Answers to your questions on You Tube!

You asked... I answered!

My answers to a few popular questions that I've gotten recently on my You Tube Channel, Bags4Bubbles...

Tips for buying Pre-owned, Authentic Designer Handbags & Accessories:

Top 5 Purse Styles and Designer Handbag Brands that are essential for any woman to own!

*~My 8 Most Worn Things~* Follow-up Blog!

Following up from my blog post last March, HERE... It is time to see how my 8 Most Worn things have (or haven't!) changed!

(I mean seriously... does You Tube purposely pick the worst thumbnails ever?)

Here are my current most worn products:

1. Most Worn Hair Product - I still really love the Matrix Essentials Vital Control Hair Spray that I featured in 2011, but it has been discontinued... so I'm out of luck after I finish off the can that I'm currently using. I've found a new love in Alterna products and use the Alterna Bamboo Shine Mist everyday and also use a leave-in creme every day as well... right now I'm using and really liking the L'Oreal Paris Everstyle Smooth & Shine Creme.

2. Most Worn Lip Product - Another one that I'm still liking... Too Faced Lip of Luxury Lipstick in Free Love & Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Peek-a-Boo, they are still staples in my makeup bag that I carry in my purse AND in my vanity! I like them that much! I've also found a new favorite, NARS Crusing... and between these three lip products - I am typically wearing on of these a lot of the time and they are my most worn.

3. Most Worn Earrings - I finally ponied up and got a few pairs of nice earrings for every day wear... one of my most worn being the Tiffany & Co Somerset Knot earrings. (Kind of a nicer version of the Forever 21 pair that I feature in 2011!) I also wear a CZ pair from Target a lot too.

4. Most Worn Shirt - My most worn shirt is actually a "type" of shirt... those flowy cardigans that are in style (they're still in style, right??) and ever so practical if you'd like to, *ahem*, mask a few things. I have a few that are favorites from H&M and Gap.

5. Most Worn Nail Polish- My most worn polish now is Zoya Reece... it is an extremely fun and happy pink, that I love wearing in all seasons! 

6. Most Worn Shoes - I'm loving my Tory Burch Silver/Black Leather Revas right now and they are my most worn shoes! The Revas are a comfortable flat for me and I really love the medallion on the toe area to just give it a little bit of extra character.

7. Most Worn Perfume - Marc Jacobs, Oh, Lola! - It is a great scent that has light scent and is practical to wear in most situations. 

8. Most Worn Bag - The Louis Vuitton Tivoli GM, is a great little bag! (Well, not so little... more large-medium sized!) It is fun to use, comfortable on the shoulder and the pleating gives it a lot of style! One of my favorite bags by Louis Vuitton right now!

My perfume collection!

I've had a great time watching perfume collection videos on You Tube lately... so I decided to make my own!

My current perfume collection video:

I've been so into perfumes lately... one of my missions in late 2011 was to find a few great perfumes so that I eventually could find a signature scent. I'm still on the hunt, but have found a few new favorites during my trials.

I decided it would be a bit too much to go through the details notes of each scent in the video, so I'm putting more of the details in my blog post here! Once you start looking at the notes of each scent, I think you can start to see a trend of what type of fragrances I lean towards...

Fragrances shown from the mirrored tray...


- Dior, "Miss Dior Cherie"
Miss Dior Cherie is a floral fragrance, with notes of Italian Mandarin, Egyptian Jasmine, and Patchouli.
- Marc Jacobs, "Oh, Lola!"
Oh, Lola! is described by Sephora as vibrant and flirty, with notes of Raspberry, Vanilla, Peony, Pear, and Cyclaman.
- Chanel, "Chance eau Tendre"
Chance eau Tendre is described as delicant and radiant, with notes of grapefruit, quince, fresh green notes, Jasmine Absolute, and White Musk.
- Juicy Couture, "Viva La Juicy"
Viva La Juicy is a very girly floral scent, with notes of wild berries, mandarins, honeysuckle, gardenia, jasmine, amber, caramel, vanilla, and sandalwood.
- Michael Kors, "Very Hollywood"
Very Hollywood is a seductive floral scent, with notes of mandarin, gardenia, and vetiver.


