Wedding Deco




I am still alive!

Yes, I am .... just have been crazily busy.

And I am seriously considering if I should pursue this track at work that I have chosen. It's a different kind of stress which , ironically, I like. However, I do not know if I can.

On a more cheerful note, we are really working on brother's wedding currently.

It used to seem so far away but now it is only six months from now! We have been slowly planning, budgeting , sourcing for vendors etc but now everything has been somewhat confirmed.

I have no idea how husby and I planned everything for our own wedding, from A to Z, in just six months 5 years back. The organisational skills picked up at work must have been really useful.

Anyway, the first thing we decided on was the vendor for his wedding decor. I really loved my decor vendor back then and I told him that we have to get her (the same lady) no matter what. If we have to shift the date just so that she is available, so be it.

Here are some peeks into the kind of decor DaunDco Wedding is capable of:

This is Fairytale-themed. I love the colours! And look at how a blown-up photo of the couple peeks out in the middle of the dais. 

I am a sucker for details! Those are bubbles with teddy bears in them.




Another similar dais.I don't really fancy those hanging leaves at the dais but that's only it. I Like everything else!

This is her open-concept dais where there are no drapes above it. 

The chivery chairs make it so much lovelier. This is the wedding of an ex-student. 


Simple yet inviting





And yes, we managed to book the dates with Kak Janah! Yeah!...what theme it will be shall be a secret for now :) My parents were quite pleased with the catering menu and food (we went to her showcase last year) so brother is taking the entire package from her.Can't wait!

We have confirmed 90% of the vendors and it is getting more exciting by the minute. Of course, there is always that un-fun bit of budgeting. If only there is endless amount of money in his bank account... hahahah....

It is quite fun to be an unofficial wedding planner. I do sometimes imagine myself doing it for a living... it must be quite an enriching career, isn't it?





BRANDSFEVER RELIABLE? NEVER EVER!!!



I have been patient, RIDICULOUSLY patient with this stoooooooppiiiiiiddddddd (read: stupid) company that claims to be a reputable online seller when it is obviously NOT!

Brandsfever.com is probably a SCAM right through. 

I cannot believe I was so careless and did not do a pre-research on them, after what happened with Singsale (which in retrospect, seems so mild now)!

*bangs head against the wall a million times*

I placed an order for a COACH wristlet on Dec 27, 2013. The only right thing I did was to order only one item - I always caution myself not to do big orders on a new site. 

I am a loyal fan of Reebonz but Brandsfever.com is so widely advertised on Facebook that I assumed it must be safe. The website also looks very clean-cut like that of Reebonz and is very user-friendly. It even has the option of express delivery and an online support system. 

Oh, all the shit.

Up till now, Feb 4, I have not received my item at all.

I could understand that when I placed my order, it was post Christmas and then it was the upcoming new year - postages do tend to get delayed during festive seasons. However, I am pretty sure they do not get delayed for a month, especially when the company is based locally.

Still, the main thing that drives me soooooooo mad is how flippant they can be at responding to customer's emails and always taking the easy way out by promising to deliver by a certain date. Same trick , again and again.

I'm going to be real transparent here and let you see how irresponsible these people are.


Round 1 

My first email to them was on Jan 7  which I did not manage to capture. They had sent me an email earlier indicating that I would receive my order a week after New Year's day.
Their reply:



To this , I got no response.


Round 2 


I waited for a few days before emailing them again on Jan 15. No reply. 

I called the next day(Jan 16) and asked the lady about my order. She replied that the parcel would only reach them the week after and then it would take 3 days to reach me. 

I got really fed-up and told her that it was meant to be a new year's gift and I did not understand why they promised me 2 different dates yet, could not deliver. What kind of professionals did they claim to be? 

Suddenly she said she could put in an urgent notice and get it sent to me that Saturday, 18 Jan 2014. Oh wow... suddenly the parcel could reach them instantly . Magic, is it?


