Rose Paul: From Bangkok to Bohol & Beyond

Sassy. Fabulous. Stylish. In. These are some of the words we use to generally describe the clothes we would want to purchase, and eventually wear. Moreover, with our advancing technology today, it is an undeniable fact that we seek for the comfort of home as much as possible. Shopping in the comfort of our own homes is now possible with online shops. And here's one online shop I have been wanting to feature.

If you're a Boholano, then I bet you have heard of the famous online shop Rose Paul Bangkok. Quite a unique name for an online shop, you say? The shop's name is a combination of two names, Rose and Paul - the lovely couple who owns the said shop.

I did an online interview with Miss Rose to find out more about her shop. Well, I would've wanted to meet her in person, but I'm here in US now, and she's been travelling to and from Thailand. So read on and learn more about Rose Paul Bangkok, or simply RPBkk.

FROM BANGKOK

It all started with Facebook. Miss Rose, the shop owner, is a university lecturer in Bangkok, Thailand. Every time she posts her OOTDs or "outfit of the day" (since according to her they do not have teacher's uniform), a lot of her FB friends would ask for her dresses and ended up giving them away. Until, one of her former students suggested an idea saying, "Why don't you turn it into a business?" It was when she realized, "Yeah, why not?" And so came the birth of RPBkk, October 1st, 2009.

The first collections featured on the shop was of Miss Rose's pre-loved clothes and new ones which were her personal choices. Later, they opened to more variety -- such as jumpsuits, maxis, long gowns, cocktails, prints and everything new in fashion -- to cater to everyone's needs. "The clothes we have now are not just what I prefer to wear but what others might want to wear," Miss Rose states.

When asked about their clothes and if they design some of them, Miss Rose answers, "90% of our clothes are RTWs made and bought in Bangkok. However, we also design for special occasions like debuts, weddings, beauty pageants (production number, playsuit, casual wear segments)."

Rose, Paul and their kids Huey and Harl (plus a baby girl on the way!).
They usually model the RPBkk clothes.

TO BOHOL

Rose, or Roseth Mascariñas Ranara, hails from Booy, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. And while their online clothing shop business was taking off, she, together with her husband Prince Paul Ranara, decided to build a customer lounge right in front of the Mascariñas residence. "We call it RPBkk lounge where the customers can claim their orders personally," she marks.

And even if they already have the RPBkk lounge, they basically are still doing online transactions. They just cater to offline clients by way of appointment basis.

RPBkk customer lounge at Booy Dist, Tagbilaran City.
And yes, it is Thai-inspired ;)

BEYOND BOHOL

I asked if they have a lot of customers outside Bohol and asked what places they are from. This was Miss Rose's response: "In fact, 90% of our clients are from outside Bohol. Locally we have clients from almost all parts of the Philippines. Internationally, the bulk of our clients are from Norway, Denmark, Spain, New Zealand, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Qatar, Dubai, Taiwan and Japan." Now, this makes RPBkk world-class! :)

One of their profile photos, which I find very creative.



However, like many other businesses, they too have teeny-tiny trials on their way to success. According to Miss Rose, every now and then, there are joy reservers and bogus buyers but she accepts these as part of this kind of business.

Of course, I also asked her about their secret/s to a successful business (which is no longer a secret now. hehe). And she gives me this list:

•  up-to-date stocks
• reasonable prices
• family owned and managed (her mom, dad and sister manages RPBkk Bohol)
• high quality photos
• lenient on delayed payments
• no bogus buyer album
• accumulated orders until one month or so (so that customers can save on money transfer charges and shipping fees)

Of course, I also purchased a RosePaul dress myself!
Worn last January this year (explains the boots, it's winter season).
Photo by R. Saria

So what are you waiting for? If there's a dress you've fallen in love with, just say "mine" and it's yours! Happy shopping! <3

Photos of RPBkk were grabbed with permission.

Wear Your Taste w/ Delicious Papot

Who wants to wear a very cool t-shirt with unique designs printed on it? Well I guess everybody does. So here's an online clothing shop which, from the looks of the tees, caters to your "cool shirts" needs!

You may have already heard of the shop's name, as this is not the first time for it to be featured. And what does it have? It has t-shirts with cool designs and prints. I myself do not even directly understand what the designs mean, but hey, they really look cool! Plus, some of those shirts feature the trending characters we know of, such as Mickey Mouse and Mojo Jojo. Oh, and I haven't mentioned the shop's name yet! It's Delicious Papot Clothing!

