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Where To Buy SK-II Products In Singapore and How To Buy It For Less?

So you’re at the age where you are starting to dabble in beauty products and make-up. You’ve heard the horror stories of rashes, breakouts, wrinkles and worse outcomes that WILL happen if you don’t start taking care of your skin – Mother (amongst many other people) told you so. You start surfing through the internet, asking your parents, siblings, friends for advice.

Bombarded by the amount of choices, you throw your hands up in the air in frustration. And then you decide – you know what? SK-II is a famous brand used by millions of people around the world. Surely it would be a great, reliable way to kick-start your journey into improving or just preserving your skin condition (if you are young and lucky). Now the question is: Where should you buy SK-II products in Singapore from?

SK-II Counters @ Shopping Malls

SK-II Robinsons Orchard Counter

The obvious no-brainer choice. In fact, you probably SHOULD visit these counters at least once. Not only would those lovely, experienced ladies tell you all about their brand’s specialty products, they can also advise you on what to buy based on your skin condition. How do they know your skin condition, you wonder? Why, through this nifty machine of course!

SK-II Magic Ring

This, my dear, will make you the next Ironwoman is the SK-II Magic Ring. Just by scanning your face, it will be able to identify your Skin Age, give you a brief summary on the results in a diagram, and suggest areas of improvement (by means of their products of course). While it is no doubt an exciting venture into the unknown, the experience will likely get old after the next few times. In addition, if one wants to buy SK-II products in Singapore, it cannot possibly get any more genuine than getting it straight from the SK-II counters.

However, as with all the positives, there are some negatives as well. Blasphemy, you cry? Alas, I regret to inform you that it is all true my dear. For one, as the SK-II ladies only sell their own products, it may be difficult to get advice on products from other brands that are not biased.

In addition, as those Lovely Ladies are saleswomen at the end of the day, they will no doubt recommend many, many products to you when all you wanted was to buy SK-II products in Singapore. Your conversation after the SK-II Magic Ring test will no doubt end up being along the lines of “You should definitely get this“, “This is also good for you“, “I also recommend this“, “We are having a promotion where if you get this and this, we will give you this at this price / FOC”. They may mean well of course, but depending on the health of your wallet, you may not be looking to buy so many recommendations… yet. If that happens, well. We have learnt that famous move from the Penguins at Madagascar haven’t we?

TLDR: GREAT IF YOU ARE VISITING FOR THE FIRST FEW TIMES AND NEED ADVICE FROM THE PROFESSIONALS

Sephora

Sephora at Ion Orchard

Bright, clean, beautiful and spacious, Sephora carries TONS of brands. Sephora is no doubt one of THE local hotspots for skincare, cosmetics and makeup. The great thing about this is that you would be able to compare the skincare products from various brands. In addition, it is highly likely that there will be someone who will know something about some brand or another. Sephora’s prices for SK-II products are unlikely to deviate much, if at all, from the retail prices as found in the SK-II counters.

Due to high traffic, it may be difficult for Sephora’s customer service to give their full attention to you, especially during peak hours and weekends. Furthermore, if you are looking to try out their testers, you might find it a tad unhygienic because it has likely been used by many other people over a few weeks…

TLDR: AWESOME VARIETY, BUT YOU MAY NOT GET MUCH ATTENTION DURING PEAK HOURS. ALSO, BECAUSE IT IS SUCH
A HIGH-TRAFFIC PLACE, THOSE TESTERS MAY HAVE SEEN A LOT MORE ACTION THAN YOU WOULD LIKE…

Changi Airport

SK-II Pitera Lounge at Changi Airport

As we all know, our very own Changi Airport is Duty Free! This makes it a promising location to buy SK-II products in Singapore because it is cheaper than those sold at SK-II counters and Sephora, plus we know that it is 100% confirm plus chop genuine.

There is a catch, however. SK-II products at Changi Airport can ONLY be bought inside the departure hall. So unless you have a boarding pass… you can’t buy it.

TLDR: YOU CAN’T BUY SK-II AT CHANGI AIRPORT UNLESS YOU HAVE A BOARDING PASS – PERIOD.

