Accessories Accede: What’s in My Chanel Camellia WOC Sac?

Q & A in Barcelona, Spain, September 2017

Is Camellia WOC satisfying your dream of Chanel collection?

Definitely. It’s been a while my consideration between Chanel square mini or lipstick mini flap bag, until at Chanel Passeig de Gràcia boutique, there is no availability to acquire any, then Camellia WOC catches my instant attention, that is crafted with a timeless look and quality, woven chain leather strap, can be worn cross body, shoulder style and even possible to adjust the length while wrapping the chain outside-in of the flap; all it needs to steal my heart.

How’s the craftsmanship and interior design of Camellia WOC?

Chanel WOC (wallet on chain) is embellished with the iconic smooth double C logo, and in 2017 Camellia version, unlike the previous WOC used hard caviar or fragile lambskin, is made from grained calfskin, which is durable as caviar but also luxurious as lambskin. For the interior, there are a central pocket, patch pocket, multiple credit card slots and even a zip pocket, the size is 12.3x 19.2x 3.5 cm, slightly larger than the classic caviar WOC, suitable for my iPhone, a mini pochette, metro card, city map and travel size cosmetics.

✔HOLA BCN 72-hour card allows me to take bus, metro, tram and local train within metropolitan area of Barcelona, even the journey from the airport to the city centre. And the travel card is always the best souvenir keeper.

✔Chanel Rouge Coco #448 Elise or Rouge Allure #257 Ultrarose are my quick saviors while striking the poses. Elise pinkish hue is good for denim jacket look, while Ultrarose presents the wild side of me at late night flamenco show.

✔Chanel metal & resin Dallas star piercing earrings owns the cute shape, amazing details on the edges and golden double interlock C logo. Its thickness of design stands out as abstract perspective on earlobes, surely a pair to allure for.

✔Chanel Coco Mademoiselle 2ml tube eau de parfum allows me to travel light and fragrant fast. Request politely while purchasing at Chanel cosmetics, the surprises are awaited at the corner!

✔Chanel Camellia caviar cardholder has 3 side credit card slots and 1 central pocket for the convenience of card organizing. The durability of caviar calfskin prevents the cards from the slide-away, the carving Camellia flowers make the pure black hues another layer of unique craftsmanship.

✔My talented friend Linda made the pastel-pink blogger business cards come true. Since I never known what kind of encounter I will meet during the travelling, therefore having several in Camellia WOC never goes wrong.

✔Dimensions de Chanel mascara #10 Noir is also from the freebie while purchasing the cosmetics. Its packaging design resembles the retail version, even it’s only 1 ml but available to sustain over a week of daily use.

✔Barcelona City Map folded as the perfect size to fit in Camellia WOC. I always collect two, one map for practical functionary, that we can fold, draw, or mark on it without any concern of destruction, and the other spare map is brand new copy to save it as a piece of lovely memory.

✔Eurostar Hotel key cardholder is also the good reminder and easy souvenir to collect. After years of traveling experiences, now I only book hotel rooms which stands good location and are equipped with private bathroom, hence comparing the design of the hotel small items is also the pleasure during the trip.

SOUVENIR DE BARCELONA

✔The other souvenir I target to collect is the book, yep, either paperback or hard cover version. I used to collect different linguistic of VOGUE magazine while visiting a city, later I find they are super heavy to carry and super troublesome to bookshelf storage, since then my focus falls on those rather appropriated-size of local readings. Barcelona Modernisme Beyond Gaudí by the author/illustrator Lapin, a French guy living in Barcelona, introduces the most amazing architecture design of Barcelona by adapting water colours, in English, Spanish and Catalan.

✔Being as a super fan of Fiji Film Instax, I always would like to capture the unforgettable moments with friends and family. It’s been 13 years after my cousin Jenny and I are able to travel together abroad, the very moment was taken at Gaudí House Museum located inside Parc Güell, the friendly Catalan lady puts down her shopping bags, and nails our smiles at the perfect snap. Yep, I place the National flag of Spain and some cute stickers to make the Instax photo a lot of fun! 