BIG FAT LIAR


Round 3 

I emailed them on Jan 19 , asking why my item still did not reach me despite them promising to deliver by the 18th.
Their reply (Jan 20):
So now it has become end of January. 


I replied, stating my absolute unhappiness about how they did not deliver what they promised and their stories kept changing. I did not, however, expect them to reply with the most 'hilarious' one ever. This takes the cake.

Dear Ms Andrea Vaguez,
Please explain how in the world could my parcel have reached me on 27 Jan when it was only 20 Jan? Was I supposed to take a time machine or something?

By this time, I knew they were probably taking me for a ride and I asked the husby if I should bring this up to the authorities. I had CASE in mind but that was Week 3 of the school term and things have started to be too hectic for me to entertain such nonsense by these corrupt people. I was ready to lose my money then. 

But for fun , I emailed back .... dying to know how they would respond.


To which I received no acknowledgement ,whatsover. Why am I not surprised? 



I had, honestly , given up at this point of time but I thought... oh well, let's just wait till the 27th.

Jan 27 came and went by peacefully.


Round 4 

Their reply

Jerna Bustamante, you did not even bother to address me by my salutation. I am sure it's because you just had too many complaints to respond to.


So that's enough evidence to conclude that they are nothing but idiots who think we have nothing to do but wait around for our items. 

I have been an avid online shopper for years and this is the first time ever that I truly feel I have been scammed. 

I am not unreasonable and I can understand if something takes a long time to reach , especially if the item comes from overseas. I have bought things from overseas and they barely take 3 weeks to arrive (shopbop.com can even deliver in 4days !). Whatever it is, their endless promises and lies regarding the many delivery dates are just too appalling to stomach.

I am hoping that my cough will go away soon so that I can call and scream at them one last time. 

I know I am not the only pissed off customer because if you just simply google, out of 10 reviews on Brandsfever.com, 9 are bad ones! Such an apt name - they give you FEVER! 

I'll update if I ever hear anything from them or if I decide to take this case further (I doubt so though...).

Meanwhile, I shall stick to the boutiques, shopbop.com or Reebonz for my designer feeds.

Remember, avoid Brandsfever.com at all costs! 



Busy and Sick



Been away for too long.

Will be back real soon.


REVIEW: SEPHORA Smoothing Primer


I seldom take selfies , despite being a female, because of three reasons:

1) I have no idea how to pose. Others make it so easy to tilt their head, play with the hair , wink etc etc. I tried a few times, decided that I looked horrible and would probably not try again.

2) I do not look good without smiling AND I cannot smile properly without a reason. Haha. I realise that the few moments where  I like how I look in photos are when I am taking photos with my husby, friends, nephew or anyone / anything that I truly feel happy about that particular moment. Then , you will see the happy glow in my face and the light in my eyes. Other than that, I always look quite lifeless. 

3) Sometimes, I simply feel embarrassed to snap a shot of myself. Yup, I am shy like that. 


But you will see my closed-up face here because I just have to share something I discovered recently (It has been in the market for some time but I just managed to try it).

I have a 5-step beauty regime each morning before I put on my make-up. Make up to work has always been concealer, 2-way cake foundation, loose powder, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss.

On days when I have slightly more time, I'll add on eyeshadow and blusher. However, that does not happen often because I often do not like how my face looks like after half a day with all that. They usually turn up slightly cakey by 12 noon, and colours do not stay on as strong as I want them to although most of my products are from MAC or Benefit , which are relatively good. It could, of course, just be my skin condition that does not allow my make up to have the finish that I hope for.

But I've found the magic potion.......

Smoothing Primer from SEPHORA



Why I did not try this out earlier despite its good reviews , I cannot fathom.

I never bothered to put on a face primer before make-up; I thought that my moisturiser and sunscreen would suffice. But this is a god-send! Now I always ensure I put it on as the last stage of my regime before making my face up.

(I am currently having my post-pimples period and this period is soooooo irritating... because I should not be putting on too much make up so as to let my skin breathe and not clog the pores further but at the same time, I need to cover the blemishes up!)

