5 Gorgeous Cosmetics In Singapore Under S$20

1. ESSENCE I <3 EXTREME CRAZY VOLUME MASCARA

S$5.50 at Watsons outlets

One of my all-time favorite beauty products is mascara. Perfectly good mascara can highlight and enlarge how your eyes look. The mascara’s wand is bigger than others but you will find it easier to maneuver. The staying power is good in both warm and cold weather. The Essence I <3 Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara gives your lashes length, thickness, and darkness to increase its volume. Best of all? It retails for only S$5.50! Good quality at an affordable price – count me in! If you are more comfortable with a smaller wand then, browse to Essence’s wide range of mascaras. See the before and after application by nouveaucheap below:

Image Credits: nouveaucheap.blogspot.sg

Image Credits: nouveaucheap.blogspot.sg

2. NYX EYE SHADOW BASE

S$14 at Sephora outlets

Imagine spending countless minutes just to get the perfect winged eyes with shimmer eye shadow. With Singapore’s tropical weather, it will be gone right away once you step out of your house. To prevent this, NYX introduced its eye shadow base. This eye shadow base is basically a good alternative for an expensive eye primer. It will work even more for people with dry skin. Use it to boost the longevity and strength of your eye shadow and eyeliner. There are 3 colors to choose from namely: white, white pearl, and skin tone.

3. TOPSHOP MAKE UP MONO EYESHADOWS

S$9.90 at Topshop outlets

Aside from their youthful clothing pieces, Topshop also offers a good selection of cosmetics. The Mono Eyeshadows come in four shimmering colors namely: Explorer (reddish satin), Interstellar (taupe/cool brown), Galaxy (warm chocolate brown), and Lunar (brownish purple). These eye shadows are raved for its beautiful pigmentation and even application. Its powder has shimmer that gives a velvet finish. Truly, you’d stand out with its vibrant and smooth colors.

Image Credits: Charlotte of everinmay.com

Image Credits: Charlotte of everinmay.com

4. COLLECTION LASTING PERFECTION CONCEALER

S$14.90 at Watsons outlets

With a huge public demand in United Kingdom, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer finally made its way to Singapore. Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer has conceals blemishes and flaws for up to 16 hours. So, a little application of this creamy tube can go a long way. It comes in four colors namely: light, fair, medium, and dark.

Image Credits: boots.com

Image Credits: boots.com

5. BOURJOIS MEGA LINER (DARK BLACK)

S$19.50 at Watsons outlets

Looking for eyeliner for a dramatic makeover or special occasions? With its thick and dark felt tip liner, BOURJOIS Mega Liner Dark Black is the perfect budget-friendly choice! Its mega angled felt tip allows you to make both thick and thin lines with high precision. It is also suitable for sensitive skin. Worry not if you are partying the whole day, as BOURJOIS Mega Liner Dark Black will hold for 24 hours!

Image Credits: www.watsons.com.sg

Image Credits: watsons.com.sg

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Delicious And Affordable Places for Indian Food in Singapore

The taste of Indian cuisine consists of a myriad of regional dishes native to India. Each region of diverse culture, language, and climate bring their own popular dish to the mix. Nonetheless, aromatic spices are the essence of Indian food. In Singapore, you will find several restaurants and stalls that offer authentic Indian food, here are 4 good ones that are worth trying…

4. SARAVANNA BHAVAN

Saravanaa Bhavan is an Indian Vegetarian Restaurant Located at Syed Alwi Road. With more than 30 outlets across the world, its first Singapore outlet was established in 2001. They offer nothing but authentic Indian vegetarian food with online voters raving for the tongue licking goodness of Ghee Roast Masala Dosa, Mini Tiffin, and Mango Lassi. Affordable prices range from S$2.20-12.50. You can even order your Saravannaa Bhavan food online by visiting: saravanabhavan.com.sg/online-order.

Image Credits: Saravanaabhavan singapore via Facebook.com

Image Credits: Saravanaabhavan singapore via Facebook.com

Location: 84 Syed Alwi Rd, Singapore 207663

Online Rating: 64% up votes on HungryGoWhere

3. SAKUNTHALA’S FOOD PALACE

Sakunthala’s Food Palace’s modern decor sets the tone for its exquisite ambiance and home-style Indian cooking. They offer a mixture of South Indian, Northern Indian, Vegetarian, and Chinese fusion dishes. Their chefs handpick each ingredient from the freshest produce to ensure highest quality at an affordable price. Their inexpensive prices range from S$1.50-14 with an exemption of the Fish Head Curry that costs about S$30.

Locations:

66 Race Course Road, Singapore 218570

88, Syed Alwi Road Singapore 207667

No.8, Changi Park, Avenue 1 UE Biz Hub East, #01-53 Singapore 486018

151, Dunlop Street Singapore 209466

Online Rating: 67% up votes on HungryGoWhere

2. SING MING ROTI PRATA

Sin Ming Roti Prata, located in Jin Fa Kopitiam, is a gem for flavorful, fragrant, and texture rich pratas in Singapore. Several reviews online (1, 2) have enjoyed Sing Ming Roti Prata’s prata and considered it as one of the best. One HungryGoWhere online voter even said that it as the best prata he ever had. This is why it is recommended to try their plain prata. The average price of the food is only S$4.