✔I admit that I adore different kinds of printing matters. Thereupon, the postcards, tickets and flyers from the museums or street vendor are also the best souvenir to collect, such as the postcard printed from mosaic art piece by Gaspar Homar at Museu Nacional D’Art de Catalunya; the ticket of La Pedrera (Casa Milà) totally recalls the ‘The X-Files’ rooftop view, or the illustrated La Sagrada Familia postcard by Bin Kashiwa, all they have the pure magic to take me back those Barcelona lovely September days.

Fashion Fun BARCELONA! See By Cholé Midnight Blue Dress at Plaça de Catalunya

September 16 2017 in Barcelona, España 

If we gals would like to go shopping in Barcelona, Plaça de Catalunya is a must pass-by. Translated as ‘Catalonia Plaza’ in English, occupies an area of about 50,00 square meters, Plaça de Catalunya was further modified in 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, which also included the construction of a metro station, has been considered one of the most attractive sites of Barcelona city centre, where major avenues meet together: Passeig de Gràcia, Rambla de Catalunya, La Rambla or Portal de l’Àngel. At Plaça, especially known for numerous statues and fountains, is the best spot to take a walk, have some chats and strike a pose.

September in Barcelona is the perfect time to wear silk dress and flat sandals (the average temperature is 20-26’c). See by Chloé Ruffled silk dress is SS17 collection inspired by girls on an American road trip, cut from silk crepe de chine with split sides to create breezy movement while moving around. It has slim shoulder straps and at chest sewn with flounces to provide chic and elegant looks and its concealed hook and zip fastening at side provide the slimmer silhouette. The most practical is that silk dress is light to carry (I fold it flat at A3 plastic zigzag bag) and easy to wear on, and can be both dress-up and down. While going out for Flamenco show, it is perfect as exhibition occasion, during the museum tour, tucking on Chloé washed-blue denim mini jacket can create the layering look, at the same time prevent the sunburn of Catalunya.

For my favourite accessories, Louis Vuitton Stephen Sprouse patent calf sandals has the flat heels to support the long walk, create a kind of Greek mythology style and playful leopard colours to mix with blue tone of silk dress and denim jacket. Miu Miu Madras flap bag has been my travel mate since 2016 UK holiday, the multi-compartments can hold the daily essentials and Chloé acetate sunnies. Last but not the least, on the makeups, I apply Chanel Rouge Allure #94 Extatique to complete the pinkish focal point!  

TOP TIP: Wearing ruffled dress with flat sandals, showing the shoulders or toes to create the Greek elegant style.

Special Thanks: Jenny 

#plaçadecatalunya #seebychloé #chloé louisvuitton #chanel #miumiu

Cuisine Crush: Gourmet Tapas, Café Espresso y Seafood Paellas

September 2017 Zaragoza & Barcelona 

My cousin Jenny and I are mini foodies. We do not necessarily need Michelin Starlets, but we still adore good cuisine with lovely atmosphere during the trips. In Barcelona we love tapas, while at Zaragoza, the city has developed its age-old gastronomic tradition alongside influences from Northern Spain and Moorish, we find some surprising hidden gems without reading any travel guides. Since in Zaragoza, every afternoon has at least two-hour siesta gap, therefore, spotting a comfortable café to dodge the burning sun is a quite essential task for us to reach.

CAFÉ ESPRESSO 

Not alike my most of family and friends, I rarely drink any coffee daily, until I am on the road. After the long-term walk among the streets or lost in the museums, I crave for a shot of café espresso to revive my energy. Brewed by forcing a small about of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans, espresso has higher concentration of suspended and dissolved solids with ‘crema’ on top, that also makes espresso has more caffeine per unit volume, but since the usual serving size is tiny, the total caffeine content is strong already to keep me in good vibe after lunch but at the same time proper enough to stay away insomnia at bedtime. 

