All you have to do to RSVP is drop me a email at:

with your full name and contact number. You have to be above 18 years old to attend this event.

I was made known of the human papillomavirus (HPV) a few years ago, when I went for my regular PAP smear test with my gynecologist. That PAP smear came out to be inconclusive and I had to do another PAP smear three months later. During the three months, I was really scared that I might have gotten some scary virus in my vagina, or worse still, cancer! Luckily, the second test was negative *phew* Funny thing, I used to think that PAP smears were performed to make sure everything in the region was functioning fine, I wasn’t really sure what PAP smear actually checked for (PAP smear checks for cancerous cells inside your vaginal walls).

Regular PAP smear test for girls above 18 years old is very important as it can detect virus or cancer in your vaginal area. Don’t stop reading this post if you are a male reader, it is just as important for you to know about such things so that you can advice your partner for regular PAP smear check!

When the vaccine came out for cervical cancer, my mother was the first few to know about it and recommended (bugged) me to go for it. That was almost 3 years ago and it was very costly for the vaccination jab, it was almost $800 for 3 injections and my mother paid for most of the cost. Luckily, now that the vaccination is so common in Singapore, it only costs $300 to $500 for the full course of injections. Although the vaccination is quite costly, it can save your life! It is definitely not too costly for to prevent yourself against cancer.

Cervical cancer is the 6th most common cancer among women in Singapore, and 1 woman dies every 5 days from cervical cancer. This is the ONLY preventable cancer. It is estimated that 80% of women will come in contact with the virus and it isn’t a virus that can be fully protected by condoms. The moment you become sexually active, you are at risk getting the virus regardless of your lifestyle. HPV is so common (estimated 80% of the population will have it at some point), you do not need to have a lot of sexual partner’s to come into contact with the virus.

This is one of the most meaningful advertorial I have written because I get to spread the word of something that means so much to me and many other women. Even if you are vaccinated for cervical cancer, all women should do their regular PAP smear tests for check just to make sure everything down there is fine. You can do the PAP smear tests at many GP and neighborhood clinics nowadays and it’s really affordable (about $20+). If you are on budget, you can get your PAP smear done at a polyclinic for $15 (subsidized for Singaporeans). Vaccination and regular pap smears are your 100% protection against Cervical Cancer. If you visit www.pocc.sg, you will find a list of doctors that provide the vaccine.

Please share this message with your close friends, relatives and everyone around you, like I have shared with you. What would really be awesome is if Singapore government would provide free or subsidized vaccination for our teenagers just like Australia, Malaysia, Japan and many other countries.
Click here to pledge your promise to protect the women you care about.

Everyone love buying things online. Girls & boys, teenagers & working adults. I love to buy stuff online too, especially from overseas shops. Recently, I bought two watches from an online shop www.watchco.com from America and I pray that it will arrive next week.

Fossil Women’s Slim Crystal Analog Watch

Fossil Philippe Starck Black O-Ring

The problem I have with online shopping, isn’t with online shopping itself, but with blogshops. I know I made a very sweeping statement with my blog post title, and I’m sure there are good quality, affordable, reliable blogshops out there. The difference between a blogshop and online store is that blogshops are usually run by individuals, usually amateurs in many ways. They purchase clothes from wholesalers with many clothes coming from Thailand or China and the shop format is a blog (duh).

These are the reasons why I have not bought anything from a blogshop before:

1. Sizes. Majority of the blogshops in Singapore offers clothes for sizes UK6 to UK8. I’m more of a UK 10 to UK 12 kind of girl. When they say “free size” it usually isn’t my size either. It’s dangerous when you see “free size” on a blogshop because you have no idea what size it is! I don’t believe a clothing that fits a sized UK 14 lady would fit a UK 4 lady as well?!

Bonito Chico – pretty UK6 to UK8 clothes and dresses, good quality stuff too!

2. Plus sized blogshops are for reallllly plus sized girls. Not disrespecting them, but I can’t find anything that fits my size that I like as well.

