Groupon Review: Classic gel manicure + classic pedicure at Bugis Cube VIP Spa and Beauty

I bought a Groupon deal to have my gel manicure, but didn't want to stop at the fingers alone, so I opted for a classic pedi as well at a cost of $28 which comes with a return soak off.

But seriously, who actually turns up for a return soak off without having to get their nails painted again if they sign up for a package deal? Just thought that the return soak off offered at most nails salon is a gimmick :x

Here's the expired link to the Groupon deal I bought: http://www.groupon.sg/deals/singapore/vip-spa-and-beauty-1/720095579 

It's not my first time buying Groupon deals for manicures. I'm not someone who likes to sign up nail packages because I don't paint my nails frequently. But I know that it's always wise to call up the salon to make an appointment, just to check how busy they are before one actually buys the Groupon deal online. I had the experience once of buying a back massage deal on Groupon and not being able to to find a suitable time slot to enjoy it! Wasted my $28 dollars!!

Anyway, so I called up VIP Spa and Beauty to confirm that they have a free slot for me to do my nails on a Nov Sunday. A lady picked up the phone and I told her my desired timing and she noted it down without asking for my name. Just my phone number.

1 week before I was due to visit the salon, I wanted to make sure THEY REMEMBER my appointment. Call it instincts, but true enough, when I rang up the salon, another Chinese lady picked up and told me that they did not have any records of my appointment!!! But she said they are free and she could just write it down immediately. 1 day before the appointment, I received a SMS reminding me that I have an appointment with them.

Tip: Always call the hair/nail/face salon to confirm your appointment! 

Took the cab driver some time to figure out where is Bugis Cube. He brought me to Bugis+ instead and charged me an extra $5 for him to make unnecessary turns only to realise that it's a one-way street and he had to drive further to turn back to get me to my destination. -.-

Anyway, when I reached the salon, I was offered a small cup of floral tea and was told to wait as all their nail therapists are occupied. I waited for about half an hour before it was my turn. I was asked to choose from the range of gellish nail colours they have. I wasn't really impressed because there wasn't many nude colours to choose from except for a light shade of pink. I was looking forward to have a creamy beige nail colour (like the one shown below) for my photoshoot in Korea...oh well :(



For my toenails, I picked fiery red and you know what, before I realised, the "Manager" - a pretty Chinese lady in her 40s, took a pinkish red for me although she repeated the colour code I chose after me. :( Well the pinkish red turned out cute, but it wasn't what I picked right?

Anyway the first nail therapist who prepared the water to soak my feet was pretty quiet which I appreciate because I dislike making senseless small talk. I bought the deal which consist of a classic pedicure. I thought classic pedicure aka regular pedicure, NOT EXPRESS pedicure includes basic scrubbing to remove dead skin. It is why it is called a classic pedicure right? No, I was asked if I wanted to add $2 to include scrubbing. Not a big deal, but I thought how scheming of them to ask for top-up for a basic scrubbing to remove dead skin. There's no simple massage of the calves or lotion application at all. Hmmm....

After she painted 2 coats of that pinkish red nail polish, I was again asked to top up another $2 to apply a coat of quick-dry. Fine...

Then another Chinese lady came to paint my finger nails with the gellish light pink colour. She commented that I have good strong nails and I replied "Yes, because I don't paint my nails often" in Mandarin. Hahaha!! Attitude, I know :p

She tried persuading me to top up $x (I cant remember if it's $8 or $10) to do a gradient gel with glitters which I thought is so outdated (I used to do it like for a few years of CNY) so that when my nails grow out, it's not so obvious. I was thinking to myself, "Is your gellish nail polish good enough to last me for so long before they start to crack?" I rejected her politely saying I don't fancy glitters this time round and wanted to keep it simple.

I also realised this salon doesn't do fancy nail art. They have no samples for nail art or crystals / stickers add on which is rare. But that doesn't really bother me because I want to keep my nails nude and simple for the photoshoot.

This Chinese lady was painting my nails halfway (2 out of the 3 coats) before she was asked by the Chinese lady manager to serve another customer. The lady manager thought that she can manage the last coat of paint for me herself. Another reason being she couldn't communicate with the Caucasian  and she wanted the other lady to serve her instead.

So the manager started making small talks with me and when it was finally all done, I had to pay the additional $4 top-ups right? That's when she started trying sell me nail packages. Packages at $300. With a $300 package, I can choose to do their gel or classic manicure / pedicure at members' price and they throw in free sea-salt foot soak. She told me she found that she could talk to me better since I speak Mandarin and I could go for a smaller package of $200 which she is only offering to me (showed me the invoices she issued for the past week to prove her point) and that if I were to do gel manicure/pedicure for Christmas and CNY, I could use up the $200 in no time.

Of course, I didn't give in. Firstly, I dislike putting cash deposit. If you were to tell me to sign for 5 gel manicure sessions, ok maybe. But $200 is not equivalent to a fixed number of sessions. Probably you can do 2 or 3 sessions with some $x left, and then you will be asked to sign another $200 in order not to waste that $x remainder. It's a gimmick. Secondly, they don't have a good array of gel colours for me. Thirdly, I picked Red, they gave me Pink Red. And of course if I were to change my mind and want crystals add-on, what do I do? :(

My review for this salon? I think it's ok for the price I paid. But it's not a place I will return soon.

