The shopaholic hormones attacked me again. Because I have been drowning with expected and unexpected work, I decided to unwind by doing some online window shopping. The online browsing turned to real shopping as evidenced by this post. :)

I discovered Ni-QUA from another low profile blogger. She purchased the same tote I will be reviewing and as expected, I fell in love with the classic and minimalistic style. Cliche as it may sound, I found beauty in the bag's simplicity. It took me restless hours to decide whether to purchase. I'm being held back because I've been excessively shopping for bags this year. I have another bag waiting to arrive and I have plans with Cath Kidston's last quarter sale. More importantly, the bag is quite expensive. Despite all the valid reasons that prevented me to purchase the bag, my shopaholic hormones overpowered me. :) Hence, as always, there's another "bag post" documented here.


I purchased Ni-QUA's medium sized Manico bag. Can I just say that the bag is so perfect! The bag is made of genuine cow leather that is so soft. It's way different from my other real and synthetic leather bags that are usually hard and heavy. The Manico bag is so light and the smell of the authentic leather is really intoxicating.


Proof of real leather! 

The bag has unfortunately no inner lining which I appreciate because I can always feel the real leather. The bag also comes with a hidden magnetic clasp.


Despite being made of soft material, the bag can stand on its own. I believe this is a sign of excellent design and craftsmanship.


Defining beauty in simplicity


The bag comes in a 5 -inches handle drop. The handle is also made of light yet sturdy material. 


The bag is perfect except for one minor area that somehow disappointed me. I had issues with the delayed shipping which wasn't Ni-QUA's fault. The not-so-famous shipping company took around 5 days to send the parcel. I'm counting weekends because I believe that courier companies are obliged to deliver even on weekends. The person at the workplace who received my bag also posted some inefficiency. More importantly, I'm not impressed with the packaging of the bag. The photo above shows the actual bag when it arrived. It was wrapped in transparent plastic and was forced to fit in a small felt paper bag. In my opinion, expensive and sensitive items should be likewise be treated with expensive and sophisticated packaging.

I was expecting a padded envelope, box or a dust bag that will protect the bag in the course of the delivery. I relayed my sentiments to Ni-QUA and I never received any reply at all. :) I apologize if I sound too demanding but my years in Corporate Planning gave me another perspective to complaints and suggestions. Nevertheless, the packaging is just a minor issue. The bag maybe expensive but I don't regret purchasing it. I'm looking forward to purchase another Manico bag that comes in red or orange. Hopefully, the packaging will improve and there will be no more shipping problems.