Ernesta

always on a hunt to study at a cafe which checks all the essential study boxes and need a break from starbucks & cbtl. finally came across plain vanilla cafe at tiong bahru & it just fits as the ⭐️perfect study cafe⭐️

✔️free wifi (password is on the table sticker)

✔️plugs are in the booths & outdoor area

✔️unlimited water

✔️affordable drinks & bites

✔️friendliest staff ever

what i got

〰️ long black $5

〰️ raspberry danish $5.50 (4.5/5)

〰️truffle potato $11 (3/5)

〰️strawberry white chocolate cupcake $4.50 (5/5)

i went to this cafe on a weekday & stayed from 8.30-1.30pm (5 hours) & not once was told to leave. there isn’t any minimum $ spending to stay either! saw a girl who stayed since i got there and was still there after i left and purchased just a drink. really soo good. the staff was so friendly & kept checking around & refilling water whenever customers’ glasses of water were empty ☺️☺️ pls do give this cafe a visit!

📍plain vanilla (tiong bahru)

I have always loved Novela sales whether online or on-site, as their items on sale are quite well known for long expiry dates, like for e.g. you could be buying the same product you find on Sephora but at -30% or -40% the usual RTP, plus you get the same 2 or 3 years product expiration.

So I have recently purchased 5 tubes of Two Halves essence on Novela app. I noted that there will be no refunds once purchased as exp was within 1 year and it was more than -50% the usual RTP. I acknowledged it was a clearance sale due to the short exp and I was happy to buy to stock up for myself as well as gift my friends to try.

However I bought with the information listed on their website that the expiry will be 08/24. But one of the tubes came without the seal sticker (unlike the rest that came with it). So curious, I opened the tube and was shocked to realise the expiry is actually Nov 2023 instead of Aug 2024 as described. It seemed like that particular item has been tampered with! No seal sticker, and item exp wasn’t as indicated. One of the other tubes also looked offcolour as compared to the rest. It looks super yellowish in real life. Now I am not sure if the rest of the tubes are packed similarly as I intend to give as gifts.

I have since emailed Novela care centre for a few days, hoping to seek a response as this is my first disappointing encounter with them ☹️

It has triggered my thoughts on those beauty sales, if they really do tamper with products just to sell them off their shelves? I find it abit unethical to do so??? Or is it just me finding this abit uncomfortable, even though I do know some makeup or beauty products still can be used within 6 months if newly unopened after expiration.

*update: Novela has responded to me professionally to apologise and do with a refund for the 2 bottles in question, and Two Halves founder has also reached out and kindly offered me their products. Thank you.

If you are planning to visit the palaces in Gyeongbokgung Palace, don’t rent from Hanboknam. Even though my hair style looks great, I waited 45 mins for them to do this hair style because there were only 2 people tying the “premium hairstyle”, instead the free hairstyle had a wait of less than 5 mins. They also didn’t have clear signs that the premium hairstyle was at another table so I wasted 15 minutes waiting for the hairstylist.

Don’t believe the review you see, if you give them a 5⭐️ review, they let you rent the bags for free.

Even though it is convenient (part of Discoverkorea pass) and value for money, the frayed hanboks were not worth it! It’s better to just rent from the neighbouring shops!

I saw one that is nearer to the Train entrance going for $15k won for the whole day.

Even other klook vouchers should be more worth it than Hanboknam.

My biggest regret is not listening to my photographer’s advice 🥲

#sg #Singapore #hair #salonsg #hairstyleideas #hairstyleideas #Haircolor #hairtreatment #hairsalon

Hi it’s Mia here!

