Hansel Fairy Lights Collection is a good remnder that the holiday season is near!

Carmen and Natasha are big supporters of local talent in this island we call home. For now. (the ‘for now’ part is very important, because being expats we never know where we’ll end up by the time we finish writing this blog.)

We’re particularly big fans of Jo Soh’s work, the creative genius behind the successful local brand Hansel (which, by the way, is the name of her dog). We were super excited when she personally invited us to a preview of her Fairy Lights collection at her boutique on the second floor of Mandarin Gallery.

Jo’s inspiration came from these pretty fairy lights, which typically symbolizes festivity and happy occasion.

Check out 3 of her fairy lights design, which she turned into different designs; coil, string and fairy light.

Here’s Natasha with Jo Soh, unfortunately Carmen is still in Europe so she missed out on this awesome opportunity to meet one of her favorite Asian designers.

Being a former Textile Design student herself, Natasha appreciates the technique of transferring a design onto the chosen fabric. Jo uses bamboo quill and Indian ink as her medium, because she loves the organic imperfection it achieves through the squiggles that are all of different width. She then does repeats to make a pattern of her scribbles, which is digitally printed onto fabric, which for this collection, Jo has chosen cotton rayon and polyester.

The cool thing about these fabrics is that they’re durable and low maintenance, all you have to do is throw it in the washing machine and it even requires minimal ironing! Perfect for traveling – which is why Carmen decided to pack her beloved HDB print dress from Jo’s previous collection on her trip around Scandinavia.

Being a huge fan of bright colors, this design is definitely Natasha’s favorite! Especially the maxidress below. It’s so pretty!

This is Natasha’s second favorite design. It’s simple, but far from boring!

Look at how intricately and perfectly stitched the black threads are and also the ‘lightbulb’. It’s the small details that make a great design!

The monochrome design is super versatile, because you can dress it up or down and definitely wearable to the office.

How gorgeous is this bow accent on the puffy skirt. Pair this skirt with a bright colored shirt and wear it to work or throw on a T-shirt and a pair of cute ballerina flats to complete the look, perfect for a weekend stroll!

Hansel boutique:

02-14 Mandarin Gallery 333A Orchard Road, Singapore 2388867 | Tel:+65 6836 5367

http://www.ilovehansel.com

 

Sassy Singapore and Kate Spade unveiled Fall Season’s Tokyo and Shanghai Collection!

When we found out that Sassy Singapore is teaming up with Kate Spade to unveil the brand new Fall collection, we were beyond excited. When we found out the new Fall collection is Asia-inspired, we were excited beyond belief, especially when Kate Spade picked out two of Asia’s coolest cities to be her inspiration, Tokyo and Shanghai! Such a nice shift from last season’s Italy-inspired summer collection.

As many of our darling readers may already know, Carmen and Natasha have been teaming up with our friends at Sassy Singapore to review a bunch of things around Singapore and being humongous fans of Kate Spade, there’s nothing better than going to an event that combines both!

Here’s Natasha with the sassy girls from the Sassy team. Unfortunately Carmen isn’t in the picture, because she’s currently having the time of her life traveling through Scandinavia for a month, so Natasha has to hold the fort.

Poppy Skinner, Sassy Singapore’s Editor, gave useful fashion tips on how to mix and match this season’s pieces. How cute is her statement neck candy?! Natasha’s loving her loafers, too. Whoever says that black outfits are boring need to go on a little accessories treasure hunt!

We’re swooning over the cobalt blue leopard print from the Tokyo collection. Natasha has her eyes on the Keds and cute cat bag and the bamboo green sling bag. Okay she has her eyes on many many things and can you blame her?

How gorge is this clutch below?! Such a standout piece and perfect to jazz up a black LBD.

Unlike the Tokyo collection, which is more on the fun and flirty side, the Shanghai collection has more of a luxurious, sexy, yet festive feel to it with its deep cherry red and black and white color pallette.

Natasha was busy trying to gain her momentarily lost composure the moment she laid her eyes on the gorgeous Chinese takeaway box bag. How. Amazing. Is. It. sigh…..

Okay so it’s not just the Chinese takeaway box that’s super cute, the bird cage bag is equally gorgeous! Why do you have to have such cute stuff Kate Spade? Why!!!

As if the drool-worthy bags weren’t torturous enough, check out these amaze balls shoes below! There’s something sentimental and timeless about Mary Janes, especially these burgundy ones below. The black ribbon really completes the look!

Natasha is a massive fan of the color coral, so she’s super duper happy to see so many coral-colored items in store.

 

Natasha found a whole bunch of goodies from Benefits makeup, as well as a nifty voucher from Prep blow dry bar in the goody bag and she loved this cute (not to mention yummy!) little fortune cookie – how cute is the Kate Spade takeaway container by the way?!

 

Nine West’s mega sale! Go to the nearest Nine West shop now!

One fine evening, after dinner with girlfriends at Wisma Atria, one of Natasha’s girlfriends broke the news that Nine West is having a super awesome sale. Music to any girl’s ears, right? So off she went to check it out, a tad bit skeptical of the sale, thinking that most of the good stuff have probably been sold out. Much to her surprise, the sale is indeed super duper awesome!

That is why we decided to post this blog today so you can make your way to Nine West this weekend, or even tonight after work! Yay! Here’s the deal, most of the stuff are on 50% off! Yes, 50%!!! As if that’s not great enough, Nine West is throwing an extra 10% if you buy 2 pairs, and an extra 15% if you buy 3 pairs. What you can do is gather 2 or 3 of your girlfriends and enjoy extra discount! Woohoo!

