My Meow Cosmetics are here!!

Have I mentioned how much I LUURRVE getting packages in the mail? This time, it’s my samples order from Meow Cosmetics…

The envelope was pretty standard, Priority Mail on the US Postal Service took about 2 weeks to arrive. As a bit of background, Meow Cosmetics is an online-only mineral makeup boutique that specializes in handcrafted mineral cosmetics for all skin types. Their makeup does not contain preservatives, silica, parabens or bismuth. I ordered a whole lot of samples from their eyeshadow, blush, primer and setting powders to try out.

I was quite surprised when I opened up the package – just check out the leopard print tissue paper! *reeooww*…teeheehee! I’m such a sucker for pretty packaging…sigh…

My purchases – I was pleasantly surprised that they sent me the sifter jars too. You see, the site offers a one-off shipping fee of USD6.95 for 15 or more sample sizes ONLY. By right, the sifter jars would have been charged a separate shipping fee (which is considerably higher), so I sent them a request asking whether the sifter jars could be included in with the sample shipping fee, otherwise I would just leave the sifter jars and get just the samples. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the sifter jars got through at no extra cost! :) Thank you, MC!

The variety and range of Meow Cosmetics MMU is really quite impressive – these are just a FEW of the colours available on the site. At first glance, the colours look absolutely gorgeous…can’t wait to try them out! Stay tuned for full reviews.

Service-wise, my experience with Meow Cosmetics was superb. They sent me two additional free samples with my order (who doesn’t love freebies?), threw in my sifter jars at no additional shipping cost and get this – they actually scribbled a handwritten thank you note on my packing slip! This was a particularly lovely touch, and I really felt valued as a customer even for my small purchase. If the products are as good as they look, I’ll definitely be back to the site to order more. If you’re interested in checking out the site, it’s here:

Meow Cosmetics

PS: Use the promo code googlemeow to get 10% off your order… :)

And the madness starts tomorrow…

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Hoo boy…I can just imagine the hordes of people that are going to be at this sale…with brands like Principles, Karen Millen and Warehouse on sale, every career lady in town is probably going to be there. Chances are it’s not as crazy as the L’Oreal and Estee Lauder sales, but still, be prepared for it to get messy!

Estee Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow…

A friend gave me a Estee Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow sometime back as part of a birthday gift, and I’ve been using it on and off for the past 6 months. Estee Lauder’s not a brand I’d normally buy, because somehow their products just seem more skewed for the mature ladies. However, this one was a pleasant find.

The shade I got was Ginger Drop

Description:
Estee Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow is an intensive eyeshadow that boasts 3 formulations: matte, demi-pearl and pearl, for a color and texture lineup with endless options. This creamy powder ensures even application and improved skin adhesion for long-wear and stay-true color without creasing up to 8 hours.

Contains Silica to absorb oil without drying skin, lightweight talc and zinc stearate to ensure a soft silky feel, and Vitamin E to protect the eye area. Pure Color Eye Shadows are fragrance free and opthamologist- and dermatologist-tested.

The Verdict:
Aesthetically speaking, the eyeshadow is about as pleasing as they come. It’s compactly packed in a solid perspex/plastic cube with the brand’s logo embossed on the front, and the clasp is pretty sturdy when it shuts with a firm ‘click’. The colour of the cube is also almost exact to the colour inside, which makes for not only a pretty display item, but fool-proof selection.

Another feature than I like is that Estee Lauder managed to cram a tiny mirror into the cube as well. The only drawback is that it doesn’t come with an applicator built-in, but I usually use my own brushes or fingertips to apply it, so it doesn’t bother me.

Texture-wise, this eyeshadow completely blew me away. When I dipped my finger into it, it didn’t take much pressure to pick up the shadow. Also, the texture really feels like a cream-powder, not unlike the Bloop eyeshadow I reviewed sometime back. The colour is also relatively opaque with a fair amount of shimmer – perfect for everyday use without looking ‘over the top’.