That’s how I fall in love with café espresso during the travelling. At Bar Santiago in Zaragoza, the hues of table wares are white coffee cups with dark brown logos, together with silver spoon and evergreen napkin, surely the cutest visual pleasure before the main dish serving. The other enjoyable café espresso experience is at La Roca Village Barcelona. It was a raining shopping day, the off-white larger cup with brown stripe written ‘Mocay’, serving sweeter espresso with thicker foam and a sprinkle of caramel powder, definitely an instant remedy to solve our cold and hungry souls. 

SEAFOOD PAELLAS

At Plaza Nuestra Señora Del Pilar 8, Bar Santiago, with large windows, light blue wallpaper and mini round tables make this charming corner bar café a local hot spot for either weekend brunch or luncheon chat. I skip the enormous plate of paellas at La Rambla in Barcelona, but at Bar Santiago, fresh ingredients and appropriate amount makes seafood paellas standout. Containing bass, codfish, mussels, oysters, scallops, shrimps, squids and trout, the bomba rice mixed with green beans and several drops of lime, the flavor is both salty and sweet, fulfill my empty stomach and satisfy the desire of taste buds.

Fun facts about paella, which derives from the Old French word ‘paella’ for pan, is also related to paila, refers to a variety of cookware in modern Spanish. In Valencian language, ‘paella’ is not only limited in the meaning of the cuisine, but also the traditionally round, shallow pan, made of polished steel with two handles, especially served for the rice dish.

Bar Santiago

Nuestra Señora Del Pilar 8 

50003, Zaragoza

CAFÉ NOLASCO

After visiting Museo de las Termas Públicas and Museo del Teatro, Zaragoza comes to the siesta hours. Jenny and I randomly choose Café Nolasco to rest due to its good location and lovely deco. The greenery hallway presents as an evening bar area, the light blue tiles and milky white chairs gives out the Mediterranean feels, even the clips on Menú del Dia is in copper bronze. The weekly luncheon  contains fresh ingredients and precision cooking create unforgettable flavours in well-presented simple dishes such as caviar spaghetti, roasted beef, smoked eels and sorbet of season. The warmly staff welcome our open questions, even recommend Maldom sea salt for the cooking tips.

Café Nolasco

Calle San Jorge 18 
50001, Zaragoza

TAPAS TAPAS

Tapas is derived from the Spanish/Portuguese verb ‘tapar’, ‘to cover’, a cognate of the English top. From The Joy of Cooking, the original tapas were thin slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in taverns used to cover their glasses between sips. In order to increase their alcohol sales, bartenders and chefs created a variety of snacks to serve, therefore we have tapas nowadays; also known as ‘pinchos from the Basque area, hot or cold, sweet or salty, tapas means ‘all we can choose.’

We gals find Txapela on Passeig de Gràcia after La Roca Village shopping. It was 10 o’clock at night after hopping off from the shuttle bus, but Txapela restaurant never rest. The picturesque menu offers over 52 different tapas to select, and it’s just easy to order by speaking the numerous en Español. I love chopitos (or puntillitas, battered and fried tiny squid), gambas (prawns sautéed in salsa negra), calamares a la romana (deep fried squid with bread) and mini beef hamburger; of course along with tapas, we wouldn’t miss our favourite sangria, which at Txapela is much sweeter than the free glasses we have at flamenco show. Txapela has their chain stores at 8 & 58 along Passeig de Gràcia, plus one at 8 Plaça Catalunya, Barcelona. The lead waitress at 8 Gràcia, Rosa, is extremely nice and helpful; so guess what, we visit all of these 3 Txapela during our Barcelona days!

Special Thanks: Jenny

On the Road: Zaragoza Mercado Central to Palacio De La Aljafería

September 13-14 Zaragoza, Spain 

Based in a major city and spend a 2-day trip at a nearby location is always on my travel-to-do list, such as London versus Bath, or from Madrid to Toledo. Zaragoza city tour is the great idea from Jenny, and the hotel booking and sightseeing plan belonging to my execution.

RENFE from Barcelona Sants Station to Estación Zaragoza-Delicias takes approximately 95 minutes; before the departure, we buy salmon salad and a bottle of smoothie then enjoy our chatting time on high speedy train. Arriving Zaragoza at 11:12, we check-in at Eurostars Hotel, leave the luggage, take the essentials, hop on the city bus and start our mini tour.