S$49.90 dress from BAB – plus-size blogshop

3. Plus-size blogshops that have my size….. they charge TWO TIMES the price of other blogshops. Typically, blogshops sells dresses about $20+ and these Plus sized blogshops sells them at $40+. Wah seriously the cloth required is twice as much? I don’t know why plus size clothes are not as pretty as well

4. Most blogshops (not all) import really low grade clothes. Lousy material, lousy sewing, lousy design. You can usually buy these dresses from Thailand for S$10. Instead, they are being sold in blogshops for $20+. That being said, I have seen blogshops that sells well designed and good quality clothes as well. I can’t explain to you how to differentiate the good quality and bad quality clothes… but… two really popular blog shops would be Bonito Chico and Agnesellse, some forumers call them BC & AE. It would be really nice if they would consider bringing in UK 10 to UK 12 clothes as well!

5. If a blogshop is full of pictures of foreign model modelling the clothes, like those you cut out from magazines, you can’t be sure that you will be receiving exactly the same piece you bought online. I went shopping with Sab in HongKong last year, and we saw TOOO many shops that puts pictures of the clothes being sold and the actual piece of clothes hanged behind the picture. HUGE difference. I have no clue why they bother putting pictures of Korean /China /Japan models with clothes that are obviously different from what they were selling. I guess the new online shopping word is “inspired”. You know like “Chanel inspired bags”, that kind of thing?

6. I’ve heard quite a few stories where the blogshop collects your money and run away with it. I’m not sure if the police actually bothers tracing who steals your money. Blogshops don’t need a name to open, you don’t need any credibility, certification, or any form of control. For all you know, the “blogshop owner” is actually running a Nigerian scam all the way from Nigeria.

Ok, I still have many other reasons why I’m so skeptical of buying anything from blogshops. In general, I prefer UK fashion as compared to Japan or Korean fashion, which seems to be the trend locally. I’m psyched that my sister is in HongKong now and she promised to get me 5 H&M shirts. I LOVE H&M!!! They have really good quality pretty shirts for less than S$20! When is H&M coming to Singapore?!

Fav H&M checkered shirt

Fav H&M striped shirt

*** I’m currently overseas now and I’ve been searching high and low online for a dress I can wear to my cousin’s wedding next month! I can’t find any pretty dresses that is suitable for the occasion and one that fits my size! So if anyone knows of a blogshop that carries slightly bigger size clothes, particularly cocktail dresses, please let me know!!! ***

I was invited to attend POCC‘s bloggers initiative and it was a really fun and educational event for all the bloggers that attended. We had a powerpoint presentation on cervical cancer facts and statistics, a magic performance by Magical Babe Ning, finger food buffet, and awesome doctors and POCC staff to educate us on cervical cancer.

I even had my own caricature done!

POCC stands for Power Over Cervical Cancer and this organisation aims to educate women in Singapore about cervical cancer and how it is the only preventable cancer. A vaccination injection course only costs about SG$400, although it might sound costly at first, but this injection can actually save you from cervical cancer!

I had a close shave with cervical cancer when I was only 20 years old. I have been doing PAP smear tests regularly (once every two years) and there was once the test came out inconclusive. The gynecologist suspected that I might have the human papillomavirus (HPV) and advised me to do another PAP smear three months later. I was so relieved to find that the second test came out negative.

I have since gotten vaccinated. It never occurred for me to blog about this before, nor did I share my experience with any of my close friends. Since the POCC has begun to reach out to young women in Singapore to get themselves vaccinated, I think I should do my part to spread the word, to my close friends as well as my readers.

You can do your part to spread the word too! Even though there isn’t a cure for cancer yet, there is at least 1 cancer that can be preventable.
Power Over Cervical Cancer is a campaign that aims to make Singapore the country with the lowest incidence of Cervical Cancer and they need your help to spread the word. Pledge your support for this cause and protect those you care about by telling them about Cervical Cancer. Together, we have POWER Over Cervical Cancer. Click the button below to begin!

