ZALORA VIP Shopper I am!

Thank you Zalora I am now a VIP shopper! And due to this, I am given a 30 dollar voucher for 80-dollar spend!

Since I have no plans of online shopping tonight, I am giving away this voucher :) The voucher expires before midnight tonight so message me if you need this. Leave your name in the comment box below and I will get back to you.

My Zalora Singapore Experience

I am a UOB credit card holder and to be updated to all their credit card promotions and good deals, I subscribed to their UOB fanpage in Facebook. And that is when I came to know about Zalora Singapore.

I was in search for nice, affordable tops. Recently I have been letting go of my shirts as it seemed not appropriate anymore for office attire ( yeah, I am getting old :P) or even for weekend use. So gradually I am revamping my wardrobe little by little. And I am glad I came to know Zalora.

The first thing that caught my eye about Zalora is that they provide free delivery. A plus factor. I do not need to pay the extra 5 dollars for delivery. And depending on the availability of the item, Zalora can have it delivered as early as 2 days after the order payment.

Zalora is generous to give you a 10-dollar voucher when you signed up and subscribe to their newsletter. The voucher can be used within 2 weeks, and must be for a minimum 50-dollar purchase (I checked their website and it is changed to 80-dollar purchase)

So I signed up as a member, and browse the list of blouses they have. I am surprised Zalora offers not only Singapore local brands, but other international brands as well. And my heart jumped when I saw that Bayo and Plains & Prints are also part of the brands they carry.

I ordered a Bayo tops and use Paypal for payment. They accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Paypal and Cash on Delivery. But since that was the first time I will be using Zalora  for online shopping, I used Paypal to be safe. I also tried to make a search about Jade E-service and looks like a legit business to me so I went ahead and made a purchase.

I received a phonecall from Zalora 3 hours after I paid for my purchase, informing me that the item I ordered is out of stock. So they will give my payment back a refund, and in top of that, is a 20-dollar voucher as a gift for the inconvenience caused. Wow, this is a good customer service. When I used the voucher though, I was having problems so I gave them a call and they gave me a new voucher in an instant!

I used Zalora's services 3 times already. I bought 3 tops and a pair of Rockport shoes.

And everytime I receive the package, makes me feel excited! Why? Their packaging is soooo lovely, so elegant. The box doesn't look those cheap boxed that other online stores used.

The Rockport shoes is the best deal I was able to get from them. The pair of shoes is usually priced at 120 dollars in the Rockport store.But since they are having promotions that time, I purchased it at 96 dollars! Good bargain isn't it?

Every package contains a return slip in case you decided to return it, no questions asked, according to them, provided it is still in the good condition and packaging.

I am hoping though that like Zalora Philippines, Zalora Singapore may also want to consider having a Live Chat Support, as well as some Facebook contests/giveaway. Other than that, my experience is very positive. Definitely, I would buy from them again!

Below are some of the photos of the package I received from Zalora.



  

My Fave Crossbody: Longchamp Planètes Messenger Bag

I have this thing for bags. Not that I am addicted to it, nor I am a shopaholic of bags, but whenever someone (especially my husband) would ask what would I love to have for a present, it's the first thing that comes to my mind - a BAG!

I seldom buy luxury/designer bags. And most of the bags I do have for myself are either shoulder bags and hand bags. I am petite and have a tiny bone structure that having a back pack doesn't look good on me. And I never liked Crossbody bags for reasons I do not know, in spite of having girlfriends who owns at least one. Though I have one in my storage, it is not my favorite and I only used it only once in the last 5 years. And I never had plans of buying one, until last February.

I was asked to go to Belgium for a training for a week, including weekends, so few weeks before my flight, I already made plans on how to spend the weekend alone in Belgium. I planned to have a stroll and do some window shopping at Antwerp on the Saturday, and explore Brugges on the Sunday. It was Spring in Belgium but the temperature is around 5-10 degrees Celsius.

Saturday morning, I spent the whole morning strolling, and shopping, and I was not very comfortable. I am wearing a fluffy coat and brought my Michael Kors shoulder bag with me and it was a pain. It won't fit my shoulder due to my fluffy coat, and I cannot feel where my bag was whenever I walk. It was a bit challenging. And so I decided to get one Crossbody bag. And an image of one flashed into my mind, the one I saw in the shelves when I bought a few Longchamp Le Pliage bag for friends. And so I decided, I will get that one..

Longchamp Planètes Messenger Bag:  I love the texture as this is the same leather used for the Planetes (which I also love) and the good thing about this bag is that it is very light.It is spacious, with one small pocket inside and another pocket with snap closure outside. A small book can fit into the front pocket, while a bottle of mineral water, a folding umbrella, point and shoot camera, wallet and two mobile phones can fit inside, and still spacious.

