I was reading through my friend Girl on a Thrift Hunt’s blog and admiring her gorgeous hauls from Gmarket and got reminded that I, too, made some purchases there last year but didn’t get around to posting pictures here. The purchases were actually done last year, around September, and were intended as Christmas presents for my two nieces back in the Philippines.
These were some of the items I bought at Gmarket:
The Korean brand of cuteness! Headbands, hair clips and barettes, and hair (rubber bands) in colours that my nieces love.
I love shopping at Gmarket because they have so many cute things and so affordable, too. Despite it’s price, the quality is better than the ones that are available at the O’Russei market. They don’t look cheap, too, as you can see in the pictures above. They all come well-packed in small boxes and were all received in top condition. Except for the red skinny headband and the pearl headband, I sent everything as presents to my nieces. I use the red headband during regular days. It fits my head fine even if it’s kid-sized and it doesn’t give me any pain at the back of my ears after prolonged use. The pearl headband looks dainty so I’m saving it for formal occasions like weddings and parties.
I am very happy and satisfied with Gmarket! If anyone is interested in the sellers, just let me know and I’ll post or send you the links. This reminds me I should go check Gmarket again. I signed up last year but didn’t get around to ordering anything. I’m forever staring at the clothes, accessories, home and kitchen stuff as well as bags in Gmarket. So I just piggy-backed on the order of my friend, Girl on a Thrift Hunt, for two times already. I should be doing shopping on my own soon.
This greeted me when I went to the Japanese Toto Recycle Shop long ago, and, while looking at the gowns I was instantly reminded of the Filipinos’ penchant for beauty pageants.
They don't look bad naman, eh. Or do they?
I took a close look at the gowns and they’re not that bad actually. Just dusty and some stains here and there – nothing that a trip to the professional cleaners won’t remedy.
It’s a shame that wedding gowns eat a monstrous part of a couple’s wedding budget and more shameful that most, if not all, wedding dresses just end up gathering dust and moths in the wardroble. With the present global economic recession, I would not be surprised if more and more cash-savvy women who used to shy away from buying/wearing secondhand stuff will opt for pre-loved items, like wedding gowns and other bridal wears, as is now the trend in the US, Australia, and even Europe. If I could score my dream wedding gown at a fraction of its price — why not? I wouldn’t mind wearing one on my wedding. Church wedding, that is. hahaha. Kinailangan pang i-qualify, no?
We got these assorted, small bowls at the Japanese Toto Recycle Shop some three weeks ago. They were priced at 20cents, 30 cents and 50cents only. We paid a total of $4.80 for the lot.
They're cute, aren't they?
And these are my favourites.
You see, we have been experiencing frequent power outages every day and these bowls proved to be very useful candle-holders when we have no electricity in the evenings.
I had recently began baking pies and tarts again and, you know, these food groups are the kind that derail me and my efforts from eating healthy. However, the more I repress myself from these yummy desserts, the more my cravings have become that I tend to overeat whenever I give in to sweet temptations.
Luckily for me, I found a solution while on a thrift hunt last month.
Gorgeous porcelain ramekins for only 20cents apiece. They are helping me with my diet.
These pure white ramekins were part of the loot from the Japanese Thrift Store that included these vintage floral Noritake bread and butter plates. I don’t see any brand name on the ramekins but they are simply elegant oven-to-table bakewares. For only $1 for five of them, who cares about brand names?
The ramekins I bought can contain about 3/4 cup of dry ingredients. They are great to use when making individual portions of custards, souffles, tarts, creme brulees (!), and even for sauces and dips! And this why ramekins are helping me keep my diet – they force me to eat dessert in small servings 
When my planned lunch date with friends got canceled at the last minute, I ventured out by myself with no particular destination in mind. After minutes of walking aimlessly, I found myself wanting to go to Japan Thrift Shop, aka, Toto Recycle Store, near Wat Phnom. There I chanced upon the new additions to the store – rows of shelves with dinnerwares and glasswares of Japanese brands. I decided to check it out not expecting anything until…
From an unknown Noritake series, each plate is decorated with sunny yellow flowers and green leaves.