This Smoothing Primer from Sephora is the perfect make up base (for me, at least). It has a thick gel-like texture when pressed out from the bottle but penetrates almost immediately into your skin such that you will not get any sticky feeling - very light and smooth! I also use it on the areas under my eyes. 

Effect: Foundation glides on smoothly and remains so for many hours later. I only used the foundation sparingly  so yeah for that! If you are like me whose cheeks are slightly reddish due to post-pimples period, the primer eliminates that almost totally. I've put on blusher ever since I started using it as it doesn't cause my skin to break out (I always get breakouts with blusher so I tend to avoid putting on blusher). This is really much better than the BB creams I've tried before. It delivers its promise of being mattifying and make up really lasts longer !

Size: It comes only in this small size which is another PLUS because I can easily slot it into my make up pouch. Since I would need to wash off  all my make up when I do my prayers outside during the day, I can easily have this around when I need to re-make up:) 100 points for being travel-friendly!

Price: $20. Initially , I thought that's a little pricey for something so small but you really need only a tiny bit each time so I figure the $20 will last you for quite a while.


Here's a pic I took at 7:15am - at the workplace ! :P


You probably can spot 2 or 3 pimples as I do not like too much concealer but I am happy that at least, everything else looks smooth. ERrr....the one in the middle of my forehead is a mole , not a pimple. Just Fyi :P


5.5 hours later , after much talking and running around in mostly warm , outdoor weather...


No touch up of make up here... You would probably notice the pimples are slightly more obvious here but hey, this is WAY better than how it would have turned out before my discovery :)


I couldn't experiment and find out how it would be like hours later because it was soon time for my prayers...and that means, all would be cleaned off . For now, this is excellent enough for me.


Weirdly , I found out that the lighting at my desk is excellent for phototaking. I took the next one using my Galaxy Note 3 (which is fantastic for taking photos!) and without any filter, just like the previous 2.


Wah Wah Wah! How come skin looks flawless? 


I couldn't believe it so I checked that there really wasn't any filter applied and snapped another.


Ok, now I believe there is some magic light around my desk. Must take more photos here  in future! HAhah..


This has been a rather give-me-a weird-feeling kind of blog post because I am really not used to seeing myself in photos like that. 

Back to the main purpose ....if you are on the lookout for a primer or hoping to have a smooth finish for your dolling up, you may want to consider this primer from Sephora. 

Hope it will work just as great on you!

xoxo

REVIEW: Le Bistro Parisien



Last Thursday , I had a simple date with my best friend.

It was supposed to be some kind of a belated birthday celebration and thus, she refused to tell me where we were heading to. Very unfortunately for her, the cab driver had no idea where to allow us to alight either. We ended up pretty lost a few streets away from the destination.

After a call to the restaurant, another taxi cab ride , a walk down a lane , we finally reached Le Bistro Parisian! 



Remember I mentioned before that there was a French restaurant in Haji Lane that has since closed down? Well, this is the restaurant I meant, just that it did not close down but has relocated. The new bistro is located as part of the V Hotel at Bencoolen Street.

[There are some roadworks going on now for the new MRT line so taxis would not be able to drop you off right at the doorstep of the cafe. Lookout for 'Kopitiam' near Bras Basah train station. Just a 3-min walk down the lane]



We were there the day after Christmas and could see how cosy to it is to have a small gathering with your friends there.


I kinda like the simple wood furnishings however, I thought it would look better and cuter if they have red-white checkered tablecloths.

A little history of the restaurant's owner / founder / chef ....


Chef Jean Francois Nordin is a well-seasoned French-trained Hotelier and Restaurateur with over 38 years of experience. He has held various positions in the hotel industry , having risen in rank since 1975. As someone who is widely travelled and having managed and set up strings of successful bistros, cafes and restaurants, his creativity to conceptualise things and create delectable dishes are unlimited and boundless. Bistro Le Parisian is also the first Halal French Restaurant in the world.


