Liz Asks: Would you ever buy fake designer bags knowingly?
Last Christmas, I was thinking of treating myself to a Louis Vuitton Neverfull tote (or a Goyard but I couldn't find any). I loved that it has a classic design, something I can wear for decades to come. It's roomy, light, and hey, it's LV! I asked a friend of mine if I should invest in that bag. She voted against it. She said people would always wonder if it's fake, and frankly, I don't want to deal with that if I'm going to blow almost P50,000 for a bag!
I mean, don't you do that too? You look at an LV and wonder if the person carrying it could actually afford it. You might even take it a step further if you know designer bags and check for signs that it could be fake. Harsh, yeah, but that's one of the reasons people buy designer things anyway. Aesthetics and quality aside, people tote a crazy expensive bag as a status symbol. You're pretty much asking to be judged. If you have the symbol but don't really have the status then it's not going to be judgment you want to hear.
Which brings me to the question: Would you ever buy fake designer bags knowingly? I saw this online store on Instagram the other day selling P1,800 Balenciaga knock-offs. I was like, seriously? Who would buy that? Apparently, a lot of people do. The seller posts pictures of her clients with their fake bags! If, by some weird twist of fate, I end up publicly carrying a knock-off designer item knowingly, I'd wear a paper bag over my head.
But that's just me. Maybe the buyers just really love the design but can only afford a copy. Perhaps that's a valid reason - almost everything in fashion is just a copy of something that came before.
Liz Asks: How do you tip in salons?
This was actually a Reader Question that I decided to turn into a question for everybody instead. Why? Because many of us aren't sure about the standard tipping rate in the beauty industry, or that there is such a thing to begin with. The best way to find out is to ask everyone and hopefully find a general guide for best practices in tipping in salons.
The tipping culture here in the Philippines is a bit weird. It's not like in Western countries where service personnel expect and even often demand a 10-20% tip, or in Japan where giving a tip is considered an insult. Here, there seem to be tiers in giving tips, depending on how swanky a place is. We tip very minimally in say, neighborhood salons, but tip more in high-end places. But it's unusual to tip the salon owner as we feel he or she might be insulted, or worse, that we didn't give enough.
Should we give tips, even though there is a service charge included in the price or even if the personnel already receive a salary?
In my opinion, giving a tip is a way for me to say thank you to the person I just spent an hour or two of my life with.