And these images might give you a hint of what the shop's all about:

And being the blogger that I am, I do not just feature the shop products or items, I also take time to learn the story of how the shop came to be. So in an online interview with Sir Papot, the man behind the Delicious Papot Clothing, I learned a few things from him.

Delicious Papot, before it came to be a clothing line, was actually a band's name. And they got the band's name from one of their friends' nickname, Papot. Unfortunately however, Delicious Papot got disbanded when their drummer passed away. Eventually, one of his (Papot's) friends motivated him to try going into the clothing business. And this gave an idea for Papot to just use the same name that was used with the band before. Thus December 2010, the cyberworld gave birth to DPC or Delicious Papot Clothing.

It has been about 2 years now since the shop has been established. And for that span of time, DPC has had various customers and fans, not just from Cebu (its birthplace), but all over the Philippines. And because the business has just been a sideline for Papot, he is aware that there are still a lot of things to improve. That is why he hopes that, by the grace of God,  DPC will be a huge and successful business in the future. He also adds that he loves business because he somehow came from a Chinese lineage. Business-minded, huh? :)

But what I admire most about this clothing line/shop is the effort they put in reaching their buyers and/or fans from different places. In fact, they are having a Manila Invasion this weekend! Here's the event poster:

And the ASTIG shirts, which are up for grabs:

Ans since it's the season of Christmas, you might include shirts from DPC on your Christmas wishlist or give one as a gift! Interested, aren't you? So why not give their FB fanpage a visit? Just click HERE and like their page. Also, don't forget to like the blog's FANPAGE too! Thankyouverymuch! :)

The ongoing giveaway, if you haven't joined yet, can be found HERE.

Wear your taste, sweeties! Have an ASTIG day! Rock on \m/

Disclaimer: All photos on this blog post are from Delicious Papot Clothing, grabbed with permission from the owner.

Sweet Wishes Do Come True: 1st Giveaway

WISH. One word which is worth thousands of smiles. And surely, the definition of this differs from person to person. Each one of us has a wish. Some with simple ones, and the others grand. Whatever that wish may be, I am pretty sure the person who has her/his wish come true, smiles.

I myself wished once. Wanna know what that wish was? I wished for a generous online shop to sponsor a giveaway for my blog. And today, that wish is coming true! I have already mentioned HERE that a giveaway is coming our way. And yes, it's here, finally.

So this wish, which came true, is not just for me. This is also for my dear sweet readers. And I want to say my unending "thank you" to our giveaway sponsor, White Poppy Wishes! :)

To make you more excited, here's the photo of the prizes:

Photo courtesy of White Poppy Wishes :)

The prizes are:

 * A pair of feathered earrings - which I think is so fab, I mean, look at the colors! Parang balahibo lang ng peacock, di ba?

 * 2 pairs of handmade earrings - 1 red, the other with a very unique style. Both danglings. And both are awesomely cute! And as what I said during my feature, they are carefully made and handcrafted with love <3

 * A vintage necklace - Bird's cage :)

 * A vintage ring - flowerpower.

Before I will give you the giveaway mechanics, lemme show you first my fab haul from the shop. But of course, I've already bought some things before. Will be featuring them soon here on the blog. So, here are my items:

Photo courtesy of White Poppy Wishes :)

Aren't they lovely? Haha, parang favorite line ko yan. :) Anyway, here are the mechanics:

MANDATORY

1. Like the So Sweet Suzette fanpage.

2. Like the White Poppy Wishes fanpage.

3. Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect. Click "Join this site" on the sidebar.

4. Follow @sosweetsuzette on twitter.

5. Follow @ainyxi on twitter.

OPTIONAL

1. Add White Poppy Wishes - Admin as your Facebook friend, only if you want to. :)

2. Tweet about the giveaway. You can do this daily for more entries.

3. Share the news about the giveaway on your FB profile. You can do this daily for more entries.

4. Leave a comment. Browse the White Poppy Wishes (the FB account or the fanpage) albums and choose one (1) item you love the most. Post the link on the comment box and give a reason why you love that item. Kindly include your Complete Name & Email address.

Note: Make sure the name you used to log in here in Rafflecopter is the same name you used in leaving the comment. However, if that's not the case, then please also leave your FB name on the comment box.

5. Recommend this post on Google+

6. Recommend my feature about White Poppy Wishes on Google+. However, if you do not have a Google+ account, then you may choose to just share it on FB.