MERCADO CENTRAL

Built in 1903, the Central Market of Zaragoza (Mercado Central) is the perfect place to see the local’s life and the vivid of the city. The building is a modernist style with a decorative façade and an iron frame, not upon the doorway it is a mixture of fishy and chlorine, certain storefronts close after 13:00 for siesta hours, still there are a bunch of elderly happily socializing in groups. Along the aisles, we spot Spanish ham hanging around, a mini counter full of just cheese, and some mutant vegetables awaited in the wooden boxes. Crossing the hallway of Mercado Central, we arrive at the old town within 5 minutes.

Passing through Torreón De La Zuda, where the tourist centre locates, Basílica Del Pilar stands elegantly along River Ebro. Jenny and I stroll at Plaza Del Pilar, La Seo and La Lonja, experience the emptiness of the streets due to the siesta. After we have lovely late lunchtime at Bar Santiago, Placio De La Aljafería is the next highly expected destination.

Beyond our astonishment, our unexpected hop-on and hop-off tour begins. The first Bus 34 broke down on the busy shopping area, therefore we passengers are forced to switch the next coming one, which not until it takes us to a mysterious uphill cemetery, that we realize the second Bus 34 has the loop tour rather than the simply round-trip concept, then this very one suffers engine malfunction, again we must wait for the third Bus 34. We are lucky enough that the second Bus 34 driver communicate with his younger colleague that these two poor tiny Asian girls need to get to Placio De La Aljafería. By 19:00, we hop-off again at Plaza Europa, toward to the large park and arrive at the gates of Cortes de Aragon.

PALACIO DE LA ALJAFERÍA

The Aljafería Palace is a fortified medieval Islamic palace built during the 11^th century in the Taifa of Zaragoza of Al-Andalus. After the taking of Zaragoza by Alfonso the Battler in 1118, the Aljafería was habilitated of the kings of Aragon Kingdom, but not substantially modified until Peter IV of Aragon “the Ceremonious” in the 14^th Century. The Aljafería Palace is the only conserved testimony of a large construction of Spanish Islamic architecture of the era of Taifas, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001, now currently serves as the Cortes parliament hall of the autonomous community of Aragon.

The oldest construction of the Aljafería is called Troubadour Tower, which receives from Antonio Garcia Gutierrez’s 1836 romantic drama The Troubadour. The Tower with a quadrangular and five levels, contains vestiges of the beginning of the heavy walls of alabaster ashlar bond masonry, and continues upwards with plank lining of simple plaster and lime concrete, which is a thinner substance for reaching greater heights. The exterior does not reveal the division of the five internal floors, while its initial function is military for all purposes.

The unique of ornamentation of the palace, is in the use of springer in “S”, the extension of the arabesque in large surfaces of the outlining and progressive abstraction of the yeseria of vegetal character. The general layout of the whole palace adopts the archetype of the castles of Syria and Jordan of the 8^th century, that is square-shaped, with central tripartite space, where leaves three rectangular spaces of which the central one with a courtyard garden and at the northern and southern ends of the palatial rooms and social halls.

Jenny and I never miss any chance to have audio guide to know more of the history about Aragon. At the entrance, the gift shop staff (finally we can communicate in English!) is friendly introducing us the route to the palace, and showing a bit this lovely Patio of Santa Isabel.

Its name comes from the birth of Elizabeth of Aragon, the later Queen of Portugal. The arcade that is contemplated looking towards the south portico was restored; therefore; the whole patio and garden are spacious, clean and organized. The orange trees and clean-cut grass create a calm and lovely atmosphere at the first impression.