As you can see from the swipe above, the colour is quite consistent with the contents of the cube. One swipe on my eyelids is all I need to brighten up my eyes a bit for work (hey, looking awake in the morning isn’t easy!) It also looks fab when paired with a bronze eyeliner and black mascara for a night out.

To date, I’ve yet to really test its lasting power, but it has held up fine through several nights out and functions (5-6 hours on average) without creasing. All in all, it’s a pretty solid product – I’d be a sucker for it even if it was just for the packaging, but this one surpassed my expectations. Oh, and did I mention it comes in a multitude of colours??

I’m going to get a few more of these…they’ll look so pretty on my dressing table, no? I just hope no one mistakes them for ice cubes! :D


Estee Lauder Pure Color Eye Shadow retails at approximately USD25 in the US or AUD40 in Australia (can anyone help me out with the local price?)


Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$

Paul & Joe Makeover @ Parkson KLCC Counter…

I’ve been reading about Paul & Joe on Nikki’s site for the longest time now and she’s always raving about it. Well, they finally opened a couple of stores in Malaysia these past few months, and when I was offered a chance to go for a free makeover, why not?

Warning: Scary ‘before’ photo ahead!

Yes, I know I look horrible…blame it on the lack of sleep, and waking up early on a Saturday morning to do this!

I went to their counter at Parkson KLCC, which is set up really nicely. And best of all, the counter girl was really nice! She patiently explained the makeup step by step while I was happily ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the products. After some discussion, we decided to play up the eyes while keeping the rest of the face natural.

The part that I found really hard to sit still for was when she was drawing my eyes and applying the eyeliner – for some reason, I cannot stop myself from blinking when other people are drawing my eyeliner especially when it’s along the lower lid…no problems when it’s DIY, but give someone else the pencil and…*blink blink blink blink blink blink*…arrghh!! Thank God she was patient enough to let me finish my incessant blinking before she continued…and hey, I like what she did for my eyes!

Me like!

The whole makeover session took about 30minutes to complete, and she actually used fresh applicators where possible (like for the mascara and eyeshadow). This was a simple touch, but worth highlighting – it’s little things like this that make all the difference, y’know? And after all that?

Voila! (don’t mind the big forehead, the fringe was refusing to behave)

These are the products she used on me (obviously all Paul & Joe!):-

• Protective Dual Powder Foundation in 02
• Eyebrow Pencil in 01
• Eye Colour Primer in 02
• Face Color Powder in 054 (eyeshadow)
• Eyegloss in 05
• Dual Crayon in 01
• Undereye Concealer in 02
• Pressed Powder in 03 and 04
• Waterproof Curly Mascara in 01
• Face Color in 06 (blusher)
• Lipstick in N15
• Lipgloss in N04

I was absolutely taken by the Lipgloss in N04 (RM76) – it was my favourite shade, and had an amazing texture. I didn’t purchase anything that time around, but gee, it’s been two weeks and I’m STILL dreaming about it! (……must……resist……) She also gave me some free samples of their skincare to try, but more on that later!


What do you all think? Is the look a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’? :)

TrichoKare @ Lot 10 – BOYCOTT!…

At the recent International Beauty Expo 2008 (IBE08), I came across this TrichoKare booth offering free scalp analysis, and let’s just say the camera images of my scalp were less than stellar. Since they were having an introductory promotion (I think it was about RM68 or so) for two ‘deep cleansing’ sessions plus an additional free ‘treatment’ and a RM60 voucher redeemable on their products, I decided to give it a try.

They only have one outlet in Malaysia at the moment, which is on the 3rd floor of Lot 10. Prior to the first appointment, I was actually quite impressed by their service. This lady Joanna called me to set up an appointment, gave me a reminder the day before the appointment and even sent me a SMS reminder the morning itself, which I thought was quite unusual. BUT, that’s where my good perception of them ended. Hence, the serious BOYCOTT.

