REVIEW | Céline Trio Bag

It's been exactly two months since my last post, and I know, it's completely unacceptable. Between taking time off from work, traveling and starting a new job, my life has been cray cray as of late, but I'm finally back on a routine and ready to roll!

I was chatting on here recently about my adventures in Finland, Sweden and Denmark back in June, and shared my mini haul from & Other Stories during my visit in Stockholm in my last post. Well, hold onto your hats, 'cos I'm about to unveil this gorgeous luxury purchase that I scooped up during my time in Copenhagen - say hej to my new Celine Trio Bag!

On the last day of our three day stay in the city, we went and walked along Stroget, one of Copenhagen's most famous spots (as well as one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets). I had two main objectives that day - the first was to visit the beautiful Tortus boutique and studio which has been on my wishlist for years, and the second was to drop by Illum, a Copenhagen-based luxury department store, to browse one of my favorite luxury brands. Just as I thought I would be leaving Céline empty handed, as they didn't have the exact Mini Belt Bag that I had in mind, I caught a glimpse of the massive pile of Celine Trio bags neatly stacked on top of a pristine glass table, and this particular Trio Bag in Smoke, a new colour for the upcoming Fall season, just called out to me. And now, here we are!

The Céline Trio comes in two sizes - large and small - but I found the difference in dimensions to be quite minuscule. For reference, the large is slightly roomier at 10" x 7" x 2" compared to the small at 9" x 6" x 2". I opted for the latter, just because it looked a bit daintier on my 5'5 frame. The leather strap is adjustable and has a 20" drop, and hits me perfectly at the hip when worn on the shoulder and a bit higher when worn cross body.

The leather feels very soft, smooth and high quality, and the gold hardware adds a touch of flare to complement the simplicity of the design. There are three zipped pouches that are attached together with snap buttons, with the strap permanently attached to the middle pouch. If you detach the front and back pouches and clip them together, it can be used as a clutch. I don't see myself doing this however, as it's quite difficult to snap the pouches on and off without feeling like I'm bending and ruining the leather. Plus, the Céline logo is only embossed on the front pouch, so there really is no point in using the pouches separately.

Despite its flat and inflexible appearance, the bag can surprisingly fit quite a lot - the soft leather allows for some give and the pouches expand to carry a lot more than it seems capable of. I personally choose not to do so because of fear of ruining or stretching the material, since anything that is pointy or more irregular in shape can poke out and distort the leather - which freaks me out. So far, I haven't gotten a single scratch or scrape on it, and I would very much like to keep it that way!

After two months of regular use, this bag has proven to be quite lovely for casual days out, and fits most of my essentials that I can then organise into different pouches. Not gonna lie, most of the time I forget where I put certain things, so I end up having to unzip all three pouches to find what I'm looking for. Now, I stick to putting my most important belongings in the middle pouch, makeup and gum in the front, and keys and random trinkets in the back.

The only gripe I have with this bag is that it doesn't fit my everyday Céline Large Flap Wallet - it takes me a few extra minutes to take out my must-haves (ID, credit card, cash, VIP and loyalty cards) and transfer them into a smaller wallet, and when I'm in a hurry and need to get out the door fast (which is always, 'cos I'm never on time), this becomes a slight hassle. But hey, I opted to get a bag this size, so I really don't have the right to complain.

While I certainly don't believe this is a must-have bag from the brand (unlike their cult classic aka the Céline Luggage Tote), I still think it's a great luxury buy with a lower, more affordable price point and equally amazing quality and workmanship. Currently, I'm rotating between the Trio and my two other newer bag additions, the Mansur Gavriel Mini Bucket Bag and the Manu Atelier Mini Pristine, and I couldn't be happier! Yahoo!

Stay tuned as I share my long overdue mini hauls from Inglot and NYX, as well as the rest of my adventures in the Baltic Sea!

HAUL | & Other Stories

I was pretty excited to say the least when I found out that there was an & Other Stories store conveniently located just down the street from my hotel in Stockholm. So on the day of the Stockholm Marathon, I snuck away from cheering on the sidelines for a bit to see what goodies I could bring home with me.

