating, give them 5 stars rating for all categories, and to write a minimum of 10-20 characters review. I noticed that most of the time, the seller won't/can't check whether you did give them 5 stars for all categories. As long as you screenshot the positive rating you gave and the review write-up, they will give you the rebate (at least that's my experience thus far). The screenshot that I paste to the seller to claim my rebate:

Notice the red flower at the side, that's the indication for a positive review. You can view the reviews you gave by going to 我的淘宝 > 已买到的宝贝 > 评价管理 > 给他人的评价 (copy and use Ctl+F to search for the link to each page).

c) If you can understand Chinese, you can just go to the seller's Taobao page and look for '客服' (customer service). It looks like a blue water droplet. Just ask (if you are unsure) if they allow for positive review rebates '请问好评有返现吗?'

If you can't understand Chinese, I suggest you just paste the screenshot straight and says '给了好评，请返现' followed by your Alipay user ID 'xxx@gmail.com' 

Usually the seller will say ok and inform you that they will process it shortly. Depending on the seller, the refund may be immediate or the next working day.

d) Here's some sample general positive reviews in Chinese for the non-Chinese users:

- 宝贝实在太棒了! 选了这个保证没错，质量也相当的好！喜欢！

- 对这次购买的宝贝非常满意。以后还是会光顾这家

- 宝贝质量好得没话说！物流也非常的快，喜欢！

Please only do it when you are really satisfied with the product. If the product sucks, do not give it a positive review so that others won't be similarly cheated!

My black friday American Apparel haul!

Got these during the black friday sale via the American Apparel Singapore online shop! Have long wanted to get that flex terry headband, but it costs S$10 and the shipping is a flat rate of S$10 if total purchase is less than S$100.

The parcel took about a week to arrive. The items arrived neatly packed individually.