Sasa/Beauty Language

Sasa outlet at Jurong Point

Beauty Language at Northpoint

Sasa and Beauty Language are two of the cheaper alternatives to buy SK-II products in Singapore – that’s what intensive searches on the internet and word of mouth would tell you. Seems like as we go down the list, we’re recommending cheaper places to buy SK-II products in Singapore. These are shops that sell a variety of products at cheaper prices – which are easy on the wallet. Beauty Language even has an Android App on the Google Play Store.

That’s all well and good, but exactly which SK-II products do they sell? Well, you would have to stare at their website, look for a store near you, and finally enter the store to find out. The disadvantage is that you don’t know if what you want to buy is sold in their store until you enter it or ask their salespeople. In fact, if you were just looking at their website, you wouldn’t even know they sold SK-II products!

TLDR: THEY SELL SK-II PRODUCTS A LOT CHEAPER THAN OTHER RETAIL STORES

Online

In this digital age, people are increasingly looking to online platforms for their shopping needs. From clothes and accessories to toiletries and groceries, a large variety of goods are available on the web. Examples of these platforms include marketplaces like Qoo10, Lazada, eBay and Carousell – we’re pretty sure that you must have heard of them.

Skincare products such as SK-II are not exempted from this wave of online shopping too. And why would it be? To buy SK-II products in Singapore online is so much cheaper and more convenient than going down to a physical store. It’s easy to check on online stores if stock is available so it would never be a ‘wasted trip’. Not to mention that time saved could be used for better activities – like watching Korean dramas like Descendants of the Sun or doing your midnight shopping at Mustafa.

Of course, buying products online comes with its own risks. As you can’t try the product beforehand, you might get a fake product when it comes, or you might even get nothing at all. Then there are times where you find a nice retailer but they are gone the next time you need the product again. Then you might find someone selling genuine products – albeit with poor customer service. Oh my! It is really difficult to find a trustworthy retailer amongst the crowd.

TLDR: BUYING SK-II PRODUCTS ONLINE IS CHEAPER, BUT BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK. OR FIND A TRUSTWORTHY 
SELLER YOU CAN GET ALONG WITH.

Xiaomei

And then there’s us! If you are looking for someone trustworthy who isn’t looking to just make a quick buck and run away, why not give us a shot? Xiaomei might just turn out to be your favourite avenue to buy SK-II products in Singapore. I’m sure you don’t need to hear it, but it still needs to be said that our products are 100% genuine and we have friendly customer service staff who don’t bite. We even reply enquiries during the weekends!

We are also constantly checking the product prices of our online competitors so our prices see constant revision. In addition, we are also branching out to the various different online platforms. Right now, our products are available in Qoo10,Lazada and Shopee.

Unfortunately, we are bound by the restrictions of e-commerce as well. Thus, your product will still take about 2-3 days to arrive, unless your office building is the same as ours (we do have such orders!). Finally, we may not have a lot of brands under our belt… yet. This is mainly due to the vast amount of makeup, cosmetic and skincare brands out there – we are still deciding what is good to bring in. It is always amusing when the office ladies get excited over the latest shipment of Laneige. We sell perfumes too, so once in a while the office will be filled with different perfume scents.

Ending Note
That’s all folks! Know of any other places to buy SK-II products in Singapore and want to share it with the rest of the Xiaomei community? Simply drop us a message.

(This article is brought to you by Xiaomei, your one-stop beauty paradise.)

7 Clever Strategies To Save Cash While Shopping Healthy

According to a study published by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, consuming healthy food can save you money. The participants lost weight and reduced their grocery budget.

Mimic these effects by choosing healthier options and shying away from junk.

1. AVOID THE CONVENIENT

Salad sets containing assorted lettuce seems convenient but, these are a bit expensive. Individual greens can also be more vulnerable to turning wilted at a short amount of time. This is why it makes more sense to purchase the heads of lettuce, which are cheaper and usually longer lasting.

