This month I may have shopped a bit more than I planned for. It’s perhaps the result of no-spend Feb that I went CRAZY shopping this month. Sorry, bank balance! In my defence, I needed most of the things I had bought. Plus, they were cute!
I love an in-store shopping experience and prefer this over online shopping. Or so I thought! This month 100% of all the things I’ve bought were online, and I am proud to say that I didn’t buy run-of-the-mill mass-produced stuff. A lot of my purchases were from many Australian small businesses.
I have bought few things from small businesses in the past and have always enjoyed the products and quality of service. I love supporting small businesses for many reasons:
- They are small, and I’d love to see my favourite businesses grow
- A lot of lady bosses are rocking it and girls support girls, right?
- The purchases (for the most part) are handmade and are hella unique. Love me some one-of-a-kind things
- A lot of the stuff from these businesses are made from ethically sourced materials and are responsibly packaged
- Top notch customer service and the cute personalised notes they pop in are amazing
I can do this all day, but I am sure you get why I love them so! I’ve said this before and I will say it again. Instagram in a wonderful place to discover new people/business and so much more. I found all of these lovely businesses from Instagram and I love it!

Make Merriness
Merrin Dorothy, an Aussie artist and entrepreneur with the most delicious designs ever! I mean delicious in every sense. Her artwork has reflections of iconic Aussie treats, flora & fauna and other designs that drip in cuteness. Her designs can be found on T-shirts, sweat shirts, accessories, tech accessories, stationery and so much more; her fashion range caters to men, women, kids and babies too! If your style is about standing out, Make Merriness is worth taking a peak. Her goods are sold via Redbubble and their services is exceptional!
It was super hard for me to choose from all the things from Make Merriness. I settled for a laptop sleeve, which I was in market for. How cute is Bernard the Bear?
http://www.makemerriness.com/

Bon Maxie
Hello earring lovers, this one’s for you! Have a heap of earrings just lying unorganised? Where are the earrings you want when you are sorting an outfit for an occasion? Bon Maxie to the rescue! Clare the brain behind the genius earring and accessory organiser offers a whole bunch of ways in which you can sort out your massive collection of earrings, rings, bracelets and trinkets.
Small, medium, large; hanging, standing and travelling she has them all! Clare’s earrings boards, which are her best sellers are even used by many independent jewellery makers to showcase their gorgeous creations.
Her customer service calls for 5 stars! I’d ordered a travelling earring holder before a last-minute trip. She made sure I got it just in time and she even threw in express shipping at no extra cost!
My shopping included mini earring standing holder, unisex accessory hanger and a travelling earring holder. Loved every single thing I’ve bought from Bon Maxie. Organising the accessories have made a heap of difference in the space they occupy.

Each to Own
Kirsten Devitt is the face behind the business. Her collection of wooden & acrylic earrings, necklaces and brooches are stunning! Think fun patterns, glitter and a whole lot of prettiness.
I had the hardest time shopping from Each to Own; how does one choose from the many stunning designs! I spent several hours deciding and I am not even an indecisive shopper! Finally, I settled on three gorgeous designs that were me.
Kirsten’s service definitely needs to be highlighted here. Remember I said I was indecisive? I ordered a pair of the colourful tear drop earrings first and made another order the next day for the other two pairs pictured here. Of course I paid shipping separately for the two orders. Upon having the orders shipped a few days after the order, I receive a refund for the shipping cost for one of the items because she saw that both the packages were going to the same address! Unexpected and incredibly lovely of her to do it. Love the integrity and will definitely by adding more to my collection from her store!

Samantha Fox Design
Surprise, surprise! Yet another Instagram find!
I bought this super funky laser-cut statement necklace from Lisa Preston’s store. Her store is full of acrylic awesomeness and perfect to make a plain outfit pop! The necklace arrived in the most secure packaging and with a cute little gift box complete with a bow on top! I am sucker for good packaging and safe to say, I was wow-ed!

TopKnot Girl
Love me a good hair band but I haven’t been one to look past a classic Alice band. Ever since I went short with my hair over a year ago, I’ve been loving wearing cloth hair bands in different styles. TopKnot Girl specialises in headwear and have a wide range of them in the cutest and softest fabrics. They have cute matchy bands for adults, newborns and kids. If you like a mommy-&-me style for you and your bub, this is where your search ends!
Animal prints are my jam and they are so versatile to dress up and down. It’s no wonder that I got my hands on the Classic Leopard TwistKnot band.
The other thing that caught my fancy and HAD to absolutely have was the Shibori WideKnot band. It was perfect to dress up neutral clothes and doubled up as a pretty accessory to protect my ears from the biting cold weather in Tokyo!

Hey Polly
Hey Polly, another jewellery haven run by Melbourne-based Peta Johns. Handmade, unique and oh-so-pretty, her collection of jewellery/accessories is edgy, fun and trendy. Hey Polly has acrylic dangles, polymer clay studs, earrings & necklaces, tassel earrings and keyrings/bag clips.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her polymer clay necklace collection. So I bought me some neck candy! Bent tube necklace in gun metal grey with gold leaf design. Can’t wait to spruce it up with some basic tops and tees!