Features:

• Measurements: 12″ x 8¾” x 3″
• Adjustable shoulder strap that can be worn across the body or over the shoulder
• Zipper closure
• Front pocket with a snap closure      

So I used the bag when I explored Brugges that Sunday and it was a relief! I feel so light, that it seemed I didn't have anything with me. And that moment made me realized how a Crossbody bag can be very comfortable and useful. And I had it for 95 Euro, which is around 185 US Dollars.

And the best thing about this bag? I went back to Singapore and I haven't seen anyone carrying the same bag. Ladies, you know what i mean, right? *wink-wink*

The Lantern Resort & Residences: Patong, Phuket, Thailand

My husband and I decided to celebrate his birthday this year in Phuket, Thailand since we have been planning to visit the place 3 years ago but really never had a chance. Now we have a good reason to have a 3-day getaway, so we invited another couple who is also our close friend to join us as well.

The Lantern Resort & Residences

We booked our budget-airlines flight right away since there was a promotion going on from Singapore to Phuket. And my girl friend and I were looking for a nice, decent low-cost hotels or apartments to stay in.

We ended up booking in The Lantern. It was very close to Bangla Rd, where all those naughty, party bars are located, and also close to the Patong Beach. Looking at the photos in their website and reviews, it convincingly looked good. So we booked 2 rooms for 3 nights, and asked for airport to hotel transfer as well.

The signage across the road

Location: The Lantern is located a street away from Bangla Rd, which is around 3 minutes walk. The Patong Beach is around 10 minutes away while the famous Jungceylon Shopping Mall is around 5 minutes away. Indeed a good location, very central. 

The street where it is located is called Rai-U-Thit Song Roi Pee Road. It is a street full of both old and new hotels/apartments, some night bar, Thai massage parlor, street foods, restaurants, souvenir shops and 24-hour convenient store.


Amenities: From outside, the hotel looks like a very new one, roughly around 2-3 years old. There was a security guy near the reception area and the reception area looked very bright and spacious due to the glass walls. Receptionist didn't look or sound friendly though, which was quite surprising since Thailand is known for very hospitable and warm people, the reason why I have been to Bangkok 5 times already as of this time because I feel very at ease and at home.

The lobby

While waiting to finalize in getting our room keys, I decided to roam around the lobby area, which felt a bit empty but was quite presentable. It was a modern, simple area with few paintings hanging on the wall and few black leather seats across hall. And the lobby would lead you to the two swimming pools. There are some rooms with balcony facing the pools. And they looked lovely. Too bad we only booked for the most affordable room, the Studio Pent, which have the view of the back of the Jungceylon Mall, and not really a good sight to see. 

There are three pools in the hotel. These two, and another one located on the third floor, which is a smaller one (looks like a kiddie pool to me) that we did not try since it is quite far from our room. The pools were nice, modern design. But the water is salty, not sure if this is due to the fact that they are near the sea and it affects the type of water they use for the pool, or because of those customers who went for a swim in the nearby beach who didn't rinse up and splash to the pool afterwards. I cannot tell exactly, but not really a nice experience. The poolside tiles got molds as well that it was very slimy and slippery when you accidentally touch those. Water was not warm but not really very cold, maybe just a bit cold for my preference. 

View of one of the two side-by-side pools

The other pool with the balcony

The room we have is ok. Since we booked the smallest one, I am not expecting anything superb. We had rubber slippers, few robes and towels, a flat-screen TV, "complimentary bottled water" (which we realized at the end of our stay that they were refilling the bottles themselves) mini-soap and other toiletries included. The room was quite clean, but I have some concerns with the cleanliness of the toilet as there were some stains on it that I cannot afford to remove the rubber slippers inside the toilet. Queen sized bed is ok, I love the colors of the sheets provided. But we had one, major, disappointing concern - the AIRCON.
 
We visited Phuket last March 2012 and this time was considered to be a hot, sunny part of the year. When we initially turned on the aircon, it was fine, perfectly fine. Until 10 minutes later, the temperature rises, until it is freaking hot. I am sweating inside our room and my husband is so angry as well after trying to adjust the settings and still didn't help. After 15 minutes, it went ok again, and then hot after 15 minutes, and went ok after 15minutes. So we realized it must have been set that way. We went to our friend's room and try to check with them how they were doing and find out they were experiencing the same thing. And we endured that kind of temperature for the next 2 nights (good thing we were always out the whole day), with our friends complaining that they would be awake in the middle of the night due to uncomfortable temperature settings of the aircon.


So will we recommend these place to our friends? Definitely not. All the good reviews about the amenities, the structure and other else did not matter since the most important aspect of a nice room for us is the comfort. I would rather add up a bit more to get a better deal with nicer hotels where I am sure the aircon works perfect.

ICS on my SGS2

I have been using Samsung Galaxy S2 for a year now. I had it on the day it was first launched. And within that year, Samsung already launched  Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S3, where the later two are already running in the Ice Cream Sandwich, more often called as ICS, which is Android 4.0.

