Disaster Designs Paper Plane Satchel & Bonus What’s In My Bag

Recently I bought myself a new bag and after a few weeks of using it, I’m finally getting around to showing it off on my blog!

It’s my gorgeous new Disaster Designs bag! It’s the Paper Plane design and it’s been about for ages, since my second or third year of university and that was back in 2009-2011! One of my favourite shops in Birmingham used to sell the whole Paper Plane’s range but as a skint student I just lusted over the expensive bags, never buying one for myself. At the time it was out in the shop in question it cost either £40 or £50, a lot of money for a bag and I couldn’t justify paying that much. To make matters worse a girl in one of my classes at university had this bag and I envied her every class we had together!

As regular readers will have seen, I mentioned this bag in my February Wish List earlier this month and how much I was in need of a new one and when I remembered back to this satchel that I had wanted all those years ago, I went straight to eBay to try and find a good bargain.

There were a couple of these on there but they were either new but too expensive or used and in terrible condition for nearly just as much as the new ones on there. Eventually I stumbled across this bag, brand new and bloody hell did I have to do some bidding to get it! Eventually I won the bid and snapped this beauty up for £30.00, with £4.00 for P&P.

Since test driving this bag over the past 2 weeks, I knew I had to do a post about it, and as well as writing about my new bag, I thought I’d show you what I keep in there too. Think of it as a bonus!

But first of all, about the bag!

This is definitely a different satchel than ones you would normally buy, and that’s what I like about it! I love the Paper Plane theme and it looks so pretty and cute. You can buy all sorts of bags from the Paper Plane collection but this one just grabs my eye that little more than the others, probably because of its letter and plane theme. It just seems frightfully romantic and really does bring out the writer in me.

Not only does the bag look gorgeous with the style of it and design, but the cute little features on it too really do stand out and make it rather unique to anything else you would find out there. The front of the bag has little features such as a bird, which looks to be a swallow, as well as a red and white bow on one of the buckles, a hanging postage stamp shaped piece that says, “travel in style” with a swallow in the middle, and in between the two buckles on the flap of the bag it reads, “Return to sender” which I love the most about this bag.

Even on the back of the bag there is some detail, but only one! In the middle of the back of the bag there is a little white square with a red envelope inside, underneath it says “S.W.A.L.K” and quite frankly I don’t have a clue what it stands for! So, I went to Google and I found out exactly what it means (I found out the meaning on Wikipedia):

S.W.A.L.K. is an acronym usually seen on a love letter of a courting couple. It stands for “sealed with a loving kiss” and is one of several acronyms that seemingly originated during the Second World War. A variant is S.W.A.K., sealed with a kiss.

If I didn’t love my bag before knowing this, then I must be IN love with it now! It’s such a gorgeous think to put on the bag and makes the bag seem even more beautiful than I already thought it was.

I love this bag so much and whilst some websites do still sell it, your best bet might just be to pop onto eBay like I did. I typed in “Disaster Designs paper plane satchel” and you should at least find one bag if not a couple.

So, what’s IN my bag?

Yes it’s time for the bonus part of this post where I show what I’m keeping in my new bag. I took these pictures after a close shift at work, so this is what was in there when I got home. I didn’t add or remove anything either, so I’m not cheating. 🙂

I always make sure to throw a book in my bag if I’m going to work or if I’m meeting a friend as I like something to read before I head into work or if I turn up somewhere early or a friends running late. I’ve recently started reading Simon Pegg’s autobiography called Nerd Do Well. I’m only on chapter 2 and I love it already! It’s such an amazing book and so far with the way he’s planned it out it’s great. I can see me writing a huge post about it once I’ve finished reading it.

Of course I must have my iPhone 5 in here. I actually slipped it into the case I use at home, which is my rubber Game Boy case, but when I’m out and about I use my hand red case as if I were to drop it with my Game Boy case on, it could smash… Which isn’t good!

Another necessity for anyone, whether you have a bag or not are house keys and some money. I love my house keys, they’re multicoloured tartan but it’s my key rings that I like the most. Three of them are Lego related, one being R2D2 from Star Wars (this is my second one of him, as my first was 10 years old and the print faded), whilst my other two are of Frodo Baggins and Bilbo Baggins from Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Finally I have a glass seahorse that was a recent purchase when my friend Poppy and I visited The Sea Life Center in Birmingham. She bought the same one, so now we have matching key rings, which is somewhat cute.