Before I go on about the blogger, Qiu Qiu, that was supposedly begging for breast implants, I would like to add that many prominent bloggers in Singapore and overseas have sponsored advertisements and advertorials in their blogs. I don’t believe it’s wrong for them to do so, nor do I think it’s greedy of them to want sponsorship deal. Before jumping on the bandwagon lynching bloggers for being money face, please face the reality of the world. Before you start pointing fingers at bloggers, please go take a look at newspapers, magazines and even Stomp portal itself – they are full of advertisements and endorsements. I don’t see how bloggers should be given the lime light of “begging” for sponsorship deals.

I suppose the Stomper that posted it on Stomp is partly to blame, since he/she chose to use the word “begging”. I heard about this on the radio a few days ago, and the DJ actually said that this blogger was asking people to pay for her breast implant. After visiting her blog, I found that it was no where near what they claimed. What she asked for was sponsorship deals in her blog, which is quite a common thing to do. It doesn’t matter whether she’s a “model blogger” or a “blogger” or even a celebrity. Many big brands, design companies, hair salons are more than willing to sponsor celebrities to wear their products and advertise for them. Recently, XiaXue got married and her wedding ceremony was all sponsored – from her dress, to make-up, to hair, to wedding planner, to photographer and many others.

Honestly, if a plastic surgeon wants to sponsor me for a liposuction, I might seriously consider *begs for advertorial here*. I would love to seriously get sponsorship from Sennheiser and Razer, just because I use many of their products for gaming purposes.

For some reason, probably the green eyed monster + anonymous online identity syndromes, these “model bloggers” seem to get it worst than other bloggers. I am acquainted to a few of these “model bloggers” myself, and I have heard their side of the story as well. They get humiliated, called names, criticized online on a daily basis. The irony is that their blogs get many views and hits. People want to see their pictures and their lives and companies want their products to be advertised online. There is demand, hence there is supply.

So before you want to point fingers at bloggers for being greedy in wanting sponsorship or advertorial deals, take a look at your print media or online portals and tell me is there anyone in this line of work that is running a charity?

Recently, there was news of Jamie Yeo’s engagement with Englishman Thorsten Nolte. So sudden isn’t it? I mean after a failed marriage, 1 year later remarried again…. I guess we should just wish her better luck this time around! Personally, though, I wouldn’t feel that 1 year of getting attached is sufficient for a couple to tie the knot. 1 year of being intimate with someone care barely count for anything, especially if you intend to spend the rest of your life with the person. I guess since Jamie’s biological clock is ticking, she won’t be able to wait another few years before deciding?

[ Read the rest of this entry » ]

It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow! I’ve got a gift ready for my mother and my grandma.

It’s funny how the presents gets smaller and more expensive every year. I guess, as we get older, we want to live up to a certain expectation of giving more extravagant presents. Like when you’re 8 years old, you would probably get your mom a hand-made card, when you’re 10 years old a picture frame, when you’re 18 a bouquet of flowers… and when you reach 20something, you get bird’s nest or spa vouchers.

See how as they get smaller, they get more expensive too?

Sadly, my angbao money doesn’t seem to be increasing at that rate.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts I have on an advertisement I heard over the radio, encouraging people to have babies. Receiving Mother’s Day presents are nice, but definitely not a reason to have baby right?

The advertisement went something like “There are somethings in life you can wait, like queueing up for discount etc. But you can’t wait forever to start a family”, promoting MaybeBaby.sg , a site that gives information on making babies

Isn’t it strange that the message seems to be asking people to get a baby tomorrow? I understand the government’s worries of Singapore’s aging and non-breeding population. But a message like this just rubs me the wrong way. I have been involved with children during my jobs and my internship, and I have seen too many irresponsible parents to know that… you shouldn’t be impulsive getting a baby. Does Singapore government really want lots of poorly cared for children that grows up with some sort of problems (be it emotional or mental) because their parents cannot fulfill their responsibility in bringing up their children with common sense? I’m not suggesting that the MaybeBaby.sg movement is sending the wrong message, they are just trying to give information to future parents. What I’m upset about, is the insufficient system in place that ensures the safety of children from families that imply cannot afford to even support themselves.