I've seen countless clothing and beauty hauls online from this brand, but never had the chance to visit a store in person. Since our hotel was located right by the running route of the marathon, and the course involved lapping the hotel twice, I timed my shopping trip perfectly - I waited for my dad to run past the hotel the first time (and took awesome pictures of him in action), then made my way down to the shop and gave myself a good two hours to browse and look around before heading back for his second lap. Right when I walked in, I zoomed straight past the clothing racks and made a beeline for the beauty section.

Since I am not the most patient person when it comes to trying out new products I've just hauled, I took these pictures in our apartment in Copenhagen just the day after so that I open these bad boys up and use and wear them for the rest of my trip. I didn't do too much damage in the store, as I kept reminding myself of my very limited luggage space.

I couldn't resist picking up two silver jewellery pieces to add to my collection - a pair of thin bar stud earrings and an dainty open ring. Delicate, minimalistic jewellery is my jam, and although the store had quite a large selection of both silver and gold jewellery, these two were an instant favourite as soon as we locked eyes. 

My go-to, holy grail nail polish for years has been the Revlon Nail Enamel in Vixen 570, a gorgeous deep wine red (that can be layered until it looks almost black), so naturally the Miniver Wine Nail Colour screamed out to me. It's a lighter burgundy shade with more red undertones, and would look pretty on the nails all year long. The most exciting part of this haul has to be the Sunray Pleat Pearl Crème Highlighter that is just one of the most stunning highlighters I've ever seen! Mind you, the packaging is pretty lackluster, however the product inside is truly mesmerising - it gives off an iridescent, silver-pink-lavender pearlescent sheen that looks almost holographic. I don't have anything like it in my makeup collection! There was only one left on the shelves, so I snatched it up in a second.

& Other Stories Sunray Pleat Pearl Crème Highlighter

Pictures don't do this highlighter justice but I shall try - just look at that holographic sheen! Absolute magic. I will say that this isn't your typical, natural, glowy highlighter, but if you want to up your highlighting game and make a statement, you have to give this a try.

My first haul from & Other Stories was a definite success! And might I mention that the prices are also quite reasonable - this haul came out to be a total of 370Kr, which is around 43USD. For two beauty products and two jewellery pieces, that's a pretty good deal in my books.

TRAVEL | Part I | Helsinki x Stockholm x Copenhagen

Another year, another adventure in Europe!

At the start of June, I took two weeks off of work to accompany my dad on yet another one of his marathon expeditions - last year, it was to the Netherlands for the Rotterdam Marathon and the states for the Boston Marathon, and this time around we were flying to Sweden for the Stockholm Marathon, and decided to use this opportunity to embark on an epic road trip across northern Europe and the Baltic sea.

We flew on Finnair from Hong Kong to Helsinki, and boarded the Viking Line cruise that same afternoon that took us straight to Stockholm. All in all, it was two weeks of jam-packed adventure exploring Finland, Sweden, Denmark, as well as the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lativa and Lithuania. In this first part, I'll be sharing the highlights from my time in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen!

H E L S I N K I |

Market Square

Old Market Hall

Tasty seafood and beef soup from Soppakeittio inside Old Market Hall

Our accommodations on board the overnight Viking Line cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm

View of Helsinki from the cruise

Bundled up with my Manu Atelier Mini Pristine

Buffet and a sunset

S T O C K H O L M |

Heading to the Stockholm Marathon Expo

Checking out the finish line before the race

My dad and his friends having fun inside the Expo

Inside Östermalm Food Hall

Stockholm Cathedral

My first visit and haul at & Other Stories (stay tuned!)

At the 40km marathon checkpoint

Pops in action! I'm obviously taking my role as official photographer very seriously

The 39th ASICS Stockholm Marathon finisher medal

Celebratory seafood dinner at Sturehof

Fresh seafood and oysters

Driving down the 16km long Øresund bridge connecting Sweden to Denmark

C O P E N H A G E N |

Apartment views in Copenhagen

Cozy balcony

The famous Little Mermaid statue

Me and pops

Walking down Stroget, one of Europe's longest pedestrian streets

Did some damage at Céline (also stay tuned!)

Visited the amazing Tortus ceramics studio

Checking out the workshop upstairs

Breathtaking aesthetics inside the Tortus boutique

Stay tuned for my hauls from & Other Stories and Céline, as well as part two of my adventures in the Baltic sea!