After Samsung announced that SGS2 users will have their ICS updates anytime soon, I cannot wait for it. I am so excited to use it. I loved the interface, the snappiness, and mostly the camera feature. So I waited and waited and my excitement cannot be contained when one day I was informed that ICS is already available thru Kies.

And so I did the upgrade! Now I had the ICS interface! I also a few couple of changes here and there. But I was really not so happy with two things - the camera feature and battery life.

I loved the upgrade made to the camera features in SGS3 and Galaxy Nexus, especially the panorama part. I love taking photos using my mobile phone. I have been an Iphone 3GS user and switching to SGS2 was indeed a good decision and that's where I started my interest in mobile photography. I am just a newbie though, but the 8MP camera really was a great choice, together with the AMOLED screen. But sadly, the ICS camera features is not available for SGS2 upgrades.

And the most important and crucial thing of all - the battery life. I usually use my smartphone for gaming, browsing, phone calls and a couple of SMS and it would last me the whole day.. And it was a disappointment that after the ICS upgrade, I need to recharge my phone after 4 hours of my usual activities. A bit frustrating, but maybe because of hardware incompatibilities, the battery seemed to drain faster.

So I am now eyeing on Samsung Galaxy S3, but my contract can only end after 1 more year. Hopefully the new family member of Samsung Galaxy S's will be out by then.. For now, I need to have  a reminder everyday to make sure I bring my chargers with me whenever I go..

My Blue Wedding: Bridal Gown

I love weddings. It always make me cry.I am a bit of a hopeless romantic. So when my ex-boyfriend-turned husband and I decided to tie the knot, I wanted to have a unique wedding.

It all started when my husband and I were discussing about the theme of the wedding. His favorite color is BLUE. And I am not the girly-type so we agreed to have a BLUE-themed wedding. The usual wedding where the bride will wear a white gown and the rest of the attendees will wear something blue played in my head. And the thought bored me. So I thought, why not do something out of the ordinary?

And being out-of-ordinary means breaking a bit of the wedding customs where the bride have to be in a white gown. Why set a theme for your wedding when you, the bride, cannot even wear the theme you decided? So the voice in my head told me to wear something BLUE. And to make it more special, only the bride will wear a full-colored blue gown. The rest must wear something white with a touch of blue. Nice eh?


Coming from a very traditional family, a heard a lot of feedback, mostly negative. It's my wedding anyway, and as a bride, this is what I want for my wedding. Even my photographer asked me if I am sure I am the bride since I looked like a debutant in the gown. And my make-up artist have to made some adjustments in the shades of the make up i need to use. And the finished product? I loved it!


My gown is not a designer one. I just asked a neighbor who makes gowns to create one for me. And it was a good deal! I spent the same amount in my gown as well as my wedding invitations :) I will only wear it once anyway. Also, we were very concerned with our budget. But given a chance, I would have gotten a lovely, designer blue wedding gown!


6 more years, and if we decided to renew our vows and get married again, it definitely will be something unique :) And I never regretted it!

(Anti-)Social Media, a Fad?

The first great thing to hit during the early 2003 is Friendster. Oh boy, I remember that I used to skip lunch at the office just to check my Friendster account and reconnect to my old friends, classmates, relatives. I even check it during office hours that there are times I feel I have spent all of my day checking it!  And everyone I know have their own Friendster account, using it as a way to communicate, provide testimonials on how good, bad, sweet, kind, tough or even how much they love a person. Their artistic side is also practiced when they have all those artworks in their profile. But then after few years, people get tired of it and eventually used another means of connecting.. FACEBOOK..

I have been a Facebook user for 4 years now. And eventually I have Twitter, Instagram, Path, Tumblr, and list goes on and on.. How long I will use them, only time will tell. How often I use them? There are several things affecting this.


Eagerness - I know a lot who are actively tweeting, FB'ing, instagramming during office hours.. And even ate wee hours on a weekday. That they rather spend their time, whenever they have, in browsing, reading, sharing photos, status, videos.


Availability - With all our mobile gadgets around, and having a free Wi-Fi in a mall or a coffee shop, or having a free 12G mobile data plan, who needs to wait to reach office or home just to get hold of these?


Time - Those who are addicted to it will really find time. But those who are in a very hectic schedule with project deadlines, presentations, final exams - you can hear them saying "Oh, I can not even check my Twitter/Facebook!" While there are some who checks their accounts round the clock, I know devoted mothers, husbands, students who seldom login to their accounts.

So the existence of social media actually depends on what suits to the mood of the users. How many of your friends are actively engaging, how often this famous people actually updates their accounts.. Though Social Media is a great tool in collaborating online, drawbacks includes lost of the true essence of communicating. How many times do we stick our gadgets to or nose during lunchtime or coffee break instead of having a small chat with our colleagues - I mean personally? And how many stories have been published where the persona of a friend is a lot different in online from his true character. And the list goes on.