The government have been giving many monetary incentives for young couples to have babies and giving more welfare to mother’s at work. What I feel the government might be lacking is promoting quality parenthood and perhaps even harsher punishment for parents that do not carry out their duties as parents. The sad thing is simply: poorer couples, or couples from lower SES, who are less educated, are giving birth to half a dozen of kids, whereas high-flying couples have very few children or even none at all. We should be giving incentives to highly educated parents to aid them in having children. By incentives, I don’t mean giving out $10000 for a baby. The baby bonus is insufficient to attract the average or professional Singaporeans to want to have babies. Things like giving more maternal leave, implementing paternal leave, bonus to education, perhaps even a better chance in getting a domestic helper (maid) would encourage the average or professional Singaporean to have more babies.

I’m not saying that poorer people should have less rights to have babies. But after hearing about family of 10 with mal-nutrition child, parents in prison, or parents that are too busy to even look after their children… I feel that the government SHOULD implement a system to punish irresponsible parents. We don’t want a society of lower privileged, under-educated, mal-nutrition,  physically or emotionally abused children! We want more babies, but we also want more educated, cared-for, healthy children to replace our society’s workforce! Perhaps a punish system would deter people from having babies… but would a random person that tortures, not feed, beat up another person get away scott free? If not, then the law should apply to parents and they should be even harsher because of the vulnerability of children.

I realised the list posted up on the SBWA website is quite long, and it’s quite troublesome for Wax In The City “stranded” customers to go through each and every spa one by one, and randomly picking a spa to continue your package is definitely the worst possible option. Hence, I have decided to compile a list of spa, nails and beauty salons that we are able to chose from from sbwa’s website at http://www.sbwa.com.sg

THE DATELINE FOR REGISTRATING ON THEIR WEBSITE IS 30 JUNE 2010

Please read the Terms & Conditions that I have uploaded here

The Terms & Conditions are less than favorable for us – such as booking during off-peak periods and no switching of spas, however, if we can chose a spa that matches our expectation, location, prices etc. I think we can still make the best out of this situation. I would have hoped the web designer or SBWA did many things different to their site, for example, making the T&C downloadable off their website, making it html based instead of fully flash website etc. I guess with the time limit that SBWA promised to deliver this option to us, can’t demand too much from them either. If I sound sad writing this blog post, it’s because I am. I do feel like we’re being treated like 2nd class citizens, but then again, beggars can’t be choosers. Why are we even in this predicament? Blame Alexis Zhou and the people of Wax In The City.

The list below is compiled solely by me. If any information is wrong, or if you have additional information you wish to add to the below listing, or even feedbacks to share with others, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment here. Thanks!

Company: Atos Wellness http://www.atoswellness.com.sg/
Location: 1 Tannery Road
Services: Spa, facial, long term hair removal, body contouring

Company: Rustic Nirvana http://www.rusticnirvana.com/
Location: 8 Boon Lay Way, 14 Liang Seah Street, 37 Cuppage Terrace
Services: Spa, massage, facial, TCM, waxing
Special services: Maternity massage

Company: Glow International http://www.glow.com.sg
Location: 20 Craig Road
Services: Massage, firming, spa, facial, laser peel, manicure, pedicure, waxing, threading

Company: Marie Chia http://www.marychia.com
Location: website was down.
Services: website was down.

Company: Anthony Hair Boutique
Location: Soho1 @ Central 6 Eu Tong Sen Street, Suntec City Mall Tower 2
Services: no website

Company: Beauty Lane beautylane.com
Location: 144 East Coast Road
Services: Facial, Eyebrow embroidery, eye liner tattoo, lip tattoo, eyelash extention, manicure, pedicure

Company: BFM Wellness
Location: 29 Teo Hong Road
Services: no website

Company: Body Contours www.bodycontours.com.sg
Location: Royal Brothers Building 22 Malacca Street, 30 Hill Street, Raffles Town Club, Roxy Square Shopping Centre, Changi Airport Terminal 3, Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel 50 East Coast Road
Services: Body sculpture, spa. bust firming, aging care, face spa, massage

Company: Bonafides Group of Companies http://bonafidesbeaute.com
Location: Centrepoint, Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Merah, Hougang, Marine Parade, Tampines
Services: Facial, body treatments, spa, massage, manicure, pedicure