I arrived there on Saturday at 4.10pm and was immediately ushered into a room by one of their senior consultants, Eileen. She was cordial in her greeting, and promptly gave me a detailed questionnaire to fill out about my hair condition and lifestyle.

The consultant just left me there with the questionnaire for at least 15 minutes, and didn’t bother to explain any of the questions. (I’m quite anal about grammar and spelling in documents, and there were some bad mistakes in the questionnaire – but that turned out to be the least of my problems!)

The survey was two entire pages long!!

When Eileen finally came back into the room, it all went downhill from there. From the minute she started talking about TrichoKare, her tone of voice was patronizing and extremely hardsell. And the sequence of events that took place that entire session was extremely dissatisfying, not to mention pissed me off!

Part 1: She took 10 or so camera slides of my hair, not bothering to explain much but just kept saying I have an ‘extremely greasy’ scalp with weak follicles…total time – 5mins.

Part 2: A long-winded history of TrichoKare’s ‘illustrious’ history and their multiple affiliations in the UK and what they could do for me…total time – 20mins. (see the difference in time spent on actual consulting and self-promotion?)

The most telling thing was, she made a really big boo-boo and tried to brush it off. She was telling me “oh, you’ve got receding hairline…see, your forehead is getting wider and wider, you must treat it now” (to clarify, I was BORN with, and have always had a wide forehead – YES, the same kind that made my grandma say I was going to be a smart kid, and NO, it’s not due to hair loss…silly woman!)

Better yet, if I’m supposed to have a receding hairline, the hair along my hairline would have less follicles right? Why then do I have a healthy amount of follicles along my forehead? (if she had said SIDES, I MIGHT has been inclined to believe her) When I told her otherwise, she just went “Oh, but your hairline WILL recede if you don’t do anything about it.” What the…??

Almost everything that she told me went against commonly accepted haircare norms. Maybe I could accept the ones about using my fingertips instead of my fingernails to GENTLY massage my scalp, and the one about not using a hairdryer unless I absolutely have to, but she also told me to wash my hair every single day, and DOUBLE shampoo (shampoo, rinse, shampoo AGAIN and rinse). If you ask me, it’s a good way for them to drum up extra business when clients silly enough to follow that advice come running back because their hair has gone all dry, frizzy, brittle and starts falling off! Not to mention that their scalp will also be so irritated and dry by then, I’ll be surprised if they DON’T have dandruff.

The consultant kept trying to sell me an additional mask for the two treatments I had prepaid for. She was irritatingly persistent, saying I MUST add on a mask and infrared therapy to make it “more effective”. When I asked her how much the price was for this 20min mask?

“It’s ONLY RM280 EACH – but with discount, ONLY RM300 for 2 sessions, paid up front. For that, we will give you the two infrared sessions free…but you also have to buy a bottle of shampoo which is RM99. Once you deduct the RM60 voucher, it’s ONLY RM339, such a bargain.” (by the way, my friend signed up for the same promotional package but had the treatment done in Singapore – they gave the infrared treatment FREE even without purchase of the mask!)

Hello? Asking me to pay an ADDITIONAL RM339, BEFORE I’ve had any treatment? Gee, they must think I’m seriously naïve…I just curtly told her that I’d rather see the results from the treatment first before I decide on any additional treatment. “Oh, but you’ll see, the difference will be very obvious, you can see from the ‘after’ camera images.” Yeah whatever…she also loved to use the statement “so, how do YOU want us to HELP YOU?” (giving a false sense of control to the client)

Treatment only started at 5.00pm – almost an HOUR after I first walked into the centre. Another girl led me to the treatment area and started washing my hair – double shampooing for almost 20mins. Remember what I said about the consultant telling me to gently massage my scalp? Well, I couldn’t see how the treatment girl’s hard rubbing on my scalp with her rubber-gloved hands was any better than if I had used my fingernails to grate on my scalp. This girl was literally TUGGING on my hair!