2. EMBRACE THE OATS

One of my go-to healthy fixes is the oatmeal. Oatmeal contains soluble fiber which helps lower your cholesterol and your risk of heart disease. Embrace the power of the a bowl of oats by topping it off with grated apples, almonds, or honey. Try the Quaker Quickcook Oatmeal Hearty Supreme that retails for only S$2.95.

3. BULK UP

Bulking up is applicable to some situations than others. For staples like oil and noodles, you can always stock up when they are on sale. Do not forget to compare the prices per weight of the bulk items as well as standalone items before you decide that the bulk section provides a better deal.

Image Credits: pixabay.com

4. KEEP IT GROUNDED

Ground or minced beef has a reputation of being budget-friendly as compared to its other counterparts. To get the maximum benefits for your health, go for the lean ground beef. Use it as an ingredient to your tacos or spaghetti. You may also make some patties with lettuce as its buns.

5. DITCH THE SODAS

If you are looking forward to trimming your belly before the December festivities, ditch the sodas. Sodas are not only high in calories but they also contain carbonated bubbles. These bubbles can accumulate in your belly and add a bulge. Stick to water or tea as much as possible. Try the Sea Dyke Oolong Tea for S$1.10 or the Dilmah Green Tea for S$3.85.

6. BIGGER IS BETTER

What is better than a piece of carrot? A bunch of them, of course!

You can save more money by cutting your own “big” carrots into smaller bit-sized sticks instead of purchasing the prepackaged “baby” carrots. It is best to cook these carrots to get most of the beta-carotene as these root veggies can be internally hard to break down. Moreover, carrots are full of Vitamin A, Vitamin B8, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and Potassium.

7. ALWAYS COME PREPARED

It always pays well if you come to the store prepared. Nutrition expert Katherine Tallmadge encapsulates this concept when she said: “Take inventory of what you have on hand so you don’t overbuy. Create a detailed shopping list based on your needs and weekly menu plan, and take into account how you plan on using leftovers.”

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Moreover, you may bring your last grocery receipt along as a guide.

Sources: 1 & 2

4 Times That Fast Food Chains Stole Your Money

When fast food chains offer their tasty meals, they go beyond advertising on television and social media. They employ different marketing strategies to entice the consumers into spending their hard-earned cash on the spot. Just take a look at their slogans!

Burger King once used the slogan: “IT JUST TASTES BETTER”. They provide no further explanations as to why their burgers and products tastes good. They simply implant this idea because they are business-oriented people. On that note, here are the 4 Times That Fast Food Chains “Stole” Your Money:

1. TEMPTING STORE FRAGRANCES

It is no secret that smell can induce cravings. These cravings can later lead to spending money.

Some companies (like ScentAir) are in the business of copying the natural scents of different food such as grilled burger, cinnamon bun, and popcorn. They sell these scents to companies that want to enhance the overall aroma of their stores. It works because smell can actually make your food taste better.

Dr. Brian Wansink once said: “it [odor] definitely makes the dining experience much more attractive to people, but unfortunately it also makes you want to get the fries instead of the salad.”

2. OVERWHELMING BUNDLE PRICE

Seeing me sip a cup of soda is a rare sight but, I always fall for the “bundle price” marketing trick regardless of that! Bundle pricing occurs when the company sells 2 or more products as a package with an intent of saving the customers’ money. Fast food chains habitually engage in this strategy which they refer to as “value meals”.

Currently, Burger King is offering value meals that come with burgers, cheesy fries, and sodas for only S$4.95 each. How can you not fall for a price that is significantly less than the amount of each item separately?

Image Credits: burgerking.com.sg

One drawback is that the portions are lesser than the usual.

3. APPETITE-ENHANCING COLORS

From the logos to the interior, two colors seem to stay at almost every fast food chains. These two colors are red and yellow. Red and yellow stimulate appetite, which probably explains why your stomach starts to make noises as soon as you see the yellow arches or the red logo. You cannot resist spending more inside!

Interestingly, you can combat how colors affect the way you eat by controlling your own plate. Researchers at Cornell University found that when they reduced the contrast in their plates and tables or in their plates and the food itself, people tend to serve themselves less food. To eat less, pair your white plate with your white table-cloth or a blue plate with a blue table-cloth.