I love my wallet so much, as I love foxes, but also because it reminds me of my Gran. For my 22nd birthday in 2012 she gave me some birthday money, which I used to buy this wallet and as regular or old readers will know, she passed away nearly a year ago. Not only is it a gorgeous wallet, but it holds so much stuff in there too! It’s by Loungefly and whilst it wasn’t cheap, for the two years I’ve had it, it’s doing me well! I thought about buying the matching purse and bag for this but sadly I can’t find them anywhere to pick up!

As I drive I keep my car key and my car stereo in my bag whenever I’m at home as I drive pretty much everywhere now! I really don’t know how I could travel via the bus, it’s all cars and trains for me now. I love my car and what better way to show it than a couple of cute key rings! I was going to have small key rings on my car key but I knew it would be impossible to find them in my bag and I didn’t want to keep my car key with my house keys… So I opted for a massive plushie key ring for my car key! As well as that when I saw this cute 101 Dalmatian key ring in the Disney Store years ago, I couldn’t leave it behind and bought it to keep on my car key too.

My stereo is pretty standard, I listen to must a lot whilst driving, but I HATE having to make a new CD to listen to every few weeks.

Just some standard things a woman will keep in her handbag… A mirror for when I top up my lipsticks, hand sanitizer, paracetamol, tissues and some hand cream. Nothing special!

Finally we have what I keep in the little zip pocket inside my bag… I know I have a lot of lip balms, but I shall explain why! I bought the Carmex one on a whim that I was loving the original and wanted one to keep in my handbag. As you can see this one is in Strawberry and it’s vile! I can’t wait to use it up, but at the same time it does do a good job when applied over lipstick, but it tastes fowl! I think my favourite lip balm every has to be my Apple Chapstick and I think I’m running low on this too. It’s not the best lip balm in the world though, it just tastes and smells delicious! The best one out of the three is my Palmer’s Cocoa Butter. It’s really creamy and out of them all is the only one that I can actually feel working when I apply it, but at times I think my lips are allergic as they tingle and hurt. Either way I keep three in my bag incase I lose one… Good enough reason, right?

As well as those I keep a little hand cream in here which is the same as the large one in the previous photo as well as a lip product. The one I’ve been using a lot this week is this lip gloss by Collection 2000 called Lock N Hold. I might review this soon but I know one thing I will say, it doesn’t last 6 hours at all! I wear this at work and have to top it up every hour, which doesn’t bother me, but when I’m on a shift for less than 6 hours, it’s concerning. Let me know if you want me to review this!

So with an empty bag, I’ve thrown everything back in and got into bed!

I love my new bag so much and it’s going to be featured a lot on future What I’m Wearing posts, which I want to try and get back up on my blog again.

So, what do you think of my new bag? Love it, hate it, or not arsed? 😛 Let me know in the comments!

If you have any questions about the bag, or anything else mentioned in this post, please feel free to ask in the comments too.

I hope you’ve all had a great week so far and here’s to the weekend!

Until next time, take care all.

February Wish List

Now I know I didn’t create a January Wish List last month, but my Birthday Wish List was a replacement of my usual monthly wish list post so… This is the first official wish list post of 2014!

I know I’m on a spending ban at the moment but that doesn’t stop me from wishing for items now, does it?

I know my wish list this month isn’t the longest, but there isn’t really anything I really want and three of the items on this list are things I need more than want.

• Loungefly Hello Kitty Polka Dot Embossed Bag – £39.99 down from £59.99.

My current bag, which is also my favourite is beginning to break and thus may see some of its last days so I know soon enough I will need another bag. I’ve decided that I want something nice but something that also won’t break the bank! As you can see on the above image I do have two bags to talk about, the one I shall be talking about after this one. Since venturing into Oasis Market in Birmingham for the first time back in 2005 I have since then loved going there and my favourite shop in there has always been Beadesaurus. It started off as a bead and jewellery shop but has fast grown into a shop for all sorts! They stock Loungefly bags, wallets and accessories and as a Loungefly fan I love to have a mooch at what new items they have to offer every couple of months or so. They of course have an online shop, as well as a few in Birmingham and whilst I spotted this bag online recently I have very much so fallen in love with it. Yes it isn’t cheap but it’s a Loungefly bag AND a Hello Kitty bag! For something that has Hello Kitty on it, it’s rather grown up, which I rather like! I think I would like to go and have a look at this bag in the flesh before ordering, just in case I wouldn’t like it. I shall have to see though.

• Disaster Designs Paper Plane Satchel Bag – Various prices from eBay.