The treatment area

Better still, she actually had the audacity to come to me afterwards while I was waiting for the treatment with a whole lot of my hair, ROLLING IT INTO A CLUMP in front of me and saying “Wah, you losing a lot of hair hor? Good thing you came to us to fix it” (when I’ve NEVER lost that much washing my hair before…then again I haven’t been rubbing violently on my scalp with rubber-gloved hands right?) If that was their tactic of trying to scare me into thinking I’m going bald and sign up for their hair treatment courses, too bad – I didn’t buy it.

The treatment girl never bothered to explain anything during the entire process until I prompted her. And talk about such hypocrisy, she started using a hairdryer on me despite the consultant telling me NOT to use one. What’s more, she actually whacked me on the head THREE TIMES because she was more interested in trying to read my magazine over my shoulder!

Application of the treatment was no more than spraying some funky smelling stuff on my scalp (the stuff smells similar to ‘minyak gamat’) and made my scalp tingle/sting – no warning, mind you. After that, I was left for 10mins to allow the treatment to ‘sink in’, she blowdried my hair some more and that was it. Entire ‘treatment’ time – less than 40mins (blardy hell, her hard sell of the company was longer!)

To recap, when I first came in, the consultant Eileen said I would be able to see a drastic difference. When I came out, she was outside at the counter area. When I asked her about whether there would be any comparison done, her reply was “No need, because you won’t be able to see an obvious difference if you don’t do the mask. Would you still like to purchase the masks, infrared sessions and shampoo?”

Puhleez…if you don’t show me ANY results at all, why would I want to buy ANYTHING from you? Slimming centres have a fantastic way of doing this – they give you intensive treatment the first time to maximize your loss (even if it's mostly water) and show that you’ve lost xx cm, which prompts you to go back there because you feel that it works. TrichoKare, you MIGHT want to take some lessons from them.

And you know the part that just sounded SO WRONG about the mask? Eileen said my hair would feel drier AFTER the mask session, so apply more leave in conditioner. So does that mean I’m drying out my hair and oiling it up with leave in conditioner to compensate just so that they have more reason to say “Oh, you have a very greasy scalp, you need treatment”

Their treatment courses are also insanely expensive. They recommend 4 stages of treatment – 1st one is deep cleansing over 5 months, once a week…original price is about RM10,000 but ONLY RM5,899 on promotion (just to break it down, that works out to be almost RM300 per 'deep cleansing' session, and at the promotional rate!). 2nd one was treatment also once a week…dunno for how long, but original price was RM20,000 (even more insane, right?) but ONLY RM9,588 on promo. I didn’t bother listening after that, especially since she said that results are not guaranteed.

In short, this was the WORST treatment I have ever gone through, and a total scam. I rarely blacklist products unless they are really bad, and this one holds a record of being the first to rate a total ZERO rating. Do NOT ever go to TrichoKare, especially the outlet in Lot 10. Hair loss is completely NATURAL, but if you have abnormal hair loss, then please, go and see an actual specialist at a hospital or clinic rather than these nuts.


Rating: 0 / 5
Value: NIL

Crisp, Fluffy Cream Puffs @ Beard Papa…

It’s hard to find decent cream puffs in KL. Sometimes, there are those that are filled with floury custard (yes, you heard me right – they mix in more flour into the custard to make it more solid) and soft pastry, and other times, they’re extremely sweet. This is not the case with Beard Papa cream puffs.

These were gotten from the Beard Papa outlet in Midvalley, which is their first store in Malaysia to open. Each crisp puff shell is freshly filled when you place your order, ensuring maximum freshness. After filling, the puffs are dusted with powdered sugar (or chocolate powder or green tea powder depending on the flavor selected).

Each puff is then packed in its own thin paper case, which helps if you want to tuck into them on your way back. They’re best eaten immediately as the cold creamy custard will literally seep into the airy softer layers inside to burst in your mouth. The puffs are supersized, and I mean HUGE. We’re talking a puff the approximate size of your fist!