Location: #01-51, Jin Fa Kopitiam, 24 Sin Ming Rd, Singapore 570024

Online Rating: 94% up votes on HungryGoWhere

1. TANDOORI CORNER

What is special about Tandoori Corner is that it serves affordable traditional Indian cuisine in a fine dining setting. In fact, food prices of S$2.50-20.90 gives you the value for your money. Offering good ambiance and good service, it is recommended for you to try their Butter Chicken for S$11.90.

Locations:

400 Balestier Road, #01-12 Balestier Plaza, 329802 #01-01

5 Boon Tat Street Singapore 069613

Online Rating: 100% up votes on HungryGoWhere

Enjoy your meal!

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6 Shopping Faux Pas All Should Avoid

1. SHOP ‘TILL YOU “DEBT”

Do not bury yourself in a pile of debt because you cannot live without the new Prada bag. Saving up for a new designer bag or a new car is a better option than having to loan money for it. Seek a balance between your debts and your savings by paying for loans with low interest first. This will ramp up your cash flow (income – expenses) for sure.

2. AVOIDING COUPONS

Couponing is a strategy used by a shopper to pay less in shopping for groceries, tickets, and more. Smart shoppers that are new to the scene may shy away from coupons but once they see the real value of their savings by looking at the receipt, they would realize how great it is. You may get coupons for dining, leisure, toys, pets services, and just about anything at cuponation.com.sg or groupon.sg. Learn more about how coupon works in groceries by watching this video:

3. MISTREATING THE SALES REPRESENTATIVES

Never show off your success or mistreat the salesperson. Instead, treat the sales representatives nicely by smiling and asking politely whenever you shop. That act of kindness can go a really long way. They may even offer you special discounts or tell you when the next promotions are coming.

4. SPENDING MONEY YOU DO NOT HAVE

Having your credit cards handy will only tempt you to shop for more. Say you hid your credit card already but memorized its account number then you may just fall back to a slipper slope. Use precautions such as getting a new credit card to replace the one that you had memorized. Spending the money you do not have can only lead to a pile of dreaded debt.

5. LEAVING PERSONAL BELONGINGS BEHIND

Although this event happened once, I can never forget what I learned. I went inside the fitting room and hung my bag with my wallet and phone inside. As I was going out of the store with my newly purchased dressed, I realized that my bag was not with me. Luckily, living in a country with low-crime rate paved way for my bag to be in tact. Singapore is generally safe but, we can never really say that crimes do not happen. What if I left my passport inside and someone took it? Even a new dress will not make me happy. So, always check your belongings before and after you go inside the fitting room or any place else.

6. BEING CAUGHT BY THE HOLIDAY SALES

Most of us clamor over the holiday sales!

Image Credits: F Delventhal via Flickr

Image Credits: F Delventhal via Flickr

Who can resist a cheap Valentine’s Day greeting card or an oven that retails for 50% off after the Christmas sale? To avoid buying more than you intend, make a shopping list and stick to it. If you are shopping for more than one person then, budget your money by calculating how much you are willing to spend per person.

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Should You Buy A Chanel Bag After Its Price Decrease Today?

Chanel 2-55

Chanel, the epitome of a classic elegance has one of the most coveted fashion pieces in the world. Chanel bags has not only turn the heads of many women, its timelessness has created an economic anomaly – the higher the price increase, the more sought after it would be. This is also known as as Veblen effect and it is not uncommon to see a huge desirability on luxury items such as a Hermes Birkin’s bag, Rolex and Patek Philippe’s watches performing better than the stocks in your portfolio.

You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation.

Fans of Chanel always say: “The price of Chanel bags never drops.” and when Chanel announced that the price of the Chanel Boy and the Classic Flaps (11.12 and 2.55) will be revised downwards in Singapore, Hong Kong, China and few other countries, it has certainly sent mixed reaction to the public.

For the fashion aficionados in Singapore, this is good news because the once out-of-reach bag that cost two months of an average salary will now cost almost $1,000 cheaper than before. The Chanel Boy Medium will now cost $5,820 instead of $6,850 and Classic Flaps like the 11.12 and 2.55 will also be down to $6,660 instead of $7,550. In fact, shoppers have already been snapping up these pieces since last month when prices have already been adjusted.

In Europe, however, prices have increased from €3,550 to €4,260 for the 11.12 and 2.55 models, while price of the Boy bag has rise from €3,100 to €3,720.

What is exactly happening?

You might have guessed it. Chanel is trying to harmonize the price differences across of its three most iconic symbols in the market after the weakening of the Euro dollar. This move is essential to counter parallel re-sell markets. If one were to buy a Chanel Boy in Europe before April 8th, it would set her back approximately S$4,563 and since local boutique stores in Singapore is selling it at S$6,850 (about 30 per cent more expensive), it is not difficult to see many opportunists taking advantage of the price differential and profit from it.

