PURELY PIXIE: I love purple handbags and totes and my most stylish and generous sister-in-law!

I love purple handbags and totes. I went shopping with my sister-in-law over the weekend at Muscat Festival and fell in love with this Iris-purple hued handbag and that I just couldn't resist. I bartered and bartered and could only get the price down 1 OMR. Which is about $2.80 USD [thank you anon, I haven't checked recent exchange rates]. Nonetheless it was decided, maybe because my SIL is quite pregnant and was tired of walking, and maybe because that particular colour is so fabulous, that one should always buy what one loves, and it became my new work mate. For 6 Omani rials.

It [the handbag] happily follows me to my office, sits peacefully on my desk despite the aggression of spilt black coffee and endless ballpoint pens ready to ambush my new friend's [the handbag] lining. It bears the weight of my laptop without complaint. All in all, I don't regret the no-name-stall souq-purchase.

But of course, I know, the readers of my blog don't come here to talk about work or to see my handbag collection [and never ask to see my shoe collection because I love to run barefoot whenever I can!]. Which has diminished drastically since I started packing around diapers and baby wipes.

They usually come here to read Islamic articles [which this obviously isn't] or to see the latest in hijab or abaya fashions ect... And well, this is what I wear. I don't often get all dolled up in designer abayas because my day-to-day life doesn't require it. Also, you won't see many product reviews here since I rarely shop online in Oman, but this abaya is from a little higher end boutique here [Oman is all about the boutiques] called "Topaz" located in Al Bajha mall. This particular abaya is a casual style, what your average Omani girl wears to run to the store, get groceries, shop with her girlfriends, and because it is a brand name, she might even wear it to a government office. This style is pretty popular, usually in black on black, navy blue,gold or silver satin under black lace, and can be tailored in good quality fabrics on average for 25-30 Omani rials. Ready-made, but in bad quality [to abaya-saavy GCC girls anyways] fabric, you can pick it up for 12-14 Omani rials [like the kind you can buy from online shops like Boutique al Khaleejia in their Souq abaya sections]. In your head, you can calculate like I do, Omani rials is about 284x each 1 rial to get the price in USD. This particular abaya cost 70 Omani rials and was made-to-order, because it is a brand name and the materials are the best quality.

P.S. when I wear it, I wear it with a purple shayla and always cover my chest. Photos are just to show the abaya's design. If your chest ain't covered then it ain't hijab ladies!

The style is a-line and closed with a mandarin collar [soft] and wide kimono-sleeves with iris-purple fabric across the bust and arms with very soft quality black lace over top the iris-purple. Additionally a trim of an even deeper shade [almost navy blue] shade of indigo high-quality real [not poly.] satin trims the edges of the abaya sleeves, and finishes the seams in the back of the abaya. Snaps at the wrists hold the wide sleeves closed.  I bought the same abaya but in cheaper fabrics and ready-made black on black without the complex seam finishing in the back for 9 Omani rials. So probably this particular design I would have gotten tailored  for around 25 OMR or 30 OMR instead of spending 70 OMR for a brand but it was a gift:). Alhamdulilah. I am just posting on what I wear here in Oman [which is more expensive than in UAE or Saudi but cheaper than Kuwait and Qatar] so girls have an idea of what is out there and don't get ripped off buying online.