I have wanted this bag FOR YEARS! Beadesaurus sold it for a while but when it sold out I was crushed and since then every year I will have a look for it on eBay. I’ve recently remembered its existence again and searched for it on eBay to find it at some decent prices, even for cheap prices for bidding! I’ve got my eye on it at the moment and I could really see me investing in this bag. I used to go to university with someone who owned this bag and it was absolutely gorgeous! I was rather envious of her and I think out of all the bags I have ever wanted, this has to be number one on the list but whenever I’ve gone to buy it I’ve never had the money. I have seen one on eBay I’m tempted to bid on, the bag itself is used and looks a tad on the dirty side, but with a good clean I’m sure it’d be good as new! Watch this space!

• Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX PS3 game – £20.00.

Since the Kingdom Hearts games came out probably 10 years ago now I’ve wanted them, but for some reason I never picked them up, which still to this day makes me feel a tad sad BUT it doesn’t matter as they’ve now brought out the games on one game for the PS3, which of course is my console of choice! GAME have it on offer for £20.00 at the moment and loads of times I’ve contemplated buying it, but as if yet I haven’t picked it up, in the worry I could find it elsewhere for less. I’m going to see if I have any cash spare during February, as I always like to have at least one PS3 game to play for when I don’t fancy blog writing, watching a film, reading a book, etc so that I can have something to do. Plus as my boyfriend is a gamer it would give us something to take in turns to play. Another plus is I like Disney, which is of course heavily based in this game!

• Pandora Delicate Heart Ring – £35.00.

My Dad and I recently discovered a Pandora stockist near to where we both live, so if we ever wish to buy any Pandora items in future, we don’t have to trek all the way to town or Merry Hill, which is nice! So as we had discovered this shop we decided to go in for a look at what charms they were selling. Whilst my Dad was having a look for something, I had a look myself and spotted this gorgeous ring that has been brought out for Valentine’s Day this year. It’s a gorgeous and delicate silver ring with a little red ruby looking heart on it. My hands aren’t the most delicate and girly looking in the world but this ring made them look lovely and girly and as the ring is delicate it felt really nice to wear, for any occasion. When the shop assistant informed me it was only £35.00 I was taken back and was there and then tempted to splash out on it, but of course I left it but I WILL be buying it in the near future as it’s just too gorgeous NOT to buy.

• Yankee Candle White Heart Large Shade & Tray – £15.63.

For my birthday at the start of January my boyfriend bought me a large Sweet Strawberry Yankee Candle and the night before my birthday (I opened my presents from him the day before my birthday as he couldn’t be with me for the actual day and wanted to see my reactions to my presents and such) after our meal out for my birthday we watched The Cat Returns and put the candle on to burn. However as I don’t own a large shade it started to well and I told him that I refused to burn it anymore until I picked up a shade. I nearly bought one from Clinton Cards but my Dad insisted it was too expensive (£15.99!) and he was right. I had a look online as soon as I got home and found that I could pick up a shade AND a tray for less than Clinton Cards were selling just for the shade alone! I was close to ordering it not long after finding but due to lack of funds at the time, I left it. I think whilst I don’t NEED a large shade just yet, it’s a waste just leaving the candle on the side to gather dust, as I want to burn it so much. It was one of my favourite presents for my birthday as my boyfriend knew that I wanted this candle for years!

• Faux Fox Fur Oversized Padded Parka – £98.00.

Sometimes I will randomly search the word “fox” on clothing websites and sometimes some real gems will come up, this obviously being one of those. At the moment every other person who comes into work will be wearing a huge, fluffy parka and I just want one so damn much right now! This one is perfect and it just looks so snuggly and warm and as it’s over sized I know it would be comfortable too! The hood on it is huge and lined with the faux fox fur which is lined throughout the parka too, so I’d be snuggly and warm throughout the rest of the winter season! My Mom nearly bought me this bless her as she knew how much I wanted it, but I told her it was too much money and that I would try and find myself a cheaper version of said coat, if not another parka from Topshop that I have been lusting after. I’d wear this parka with skinny fit jeans, my Chelsea boots, all sorts of skirts and dresses too and hell, maybe even a pair of denim shorts! It’s just something you can dress up in and it’s very grunge if you ask me! A gorgeous parka, but bloody expensive!

• NYX Butter Gloss in Cherry Pie – £5.00.

I’ve been eying up the butter glosses by NYX for a while now and have been lusting especially after Peaches & Cream for quite a few months now. However, after finding a blog posts with all of the butter glosses swatched on said blog, I came to see that Cherry Pie was a gorgeous red shade and one that I have been longing for in a gloss form for quite a while! At £5.00 each you can’t really go wrong and I could see me using this for work as sometimes I just can’t be bothered most of the time to apply a lipstick and keep needing to reapply, but I love wearing my bright and dark lip products at work! I probably won’t buy this just yet, but I definitely will do after my spending ban!

So, those are the items on my wish list for February, what are you wishing after this month? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you all a good February.