Fragrances on the dresser tray are...
- Marc Jacobs, "Daisy"
Daisy is a flirty floral scent, with notes of strawberry, violet leaves, ruby red grapefruit, gardenia, violet petals, jasmine petals, musk, vanilla, and white woods.
- Vera Wang "Princess"
Princess is described as a soft oriental scent, with notes of water lily, lady apple, mandarin meringue, golden apricot skin, ripe pink guava, Tahitian flower, wild tuberose, dark chocolate, pink frosting accord, precious amber, forbidden woods, royal musk captive, and chiffon vanilla.
- Sephora, "Hello Kitty"
Sephora's Hello Kitty fragrance is a sweet floral scent, with notes of cassis sorbet, Italian mandarin, apple, magnolia blossom, freesia, orange flower, tonka bean, vanilla, and musk.
- Chanel, "Chance"
Chance is a young floral with notes of white musk, hyacinth, citron, pink pepper, jasmine, fresh vetiver, orris absolute, and amber patchouli.
- Burberry, "Brit"
Brit is a floral oriental scent, that has notes of Italian lime, icy pear, green almond, white peony, sugared almonds, amber, mahogany, vanilla, and tonka bean.
- Dolce & Gabanna, "Light Blue"
Light Blue is a sexy floral with notes of Sicilian citron, bluebell, granny smith apple, jasmine sambac, bamboo, white rose, cedarwood, amber, and musk.
- Emporio Armani, "She"
She is a floral oriental with notes of angelica, cardamom, bergamot, mandarin, heliotrope, vanilla, cedar, and musk.
- Vera Wang, "Sheer Veil"
Sheer Veil is a white floral, with notes of champagne rose, lavender dream rose, violet, white stephanotis, gardenia, and white lily. Perfect for any wedding day! 
- Sample size Bond No. 9, "Madison Square Park"
Madison Square Park is a fun floral fragrance, with notes of grape hyacinth, huckleberry, prairie dropseed grass, red leaf rose, red hunter tulips, and teakwood.


What I'm lusting after....
- Bond No. 9, "Madison Square Park"
- Gucci, "Guilty"

Fragrance note information courtesy of Sephora.com and Bond No. 9 blog.

Here's my "other" brand handbags...

I do own other brands of handbags besides Louis Vuitton and regularly use them in my rotation... They are mainly Coach, with a bit of Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga thrown in.

I used to have a collection that was primarily comprised of Balenciaga bags and then found that Louis Vuitton bags seemed to just fit my lifestyle better after having kids. I try to keep my handbag collection at a "moderate" level and sell things that I'm not using to fund new things. So what you see that is still in my collection are what I consider "keepers" at the moment!

Ultimate Mommy Handbag... who would have known???

Well, I mentioned on one of my recent videos doing a You Tube review on the best mommy handbags (which I've been a slacker and haven't gotten around to yet, sigh)... However, I did get around to starting to think about this one on a recent trip to go to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

I was sitting there that morning before we left staring at my accessories closet, and realizing that I didn't really have a "city friendly" and "mommy friendly" (read not to heavy & easily hands free) option for the trip! Toting my Tivoli GM around the suburbs is one thing, but getting to and from parking garages, walking around museums, and doing everything from lunch to diaper changes on the go with the kids necessitates a different kind of handbag, then a few hour trip to a mall in the suburbs does...

I stared at all of the LV in my accessories closet, too big, too heavy, too flashy for what I wanted for the day. (Will be considering a Bloomsbury PM for the future, I believe...) And then all of a sudden I realized what my ultimate Mommy bag for a day trip to museums was going to be - my Marc Jacobs large multi-pocket that had been relegated to a shelf for... well, a long time! It comfortably sits on my shoulder, wasn't too big, would hold all of the essentials, and wasn't too flashy.

I first became obsessed with the Marc Jacobs multipocket style bag back before I was even a mother... when I saw one of my favorite TV mothers carrying it on the Gilmore Girls! Lorelei Gilmore's (sigh, I miss that show - but that's a topic for a different day) go-to bag for the first four or five seasons was an understated small size Marc Jacobs multipocket purse.

Photo screenshot courtesy of the CW

I loved it so much that I tracked down the exact same bag she had on the show in the small size, I realized that the size wasn't quite big enough for me (plus, let's face it - I'm not as skinny as Lauren Graham either) - so I ended up with the large size multi-pocket hobo which was perfect! I also went through a brief "Marc Jacobs phase" during the Gilmore Girls years, and although it has been a while since I've purchased one - I will say that at least the ones from a few years ago were exceptionally well made handbags.

Then the Gilmore Girls show went off the air and Marc Jacobs just wasn't the same for me, over the years I went through my "Balenciaga phase", which led directly into my "Louis Vuitton phase"... and the poor lone Marc Jacobs handbag leftover from my Marc Jacobs days was left sitting on a shelf in my accessories cabinet.

I used it for our day trip to the Shedd Aquarium, and it worked perfectly! I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed carrying it again so much, and I think I will be digging it out of the closet just a little bit more often "just because", now that I've remembered what a great bag it is!