Going Nuts At A Cosmetics Warehouse Sale

20 November 2008 | Tine

Okay, you know that Prestige Cosmetics and Fragrance Sale I was talking about yesterday? I just got back from the sale, and let me tell you, it was crazy. Utterly bonkers.

I didn’t want to seem too eager, so I reached the building at 11.15am. The store opened at 11am, and OMG, the crowd was tremendous. There was a bouncer at the door controlling the number of people entering the building. When I was about to leave, I caught a glimpse at the door. People were actually queuing up outside just to get in (only 5 were allowed in at a time when someone left). When I left the building, there was even a longer line. And all these people stood outside, waiting, in the rain!

I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside the premises, but I managed to sneak one.

Prestige Cosmetics and Fragrance Sale Nov 2008

It’s not very clear, but there were tables near every wall, stocked full of Lancome and Biotherm products. Some Cacharel and Ralph Lauren perfume sets were on sale too. The Lancome and Biotherm skincare and makeup were selling very cheaply, ranging from AUD10 per item to AUD50 for the box sets. All the Lancome Juicy Tubes were snapped up like candy even before I got in.

A huge range of Lancome and Biotherm skincare products were selling at very low prices. I didn’t get any for myself as these two brands have heavily-fragranced products which aren’t my cup of tea. But at the prices they’re going for (AUD20-AUD30 for moisturisers, eye cream, toners, facial cleansers, serums, etc), it’s no wonder people were snapping them up like hot cakes. I saw this lady stacking up boxes of Lancome’s Hypnose mascaras on her arms, just waiting to pay.

I even woke Bea up at 7.20am her time to ask her if she wanted anything from Lancome. Sorry babes :p

I managed to pick several items as Christmas gifts. You should have seen the amount of stuff each person was buying. Stacks of perfume box sets and skincare products in their arms. A lot of them had over ten boxes. Some even had to bring large cardboard boxes just to stash their stuff. One by one the purchases rang up to over AUD500. Seriously, economy meltdown my arse. Not when people are still spending money like there’s no tomorrow. Still, can you blame ’em? With such low prices, I’d go nuts too. Somehow I managed to pull myself together with some pluck and strong will just for today :p

When I was queuing up to pay for my purchases, I chatted with another lady behind me, and apparently, she was there waiting to go in since 10am! After queuing up for 30 minutes, I managed to pay for my items. The sales people were using black trash bags as carrier bags!

Prestige Cosmetics Sale Carrier Bag
My shopping haul in a rubbish bag

Prestige Cosmetics Sale Shopping Haul
Not going to show you in detail of what I bought, as most of ’em are gifts 😀

Oh, and there weren’t even any Prestige makeup sold in the warehouse sale. It was only Lancome and some Ralph Lauren items. I think they meant it to be Prestigious Cosmetics and Fragrance Sale. Silly me thought they were selling Prestige makeup! 😛

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Karmin Titanium Hair Straightener Giveaway

20 November 2008 | Tine

Need help with your hair? Is the frizz completely driving you nuts? Then do check out My Hair Styling Tools. You will be able to find professional hair tools ranging from hair straighteners, curling irons, professional hair scissors and much more. You can also speak to a hair care expert on the site and get free advice on how to manage your hair better.

In conjunction with My Hair Styling Tools, Beautyholics Anonymous is proud to host a giveaway of a Karmin Titanium Hair Straightener Iron worth USD99!

Karmin Titanium Hair Straightening Iron

In order to qualify for the giveaway, simply leave your name and email address at the bottom of the post. The winner will be picked at random, and announced on November 28.

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only opened to US and Canadian residents. I’ve negotiated with Erin of My Hair Styling Tools on allowing the giveaway to international readers as well. It was an all-go at first, but after checking postage fees, she’s afraid that shipping to Malaysia, etc alone would cost USD50++ which is not feasible at the moment.

But no worries, my Asian readers, there’s another giveaway coming up soon, which will be opened to you 🙂

There are also a couple of coupon codes which you can use on the site.

BEAUTYHOLIC25 – Good for $25 off any Karmin Titanium Hair straightener

BEAUTYHOLIC10 – Good for $10 off any item on My Hair Styling Tools.

Good luck!

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Poll: Do You Chemically Treat Your Hair?

19 November 2008 | Tine

Hair Iron Poll Happy Wednesday, ladies!

It’s time for our middle-of-the-week poll. This time, the question is: do you chemically treat your hair? (came up with this when I was washing my hair last night. Tee hee.)

And by chemically treating you hair, I mean either colouring, perming and/or straightening your hair.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve probably messed up my hair enough times to know that I have. And still do. I can’t really recall how old I was when I first had my hair straightened. It was probably straight out of secondary school. I went for a hairwash, and the hairstylist thought it would be fun to use the hair iron on me.

Now if you’ve known me since I was wee, you’d know that I do not have the best-looking hair in the world. In fact, it was so sorry-looking, that my friends in school nicknamed me “Iron Hair”, or “Steel Hair” (or something of the like). Buns of steel, step aside, here comes hair of steel. *drumroll*

It was coarse, it was wiry, it was awfully frizzy. Worst of all, it was short (boy-cut), which made the frizz a lot worse. I started growing out my hair in Form 5, and the weight of my hair pulled it down, thus making it a little more manageable.

Anyways, so back to the hair iron story. So I had my hair temporarily straightened for a bit (no chemicals were used then), and I loved it. I loved how easy it was to manage my hair, without having to slick it back with water every few minutes. However, it was expensive straightening my hair back then (not that it’s any cheaper now, but I was only a student then), so after a wash, my hair went back to its original condition.

During my university days, I tried colouring my hair once, with a red dye from Clairol Herbal Essences. Sadly, there was no difference. You couldn’t even tell when the sunlight hits my hair. Gah, I ruined my hair for nothing 🙁

It was only when I returned to Malaysia for good, and started working, that I had my hair properly straightened and coloured. And coloured my hair, I did. I’ve had my red-hair phase, auburn-hair phase, almost-orange-hair phase (the colourist did a bad job then), and burgundy-hair phase, before I finally dyed my hair back to its original colour. And you know what, in the end, I actually looked better with the original hair colour. Go figure eh?

I’ve also had my hair permed once. It was during my training days in Japan, when almost every Japanese girl I saw would have their hair permed. Call it peer pressure, but when I came back to Malaysia for a break, I had my hair permed.

HUGE MISTAKE.

It made my head look really big, worsened the condition of my hair, gave it plenty of frizz, and I had to use a lot of hair products to tame it down. It was awful. After three months, I finally had enough, called it quits, and straightened my hair back. That was another mistake, as my the condition of my hair really went downhill then. Split-ends were emerging like crazy. That was my first and last time I would ever have a perm.

So now, other than straightening my hair once every 6-8 months or more, I no longer do anything to my hair. It’s getting better by the day, which is a huge relief. I can even hear my hair thanking me.

So what’s your story? (sorry mine was so long) Do you chemically treat your hair? Ever had it coloured, straightened and/or, dare I say it, permed? Spill! 🙂

[polldaddy poll=”1120018″]

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