Oozey vanilla custard! Yum yum… :)

The reason I love these puffs so much is because the filling’s very light and not too sweet. The amount of cream inside is also just right for the amount of puff available. Some people may say that the shell is a bit hard, but to me that just emphasizes the difference of texture between the shell and the cream filling.

There are vanilla, chocolate, green tea (!) and black sesame (!!) variants available, although I’ll only eat the vanilla variant. Individual purchases are RM3.90 each, but if you buy a “value buy” box of 6, it’s RM21 (up RM1 from the previous price of RM20 – probably due to the oil price hike!). With every “value buy” box, you get a stamp on a loyalty card. These can be accumulated for a total of 10 stamps which are then redeemable for a box of 5 cream puffs of your choice.


Beard Papa has outlets at major shopping centres throughout Malaysia including Midvalley, 1 Utama (Old Wing), Pavilion KL, Sunway Pyramid and Queensbay Mall.


Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$

Cats Whiskers Top To Toe Glamour…

How ‘must have’ are these??

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I dunno about you guys, but I’m loving the look of the satin clutch and the floral cotton dress…arrgghh!! Thanks to the Malaysia Mega Sale, everything is 20% off so it’s actually possible to get a whole new outfit for under RM100… :)


And as a bonus, check out the e-coupon below…

Just print it out and bring it to the Bangsar or DU outlet to get 10% off for one item on their New Arrivals. This is only valid till this Sunday (27th July), so better hurry!


Cats Whiskers is located at:-
Sri Hartamas : 34-1, 1st Floor, Jln 27/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (above Pills & Potions Pharmacy) Tel: 2300 1264
Damansara Perdana : 22-2, 1st Floor, Jln PJU 8/5G, Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya (opposite The Place) Tel: 7728 5662
Bangsar : 7-1, 1st Floor, Jln Telawi 2, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur (opposite La Bodega) Tel: 2282 7317
Subang Jaya : 32A, 1st Floor, Jln SS15/4D, Subang Jaya (above Pressto) Tel: 5638 3520
Damansara Utama : 52M, 1st Floor, Jln SS21/58, Damansara Utama (opposite RHB Bank, same row as Baskin Robbins) Tel: 7710 5217

Suzi’s Steak Corner…

This time around, I went off the beaten track to the heart of Ampang in the search for the perfect steak. Suzi’s Corner is tucked away in a corner of Lorong Ampang Hulu and looks very nondescript, but as I’ve learned, you can never judge a book by its cover.

At first glance Suzi’s Corner looks like any other food court, until you notice the relatively high number of ‘ang mohs’ (Caucasians) and expats frequenting the place. There are a number of different cuisines available, but this time around I’ll focus on its specialty, which is the steak hut.

I had the sizzling tenderloin with black pepper sauce (RM30) which came with a side of French fries and freshly sautéed vegetables. My dining partner strongly advised me to try it medium rare despite my major protests since I usually have my steak medium to medium-well (just in case they under/overcook it).

However, when the steak arrived (medium rare – I was outmaneuvered), it was PERFECT. The juices were sealed in, the steak sliced easily and the centre was pink. I cannot stand those places that dish out a miniscule amount of sauce, so much so there’s no more left by the time you’re halfway through – no issues with this place though. The black pepper sauce was also a good complement, with a very healthy serving.

We also tried the sizzling sirloin steak with brown sauce (RM26) – also excellent and done to perfection, but cannot beat the tenderloin. Also, the cut of meat given plays a part…sirloin cannot compare to tenderloin right?

This needs no explanation…’nuff said.

Big fruit juices are RM6 each – we had orange and starfruit to wash our dinner down. They also serve big bun with butter as a starter, which I liked.

As a warning, you WILL be quite stuffed after a steak at Suzi’s Corner (unless you have a huge appetite, or you don’t eat steak). But how to go without dessert?