Here are Natasha’s top picks:

How hot are the shoes below! They’re surprisingly comfortable, too. Perfect for a night out with your girlfriends. Great with jeans or skirt.

Natasha is loving these two-toned Enzos. The color combos are all so yummy, you can dress them up or down.The blue and grey are her favorites!

 

The wedges below with elastic strap is perfect with flowy summer dresses. Natasha loves the pink one!

 

How cute are these kitten heels! So elegant and demure, perfect to finish off your office attire. The height makes these little darlings comfortable to run around in.

 

 

After 50% discount, these cute colorful flip-flops end up being SGD25!! And they’re perfect to wear around the pool.

A few months ago, we posted a blog on pretty summer sandals at Nine West, but because the sandals are part of Nine West’s Runway Collection, the prices were a bit on the steep side (SGD182 for a pair of these gorge sandals below). Natasha couldn’t believe her luck w\hen the salesperson said that the store still has her size. The best part? She got it for SGD83!!!

Natasha went to the Wisma Atria branch, but fret not because Nine West has another big store at Raffles City mall. What are you waiting for? Head to the nearest Nine West store now! You won’t be sorry 🙂

Carmenandnatasha’s favorites at the Emmys this year!

Many many women around the world glue their eyes on what celebrities wear on a daily basis, especially during awards season and the Emmys naturally have that affect on us.

Carmen and Natasha are LOVING Claire Danes’ choice this year. She looked so elegant and polished in her Givenchy dress. Agent Brody, eat your heart out – yes, we’re big Homeland fans.

How gorgeous did Lizzy Caplan look in this beautiful Donna Karan Atelier dress! Lizzy who? Well, she’s definitely one to watch out for. This Masters of Sex actress sure has a kickass stylist or an impeccable taste judging by her dress selection!

Kerry Washington is another celebrity robot we reckon. She looked ah-mazeballs in this orange Prada number, only a few months after giving birth to a cute baby girl just two months ago.

If we had legs like julia Roberts, and a great big signature smile we’d be grinning ear to ear, too! Who says you have to wear a long gown to look great at the Emmys? Julia Roberts looked refreshingly different in this Elie Saab Haute Couture sparkly dress.

Sofia Vergara looks hot in everything, even a potato sack. Okay, maybe not but still.. This Roberto Cavalli white number looked sizzling hot on her. This woman looks awesome in any color, yes, we love to hate you Sofia.

Michelle Dockery, we want your Rosie Assoulin tricolor dress!! What’s not to love about this breathtaking dress. The color combo, the cut, the silhouette, love, love, love.  Oh and we love the minimal makeup, too. 🙂

Okay, seriously, we’re convinced Heidi Klum is a robot. There’s no way she’s human and looked this stunning in her Zac Posen after giving birth to four genetically blessed children.

We’re seeing a lot of coral on the red carpet at the Emmys this year, as you can see from Sara Hyland’s Christian Siriano ensemble. We love how she kept the look fresh, simple, found and sophisticated.

Keke Palmer looked breathtaking in a Rubin Singer midnight blue dress! Not a bad choice for a 20 year-old. We certainly had a few too many fashion mishaps at age 20!

Kate Mara looked so very angelic in her J. Mendel dress below, a far cry from her Zoe Barnes tomboy style (yes, we watch House of Cards religiously and if you don’t, you should!).

 

 

Laprendo Sale is back and we loved it!

Carmen and Natasha are fans of Laprendo, Singapore’s premium brand shop with a store that is nicely tucked in a corner of Dempsey’s maze of shops and restaurants and another shop, specifically selling jewelry, at the Fullerton Hotel.

Every year, we’re always anticipating for Laprendo’s annual sale and we were beyond excited when we found out its annual sale is held this weekend. What we like about the Laprendo sale is the variety, quality and value of the goods. We’re not misled by their sale, because a lot of the items are actually at 80% off, especially their ‘last pieces’ rack. Granted some of their stuff are a few seasons old, but for fans of classic and timeless pieces like us, we don’t really care.

In terms of brands, they have practically everything you can think of. Let’s start with the usual suspects, Gucci, Prada, YSL, Miu Miu, D&G, Victoria Beckham, Marni, last year Natasha even managed to snatch a gorgeous pair of Chanel ballerinas, Valentino, Christian Dior, you get the point. They also have clothes for sale, as well as accessories such as glasses, belts, ipad and iPhone cases (we spotted a few gorgeous ones from Balenciaga). The clothes were absolutely gorge. Natasha spotted a super pretty Celine and Red Valentino dress, but decided to take home a classic Marlene Birger shirt for a mere SGD80!!!!!!!! Please excuse our excessive enthusiasm. We can’t help ourselves.

Anyway, enough typing and time to post a snapshot of the awesome sale and some of the items we managed to snatch before all the good stuff are gone!

Pact @ Orchard Central: We are officially obsessed!

We’ve done it again – found the new kid in town, and now visit there almost 3 times a week… Pact is a concept store that features three parts: an awesome restaurant (Kilo); shop (K.I.N) and get your haircut (+LIM)! How convenient to have all three (and all done to an incredibly high standard) – all in one place! We think this new area rocks, the service is friendly, efficient and well informed; the food (try the bowls during brunch/lunch) is well priced and delicious; the shopping showcases brands and products that are not found anywhere else in Singapore (and includes lightweight bamboo clothing for women and men – perfect for the humidity here).

Here are some photos of the store below…

And next door was the Code Deco store. We spotted some really sweet Singapore focused products including these brooches below.

There is also a “hidden” mani/pedi salon next to the Code Deco store -check it out! Note they only do gelish.

Address: Pact: #02-16/17/18/19, Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road Singapore. Code Deco is just next door.