Are you unable to cook due your busy schedule? You don’t have to worry anymore, you should try one of these instant ramen hacks that are both simple and delicious!😍😍

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

⭐️ 1 instant ramen noodles (i used shin ramyun)

⭐️ 1 egg yolk

⭐️ 1 tbsp japanese mayo

⭐️ 1 tbsp minced garlic

⭐️ Chopped green onion

⭐️ Toasted white sesame seeds

⭐️ Nori

Method:

1. Add egg yolk, mayo, minced garlic, ramen seasonings (powder and dried veges). Mix it well.

2. Then boil the ramen noodles until cooked.

3. Pour the ramen broth into the ramen seasonings and mix it well.

4. Add the noodles and top with green onion, sesame seeds and nori.

Enjoy!❤️

Pop Toy Show is here at MBS 🧸🖌️🎨. Art Toy fans are rushing to get exclusive collectibles that will we sold on a daily basis. There will be fan sign by the artists too. Only from 8 to 10 Sep 2023 at Sands Expo and Convention Centre Hall D at B2. Tickets starts from S$32.

#toy #toys #art #popmart #molly #singapore #cute #taiyaki #kawaii #shotoniphone #tiktoksg #sgtiktok

if you don’t already know, far east plaza is LOADED with lash/nail salons and sometimes it gets hard to choose which salon to go to based on price, quality, etc… so i’m here to share my favourite one out of all 🤍 it’s called nailslut spa and it’s located @ level 4 of far east plaza !! now let’s talk about why i love it:

first of all, obviously the price 💵 express gel mani is $15. need i say more? $15 is cheap compared to the other salons in the building (ofc not dragging them here,, i think they’re all reasonable too but a girl is on a budget) and the quality for $15 is crazy. the nail techs are the most humble and hardworking ladies i’ve seen, they were really meticulous with their work and made sure my nails were even, the application was neat and took extra care with my cuticles, making sure i wasn’t in any pain.

they also don’t hard sell you any package/membership which i find is such a green flag 🥹 they did ask if i wanted to sign a package with them but after i declined they didn’t push it any further !! i really love that. and the nail techs are so sweet as well they try to make small talk with u without prying too much and giving you your space (which is another big green flag for me) 💗💗

P.S.: i’m not sure about pricing for nail art because i can only get plain simple colors for work. you can try searching the pricelist online tho !!

i’ve been here a few times already and i’m someone who salon-hops quite a lot, but i think i’m seriously sticking to this salon from now on 🤞🏻 if you’d like, go support them! they deserve it 🤍

Hi Lemon8 fam!! 🍋

IT’S BEEN A HOT MINUTE ⏰

I’ve been away for some time as I was busy stressing over wedding planning 😮‍💨 I’m finally a GRADUATED bride! 👰🏻‍♀️

Follow me for more wedding related posts and my prep journey here —> #sherrgohweddingjourney 🩷

Would like to share about my dreamy wedding venue, it was ✨everything✨ I wanted 😍

Previously I did a post on Non-Hotel Wedding Venues (PART 1) but here’s why I chose a hotel in the end:

1. The GORG hugeass dome screen 🌌

NEED I SAY MORE 😮‍💨 Personally, media and visuals are very important to me, I actually prepped three videos on my own to be played at the wedding 🤪 so of course one very important attribute to me is a HUGE screen. I’ve been to some venues with small makeshift screens which doesn’t allow the guests to see anything much really 🥲

2. The lighting and atmosphere 💎

LET ME TELL YOU – when I stepped into the ballroom on AD with all the decors set up 🥹 I was honestly SO impressed cause the entire setup exceeded my expectations! Also the venue really ✨delivered✨ even during our AV tests it already looked so magical. We were given different options of lighting & screen backgrounds to choose from 💛

3. Location & capacity 📍

Most of the other venues I’ve considered have smaller venue capacity e.g. MONTI can only fit up to 180 seated guests. Thus I felt that my hotel was a great option for me, it’s not overly huge and it can accommodate up to 300 guests. Also, location is an important factor for me, I wanted a easy accessible and central location for guests 🚘

I’m very excited to share more content on my wedding prep journey, so do follow me to come along! 🥰🩷

#sgbrides #bridetobe #sgweddings #WeddingInspo #weddingprep #weddingsg #weddingtips #weddingplanning #weddingdecor

The 2 biggest myths about Sunday Staples in <5 minutes.

