Pink Chopsticks

I was hanging out in one of my favorite crafting network site – Etsy.com and I was searching for Asian themed paper products, party favors and birthday invitations. We have a family party coming up in a few months and were thinking of incorporating Asian elements to the theme. I’m really partial towards elegant Japanese scenes and designs so I ended up oohh ahhing over some really awesome crafts that are Japanese inspired.

I specially loved this Kanji Notecard Set by BadCandyStudios. I love the colors used and the idea that you can pick a notepad set with 8 words you picked in Kanji.

And its affordably priced too! I might just order a few sets and these would make excellent gifts too..

It’s been awhile since I last posted a featured Asian Online Shop. When it comes to fashion and style, I find myself more into Asian styles. They are quirky, soo ‘statement’, and since I’m Asian too, the sizes are just about right. Also, clothes from here are also inexpensive.  Last night I had been browsing for surfing clothes when I suddenly remembered a cool site I found some time ago.

The shop is called CarlvinoParis. I must admit I was first intrigued by the very Western sounding name, but this wholesale company specializing in Japanese and Korean apparel. Since they sell wholesale, they have a minimum 10 pieces per order per shipment. Items ships out from Guangzhou – China.

I looove their varied selection, and at their wholesale prices, its quite easy to fill in the minimum. Bags, shoes and if you are an plus size, they also have a good selection of plus sized clothes. This is quite hard to find among Asian shops so take note of this shop.

I’m sooo into online shopping. And while I used to think that online shopping is only widespread in US or in Europe, well, I’m happy to report now that there are a lot of online shopping sites from the Asian region or selling items primarily from Asia. Right now, I’m having a real fun time discovering these Asia-based online shopping sites and I’ll be featuring shops I find on a regular basis.

The great thing about shopping on these Asian based sites is that, we all know that a lot of products worldwide are sourced in China and other Asian countries. So there are times you get real good deals if you buy direct specially from wholesaler sites. Anyway, I’ve been looking for digital luggage scales to go with my luggage sets. We have a lot of traveling to do beginning July of this year, so I wanna buy stuff I need beforehand.

My search led me to LightintheBox.com. I used to buy from this site for some electronic gadgets and I didn’t realize that the site have expanded to carry a lot more items. This site have a really extensive inventory. Popular categories are Wedding and Events and a lot of people take advantage of their gowns at really low prices. Also noteworthy is their Electronics, Cellphones, and Car Tech categories, all with very affordable items.

They also accept Paypal payments so this is a big plus for me. I’m browsing their electronics products and I’m kinda deciding on to buy or not to buy an Android tablet.

Do visit the site and get a load of affordable, China sourced items.

I’m planning to do some revamp on this blog. Things are in planning as of now so I’m not sure yet what would change. For one, I have to do something about the traffic and networking and also step up my posting frequency. I’ ve had lot of things on my plate for the past months that this has been on the backburner.

Last year, this site has been enjoying minimal traffic, but the sad neglect {with only moi to blame} has led to its now really low traffic. Seems like I’ve been plenty preoccupied with things going on in my other sites, my personal life {huh!? oh yes, I have a life}, travel, mundane things like looking for clawfoot tubs for our house renovation etc etc.

I have to pick up and read back why I started the site and go on from there. So expect more about Asian culture articles and features plus a steady dose of my recent obsession – Asian fashion magazines, Asian magazine editorials, covers and more.

That’s it for the quick blurb..

Hmm, this has nothing to do with the usual topics I post here, I just feel like blurbing about blogging and changes in store for this blog. Last time I was searching for life insurance rates online and I had this sudden thought why I’m not loving this site like I used to. In fact, I’ve been mildly neglectful. After staring at the whole site for a couple of minutes, I thought I still love the topics, the picks I posted, what didn’t appeal to me was the template.

So, I’ve just recently changed the template, I found the old one too cluttered for my taste so I changed to MistyLook Theme. And I love how the content is highlighted and the photos looks really good too. And since it only has a single sidebar everything looks more organized.

Sigh! I could breathe easy now. And I’m quite happy with how the site is going. Things could improve and I have to work on a bit of link building but it will come.

And a note to self, I have to fix that header image. I guess I have to head over and do a bit of Photoshopping now.. Ciao!

I’m in a really good mood for fashion editorials and covers. Those who had visited this little site of mine would know that I’m just so into editorials. And while you can see a lot of US and European magazine’s covers and editorials featured online, well I feel like Asian fashion mags deserves similar exposure.

Call me biased, but why not support Asian artistry =) and besides these covers and editorials are at par with their Western counterparts already, IMHO.

Model Liu Wen for Elle Singapore December 2010 photographed by Thomas Mangieri – the dress is a little bleh for me but I love her pose and I really really heart that multi-colored nails hahaha!

Kiki Kang for Harper’s Bazaar Singapore December 2010 – I love this cover and Kiki Kang is one model who commands your attention. ‘nough said.

I’ll let you in on a secret too.. One of the reasons why I’m so fascinated with magazine covers and editorials is that I’m just a Photoshop addict! Lol! I love looking at how the cover and photo shoots are enhanced. It’s fascinating what you can do with a little software, trim off excess wiggly bits, conceal acne without a concealer or salicylic acid acne, change the skin tone and so on..

And since I’m on the roll with the fashion editorial thing, there’ll be a mini deluge of posts about this..More later.

At the very least I would say this is very intriguing! I was browsing around tech and gadgets site looking for the latest in gaming computers when I came across a feature post in AkihabaraNews about LG L-03C, touted as the ‘first’ Point and Shoot Phone.

I just had to share it here. The LG L-03C is the first real “Point & Shoot” Camera Phone or maybe it should be more apt to call it a camera with a phone function..Too bad its only available in Japan thru DoCoMo and is expected to be out in January.

As for the features, the L-03C has this: 12.1Mpix censor, up to ISO 3200, and features a Pentax 1:3.6-5.5 lens with a 3x optical zoom.It also comes with a HD Video recording mode (720p), GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and both 3G+GSM.

As for me, I like how it looks and I like that it resembles more of a camera than a phone =)

I love to shop online, though in the past I’ve mostly been shopping in US-based online shopping sites. Then, I discovered Ebay Philippines and Ebay Singapore. But I’m not content with that. There are lots of shopping sites in Asia, just waiting to be discovered.

And I seriously feel that online shopping has great potential in this region especially since a lot of low priced products are sourced from here anyway. Say for example, last time I went online shopping for dresses and baby clothes from US online retailers and when I got my items half of it were made in China. Lol!

I know that online shopping is a big hit in countries like Korea and Japan, and now China and Singapore are gaining ground, Philippines is also starting to wake up to the possibilities of finding fab stuff online so I’m a bit hopeful. The problem though is geography and logistics. I also found lots of sites which offers items I really really like but I could barely navigate it because of the language barrier. I’m looking forward to these changing in the near future.

Anyway to satisfy the shopping crazy in me, I made it my mission to find online shops based here in Asia and share it here in this blog. And for my first feature, I picked emall.sg. . Why I picked this? It’s not actually a shopping site, its a directory, a portal for online shops based in Singapore. I love it because, you practically have a whole world of online shops listed there just waiting to be discovered. And a whole lot of them also ships internationally.

Of course, in due time I’ll be featuring shops I find there but for now, do visit the site and I’m pretty sure you’d enjoy looking for online shops carrying items you want.

I love these small shops not just because you can find totally great bargains and items, but also its mostly owned by small startups and enterprising individuals and also home based moms..

Also, please do watch out coz soon I’ll be adding a Links/Directory Page where you can find Online Shops based in Asia. Soon!