rinnah's consumer views|a straight talking, tell-it-as-it-is consumer lifestyle blog

I discovered Daniel Yam Apparel earlier this year when I was searching high and low for a gown for a rather posh wedding dinner where Malaysian royalty would be present. Me being me with my decidedly classic sense of style (my mom calls it old-fashioned style ), I was determined that I wanted a gown that was simple, not fussy, yet chic and elegant. None of those beads and frills and ruffles for me, thankyewellymuch.

I had been in and out of numerous shops in both Malaysia and Singapore when I happened to walk into Daniel Yam’s boutique at Wisma Atria on Orchard Road with Beetrice. And lo and behold, there was my perfect dress in a shade of deep turquoise blue. So into the dressing room I went and it was a dream come true. A simple tube design in a satiny fabric with some folds draped down the front (good for concealing any belly bulges) that fit perfectly with no alterations needed. I was definitely set on the design but torn between my favorite color (the turquoise blue) and a chili red which decidedly made me look fairer but just screamed “look at me ma i’m wearing a red dress”.

The dress in chili red

I knew I wanted the dress but dithered over my color choice for about two weeks before I eventually made my way back to Daniel Yam, but this time I dropped by the boutique in Marina Square. And there, was the same dress in a lovely fuchsia pink that made me look equally as fair as the chili red and also stood out but didn’t scream for attention.

Here’s how I looked that night for the wedding dinner :

I loved my ensemble that night and got quite a number of compliments too, so I’ll definitely be heading back to Daniel Yam for more dresses when the occasion calls for it.

Evening gown : Daniel Yam Apparel
Shawl : Shop in Sungai Wang Plaza
Shoes : Fiore from Pay Less Shoes
Earrings : Sinma

I blame my sudden obsession with Elie Saab’s wedding gowns on Paris B. After she mentioned the hot Lebanese designer here, I started Googling for wedding gowns and whaddaya know? The man has an entire collection of 19 dresses for his 2011 wedding collection. And they are simply gorgeous!

Here are my favorites from the 2011 wedding collection (i.e. the ones I dream of getting married in) :

Erato

Auriga

Casandra

If I could, I would choose Erato for my wedding photography album in a garden setting, Auriga for the church wedding and Casandra for the wedding dinner.

A girl can dream, right?

It isn’t all that often that I find a store or brand of clothing that I really, really like. (Because my mother claims that I am a fussy shopper and which I admit to being. Heh.) Most of the time my wardrobe comes from a variety of places and brands, although like any other shopper, I have a tendency to keep on going back to where I know I’ll find clothes that I like and that fit me well.

And I never thought the day would come when I would actually find a local blogshop that I would repeatedly patronize!

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It’s called Cocktails & Martinis (don’t you just love the elegant sounding name?) and I think I first discovered Cocktails through a link on Frocking Around. I liked what I saw so much that I put myself on the email subscriber list straightaway so that I wouldn’t miss out on the latest offerings. (Good for my ongoing retail therapy but not so good for my pocket! LOL.)

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What I like most about Cocktails is the selection of clothes. If I were to open a boutique of my own, these are exactly the styles and fashions that I would pick, which explains why I keep on coming back for more, over and over again. If I were to describe the style of Cocktails I would say : elegant, timeless, flattering, feminine and tasteful.

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It’s all fine and dandy to have a great selection of clothes, lots of blogshops have that too. With Cocktails, what you see is what you get. The photographs are accurate representations of the real item itself, if anything, when I get my hands on the real thing itself I find the quality to be as good as, if not better than the pictures and the details.

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When you’re an independent blogshop, it’s important that you can offer your shoppers with quick and good service too. This improves the chances of satisfied customers and repeat sales, especially since it’s all about trust in the world of online shopping. I’ve had nothing but prompt and efficient service when dealing with Cocktails, thus my number of repeat purchases!

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There is also a Cocktails Sales blogshop where you just might be able to pick up a bargain or two that was originally featured on the main site.

Oh, and the pictures you see in this post are pictures of clothes I’ve been tempted into buying from Cocktails.

Cocktails & Martinis
Email : kayc[dot]cocktails[at]gmail[dot]com

All images used in this blogpost are taken from the Cocktails & Martinis blogshop.

I first read about the online boutique Paperdoll from this post on Kimberlycun’s blog. I did think that the dress Kim bought was really pretty but didn’t do anything more than that. Hahah. Lazy mah! *wink*

Then last week, I heard from Beetrice that Joanna, the babe behind Paperdoll, would be at the same do I attended last Friday. It sparked my curiousity again and off I went to see the website, which looks like this…

Image credit – screen capture pic of the Paperdoll website

If you like sweet, girly and dressy (like I do!), then Paperdoll is the place for you to shop. I think Joanna has a good eye for what sells well with the online shopping crowd, and it’s a testament to her taste that I am actually more than tempted to buy online! *wink* Normally I ooh and ahh over clothes I like and then do nothing about it. LOL.

One of the dangers of buying online is that you never know if the stuff you get will fit you. It’s a risk you have to take, and one that I’ve never wanted to take on. The major difference with Paperdoll is that you can input your measurements at the point of order and those measurements will be matched by the staff to see if the clothing item you want to purchase really does fit! That’s like 50% of your worries gone instantly. Poof!

Image credit – pic taken off the Paperdoll website

So, I’ve just put in my online order this morning for the sweet maxi dress you see above and got a very prompt response from the staff confirming my order and membership (which is free, btw).

I can’t wait to see my purchase in the flesh and try it on!