Here's the end product:

Oh, and the colours started to crack 16 days after and I could peel off the whole coat from one of my nail completely. :(

3-Day Detox Juice Cleanse - J3

So...I've caved in and decided to try the 3-day detox cleanse that every other girl has been doing! I hesitated quite a bit because I always have problems with my gastric. Didn't take care of myself well when I was schooling. During exams period then, I always stayed up late, drinking 2-3 cups of coffee per night so that I could study until 2-3am and then go to school at 6.30am for exams. I don't know how this 3-day detox programme will affect me, especially when I cannot eat solid food etc.

One reason why I decided to try is because of Groupon!!! Saw Groupon had a deal with J3. 21 bottles of juices for 3 days going for $99.80 instead of the usual $130.80. It's one of the cheapest out there with this Groupon deal. Cold-pressed jucies from other vendors are usually $200 onwards. Maybe because those come in bigger bottles of 500ml?  Anyway J3 juices are 350ml only..I was a little skeptical as to whether 350ml is enough to keep me full :x

I opted for the fundamental package.

• 21 bottles of 350ml cold-pressed juices
• Fundamental Package:
  Mixture of 4 types of Detox, 2 types of Refresh and 1 Nut Milk a day for 3 days.
  • Detox Type 1 x 3
  • Detox Type 2 x 3
  • Detox Type 5 x 3
  • Detox Type 7 x 3
  • Refresh Type 1 x 3
  • Refresh Type 4 x 3
  • Nut Milk x 3

They were all delivered at once last evening in a jumbo cooler bag! Excited to try!

Instructions in the cooler bag!

All 21 bottles in the fridge!

 

I read online that it is advised to have warm glass of lemon water first thing in the morning before starting on the juices. It is supposed to jump-start your metabolism so I religiously followed as well.

Day 1
I wasn't thinking enough and after my warm glass of water I wen to the gym to have my morning 4km jog!

My mum said I am crazy to go jogging in the morning because she thinks I'll be hungry after the workout and I can only survive on juices and water the whole day. Oops.

But so far so good for the first day. Resisted joining my colleagues at the pantry when they packed back their lunch...Hopefully I can endure these 3 days without hiccups!

End of Day 1:
Didn't manage to finish all the juices. Skipped Refresh Type 4 and ended the day with Nut Milk. Reason why I didn't finish the juices is because I didn't drink the juice every 2h. I dragged it to 3h and had plain water in between. Felt too bloated. I read reviews saying that the best drink out of all these juices is the Nut Milk but I actually hated it. It's more diluted than the cow's milk or almond milk you can get at the supermarket and drinking milk on an empty (non-solids) stomach just made me want to throw up. I tried throwing up but of cos there was nothing except water/mucus.

 I also had hot flashes and neck aches and I thought I was having a low grade fever but my mum said I'm just imaging it :(


Day 2:
Drank warm lemon lime water first thing in the morning but I skipped the morning jog. Everything was okay until about 2pm. By then I already drank 3 bottles of juice. Had headaches, backaches, neck aches... Not enough to kill me but enough to make me think of ending work earlier to go home to nap. I also experienced hot flashes again. These prompted me to google about the "side effects" of juice cleansing.

According to a few websites, what I am experiencing is actually termed as "Healing Crisis" and this occurs when the body attempts to remove toxins faster than the body can actually process.

Quoted from mytummytantrum.com:
"Healing symptoms will often retrace symptoms of the past. The body begins to repair itself by healing conditions in the reverse order to that which they occurred originally."

And another from juicing-for-health.com
"If you were prone to headaches, while detoxifying, the headaches will get even more severe."

After reading these websites, I felt relieved. Okay not dying! Haha! But it makes sense because I used to complain a lot of upper back aches, neck aches and headaches and now they are all coming back!

Anyway I did end work earlier, took a cab home and napped for half an hour. Felt so good after!! I didn't manage to finish all the juices again. Left one bottle of Detox Type 5 untouched. I tried drinking the Nut Milk again at 9.30pm because I didn't want to go hungry at night and still felt horrible after finishing the bottle. Don't like it at all.

Day 3: Drank warm lime water first thing in the morning. I felt hungrier than the previous 2 days. Was a little upset that I didn't wake up earlier to do a short jog. But I can't wait for the 3-day cleanse to end because I have all sorts of cravings. My senses become sharper and I keep thinking about how fragrant Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice smells and how the feeling of having the rice in my mouth would be like! Haha!!

The aches are not as bad as the second day. And I managed to finish all the jucies and drank the Nut Milk down unwillingly :x But I didn't enjoy the jucies on the last day as I think they are not as fresh since they have already been in the bottle for almost 4 days including the day they juiced and bottled and delivered them to my place.