… I spotted these.
These vintage plates are from an unknown, probably discontinued, series of Noritake dinnerwares. My mother used to have two sets of different Noritake series dinnerwares that my father bought long time ago and I recognise the similar backmarks, too.
This is the backmark from the above dinnerwares.
The bread and butter/salad pates are in excellent condition. No scratch, no chips nor cracks at all. My heart skipped a beat when I checked the tag – a dollar each – so I grabbed them right away. That’s a price I can live with.
Based on my research, the backmark above – Noritake printed black on laurel leaves, ribbon at the base, with letter “N” on the inner circle and the circled registered trademark “R” on top of the word Japan – was used in 1968 mostly in dinnerwares made of white porcelain. I didn’t get any information on the pattern series of the plates above and the year they were manufactured. If you know these details plus the kind of flower on the plates, please let me know via the comment section. Thank you.
The next time I visit JTS and other thrift shops, I’m going to keep on eye out for more vintage dinnerwares to add to my new collection.
Here’s a sassy ensemble I found at the Japanese Thrift Shop near Wat Phnom:
A {kooky} hot pink mini-dress and boots with faux fur. Fierce or hideous?
The little voice inside my head tells me this pink ensemble was pre-owned by someone like Elle Woods, if not Elle Woods herself. What do you think?
I was actually planning to post my finds thrift-ed last Tuesday, but then, being THE embodiment of fickle-mindedness, I changed my mind and settled on this one instead:
My husband said that I looked like a schoolgirl with this outfit. *Blush*
Tank top: Charcoal gray by A La Mode, $2 @ Psah Thmey
Skirt: $0.50, @ Japan Thrift Shop
Cardigan: $1.95, @ Gmarket
Shoes: $27, @ Beautiful Shoes (yes, it is custom-made and, yes, the shop is called Beautiful Shoes)
#138, St. 143 (near Tuol Sleng Museum)
And yes, I finally gathered enough guts to show myself!
Let me just point out: I am not a fashionista nor am I aspiring to be one. I’m usually a shirt-and-jeans type of person, sometimes bordering on sloppiness, much to the disapproval of my own mother… But when in a good mood, I also happen to admire nice clothes and stuff, and wear them regardless of the occasion, brand or name, thrifted or otherwise, and not because I want to be hip and cool or something.
Anyhoo…
My husband and friend think this outfit is cute, so no matter how this may look ordinary to most, I believe them (^.^) Thank you to both of you! My heart skipped a beat, y’know. I bought the skirt from Japan Thrift Shop way back last year in anticipation of those days when I feel like wearing something girly. The cardigan, however, was purchased online {Gmarket} a month or so ago and arrived just in time when it was getting cooler {23C-26C} here in Phnom Penh! For only $1.95 plus shipping charge, it is light, very soft, and company… I think it’s a BB – Best Buy!
The pair of shoes are, on the other hand, a gift from my husband. I think he took pity on my 7-year old red Chucks that I wore most of the time so he insisted on buying me a new pair, haha. They are pricey, indeed, but they are custom-made and I chose the design and materials myself. After one week I picked them up at the shop. No hassle. The quality of the workmanship is good and the service even better, for you can always return to the shop for adjustments and other repairs at no extra cost. I love this pair – and from hereon, I name thee, errrm, Russell Crowe shoes, harharhar. I’ve been a customer of Beautiful Shoes for nearly ten years now. The first pair I had made here were black suede boots for only $22. They made it in 2003 and I’m happy to say it is still in great condition. I own several other pairs of work shoes and sandals from them, too. So it is safe to say that I’m hooked to Beautiful Shoes.
It’s heeeere!
