Mummies!

Had a little bit of excitement during the last weekend, as in experiencing something different.

Went to the “Quest for immortality” exhibition at the national museum ($8.50 with mastercard discount). Only 200 over exhibits but needn’t go as far as Egypt. Even then, the archaelogical museum in Athens has far more comprehensive exhibits than this, and it was FREE (on Sundays). Far too many historical pieces in Greece that some were placed outside the toilets or next to cafes.

The oldest of all exhibits, dated some 3000-2000 B.C

Real mummies! Could see their x-rays too.

The sphinxes never failed to amaze me! The centerpiece of the exhibition and literally was the phaoroah.

There was an outdoor wedding going on that evening at the museum restaurant. My friend was totally bowled over by the romantic idea.

Speaking of which, here're some photos of the beach wedding i attended at the beginning of this month at rasa sentosa.

Then came Sunday when we went for our qing ming prayers. Me and my sis were so happy to get home after a hot day under the sun and kopi session, but neither of us brought the home keys! So we had to squat outside the house to wait for our saviour – our mom who no longer carries a handphone. She finally came back after more grocery shopping and $4 fix. I wasn’t really as happy as I looked.

See what a shabby job the town council did with the flooring? Barely a week b4 the cement pieces came off one by one.

More Foreign Talents - Learning points!

1) Taichi your way in the office

Passed a letter which was supposed to be my china colleague’s responsibility to follow up. She cleverly left it on the boss’ desk saying that he has dealt with the sender before. My boss can expect a surprise when he comes back from his 2 days leave. But my boss is the master of all taichi, so let’s wait and learn from him. This is 一山还有一山高，蛇中自有蛇中王. When there is a phone enquiry, simply ask the caller to email to the general email and wait for others to reply, so you can continue to msn and surf china websites.

2) Fade away

Besides reinforcing the poor service, I also learned from my last Friday’s visit that Charles & Keith’s system to keep tab of stocks isn’t accurate. At least that was what the Filipino sales girl told me.

I was enquiring if there were bigger sizes of a certain pair of shoes. She just said ‘no’ offered no further help. I had to ask if other outlets might have the sizes. She reluctantly checked on the computer and told me the locations, and had to be further told to call the said outlet. After all these hassle, she said the outlet which was reflected as carrying the stocks also didn’t have it and that the system is not accurate. Then she disappeared into the storeroom.

So, which is more talented?

NEWS: My Beauty Diary masks on sale at $14.95 at Guardian. Slight breakout on my face, so today I’ll be using the strawberry yogurt mask.

Easy Masks

More to say about masks. This time about type. After using so many types – creamy apply-on and wait to dry, cloth and even self-made (egg white, oat, honey… followed by breakout but still keen to try out DIY yogurt and beer later on once I found the right recipes).

For firming and deep cleansing, I think the creamy, muddy types work better. The one-piece cloth ones are good when it comes to hydration masks. But I have realized that those without the eye flaps are better cuz I can watch tv perforimg the daily DIY facial ritual. I was watching a documentary with a typical Korean mask on. Was upset to find the 2 eye flaps and contemplated whether I should put them over my eye area and decided not to waste it. I parked myself in front of the tv, hearing the part on south American snakes, and was curious when they mentioned a 9 meter serpent. I had to bring down th flaps the put them back when the sections were less interesting…. 10 mins later, I decided it was enough for a 30 min mask. I left the flaps hanging.

On another note, I really love Boots’ body scrubs. Cheap by spore’s standard and really good. So creamy and fragrant, you can eat it! Looks organic too! Bought the walnut one in chiangmai. Think it was $15, 1-for-1. forget about going to the body shop warehouse sale. Things aren’t not even 50% cheaper and I’d rather spend that one hour eating lunch. Can even have tea!

I think it’s cheaper and more cost efficient to concoct my own body scrub – mix VOO and brown sugar. Read this inm Urban but forgot the proportions. Trial and error should suffice. Definitely better than fighting the crowd and queuing for an hour.

Courteous fake mask seller

I tried my luck and asked for a refund from the fake mask seller whom I found out stays in choa chu kang. To my surprise, there was no argument, defence or denial. He/she (refused to tell me the name) simply said ok and asked for my bank account. She didn’t even ask for the mask to be sent back to her. Maybe it was guilt? I asked for a cheque instead and offered to meet up to return the masks and take cash, but she said I would get my money back faster. I told her it was no hurry but she actually said “please” and would pay me back for the return postage, so she must be really desperate just ‘tay’. Maybe she was afraid I may bring some policemen with me.

I was nice too, I asked for a refund less the amount of masks me (and my sis) used. I only used one but I think my sis loves them despite complaining that they don’t fit on the face properly. My friend asked why I sent the masks back cuz these may end up with other victims. Not that I don’t care (though righteousness is really worthless), but I was more altruistic, hoping the seller realizes her mistake and will destroy these fakes herself and stop engaging in these unethical; business.

To be fair, the seller had been very courteous from the time I ordered the masks, answering all my queries when I said I found the products ‘unreal’. So it’s a courteous fake mask seller. I seriously don’t know what content there is in these fakies. This is so unethical and fetches so little $! I will rather sell fake (health?) food! But I think this seller has conscience cuz her masks were the cheapest, with a further $0.10 discount per piece compared to the other possible fake sellers on gmarket.com.sg.

Even if I didn’t get back my refund this round, I will still have confidence in the gmarket cuz I bought 2-3 nice tops from other sellers there.

Anyway, all I wanna say is I have NO more free fake mask samples to give away. You may contact apmcloset@gmail.com (my seller) for $1.30 a piece (before $0.10 discount). I shan’t go on to reveal her hp number since I’ve my $$ back, but if you pay me $, I’ll be glad to share that with you. Aren’t you glad I bought the fake stuff so you get to see the real fake thing?

Fake masks!

I’m a mask person, so I bought some 3 boxes of my beauty diary masks and 2 boxes of Neutrogena masks on my last trip to Hong Kong. So much ceaper! No wonder most hongkees have better complexion than S’poreans!

My mask stock was running low, so on top of the masks (2 boxes of my beauty diary) I bought on a discount from Guardian pharmacy, I also bought a box from gmarket. Only $1.20 apiece plus free delivery vs $1.80 from Guardian! What a good deal! BUT, when u get a good deal, think twice! Though I’ve bought nice clothes from gmarket before, these masks I bought was a different story. I questioned the seller who insisted they were the real thing. With my experience with the masks and other masks, I am certain that the smell, effect, thickness and packaging obviously look, but far from the originals.

Here’s some links my colleague found’ on my behalf. Won’t bother to write since some else in Malaysia has done the job, and we aren’t too far away to kena:-
http://www.skindeco.net/2009/11/beware-of-fake-beauty-diary-masks.html
http://three2one-go.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-differentiate-real-and-fake-my.html

Maybe I should give them to my ‘best fake friends’ as birthday presents? Or those who gave me ang pows for CNY since they were the source of my mask investments. Anyway, just stay clear of cheap stuff, for all you know, they contain melamine. Fake organic foods have surfaced in China. They are innovative wherever the money is.

Meantime, will try the fakes on-off. Free samples available. Limited stock - 9 pieces to spare. So it’s first-come-first-served. Just drop me an email. I’ve taken some photos but didn’t bring my camera, so pictures another day.