We just had to try the fried ice cream in vanilla choc chip. This was a bargain since they only charged us RM2.50 instead of the RM3 advertised on the sign. It’s rare to find a ‘sidewalk’ place that does good fried ice cream since it has to be freshly prepared and eaten immediately. However, this one did not disappoint as it came piping hot with the ice cream still rock solid inside – and held up until we were at least halfway through it before it started to melt. (slight caveat as we may have been greedy pigs and eaten it super fast!)

There are plenty of other options available if you don’t quite feel like steak – naan, satay, murtabak, yong tau foo, chickuteh (the chicken version of ‘bak kut teh’), claypot nasi briyani (gotta try this someday), otak-otak, Italian pasta and chicken wings.

Parking Tip: Park your car just outside Ampang Point Shopping Centre and walk to Suzi’s Corner – parking is a problem at the place itself.


Suzi’s Steak Corner
Lorong Ampang Hulu
(near Ampang Point, off Jalan Ampang)
Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
** Opens daily from 6pm onwards
** Closed on Tuesdays


Rating: 4.5 / 5
Value: $$

Rimmel London Glam’eyes Mascara…

When I saw the ads for this in London, I was rather intrigued by it. Kate Moss definitely elevated Rimmel’s visibility and ‘glam factor’ by becoming its spokesmodel for sure, but in my opinion Rimmel could have held its own even without the supermodel. Of course, being the product junkie that I am and since it was on sale at £4.99 I figured I might as well give it a try and see if it really lived up to its hype.

Description:
Rimmel Glam’eyes Mascara delivers intense volume. It has a powder pink Volumflex brush with supple bristles that are ultra-fine, with two short sides for lash building and two longer sides for separation. The supple Volumflex brush gives perfectly defined lashes that look up to 10x fuller and 80% longer. Ophthalmologist tested, and suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers.

The Verdict:
In terms of packaging, I was quite piqued by the black and pink packaging. It’s got a fishnet motif on the cover (which also allows for a good grip) complemented by its lettering in glossy pink (or what the site likes to call ‘boudoir pink’). The shade I tried was the normal #001 in Black.

When opened, I found that the brush was indeed quite different to what my usual mascara brushes look like. Instead of the normal brush bristles (dunno why, but they always remind me of a ‘mini toilet brush’!), this one resembled more of a mini comb with short flexible bristles in rows.

As far as the application went, it did lengthen my lashes somewhat and made them a fair bit thicker than normal. While my lashes aren’t exactly sparse to begin with, they’re usually quite fine and straight (sigh!). In this case, application was a breeze as it was likened to combing my lashes rather than trying to wiggle the hairs in between the brush bristles to coat them as is the case with a normal mascara. The brush also has an added bonus of separating your lashes as you apply the mascara, saving the time of having to go back and comb through.

Since this isn’t a curling mascara, it’s fair enough that I had to use an eyelash curler together with this to achieve my look. However, I would strongly recommend that you curl your lashes AFTER applying the mascara, as doing so before will not have any effect. During application, the combination of the brush and mascara simply negates any curl you may have had – my lashes were sticking straight out!

Warning must also be given as the mascara itself is very slightly more liquid than usual – think of thickened liquid eyeliner. Apart from that, once the mascara dries it give a lovely dark lash look that’s suitable for daily use or layered with a second coat for a night out. I definitely like the brush a lot, and might even keep it after I’m done with this tube.

Lasting power wasn’t too bad, since it lasted a full work day without any major problems. I haven’t tried the waterproof variant so I can’t compare, but with the normal one you have to be a bit careful as it will not hold up through a sob-fest – panda eyes alert!

Would I get this again? I like the effect it’s given my lashes, and on sale it was relatively cheap – the equivalent of getting a Maybelline or L’Oreal mascara – so if it was on sale, I wouldn’t mind getting it again.


Rimmel London Glam’eyes Mascara retails at £6.99 and is available in Black (normal and waterproof) and brown (normal only).