{insert drum rolls here}
This is the second time I piggy-backed onto the Girl on a Thrift-hunt's haul from Gmarket. Photo nicked from GoTH's blog.
My second Gmarket haul has arrived in Phnom Penh. What an easy and super-quick transaction despite a delay in the shipment of one of our orders to the Gmarket warehouse, a snag caused by the local seller. Can you imagine the whole package arrived in less than a week? My, picking out/finalising our choices took a lot longer than the actual shipping itself, I’m impressed! What’s even more impressive is that there was no more drama when I, along with the Girl on a Thrift-Hunt, claimed the box at the Post Office. The PO staff probably recognise me now as someone who, aside from being cute {coughs}, I can defend myself against their ridiculous taxes. LOL, just kidding.
Anyways, I will post another entry for the items I ordered next time. Stay tuned!
I did say I was going to post my first haul from this yet-to-be-named online shopping site. Oh siya, sige na, I will name it na so watch out for it further down.
After a long nerve-wracking, nail-biting wait, this box from Seoul arrived in good shape. No signs of tampering whatsoever.
The much-awaited box full of goodies. Not all mine though.
But before I could get my hands on this box, I almost fainted when the staff at the EMS section at the Post Office slapped me with a $5 tax. Whaaaaat? The box wasn’t full and heavy I could lift it in just one hand. And the items were not expensive ones, goodness. So why the $5-tax? Luckily, I have the gift of gab (chos, lol!) and the valuable Khmer language skills that I was able to negotiate and haggle the rate down to an acceptable 10,000riels, that’s about half of the original asking price. No guts (in negotiating), no glory, lol. Buti na lang.
Dogspector McJoe in action. Paws up from McJoe. Everything A-OK!
What's in the boooooox... a bleating Brad Pitt screams in the movie Se7en.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind mind paying the customs duties but I balk violently when there is no clear system in place when it comes to calculation of the fees. It seems to me that these people just hold the package/box hostage for a tax rate that was drawn from lots or from spinning the roulette. Okay enough of the rant now. On to a bit of raving…
After the initial hullaballoo at the EMS, Girl-on-a-Thrift-Hunt dropped by my house and together we opened the box – we were like kids grinning from ear to ear, eagerly opening pressies on Christmas day! It was her second haul, and my first, from the popular online shopping site *drumroll please* Gmarket Korea. I “piggy-backed” onto Girl-on-a-Thrift-Hunt’s order to see how it’s like. Now I know first-hand that the hype is true! I am very much satisfied with my purchase, as well as with the Gmarket Korea service. Christmas holiday is coming soon and I have found my perfect shopping site… so, watch out for my orders coming your way, Gmarket! I was instantly converted and, as of this writing, already created an account there and even “liked” their Facebook page already!
By the way, not all the items pictured above were mine. Also, the sniffer dog insisted I pixelize his face to hide his identity for security reasons, lol.
Hello, thrift-hunters.
I hope your week has been wonderful so far. I just saw a small window of opportunity to update this blog but won’t be rambling as much.
I seriously miss thrifting with my Peluka sisters. Although I don’t consider myself a hardcore thrifter yet (slight lang, lol) I pride myself of the many hits I scored at the thrift shops, despite the misses. BUT we don’t go out that much anymore. Sigh.
In other news, Girl-on-a-Thrift-Hunt’s excitement over this particular online shopping site was contagious. She introduced me to it (secret for now, but will reveal later on) and, needless to say, I loved what I saw and got instantly hooked.
Anyways, I think I’m going to hit the sack very soon. I have an early meeting tomorrow, hopefully, there’ll be an offer for another consultancy stint. *Please cross your fingers for me and wish me luck* I also want to thank those who visited my blog during my hiatus. I promise to post the little stash that I scored from the last thrifting outing I did as well as the bits and pieces I ordered from the online shop mentioned above.
N.B.:
Certified and Proud to be!
Share-a-Thrift Hunt Meme
