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!

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...