4. ENTICING HEALTHY FEATURES

With the continued advocacy against obesity, consumers have been warned about the health risks of various fast food joints. Some companies heard this plea and incorporated healthy options to their menu. These companies came up with low-calorie ice creams, fruit bowls, veggie wraps, and salads.

Included in these said companies are McDonald’s and Burger King. Let us take Mac’s “Chicken McNuggets® 6pc Delight 500 Meal with Dasani Drinking Water” as an example. I was impressed with the website as it showed the nutrition facts, allergen information, and food sensitivity. In fact, the amount of cholesterol is this meal is only 59 mg!

Image Credits: pixabay.com

My friends at the fitness studio who are always on the go will enjoy this seemingly healthier option. Well, you know how popular healthy detox and other healthy alternatives are in the Singaporean social media.

Sources: 1 & 2

How Not To Fall Prey To Jewellers’ Sales Tactics

Some useful tips for you not to fall prey to jewellers’sales tactics

Shopping for diamonds is an art. Diamond shopping is a test of meticulousness. All diamonds may look equally impressive in jewellery stores, but only when viewed under natural daylight will it reveal its true brilliance. In a bid to make your diamond shopping a wiser one, JannPaul highlights 5 of the most common marketing tactics.

There can be GIA triple Excellent diamonds that are poor performers.

When a diamond is said to have a triple excellent rating, it refers to the rating of the diamond’s cut grade, polish and symmetry. Often, this is how a salesperson would benchmark their diamond, by saying a “triple Excellent diamond is the best.”

However, there is much more to this. A more reliable way to determine the quality and performance of a diamond, is by measuring the light performance (measured with an Ideal Scope or ASET Scope) and symmetry of the diamond (measured with a Hearts and Arrow Scope).

The Ideal Scope reveals the amount of light return and light leakage in a diamond. Through the scope, the greater the red areas, the more intense the light return. What this means is a lot of light is coming into the diamond and reflected out, giving the diamond a brighter look. The white areas you see on the Ideal Scope represents the amount of light leakage, which you want to minimize.

A more advanced version of the Ideal Scope is the ASET Scope. The ASET Scope determines the strength of a diamond’s light return. Red areas are indicative of strong light, while green areas represent weak light return. White areas show full light leakage, which is regarded as poor light performance in a diamond. The blue areas are a diamond’s contrast, which gives an idea of where the colourful sparkles you see on the diamond are. It should ideally have sharp and crisp arrows.

Both the Ideal Scope and ASET Scope are not commonly found in local jewellery stores, but it can be easily found online.

Although these two diamonds have different light performances, they can cost the same! This is because diamonds are sold based on what is shown on the GIA certificate, and GIA does not grade the light performance of a diamond.

“The diamond is GIA-certified.”

Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is the world’s oldest, largest, and one of the most respected independent laboratories. Their laboratories are regarded as one of the most respected laboratories in the diamond industry, simply because of their consistency and unbiased diamond grading systems. As such, most of the diamonds manufactured now are graded according to the GIA standards, making it one of the most popular diamond certification in the industry.

GIA grades a diamond on according to the 4 “C”s – Carat, Colour, Cut and Clarity. That being said, there are other facets of a diamond that determine the quality of the diamond, which the GIA certificate does not take into consideration. For instance, two diamonds with the same GIA certification grades may differ greatly in terms of their light performances.

“The diamond is a ‘’Super Ideal Cut’’.”

The term Super Ideal Cut is used to label a diamond that is cut to the maximum light performance. The Super Ideal Cut standard was introduced into Singapore by Paul Hung from JannPaul in 2010.

In order to prove that a diamond has high light performance, various tools are needed, such as the HCA tool, Ideal Scope, ASET Scope and Hearts & Arrows scope. Without these analytical tools, a jeweller cannot label their diamond as a Super Ideal Cut.

Unfortunately, there is no regulation for this type of grading in the industry. That is to say, any jeweller can brand their diamonds as a “Super Ideal Cut” according to their own parameters. Hence, it is important not to fall into these marketing labels, and to learn how to check if the diamond you’re purchasing is truly a Super Ideal Cut.