MYTH 1. Sunday Staples simply buys from Taobao and sell to us

These false allegations surfaced on Tiktok sometime in 2021 and people started to circulate [the information] to ‘warn’ their friends. We were incredibly aggrieved and wanted to come out and address the false allegations but decided against giving weight to absolute nonsense.

They sensationally claimed that this was true because:

1. We used the same pictures as Taobao

2. We sell the same shoes

3. Loads of people use this business model

🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♀️

WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU COME TO THAT CONCLUSION?

[‘same’ pictures] The Taobao folks obviously screengrabbed our pictures and reused them. (I was PHYSICALLY at most photoshoots and have evidence)

Can’t be these China guys came to Joo Chiat and took pictures of shoes and do photoshoots right? Or went to Gillman Barracks? Or Sentosa? Our models are all either local Singaporeans or local modelling agencies.

Why would you say we reuse Taobao pictures and not they use our pictures?

[‘same’ shoes] The Taobao merchants also appear to have the same shoes because they design their shoes based on our pictures. But if you look closely upon further scrutiny, some of them don’t even bear any significant resemblance.

Then there are also some that look like they have the same shoes because they took our shoes and immediately got down to counterfeiting them.

We regularly have random Mainland Chinese tourists enter our stores taking pictures and videos, not knowing whether they are sending them to friends OR to factories. We can only hope they are purchasing without the motive of counterfeiting. Many of them take photos and videos for an hour before leaving without purchasing. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Factually, we have a strong team of three full time designers and 1/2 interns from NAFA all the time. We work hard on our designs and are proud of the extensive sampling process we put in them.

We have seen our own designs (blueprints/origination/sketches/sampling) fall in the hands of EVEN bigger brands with over 400k IG followers. (They belong to our recent Espadrilles collection and are very uniquely Sunday Staples) We didn’t say anything either because I guess imitation is the biggest form of flattery.

But really. Why would people assume that Sunday Staples is the counterfeit and Taobao is legitimate? Isn’t it obviously the other way around?

[Taobao business model] It sounds entirely ludicrous to me that I left my consulting firm Bain & Company (advising top global companies business models) to settle for a business model that is BUY-FROM-TAOBAO and sell-to-consumer? 😭😭😭

We have five retail outlets; why would you conclude that we copy Taobao and not vice versa? I still feel rage and heart palpitations thinking about it. 😂 GEK XIM. Please please think it through before sharing something so nefarious. It really is #fakenews

If you want to get a Sunday Staples dupe/knock off, I want to categorically state that as a spokesperson of the company that it is wrong to buy counterfeits. But on a personal level, I won’t knock it tbh.

Because when I was little, my father was our sole breadwinner and we used to buy pirated DVDs from JB during the sch hols to watch as a family. We were not very well to do and settled for counterfeits too.

But please don’t say we are the knockoffs! 🤷🏻‍♂️ We have never and will never buy from Taobao and sell to you guys.

MYTH 2. Sunday Staples footwear are all of a crap quality!

As the CEO of Sunday Staples, I am telling you that if our shoes cannot even last 12 months, we are better off closing down and should stop being a public nuisance.

This is my genuine, honest position. So please give me 1 minute of your time to explain why some people are of this view/position. I hope to offer not only an explanation but also a resolution at the end of this post.

Fact 1: We have sold hundreds of thousands of shoes (see picture)

Fact 2: Shoes are handmade (machine-assisted) and this results in potential for human error

Fact 3: Manufacturing defects can happen and rely on strong Quality Control processes to eliminate

Fact 4: We have a defect rate of less than 1%

Fact 5: So while 99% of our customers are happy, even a <1% defect rate translates to THOUSANDS of angry customers.

We are genuinely striving for a zero defect position. You can check out how we ended up here in detail here but the long story short is that our orders have 20-folded since we started and our factories are unable to keep up.

Previously they had sufficient master craftsmen with decades of experience to cope with our orders but now that the orders have ballooned, they had to turn to apprenticeships, traineeships, adhoc labour and transitional staff to help fulfil our orders. This was further exacerbated by the Chinese lockdowns in 2021 and 2022.