We were so lucky to have met him in person. As we were devouring our entre dish, this very humble man came to our table to talk to us and asked if the food and service were alright. It's definitely a thoughtful extra step towards pleasing customers :)

Bestie and I were quite greedy that night... hahahhaa....well, to be fair, I skipped lunch so you can imagine how hungry I was. LOL.

We wanted to try the escargots under the Entres but was told the dish was unavailable that night. We must have looked really disappointed because later on, we were served their mushroom soup totally complimentary!


CREME AUX CHAMPIGNONS
Homemade cream of wild mushroom soup

More creamy than my usual like but not bad... The meaty chunks of mushrooms were nicely cut and so juicy that I finished it all up - that is not something very common when it comes to me and mushroom soup. 

Like I said earlier, we were a little greedy that night (not good!) and actually ordered an entre and 3 mains! The staff did give us a cheeky grin when she wanted to confirm if we were really having all that between the two of us.



BRANDADE DE MORUE
Baked bacalao salted cod fish with gruyere cheese 


I have always loved codfish for its dense , white flesh but I wasn't sure what to expect from this dish when I read the description. Salted fish ? With cheese? Was that going to be just a little too much?

I shouldn't have feared anything because I just kept on eating it once I started ( we were sharing though). The taste of the fish was pretty delicate yet very tasty as it mixed with the flavour of the melted cheese. I tried it out with bread halfway through and wished I had done that sooner! Yumms......
However, I found this dish extremely filling... I had to stop myself from continuing when I remembered we had not had the mains yet. 

We had three mains. I ordered the grilled salmon with linguine.



SAUMON GRILLE AUX EPINARDS EN SAUCE BEURRE BLANC
 Grilled salmon with lemon butter sauce, spinach & squid ink linguine 


I LOVE the perfectly grilled salmon and spinach ..so flavourful that I was kind of sad when I reached the last of them . Definitely recommended. The linguine was alright - I was wishing that it had been BLACK squid ink instead.



SAUTEE DE GROSSES CREVETTES A LA MOUTARD A LANCIENNE
 Sauteed large prawns with whole grain dijion mustard 


The name is quite a mouthful, isn't it?
Prawns were fresh and juicy .....and again , I attacked the absolutely yummy spinach. It wasn't overcooked and was just a perfect blend with the whole dish. My only complaint is there should have been a bigger serving of the vegetables (Did I really say that, not being a vege lover? Wonders never cease)



ENTRECOTE DE BOUEF
Australian Black Angus Ribeye Steak 200 days grain-fed(2-3marbling)



The restaurant has many varied versions of the steak ... I cannot recall and I was honestly, a little overwhelmed :P

I cannot really comment on this because this was Bestie's. However, the plate was squeaky clean when she was finally done. I guess it must have been good :)


We were so full by then that there was actually a moment of silence. I just felt like I could not talk or move.... hahhahaha....

Then , they surprised us with a complimentary Creme Brulee. Oh gawd, it looked really good but I knew I could not go on.

Crème brûlée


It wasn't too sweet so I like that but the stomach was signalling a red signal , indicating there really wasn't anymore space. 

It is extremely difficult to get a decent snapshot of Bestie. She would ALWAYS make some kind of weirdly funny faces that I just cannot bear to post it online . ALL THE TIME.

Le sigh.


Best shot of the day 

Ending of with a selfie... just because I like the way I draped my shawl..... hee hee....

Not sure if I could replicate it the next time ...anyhow wrapped it that night! 

Anyway, altogether, the meal cost us about $90. That is definitely value for money.

When we went, their NETS and Credit Card facilities were not in place yet since they just started at the new premise. Just in case, do bring cash if you are going there.

Thanks for reading, people! Have a good Sunday!


Le Bistro Parisien 
48 Bencoolen Street 
#01-02 
Singapore 189627
Contact no: 63331178 / 63333138