Splurge: Chanel Calfskin Quilted Wallet (my thoughts and experience walking in)

So... Before I came back to Cali, I was stuck at the Hong Kong airport for 10 hours longer than originally planned because my flight from Beijing was delayed due to weather issues.

Other than getting a 150 HKD (a little less than $20 USD) certificate for food, I was granted that time to look around the airport. And I spotted... The Chanel store.

I don't know if any of you ever had a strong inclination towards a certain brand, but Chanel has always been my favorite luxury brand above all the other ones. The name of the label and the classic, timeless style of their products have always appealed to me.

Being the materialistic person that I sometimes am, I knew that this was my one and only chance to get Chanel duty free (I haven't observed the prices in Cali, but I believe the prices with tax are quite a bit higher than some international metropolitan cities)

Like any other luxury store, there is a lot of security and a lot of sales associates. I was once the customer walking into a luxury brand store feeling intimidated and shy about asking the associates for help. But I've come to realize it's all about the way you carry yourself and the confidence you have.

The sales associate who helped me was a very nice young man. (I was wearing short-shorts and a simple mintgreen top, no makeup on, probably an oily face and no longer fresh hair under the humidity)

I've always loved their quilted design, and I couldn't afford a handbag, so I looked at the wallets. The associate showed me all the ones that caught my eye. Many of the smaller ones were not much cheaper than this one, and the smaller quilted Chanel wallets looked a bit... oversized to be the type of smaller wallet I like, so I opted for this full length one.

There was another one similar to this that was a softer leather (reminds me of some Michael Kors wallets I saw at while back) and I thought this would be more scratch resistant.

However, I made a grave mistake of leaving the plastic cards separating the card holders in the dust bag when storing it along with the wallet, so I have a few scratches on the back. 

NEVER DO THAT with leather wallets.

Some of the drawbacks of a calfskin leather wallet like this is: 

- Bulky (this is probably the thickest wallet I own)

- Although stiffer than lambskin, still scratches

Upon swiping my American cards that have not been used for over 6 months, all of them were declined for security reasons. Luckily I had an app named MagicJack on my android phone that could use wifi to call US and Canada for free, so I called my credit card company and was able to successfully make this purchase.

Now that I purchased it though... I realize this is a little too expensive to use for everything transactions, especially after that whole scratching thing that went on. If I were to carry this around I would have to have it in the dust bag at all times to avoid scratching, quite high maintenance if you ask me. For now, I will reserve this for use of fancy occasions, some dinners or something as a clutch.

I also have my eyes on the Chanel wallet on a chain... I think it's twice as expensive (if not more) as this wallet. Hopefully when I graduate and land my first real job I can save up to be able to afford it.

Anywho, have you splurged on a high priced item as such?

Let me know~ 

I would love to hear what everyone else's favorite luxury brands are.

In case anyone was wondering, this ended up costing me a bit over $1000 USD. Basically the second most expensive thing I own next to my MacBook Pro (to be discussed in another post?)