In other words, no scopes, no talk.

The Hearts & Arrows scope does not measure a diamond’s brilliance

The Hearts and Arrow Scope reveals the symmetry of a diamond. A good diamond appears symmetrical and crisp under the scope, with no clefts or visible flaws. This scope is most commonly found in most jewellery stores, but is by no means the most representative way of determining the cut of a diamond.

What this scope does not reveal is the amount of light leakages in a diamond. Light leakage is indicative of poor light performance in a diamond, as the light leaks out instead of being reflected out. A diamond with poor light performance can still look good under the Hearts & Arrows scope, as all it means is that the diamond is symmetrically cut or it has symmetrical light leakages.

“The greater the carat size, the bigger the diamond.”

Carat size is the weight of a diamond, but it does not tell you anything about a diamond’s brightness or how well it sparkles, much less its cut and size.

For the same carat weight, a diamond can be cut deeper, making it look smaller. A deeply cut diamond can affect its light performance as well, causing it to appear darker and duller. Hence, a well cut diamond will appear larger, brighter and more brilliant compared to a poorly cut diamond of the same carat weight.

The next time you shop for diamonds, equip yourself with this common language to defend yourself and your pockets from harm. With the appropriate tools for accessing a diamond’s quality, it is not as difficult as one might imagine to pick out one that’s worth the price tag attached to it.

Special thanks to Casey Lai from JANNPAUL for these useful tips.

Boost Your Social Media Feed By Using These 4 “Beauty” Apps

Do you want to share beautiful selfies but think that it needs several tweaks and extra filters? Fret not because several beauty apps that have near-professional quality are available for free on iTunes and Google Play Store.

Look more attractive in an instant by taking advantage of these four apps:

For Flawless Features

1. CAMERA360

Available on Android and iOS

Aside from their music, Korea and Japan are known for their skincare products. Since its release in 2010, Camera360 has been one of the go-to beauty apps of many Korean and Japanese celebrities. Take it from them and look good in every angle by downloading this app.

There are endless possibilities as you can apply over a hundred of filters and options such as lightening your image or putting cartoon effects. To improve your looks, you can capture images using the “beauty selfie” setting.

Image Credits: Camera360 via Itunes

2. BEAUTYPLUS

Available on Android and iOS

I will let you in with a little secret of mine. Like most of you, I occasionally get acne and blemishes. What keeps my pictures flawless is enclosed in a magical app called BeautyPlus. There is no need to visit the dermatologist, dentist, or plastic surgeon as you can achieve similar results by tapping a few buttons in this app.

BeautyPlus allows you to slim your face, erase your pimples, whiten your teeth, and enlarge your eyes, among others. Take a look at the before and after versions of my self-portrait:

Image Credits: instagram.com/agoncilloanna

For Gorgeous Filters

4. PHOTO EDITOR BY AVIARY

Available on Android, iOS, and Windows

Try adding stickers or filters to amp up your selfie game! Photo Editor by Aviary includes a comprehensive set of basic editing tools such as crop and rotate as well as a set of lovely filters such as Arizona and Lucky. Other highlights of this app include adding drawings, stickers, and text. If you own a Smartphone that operates on Windows then, this is one of the premium editors you will meet!

Who says that you can only edit individual snaps? Here is an example of a glamorized photo of two women:

Image Credits: pixabay.com

5. VSCO

Available on Android and iOS

This list will not be complete without the “filter-packed” app – VSCO. This popular app can improve your #OOTD shots. It gives you a wide range of filters and a complete set of editing tools. The filters are coded in the format of letter and number such as X1, G3, B1, and my favorite HB1.

Its editing tools include contrast, brightness, fade, tint, crop, rotate, highlights, shadows, sharpness, and so much more. Not bad for something that is free, right?

From virtually applying makeup to removing your pimples, these are some of the best beauty apps to download now.

Sources: 1 & 2

SK-II Counters @ Shopping Malls

Sephora

Changi Airport

Sasa/Beauty Language

Online

Xiaomei

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