Company: Dermastrata Group
Location: 18 Jalan Membina (Tiong Bahru)
Services: Manicure, Pedicure, facial, laser hair removal

Company: Esboudoir http://esboudoir-nails.com
Location: Vivocity
Services: Manicure, Pedicure

Company: I Spa
Location: Far East Plaza
Services: no website – under Atos group

Company: Inner Harmony
Location: The Cathay
Services: no website – under Atos group

Company: Life Spa http://www.lifespa.com.sg
Location: Pacific Plaza, Bugis
Services: Massage, facial, body treatments, spa

Company: Pretticure Nail & Grooming Salon
Location:
Services: no website

Company: Spa Elements/ Spa Infinity http://elements.com.sg http://www.spainfinity.com.sg
Location: Orchard Ion, The Cathay, Far East Shopping Centre
Services: facial, slimming, wraps, waxing, PTF hair removal, spa, manicure, pedicure, massage

Company: Spa Ziwi http://www.spaziwi.com
Location: Jurong East
Services: Facial, Slimming, facial

Company: Subtle Senses http://www.subtlesenses.com/
Location: Mosque Street
Services: Face spa, body spa massage, manicure, pedicure, hair spa, waxing, eyebrow shaping, eyelash perming

Company: The Nail Pageant http://thenailpageant.com/
Location: Dhoby Xchange
Services: Manicure, pedicure

Company: Touche http://www.cls-touche.com
Location: Orchard, Tanjong Pagar, Bugis, Simei
Services: Eyebrow Embroidery, body massage, body wrap, spa, many machine based treatments i.e. Bio-light whitening treatment, NonaTech Facial etc.

Company: Visage The Salon http://visage.com.sg/
Location: Delfi Orchard
Services: Waxing, manicure, pedicure, IPL hair removal, indoor tanning, body massage, body treatment, facial

DBS and POSB have announced mobile banking services to their customers. This sounds really great for DBS customers like myself, that spend a whole chunk on my mobile phone anywhere I go. However, there may be certain backlash with this movement by the two Singapore banks. I’m wondering how is it really “mobile” when customers will have to use the DBS iB Secure Device dongle to authenticate ourselves when logging into our accounts. If you want to use DBS bank online with your mobile phone, you would have to bring the small device out with you – which increases the chance of it getting lost!

Personally, I don’t foresee myself using the DBS mobile banking service until they decide to make some changes to the authentication procedure. However, since this might be a security issue, DBS probably wouldn’t enhance the login procedure. Oh well!

DBS Mobile Banking site (can only be accessed with phones): DBS mBanking

DBS Bank and POSB customers can now access mobile banking services that allow transactions to be carried out on mobile phones.

Singapore’s biggest lender finally joined rivals OCBC Bank, Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank in offering the increasingly popular facility.

I read on Straits Times today that there will be a beauty pageant for plus-sized single and married women in Singapore. That’s great news for plus-sized girls!

The contestants for Miss & Ms Amazing must weigh at least 80kg and possess a big personality and confidence to go with it.

The contest, which is open to single and married women, has attracted 40 contestants aged between 19 and 43 since registration began in February. It is organised by TKS and Sons, which also organises the Miss Teen Singapore, Little Miss Singapore and Elite Mrs Singapore contests.

The media has always imposed a distorted view of what a good looking women should look like – under weight. This has affected many young women to go on diets and attempt to fulfill certain expectations of what a beautiful woman should look like. It’s no longer about being healthy and fit, and some of these girls become really unhealthy and anorexic! It’s scary that some of them even die from their diets.

How about average women? How come we don’t get beauty pagaent to celebrate our averageness?. We have mini-sized beauty pageant, and now, plus-sized beauty pageant. I am 20kgs too heavy to be in the mini-sized one, and 20kgs too light to be in the plus-sized one. It’s not that I want to be a beauty queen, but isn’t the average person always left out for such things? Government give out money for big businesses and poor people, but how about the average person? Us average people always get left out, not fair! haha