Online shopping with Nordstrom - Navoh Crossbody bag

It's difficult to travel with a large hand bag. I prefer to have my hands free for all the shopping or just to walk freely and take photos. When the Reebonz sale was on a few weeks back, I purchased yet another large hand bag and although I kinda regret it, I will use it for work.

I finally found a crossbody bag on the Nordstrom website that I loved the look of and took the initiative to purchase after hearing from a friend that Nordstrom ships popular American labels internationally (thanks Felicity!!).

Nordstrom online shopping experience

Nordstrom is an upscale department store in the US, similar to the likes of David Jones in Australia or Takashimaya in Singapore. They offer free delivery and returns in the US and ship promptly overseas. You can register for free and shop by catergory (female, male, kids, brands, sale etc). The site is extremely user friendly, automatically detects you country of origin and gives you the option to purchase in your preferred currency depending on the exchange rate on the day. Their financing is performed through a 3rd party, FiftyOne, who calculate all purchases and dispatches on Nordstrom's behalf. Their courier is DHL (Express) and tracking numbers are given once FiftyOne received the goods from Nordstrom and ship from their warehouse.

Live chat is available from 7am to 1am daily and the customer services is exceptional. They are always there to respond to your questions immediately and refer you to the relevant departments when they cannot help.

The only problem I faced was which to bag to buy AND not to get carried away buying other things, haha!!

Navoh Erin Crossbody

I purchased the bag below, for $91AUD, on Monday 9th July 2012 at 1pm and received it in exactly a week (10am Monday 16th July). There was shipping charges of $30AUD and the item was shipped from FiftyOne's warehouse on Thurday evening.

The Erin crossbody bag is from the luxury handbag designer Navoh from New York. It is available in black (pictured), orange, fuchsia and yellow and in my opinion is a versitle, fun and affordable bag to add a pop or colour or class to your outfit. For me, it's definately going to be the perfect bag to travel the streets of Asia with :)

Navoh offer a large selection of unique, trendy and functional pieces for your wardrobe and best of all most bags are less than $100! Go check them out!

This bag has 3 compartments; 1 large with mobile, coin and loose pocket, zipper pocket at back, and a flat pocket in the middle of these two compartments (for paper). I know I will be able to safely carry passports, cash/wallet, travel necessities, cellphone and valuables in here without having to worry about putting the bag down and forgetting about it! The zips are sturdy and the gold metal work is rugged/secure. And more importantly the bag ISN'T huge!!

Here are the bag details and dimensions:

• Turn key and top zipper closure
• Inner zipper pocket
• Back zipper pocket
• Envelope pocket
• Synthetic material, with soft lining
• 10" H x 8.5" W x 1.5" D
• 23" to 31" adjustable shoulder drop strap

Packaging was secure and no damages to back. Shipped to work for easy collection, tracked all the way.

Packed in original dustbag

front

back

Inside zipper compartment

What do you guys think of my latest buy? Tell me what you like travelling with and what your essentials are

 xS

Crabtree & Evelyn Gardeners Hand Therapy

My all time favourite hand cream is Crabtree & Evelyn's Gardeners Hand Therapy. I absolutely love it.
Seriously, I never fussed over hand cream before, but this one has me hooked and works well on young and ageing skin.

The smell of Patcholi is subtle, but enough to have pleasant smelling hands. It's moisturising and rubs in well without leaving a greasy residue. I think that it's longivity depends on how dry your skin is and whether the temperature is cold/hot. For me, my hands are fairly moist (except for when I wash them as they tend to dry out very fast), so a little goes a long way and now that I am almost at the end of the tube, I am looking forward to buying another one (currently retails for SGD$33 at Raffles City)!!

You can find it amongst my other necessities kit at work too!

Some might consider it a little on the expensive side at AUD$20/SGD$33 per 100g, but because I am making an effort to invest into my skin's well-being and seeing the results from using this product the price is fair. I carry it around in my hand bag and use it daily. It certainly leaves skin looking smooth, soft and moisturised :)

What's your favourite hand cream?

xS

Kate Spade unbagging

They are currently holding the Annual Reebonz sale (conveniently located at my work building), where they are selling everything designer up to 80% off. The entire floor is open to the public and its flooding with ladies trying to get their hands on the best deals.

I was on my hunt for a hand bag, a treat for myself having completed my CA. The sale runs for 3 days (28th - 30th June) annually and is famous under the Great Singapore Sales, kinda like the EOFY Sales in Australia.

I had a look around on day 1 and having gone in late (around 4:30) many designs had gone, the waiting lines were too long or bags were way beyond my budget.
I went back on day 2 knowing they had replenished the stock around morning tea when it was still hectic, but bearable.I found the Kate Spade Bow Bridge Helena hand bag quite early on and walked around with it while I was browsing for almost 2 hrs (my manager new I was busting to go and in fact told me to go :) ). I didn't want to let it go because already several ladies came up to me asking where I picked it up. It currently retails for SGD$1,050 and had a 45% discount as it was an American label + 5% if I used my Mastercard. A couple of the ladies (aunties :P ) from work found me while I was styling my fave bags in front of a mirror and told me which they liked the best. They have good taste! We walked around for a bit looking at what each other picked up. At the end, we all picked up something (some having come back for more on day 2!!) and when we paid together they gave us another $100 off on the bill because we gave a newspaper artical that entitled $100 off on a sale > $1000.

After all that, my bag was $569 and I love it. It's still bigger than I hoped but very elegant and SO ME!! I know I'll be back next year and pick up some more :)