Rating: 3.5 / 5
Value: $$

Yet Another Sale…

This time, it’s the second installment of L’Oreal’s Warehouse Stock Clearance…

After all the sales the past couple of weeks, I think I’ll give this one a miss and let my pocket recover. It should be interesting though…check it out if you have the time!

Makeup Avalanche…

OoOOooOOoo…lookie what arrived for me last Thursday!

This parcel arrived from a dear friend (who has requested to remain anonymous) – have I mentioned how much I lurve nice surprises? The box was pretty heavy too! She simply just sent me an email saying “I sent you something, look out for it next week” without giving me a hint of what the contents were…so you can imagine the suspense when it finally arrived.

Imagine my shock when I opened it to find the inside packed CHOCK FULL of makeup and samples – girl, you must’ve really OD-ed on your shopping to send all these!! :O

All the products were nicely packed in bubble wrap packs, and all the remaining gaps were stuffed with sample sachets of products (L’Occitane, Kiehls, Bloom, Rimmel, NYX and Benefit were among those that I recognised) – gotta say, that definitely beats stuffing packages with tissue paper! :)

To say the least, this is the big reason for me not spending as much at the Estee Lauder sale over the weekend – after looking at this stash, I have had trouble picking up my jaw off the floor! She did tell me that some of the makeup were slightly used or items that didn't suit her (she’s a bloggie as well after all) but still, I didn’t expect it to be such a huge stash. What’s more, a lot of the items in there aren’t available locally, so it was a great way to get my hands on them!

This is SO going to last me a looooong time…girl (you know who you are), THANK YEWWWSS!! *HUGZ* So unexpected and it totally made my week, not to mention my weekend was spent trying out all the new items…* bliss*

Estee Lauder Staff Sale…

So much for having a restful weekend – since Shortcake had very kindly given me her invites to the Estee Lauder Staff Sale, I quickly blasted out an email to some bloggie pals and ended up using all six invites! Not to mention that after hearing all the (shocking) stories of the crowds at these sales, we decided to strategize and meet at Renaissance hotel at 7am (instead of the starting time of 8am stated on the invitation). And a good thing too…

This was the scene at 7.00am!! Already when we got there, about 3-400 people were already queued up and sitting all over the floors in line to get in. I heard that in previous years, some actually got there at 5AM for the sale – err…ok, so by comparison we weren’t THAT mad…

With Rinnah doing the “Lawrence of Arabia” bit…nothing else to do while we were in line! The shots at the hotel were taken with my phone – they didn’t allow bags and did NOT have a bag drop area, so I didn’t bother with my handbag and just stuffed my wallet, keys and phone into my pockets.

Since there were so many people already outside the ballroom, they started allowing people in by 7.30am, which was good for crowd control. It took us about 20 minutes to get in, but oh boy, the scene inside was nothing short of pandemonium. You just have to push and shove your way in to get what you want…I was on the lookout for Origins ‘Peace of Mind’, but being such a popular item, they only had the massage oil. MAC lipsticks were also hard to find as everything was sold in pre-sealed sets (ie. lipstick, liner and eyeliner in one case), but definitely much cheaper than retail prices.

By the time we left at 8.45am (yeah, I only spent about an hour plus there), what we saw outside was just OMG…the queue had gotten even worse, and was doubling back on itself multiple times out both wings of the hotel…

…not to mention it was going all the way down the stairs, OUT THE DOOR and AROUND the building… :O

After all that, I didn’t actually buy that much – some of the big purchases were fragrances for a colleague (since those were just SERIOUSLY cheap at RM40-RM120). My own purchases were:

Origins ‘No Deposits’ shampoo @ RM28.00


MAC Lip Gelee set of 4 – this was split with Rinnah since she wanted the nudey shades and I wanted the darker ones…this was a real bargain at RM70.00 (from the original price of RM128.00)


MAC makeup – an eyeshadow trio and lipstick/gloss trio @ RM70.00 each

Plenty of reviews will be coming up soon – there’s actually a really good reason why I didn’t buy much at the sale, but that will be in my next post… ;) Stay tuned!