Conclusion: I weighed myself end of Day 2 and realized I lost 1.5kg although I didn't have strong bowel movements. Mum said since I didn't have any solid food so it's understandable but my friends said they did experience stronger bowel movements.. Some of my blouses felt a little more loose especially around the armholes. Oh! I really ate Boon Tong Kee Chicken rice after my cleanse and I bet I gained back all the weight that I lost.

Will I try this detox cleanse again? Probably..but maybe I'll try another juice company and then compare how the juices from various companies taste! 

Weddings - Hotel Banquet Cancellation

So...we're engaged.

*throw confetti*

Picture taken from Pininterest


In fact, it's already "old" news. We were looking for an ideal banquet venue for the past few months, much to the annoyance of the bf. He didn't quite understand why couples have to spend so much on throwing a banquet dinner (why must it be a hotel? why not just a chinese restaurant?) just to let friends and relatives whom you are not even close to, know that you are officially married. So we have to seek a compromise. We have decided not to go for the most atas hotel (No W, no Capella, no Ritz Carlton, no Mandarin Oriental or what have you). Besides, we didn't want to invite people for the sake of meeting the minimum number of tables to book the Grand Ballroom of the hotel. After spending a few months looking at a few hotels, we short-listed a few which satisfy my criteria of having a high ceiling so that it doesn't induce claustrophobia.

In March, the media reported that CASE (see here) is seeking guidelines on hotel wedding packages. Naturally, when we talked to the hoteliers, we asked them about it and we were usually told that their contracts are very fair and cancellation fees are to prevent people from making multiple bookings and only choosing one at the last minute. 

But charging couples 100% of the wedding package even when they cancel 8 months in advance?! 

In April, we actually signed an authorisation form with one hotel for their wedding banquet package deposit because we were not able to attend their wedding showcase. We were not in Singapore and we didn't even negotiate for a better deal. A few weeks later, the hotel emailed us the contract and my bf actually brought up about fairer contract terms for cancellation and we were told that their sales team cannot amend the contract terms without involving their legal team. All they could do is to include a paragraph that they would allow us to change the date of our wedding dinner, subject to availability, on compassionate grounds. No cancellation allowed. 

But seriously, who will actually take the trouble to book wedding venues, only to cancel it? Couples usually cancel wedding banquets because of compatibility issues that cropped up during the wedding planning process. Nobody wants to cancel such a major event for fun. Yet, at the same time, hotels usually encourage couples to book hotel venues early. As early as 1.5years ahead, especially if you are keen on having your wedding banquet on auspicious dates which also fall on weekends. Conclusion is, book early but if you have to cancel later, too bad for you! You want a better deal? Then book 2-3 months before your actual wedding day. Because you can only pick the "leftover" dates and hotels usually are more accommodating towards your needs and sometimes offer better packages. But who wants to leave such things to the last minute, unless it's a shotgun wedding? :(

Anyway, going back to our hotel banquet venue... We signed the pre-booking form, but we couldn't agree on the contract terms, especially when I found out from several friends that they too had their wedding at the same hotel, and they were all offered a complimentary 2nd night stay because they asked for it. I paid the deposit, but haven't sign the contract because contract are usually mailed to you a few weeks after you paid the deposit. I asked for the complimentary 2nd night stay and were given lame excuses that they couldn't offer me the same term because my friends and I were given different packages (liars!! I checked, and they ARE THE SAME! Their price per table was even lower since it was held a year before). Anyway we exchanged several emails with their catering director and when we finally met her in person, we were told that the complimentary 2nd night stay cannot be extended towards us because we chose a "hot" date and in fact they have several couples asking for the same date that we "pre-booked". We were told that the hotel has the best wedding package deal in Orchard and they are in fact quite popular. If we can opt for dates during the Qing Ming period or during the Lunar 7th Month, they will be willing to give us the 2nd night stay. I was mad furious because the catering director was so "yaya papaya". Told me that they had to reject couples who were looking at the same date as us. I think what I did next stun her. 

I told her, we were given the contract after paying the deposit. We signed the form before their wedding showcase without knowing we can negotiate for better deal on that day and since there are SO MANY couples wanting the same date, I told her she will not be making a loss if they reject us as potential clients and just save herself some trouble by giving the ballroom to another couple. JUST RETURN ME MY DEPOSIT. She was a little dumbfounded but acted composed and said she would do so but she wanted to give us time to consider before making that decision. Later that night, her assistant called and said they would give us the 2nd night stay if we trade in another complimentary thing in the package for it. My bf and I thought that the conversation we had with the catering director already left a bitter aftertaste and we can't be sure of their service standard given how arrogant their catering director acted. We decided to just quickly get back our MONEY!!! 

Sure this hotel has one of the better deals among all the hotels in the Orchard belt, but their service leaves a lot to be desired. We signed a wedding dinner package with another hotel one month later with much better service. But again, their contract terms cannot be changed for legal reasons. We were told that they would have to engage another lawyer to draw up another legal policy if they were to alter their contract terms. So to conclude, it's really not up to couples to negotiate for fairer terms as advised by CASE. Singapore Hotel Association or some minister has to step in to fight for fairer terms for consumers like us.