IMPORTANT! Please submit your entries thru the rafflecopter widget below. Well, I chose to have this giveaway with the help of Rafflecopter for easy reference. Please wait for it to load.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run from today until the end of this month (November 12 - November 30, 2012 at around 12 noon). This giveaway is open for Philippine residents only, regardless however of gender or age. No dummy accounts allowed. I will check your entries, so NO CHEATING PLEASE. :)

There will only be 1 LUCKY READER who'll win these lovely prizes. I will announce the winner on the first week of December here on my blog. Updates will also be posted through my fan page, So Sweet Suzette (so be sure to like and subscribe). The winner must also contact me within 48 hours after my announcement. Failure to do so would mean another winner will be picked. White Poppy Wishes' shop owner will be the one to ship the prizes to the winner.

So, what are you waiting? Submit your entries now!

Goodluck sweeties! :)

Feature: White Poppy Wishes

This online shop will cater your accessories needs! At one glance on the photos of its Facebook account, you will surely fall inlove with the products!

The best feature of this online accessories shop is the fact that they have handmade products, carefully made and crafted by the owner herself. The shop I am talking about is no other than, White Poppy Wishes.

I conducted an online interview with the owner of the shop, Mommy Aine. And with the interview we had, I learned more about her shop and her love for accessories.

According to her, she has been selling personally handmade accessories for 6 years now. But it was just recently when she decided to bring the products online. She also thought of adding a couple of ready-to-wear accessories. She was inspired by other online shops and thought, "if they can do it, why can't I?" She was thankful that she loved joining giveaways because it truly opened her eyes about online shops, that there is indeed a big potential of earning at the comfort of one's home.

When asked about why accessories shop, she answered with this: "Accessories, because it's the fastest item that you can cater to all ages. However, I've been also doing a lot of thinking on adding new and pre-loved clothes, and some baby items too. I simply wanted it to be a one-stop online shop for ladies, mommies, little ones.. and even for daddies too!"

From her Elegant Pieces collection

Upon hearing (or  reading) of the shop name, curiosity came into me. It isn't a common name for online shops. So I asked Mommy Aine why the shop is named White Poppy Wishes. Mommy Aine answers, "White is my daughter's birth month flower color and Poppy is my birth month flower. Wishes is simply my hope of becoming successful with what I am doing right now!" And she puts a smiley. :)

Handmade Earrings

 The photos shown above are just some of White Poppy Wishes' most loved items. These handmade earrings are the best sellers and they're even the highly recommended items of Mommy Aine. This is so, because according to her, a handmade accessory can be your best gift to someone because it is carefully handcrafted with love.

Some of her items from the RTW collection

And because I know different online shops abound the Facebook world today, I asked Mommy Aine what makes her shop different, or perhaps special. Her response:

"The heart and soul I put in every accessory I make. And of course, for the ready-to-wear, I personally do a thorough quality check of the items before I send them to my buyers."

For more of her items, please add White Poppy Wishes as your friend on Facebook. Just click here.

Get the lovely accessories at affordable prices, with the comfort of staying at home. Browse through White Poppy Wishes albums and you will surely have that item shipped with love and care straight to your doorstep.  I've already picked my orders, how about you sweeties?

Photos were grabbed with permission from the owner.

Online Shops, Soon at SSS

One thing I've noticed in the cyberspace now is the fact that there are already a lot of online shops. Again, A LOT. Before, the online shops used to dominate Shop Multiply. But right now, the best place (I think) for online shops to operate is on Facebook.

Considering the fact that there are millions, or billions, of FB users in the world, the online shop owners took advantage of having that comfort in posting their shop products, plus advertisements on Facebook for free. Also, they can easily add friends to "become friends" of their online shop's account. Those who use the fanpage method, simply invite their friends to like their fanpage.

I can also see that people are also very interested about online shops - that includes me.Who would reject that chance to just shop at the comfort of your home? People patronize online shops and their products, that is also if they have seen the credibility of the shop owners and also the quality of the products they are buying online.

So, from now on sweeties, I will be featuring online shops. Sounds interesting, isn't it? And rest assured, I will only feature online shops which I know are "worth-featuring". This means, I already know how credible the owners are and that their products are loved by the buyers. Please watch out for my shop features here in SSS.

I am currently drafting a blog feature for an online accessories shop! So, please stay tuned! :)

Photo by my friend, Longski.

P.S. The photo does not have any relevance with the article written. I just want to post it here. Hehe :)