This hurts the business not too much on the aspect of losing its share of profits to reseller but rather it compromises the exclusivity and image of the brand. If someone purchase a Chanel bag from the re-sellers, Chanel would not be provide the after-sale service if it was a counterfeit. Chanel also loses important market data since they have loses control of its own supply chain. This is why they hope that this adjustment will bring the prices within 10% differential across its market to discourage parallel resellers.

Check out the price guide for Chanel across different countries starting from 8 Apr 2015 below:

 

Chanel Bag Prices 8 Apr 2015

 

As you can see, it is still cheaper to purchase your Chanel bag in Europe and with a VAT-refund of 12 – 14% for NON-EU residents, it may well justify the cost of an air ticket to Europe.

The question you may ask is whether you should buy a Chanel with the recent price changes?

Ask any woman on the street and they will say: “Chanel usually increase the price of its bag twice a year and investing in one is always a home run.”

From the comparison chart above, this seems to be the case as you can see that the only stock that outperform a $1,000 invested in Chanel is only the tech giant Google and Gold commodity.

Chanel ROI

(Image credit: http://www.levo.com)

With a 81.13% return on investment in a 2 years period, it looks more attractive than a Mercedes Benz CLS 2010, S&P 500, Dow Jones and the likes.

Chanel Bag Increase

(Image credit: stylecaster.com)

In the same time period, there are also a number of financial depressions such as the energy crisis in the 1970s, Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, Dot-com Bubble in 2000 and the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007-2009. It is astonishing to note that Chanel not only is able hold its price high, it has increased many folds even after taking into account of inflation.

Shouldn’t demand be depressed during an economic downturn? Why is the price still going higher and higher?

That’s because they can’t afford to. Chanel being a Veblen good can only increase price to increase demand. It’s limited stores worldwide and the fact that they never hold a sale creates an identity that you would usually associate with high-class, elite and exclusivity.

Let’s also not forget that nouveau riche Chinese would still keep the demand going, which allows Chanel to profit from a higher margin, making up the loss from subdued demand worldwide.

If you have the disposable income to hop onto the bandwagon, i don’t see what is holding you back besides your concerned partner.

Of course, if you have only just started joining the workforce, it may not be wise to throw two to three months of your paycheck into a bag no matter how much you lust for it. Always set up an emergency fund first so that you don’t wait impatiently for someone on Deluxemall or eBay to purchase your preloved Chanel bag.

 

 

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4 Places For Cheap And Quality Printing Services in Singapore

The choices of shops that offer printing and photocopying services in Singapore are tremendous. Furthermore, most of the printing shops are located near each other, which is why it is convenient for customers to compare prices. Without further ado, here are the Singapore’s Printing Services that are of quality without breaking the bank…

1. BRAS BASAH COMPLEX

Working in this area, I noticed that there are not only a handful of used books at extremely cheap prices but also a handful of printing shops that cater to all the client’s needs. Bras Basah Complex is not only convenient for the people who work near the area but also for the photographers that shoot on film-dependent cameras. This place is best for printing photos, posters, documents, and business cards.

Suggested Printing Shops: Mister Print, PrintStop, Unusual Print, and Colordoc

Address: Brah Basah Complex, 231 Bain Street Singapore 180231

2. PEACE CENTRE

When I was a student with brochure or poster projects, I would usually drop by Peace Centre near Dhoby Ghaut MRT. Peace Centre boasts as one of the most affordable places in Singapore for printing and photocopying services. This place is best for printing posters, documents, business cards, and other large-scale printing. All of the suggested shops are located in Level 1.

Suggested Printing Shops: LeaderShip, Ho Services, and Jia-e Printing

Address: Peace Centre, 1 Sophia Road Singapore 228149

3. QUEENSWAY SHOPPING CENTRE

Another popular place for students to print and photocopy their school projects is the Queensway Shopping Centre. Since there are a lot of printing shops in Queensway Shopping Centre, most of the shops offer competitive and affordable prices. This place is best for printing documents, business cards, customized T-shirts and jerseys, and corporate gifts such as mugs or folders.

Suggested Printing Shops: SGL Sports & Imprint, Queens Printing, and Ultra Supplies

Address: Queensway Shopping Centre, 1 Queensway Singapore 149053

Image Credits: Hi thank you for stopping by! via Flickr

Image Credits: Hi thank you for stopping by! via Flickr

4. THE NOTEWAY 

The Noteway offers designing and printing services for notebooks, tshirts, hoodies, mugs, soft toys and other corporate gifts. And it is different from all the printing places recommended above. With most consumers focused on getting the best prices when it comes to such services and the growing popularity of buying products and services online, The Noteway is based completely online. This is not only reflected in their prices but also their high quality of customer service. What is interesting is that they also offer free designing services for bulk order qualities and they deliver without any extra delivery charges as well. Their prices are as much as $3 lower per piece without quality being compromised as compared to the prices you will get at any of the retail outlets. If you would like to find out more about their designing and printing services, do visit www.thenoteway.com for more details.

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