Xuan-er

Gmarket Korea Haul 1

28 May 2012 Leave a Comment

My first gmarket Korea collective haul with 3 other friends. 1 great thing about gmarket korea is that there is so many stores for you to choose from and you can consolidate all into 1 shipment. However, there is a limit of only 30 items into 1 shopping cart and so I had to break the order into 2 shopping carts. You would only be able to combine the overseas shipping once. The con would be that the “english” website was still very Korean, especially for sellers who post multiple products into 1 listing and yet did not label them product with numbering and hence it would be a tough time for non-korean reader.

The order was placed on 4/28/2012 to take advantage of the shipping discount for April and delivered to my home on 5/14/2012. The long lead time was due to some items that were waiting for delivery from some sellers but the items ended being cancelled. I was shocked with the huge box that was delivered (measuring about 27cm x 23cm by 20cm) The shipping charged 38200KRW but the actual shipping cost on the slip was 51400KRW, so we had a savings of 13200KRW.

Here are some of the sellers that we bought from that ship worldwide:

Seller name:올어바웃걸
Item descriptions: Handmade hair accessories, can customise with hair band, clips and rubber bands etc.
Review: well made hand made items, free gift included, domestic shipping charge applied.

Seller name:이티마트
Item descriptions: coffee, tea and office supplies
Review: Great selection of Korean coffee and health tea.

Seller name:무진주 mujinju
Item descriptions: Korean food
Review: Great for Korean seaweed lovers, packed nicely into 1 box.

Seller name:디스코바니
Item descriptions: Made in Korea bags
Review: well made bag, with nice finishing.

Seller name:오모이야리
Review: Well made Tshirts with different prints from this seller and the prices were reasonable. Size was a bit big though.

Seller name: 고고비치
Item description: couple beach wear
Review: a lot of choices for couple wear, items were well made with made in Korea label on.

Seller name: Saragirls
Review: Though stated on the website that the clothes are from Seoul, but no made in Korea label was found on the item purchased. Sewing was alright but the material was not like the usual thick chiffon from Korean purchased sellers I bought before. However ordering from this seller is a breeze as the items are serialised with numbers.

Seller name:(주)티트리
Description: Basic items
Revew: Well made basic items great for layering

Seller name:리얼코코
Review: I usually buy my clothes from Cherrykoko but the clothes from Realcoco is pretty similiar and at least 20% cheaper. Quality wise is pretty close to the usual Korean imports I bought before but some of the sewing was still a little off. I would definitely recommend buying from this seller though it was a little tough to find the item of interest from the sea of Korean words. This seller doesn’t update their clothes regularly too.

Seller name: 라라엘
Review: Extremely cheap but ended up with Made in China items. Quality was as per price paid, fabric looked cheaper and felt thin to the touch. But the clothes looked similar to what was wore on the models.

Seller name: 신바바♥
Item Decriptions: Shoes (mix of made in China and Korea shoes)
Review: I personally love Taiwan and Korean shoes as they are usually well made and not that expensive. I have a penchant to Oxford shoes and I was glad to be able to get this pair for less that S$27.

Singapore City Night View

27 May 2012 2 Comments

by Xuan-er in Chilling out, Food, SG Hawker Centre

Back at Sentosa Resort World’s Malaysia Food Street with my guests. The place is packed as usual with locals and tourists as there is much delicacy choices for local food in a air conditioned place. For us, we had Malacca chicken rice, Prawn noodles, yong tao fu, kang kong cuttlefish, char siu noodles and desserts.

With a stomach stuffed full of food, we headed out for a stroll around the whole Marina Bay area.

The walk sure was delightful with the right company and the right weather.

Singapore City Day Tour

25 May 2012 2 Comments

by Xuan-er in Chilling out, Food, SG Bar, SG Chinese

The start of the Singapore Day tour brought us to check out some of the shophouses at Emerald Hill

Heard they have one of the best high tea buffet in town, the Rose Veranda in Shrangi-la Hotel. They are also famous with the large variety of choices of tea from TWG.

Seriously, I felt that it was more like a lunch. There was sashimi, sushi, dimsum with different types of Asian food. In addition to that, there was the usual sandwiches and dessert.

Ham was also served fresh and the huge pot of tea that was served just for one person.