Take a turn, the palace switch from Islamic Era into Catholic Age. Continuously proceeding, the Palace of Peter IV of Aragon “the Ceremonious” consists of Church of San Martín, the Mudéjar Palace, the Palace of Catholic Monarchs, and the Throne Room. Although there are none furniture, rug or paintings remaining, the most valuable elements of these constructions are their floors and ceilings. The floors are originally hexagonal ceramic glazed in colours, forming capricious borders, and the ceilings present geometric reticules of wood later carved, painted and gilded with gold leaf, whose moldings show the well-known heraldic motifs of the Catholic Monarchs: the yoke, the arrows and the Gordian knot knitted to the classic motto “Tanto Monta”.

The magnificent of the Throne Room, its dimensions are 20 meters in length by 8 in width. Under the Artesonado coffered ceiling there is an airy gallery of passable arches and with open windows, from which we can contemplate the royal ceremonies, inside the coffins are inscribed octagons with a central flower of curly leaf that finish in large hanging pine cones, symbolize fertility and immortality. This ceiling is reflected on the floors, which reproduces the thirty squares with their respective octagons inscribed.

Exiting the Throne Room, we reach the south nave portal, built in the time of Martin of Aragon “the Humane”, is articulated by an arch very recessed, covered by another pointed of greater dimensions. I always love to capture the different kinds of door or gate, imagine how’s residences’ live behind the shadow.

It’s 21:00, Zaragoza has the layering sunset colours along a yellow dune hills. We do not need any hop-on or hop-off service anymore, walk toward to the direction of Estación Zaragoza-Delicias, where also our hotel locates, Jenny and I have empty stomach but fulfilled hearts.

Special Thanks: Jenny

#zaragoza #aragon #spain #mercadocentral #palaciodelaaljafería #basílicadelpilar

           

Fashion Fun Parc Güell: Sandro Cotton Tunic & Python Sandals with Pull & Bear Bikini Top at Park Güell & Casa Museu Gaudi

September 2017 in Barcelona, España

HOLA Barcelona! Greetings, Antonio Gaudí! Surely Jenny and I are super fans of architecture and interior design, therefore, during our tour de Spain, no doubt that La Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà are definitely on our must-visit-list. While the advices from travel bloggers and guide books that recommend to book the tickets in advance in order to escape the queue, therefore, the combo tickets of La Sagrada Familia plus Gaudí House Museum are our top choice, especially we can access Park Güell after visiting House Museum on the day after La Sagrada Familia! 

The Gaudí House Museum (Catalan: Casa Museu Gaudí), located within the Park Güell, houses a collection of furniture and objects, was the residence of Antoni Gaudí from 1906 to the end of 1925. Designed by architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, built by contractor Josep Casanovas i Pardo and signed by Gaudí himself, was built between 1903 and 1905. Nowadays, except the basement is not operated to the public, while the ground and first floors are dedicated to the collection of furniture, sculptures, paintings, drawings and other objects of Gaudí. The second floor houses the Enric Casanelles Library, which can be accessed with prior permission.

Barcelona in September is dehydrated hot, in order to adjust room temperature, Pull & Bear 100% light blue stripe bikini top with freestyle of string at front, gives its funky look with American Apparel 100% polyester high waist leggings. Sandro100% cotton Rubis dress with open-buttoned, it can be dressed as a long tunic, the 92cm length transforms the funky look more of feminine French flow. 

As for the accessories, Chloé ivory white round-frame acetate sunglasses Miu Miu Madras calfskin sac are easy to carry around, and I always love to put on shoulder an extra cotton tote bag to have a bottle of mineral water, an umbrella and some snack with me. Sandro Paris python tied-up sandals, purchased at winter sale from theoutnet.com, provide the comfort to have full day park tour, its half-open design make my feet breathe while avoid the risk of collision at walk. The triple hues of outfit in Barcelona are ivory white (Chloé sunglasses and Sandro tunic), light blue (Pull & Bear bikini top) and shining black (American Apparel leggings and Miu Miu sac). 

TOP TIP 1: Always carry an open-buttoned tonic during the travelling, it is an instant cover while visiting religious location

TOP TIP2: Minimalize less than 4 hues of outfits during travelling, loud coulours may summon unnecessary approaching

#Barcelona #Gaudí #Pull&Bear #Sandro #MiuMiu 

Special Thanks: Jenny