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What's in your handbag right now?

We spill the purse contents of 16 Canadian women, from Halifax to Vancouver.

By Helen Racanelli

Handbag from Ottawa
Who: Desirée Brown
Handbag: brown leather Alliere bag
In my bag:
• Jump drive
• DCT lip balm
• Pink Indulge lip gloss
One crumpled tissue
• Motorola cellphone
• Cellphone charger
• Four boarding passes
• Passport
• Travel itinerary
• Large Tommy wallet
• Life Brand moisturizer/sanitizer
• One tube of Airborne
• Sunglasses
• Pair of reading glasses
• Address book
• Binder
• Motrin
• Opticom eye drops
• Grey sweater
• Pen

Handbag from Vancouver
Who: Lesley Ord, photographer
Handbag: Karen Wilson Classic Frame Purse (from La Bonne Vie in Kelowna, B.C.)
In my bag:
• Wallet
Loose bank cards and change (which should be in the wallet)
• iPod Shuffle
• Voluspa "Linden Blond Tabac" purse perfume (from La Bonne Vie)
• Small Jar of Open Sundaes "Lilac Shortcake" Body Frosting (from La Bonne
Vie)
• Lancôme "Hotness" fever lip gloss
• Jaqua "pink buttercream frosting" lip gloss (from La Bonne Vie...again!)
• Two half packs of gum
• Loose business cards
• Business Card holder (where the business card should be!)
• Two pens
• Hairband
• Super 7 Lotto ticket (not a winner of course!)
• Keys
• Empty gum wrappers
• Motorola Pink Razr cellphone

Handbag from Kelowna, B.C.
Who: Tracey Wikenheiser, owner of La Bonne Vie (Ed.'s note: And the sister of Vancouver handbag owner Lesley Ord)
Handbag: Karen Wilson Classic
In my bag:
"George Costanza" wallet
• L'Oréal Revitalift (I have a preoccupation with wrinkles!!!)
• Bottle of Extra Strength Advil (some days desperately warranted)
• Motorola Razr cellphone
• Cargo lip gloss
• Credit card and bank card roaming around aimlessly causing me to have a heart attack every time I need to pay for something because I can't find them!!!
• Endless receipts also floating around
• Jaqua Pink Buttercreme hand lotion
• One Hot Wheels car (my darling son's)
• Common beauty -- l love nude -- lip-gloss compact
• One pink M&M …huh!!!?????
• Set of keys
• Loose business cards

Handbags from Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area)
Who: Natalie Bahadur, writer and styleathome.com editor
Handbag: Black leather Jones New York bag with red interior
In my bag:
Red leather wallet from The Loft
• Palm Pilot
• Canon SD30 digital camera
• Body Shop face powder
• Maybelline lip polish
• Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and case
• Travel pack of Life Brand tissues
• Motorola Razr cellphone
• Car/home keys

Who: Kat Tancock, CanadianLiving.com assistant editor
Handbag: Felted wool purse by Én Gry & Sif
In my bag:
• Makeup bag
• Matt & Nat wallet
• Keys
• Pack of tissues
• Cellphone
Novel, en français (for studying up on the subway)
• Pen
• Nail file
• Aveda hand lotion
• Glasses
Cherry-pie-flavoured Larabar energy bar
• Mints

Who: Helen Catellier, managing editor, Canadian Gardening magazine
Handbag: Brown leather Cole Haan convertible satchel
In my bag:
• Cellphone
One pair of red shoes, one with broken strap (on my way to cobbler)
• Bus tokens in small coin purse
Pair of mittens
• Umbrella
• Loose business cards
• My lunch in a mini black tote bag with the following: One Lean Cuisine mango curry chicken entrée, small Rubbermaid container of cottage cheese, small Rubbermaid container of cherry tomatoes, one Granny Smith apple, one low-fat yogurt
• Smaller black leather purse with the following:
• Building pass
• Red leather business card holder with business cards
• Cheque book
• Package of tissues
• Black leather Furla wallet
• Sunglasses
• Extra bubblemint gum
• Pen
• N.Y.C. watermelon-flavoured roll-on lip gloss
• Blistex tropical-flavoured lip balm
• Didn't even know I had this in the separate zippered compartment (two tampons, two panty liners, two maxi pads)

Who: Jennifer Melo, Homemakers.com editor
Handbag: Black leather Club Monaco purse
In my bag:
• Black leather wallet from Guess (a present from my friend Jen)
• A small bottle of Purell hand sanitizer
• Cellphone
• Car keys
• Two pens
• Four lip glosses: N.Y.C.'s chocolate scented, Rimell's strawberry flavoured (yum!), Maybelline's lip polish and a peachy Chanel gloss
• A jewelled compact mirror
• An Asian-style mini makeup bag (a present from my friend Aileen) filled with three lipsticks, another two lip glosses, lip balm and three lip liners. Best of all, I rarely wear lipstick!
• Listerine Oral Care Mist
• A bottle of painkilling Pamprin
• Maxi pads (to accompany the Pamprin, of course:))
• Home keys

Who: Jane Nieuwendyk, designer, colour consultant and instructor
(www.completelychic.com)
Handbag: Black leather Kathy bag, by Kathy Van Zeeland
In my bag:
• Sunglasses
• Mints from Victoria's Secret
• Wallet by Ralph Lauren (with ID, cash and photos of my kids)
• Cheque book
• iPod Nano (I don't go anywhere without it, ha,ha!)
• Calculator
• Tape measure
• Four pens
• Two pencils
• Business card holder
• Day-Timer
• Travel perfume: Chanel
• Hand cream by Victoria's Secret
Breathe Right Strips
• Halls
• Lip Balm by Caryl Baker
• One tampon
• Makeup Bag: lipstick, foundation, blush, mascara, eye pencil, lip pencil/gloss
• Black leather gloves
Pill box of vitamins
• Antibacterial soap
• Rose Water Hydrating Mist by Caryl Baker
• My business cards
• Small notepad
• Body Shop blotting paper
• BlackBerry
Camera
• Tissues
• Reading glasses (my extra pair)
Note: After making this list I realize why I have a sore shoulder!

Who: Colleen Tully, styleathome.com assistant editor
Handbag: Black suede and fun fur Lollipops
In my bag:
• One Clorets
• Sunglasses
Rapidly degrading wallet
• Package of business cards
• Compact mirror
• Dying pink Samsung cellphone
• One bottle Advil LiquiGels
• One sheet of Gravol
• Two identical key cards (one for apt. garage, one for work)
• Brush with my name on it -- dog-chewed on corner
• Two sets of keys
• Hand cream
Raspberry deodorant
• Lip liner
• Lip colour/gloss duo
• Three lipsticks
• Pen
• Loose dime
• Melted restaurant mint

Who: Helen Racanelli, writer and CanadianLiving.com editor
Handbag: Silver leather Michael Kors
In my bag:
• Black wallet
• Three crumpled tissues
Empty packet Chiclets Sours gum
Small tube moisturizer
• Three Wet Naps
• Headband
• Loose business cards
• Silver iPod
• Ancient Nokia cellphone
• Pink Beauty lip gloss
• Pen

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