I Wish For...

One of my favourite lifestyle boutiques in Sydney would have to be Becker Minty. Specialising in luxe homewares, gifts and mens and womens clothing it's the perfect place to shop for that unique, timeless and super trendy gift. A long time in the making, Becker Minty have now opened their online store. Featuring a wishlist option which enables friends and family to see exactly what you've got your little eyes on, you'll never need to give another hint again. More than just an online store, it also acts as a great gift (and rather swanky if I might add) registry option. With gorgeous gift wrapping and delivery here and overseas there's no excuse to receive gifts you don't love! To experience the Becker Minty online shop visit www.beckerminty.com.







If you're looking for a wedding gown, maids dresses or even gorgeous suits make sure you pop in to Becker Minty to view their gorgeous collection. Becker Minty Woman has a beautiful range of Aurelio Costarella pieces, one of which we've featured in our current issue #14. We also featured a simply luxe men's Etiqueta Negra black velvet jacket. Too suave for words!

Posted by Emilie Harrison

Donna Does Dreamy
Annabelle and I visited the new(ish) Donna Hay General Store (unfortunately no website for the shop as such) when we were in Sydney last week. What a lovely job she's done on the building - great building!

The shop is brimming with stylish little things - the type of things you desperately want, but don't really need. There are homewares, body products, babywear and of course kitchenware. Sweet coloured, paper cups for table displays, great selection of cupcake wrappers (my favourite are the parchment) and stylish taper candles - the type I dream of using for every celebration.


Donna outside the store


These sweet candles are stocked in store

And to top it off, you can buy yummy-looking cupcakes and macaroons to go (we resisted but only because we had appointments to keep!).

A lovely shop to visit if you are in Woollahra - 40 Holdsworth Street to be precise.

Posted by Jane Cameron

The Payoff
It sure does pay to be blantantly obvious about secret wishes and deep-seated desires... imagine my delight when I arrived at my desk to find a GORGEOUS little package.



Firstly - tiny stationery is a bit of 'thing' for me - the teeny, tiny pink envelope is definitely a keeper. Then the beautifully coordinated cotton tape in the hottest of pinks sent my heart racing...

Then to find 3 fabulous tubes of the beautifully-designed Marvis toothpastes!



Thank you soooooo much Kimberlee from Brown Button Trading - you have made my day. All I have to do now is conquer my intense desire to place these marvels into some kind of uber-chic still life, never to be touched because they're just too gorgeous to use!

Posted by Jane Cameron

Join the Crew
In my last post I mentioned my latest obsession - J Crew. Where do I start? Firstly their range of everyday wear is fantastic but they also have the most wonderful wedding collection.

They have umpteen bridal gown designs from which to choose together with the sweetest bridesmaids, flowergirls and ring bearers' outfits. Oh, and did I mention the groom? Be sure to stop by this section on the website!

Really, there is such a choice of colour, fabric and style - it will fill you with inspiration for your wedding.

You'll need to use a service like Bongo International in order to purchase from J Crew as they don't ship internationally. Where there is a will, there is a way!






Posted by Jane Cameron

Shopping Overseas
If you're anything like me, you might just be a little bit green with envy at the incredible choice of products available overseas. Bemoan no more dear friends... Bongo International to the rescue.



A little over a week ago, I found something I simply could not live without at J Crew in the US - and it was on sale! They don't ship to Australia so I looked into setting up an account with Bongo. I opted for a single use account so I could test out the service before subscribing. It was incredibly easy to get started - I just keyed in my details and within a few minutes I was emailed my 'address' in the US which I could use for my J Crew order.

Next I had to wait a couple of days for an unspecified amount to be deposited into my credit card account by Bongo. Once the amount was there, I had to notify Bongo and my account setup was one step closer to completion. Finally I had to scan in a couple of forms of id and email them, together with an USPS form to confirm my identity.

Done! All I had to do was sit back and monitor my account to see if my delivery had been received by Bongo. J Crew were pretty speedy - it was delivered to my new US address within 3 days. Then within a day, Bongo had it on its way to me on the other side of the world.

I received my package on Friday - in perfect condition, amazed at the speed of the whole process.

They offer two kinds of service - per use and subscription. I would definitely opt for the subscription-based service as there are good savings to be had if planning to shop internationally on a regular basis. This service also means Bongo can hold multiple items at their warehouse and then ship them altogether. This would be really handy if you were buying from different suppliers around the same time (think favours, dresses, stationery!).

It's really important too that you know how much each parcel weighs before committing to a buying spree as deliveries are priced per pound and even small parcels can be deceptively heavy!

I was so impressed with the service. It was completely hassle-free and easy to use. It has opened up a whole new world of shopping to me - no longer do I have to pine over those things I thought were out of reach.

Posted by Jane Cameron