Address:
22 Orange Grove Rd, Singapore 258350

View Larger Map

The Peranakan Museum explores the culture of Peranakan communities in in Southeast Asia. Installed in the former Tao Nan Chinese School, built in 1912, this intimate museum possesses one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Peranakan objects. Galleries on three floors illustrate the cultural traditions and the distinctive visual arts of the Peranakans.

- Peranakan Museum

CHIJMES is a beautifully structured historic building complex in Singapore that has been gazetted as a national monument. It once housed a Catholic convent school known as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) and their convent quarters known as Caldwell House. With a history of over 130 years, the complex is located at Victoria Street. It has been restored for commercial purposes, such as shopping, dining and an entertainment centre.

- Chjimes

The next stop was a walk to the Raffles Hotel in search of the original Singapore sling in the hotel’s Long Bar. I guess the Long bar must have been a famous iconic location for tourists so access to Long Bar through the hotel was not allowed

The Singapore Sling is a cocktail that was developed sometime before 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon (嚴崇文), a bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel Singapore. The original recipe used gin, Cherry Heering, Bénédictine, and fresh pineapple juice, primarily from Sarawak pineapples which enhance the flavour and create a foamy top.

– Wiki

Last stop for the day would be some Xiao Long Bao at Ding Tai Fung to fill our still full stomachs.

Thistlebelle Nail Boutique

23 May 2012 Leave a Comment

by Xuan-er in Shopaholic

Instead of heading to a nail salon for a gelish manicure, I decided to try some home based salon since it could be a cheaper alternative. Having paid at least $90 for gel manicures in Japan, I should not bulk at having to pay for more than $100 for gel nails in Singapore. However, no harm in trying to source for more deals

I chanced upon a deal from eVoucher city for Thistlebell Nails which my sister had tried before. For a gelish manicure with 2 nail art design included, the deal was only S$17.50. I thought it was a steal.

Arrangement for a appointment was not too difficult, I just dropped an email to her and stating the voucher number. She would send reminder sms including direction nearer to the appointment dates. There was a lot of choices in terms of gelish nail polish colors and JY was a really chatty and friendly girl.

I wanted a simple french manicure with some crystals embossed on it, I was only charged an additional $5 for the french design add on instead of the usual $10 as JY felt apologetic that she was so tired from the night before and she mentioned that it was rare that any one requested for such simple designs. (no choice, work does not allow me to have 3D nail art designs, I would probably be crying at work if I had them on my nails) The whole session lasted for 2 hours including a classic pedicure for S$28. I only paid $50.50 for the gelish manicure/classic pedicure and the nails are pretty still intact after 2 weeks. Also through her, I got to know that to let the crystals shine, I should not apply top coat over them even though the crystals would be more secure.

Makeup Edition Photo Meme

21 May 2012 4 Comments

by Xuan-er in Shopaholic

Has been a long time since I have done any meme…..Chanced upon the Makeup photo meme done up by Yumeko so I decided to join in the fun too.

Here’s my make up products used for the week.

1) Lip products: I am a little boring on this as I seldom wear any lip makeup to work. I use Etude House lip balm and dab a little Lancome lip gloss only when headed out after work

2) Eye Shadow products: Definitely a fan of the Integrate “heart” shape eye shadow and I bought the beige/brown series for work. The Visee Mercury duo is only used on weekends or after work when I want a smoky eye effects.

3) Blush: Currently using my Nars “Orgasm” color much, love the light gold specks…..The Jill Stuart one is the back up color only when I feel like it.

4) Foundation: Beloved whitening BB cream for the base and Benefit powder foundation or Bare minerals powder foundation is lightly dusted over for the humid Singapore weather.

5) Mascara: Etude House lash primer and Lancome Hypose volume mascara or Lancome’s Hypose new Doll lashes mascara samples.

Fancl New packaging

18 May 2012 Leave a Comment

by Xuan-er in Shop Japan, Shopaholic

New Fancl packaging released in Japan in end March. I do not think that the new packaging has arrived in Singapore yet.

The new design looks more clean and professional, almost similar to Ipsa’s packaging

In terms of contents, they are the same. They just look different now. The packaging now comes in clear (to replace the blue normal skin bottles), clear orange ( to replace the anti aging orange bottles) and white (for the sensitive skin range)