But they did not inform us of their labour shortage and it made the shopping experience with Sunday Staples incredibly polarising.

If you received a batch where the mastercraftsmen 师父 were present (90+% of the time), your shoes would be perfect. You would rave about Sunday Staples and love us to bits.

But if you received shoes where the mastercraftsmen or quality control people were not present (due to the lockdowns), the remaining newbies screw up 10% of the remaining 10% of the time (<1%). This is why our overall quality was better pre-pandemic as compared to post-pandemic and we have hence unfortunately had to significantly divest our relationship with those factories.

We still have scores and scores of customers coming to our stores wearing their weather-beaten Sunday Staples that have long stood the test of time. But for the <1% of you who were affected (still thousands), we want to absolutely do right by you guys.

While we have already migrated factories, we want to be accountable to the 1%.

All defective pieces are guaranteed by our factories (even the old one) for an exchange or refund because they are incredibly responsible and professional. We will provide exchanges for all defective pieces.

But even then, that should not be good enough for us.

Our new mega factories that we are migrating to, do not see defects as human error. They see them as an abomination. They are absolutely unacceptable and well beneath their standards. That is the position we are striving towards.

We want to do right by all of you. 💪🏻

Conclusion:

We will uphold the same standards as major brands and will make amendments for the <1% of you who have gotten defective batches. While the percentage is still small, it is not lost upon us that there are still THOUSANDS of you who have been disappointed and we would love to apologise and make amends. 😔

I also want to apologise to everyone who lived and breathed our brand in the beginning but swore off it after the factories could not properly cope with our orders and you received defective products.

We have already been working on a workstream called Project Migration for months and we are looking forward to seeing the end of defective products once and for all.

Even though even the biggest and best brands including Toyota, Nike, Levis and Zara all experience defects some form or another along the way (see: F1 Ferrari), we need to treat it like an abomination and an absolute travesty when it happens so that we can raise standards.

Thank you all for reading!

Maurice

you read that right. i got married before i turned 21.

how can? aren't you too young? why the rush? was it shotgun?

entirely possible with the support of my mother. initially, she was fearful. of course, she would be. but after having talks with her and gaining each other's understanding, she was happy for me.

as a mother, of course she would be afraid to see her daughter make the wrong choices. but she also knows that i am the type of person to make very decisive decisions and this decision to get married early also wasn't a shock to her as i have been making my own choices my whole life. my parents gave me full autonomy to know right from wrong and gave me room to make mistakes. character development and experience they say…. but i love them for giving me the opportunity to do so.

im not in a rush either, honestly. but where i am in my life, i am somehow ahead of other peers my age. wasn't shotgun either, we were already engaged before i got pregnant😂 funny how life never aligns to plans.

lets talk about the procedures that MSF requires for couples getting married, specifically one of the two under 21.

obviously, my mother needed to consent.

we needed to go through a marriage preparatory course which lasted 2 days for the license. theres a special number for us to give to the ROM office to verify that we have undergone the course. plus, we have a marriage counsellor to help us adapt to new changes for the first year of marriage. we could contact her any time for help! big ups to MSF for helping young couples understand and strengthen marriages.

honestly, id recommend for couples intending to get married even above 21 years of age. it is a very insightful course and it helped us understand how marriage changes and life changes.

key takeaway is that marriage will change. love will change. dynamic will change. both parties will change. its whether or not both parties choose find a balance and choose to adapt to change together.

after we received our license, only then we can file for ROM! after that its pretty straightforward. like every other couple. my mother was my witness and i would not have changed a thing about that because she is my rock.

for us, getting married also wasn't going to drastically change our dynamic at an instant. i am still pursuing my degree & he is building his career, we give each other the room to do so and found a balance.

so getting married before 21, can meh? can.

so long as you understand that both parties took vows. therefore, live up to the vows every day.

3Cs! communication, comprehension, commitment. its two people against a problem, not each other.