Great makeup deal

Being a Stage cosmetics member, the benefits are pretty worth it. Members enjoy 10% discounts on every item purchased at full price. On top of that, I get discounts off on other services ie hair & makeup services, photoshoot services etc. As part of their efforts to increase loyalty, members will receive discount vouchers for products & photoshoot services.

I received my vouchers in late February, in conjunction with my upcoming birthday in March. To pamper myself, I visited the Mid Valley outlet to grab my swags. I certainly didn't expect that Stage is having a nationwide clearance sale for all its existing products. Discounts up to 70% off retail prices, can you believe that? Wi the price slashed, I had to buy more in order to meet the minimum amount of RM60 in order to use the RM30 voucher. I came back home with 6 items at a dirt, cheap price. =D

1. Wonderlust Lipstick - Cameron

2. Nail Colour - Awesome

3. Picture Perfect Liquid Camouflage - Ingenue Genie

4. Picture Perfect Foundation - Pixie

5. Brow Defining Pencil - Sesame

6. Prime Time Eye Perfecting Base - Vanilla

In total, I only paid RM34 after deducting the RM30 voucher. At retail, sure bet that I couldn't even get as many items with RM60. What a great bargain to begin with! =D

On top of that, I still collected 34 points for the amount I paid. This is one of my best birthday gift this year~

iPhone 4 ad wars

The Malaysian advertising scene seems to be changing lately. Advertisers who were once passive have evolved into active, more aggressive players to outshine each other. Even mentioning competitors' names doesn't seem to go against the local advertising laws. Last year, there was a public spat between Air Asia & Tiger Airways on which racial background has good understanding of Asian markets & better of managing an Asian team. This spur Air Asia to release an ad to mock its competitor, as I blogged about it here.

Now we have two telco giants competing against each other to offer the most affordable iPhone 4 package. The history goes like this...Maxis was the first network provider to bring in the iPhone 4 package with plans starting from RM100 a month last year. About 2 months later, DiGi managed to secure the deal with Apple to be the next provider to offer plans starting from RM58 a month to attract both new & existing subscribers.

Of course, DiGi did tremendously well for its affordable package plan cuz it managed to not only attract new & existing subscribers but successfully converting Maxis customers into Digi's. And I'm not ashame to admit that I'm one of them! XD I believe this success stems from DiGi's main objective to be transparent in terms of charges, unlike Maxis' aplentiful hidden costs. Not surprising if many Maxis customers felt cheated.

Anyways, back to the main point of my post. Realising this, I supposed Maxis is trying hard to regain its customers by introducing a slightly more affordable iPhone 4 plan.

Now this is getting more interesting. On the same date when the above Maxis ad was published, DiGi counter attacked by releasing their ad...coincidentally just 2 pages after the Maxis ad. Do take note though that these ads are not the first insertions. I'm impressed with how DiGi defended themselves! =D

Maxis didn't respond with another ad, obviously. Look, they've already got the pricing strategy all wrong. Hardly a miraculous ad could save them from DiGi's undefeatable price. I'm loving all of these competition between advertisers. Hoping for more to come...oh wait, I've just spotted another war between Carlsberg & GAB on the Putra Brand Awards. Let's see if I can get hold of them & post it up. *runs off to dig my stacks of newspapers*

Selfish-ness

It's my usual routine to bring along an umbrella to the office & place it in a vase which stores everyone's umbrellas. Just in case since the sky was gloomy & wet for the past few days.

One morning, I placed my umbrella at the vase & walked into the building. The sky turned dark & started raining heavily in the noon & continued during the evening with a light shower. When I left the office, I went to collect my umbrella. Guess what? It was missing from the vase. I searched high & low for it but it was nowhere in sight. I had to shade my head with a woven bag & walked to my car cuz it was drizzling. I reckoned that someone might have borrowed it & forgot to return back to its original place. So I decided to wait for the next day.

It's been a week now & that jackass didn't even bother to return it. Why people can be so fucked up?? I certainly didn't mind if he/she borrowed it so as long as my umbrella is returned back to me soon after usage. What if that evening's weather wasn't a drizzle but heavy rain? What am I to use to protect me from the rain? Did it ever cross your mind that your simple selfish act can cause so much misery?

YOU JERK!!

Pray for Japan

I was in the midst of working in my office when everyone was suddenly buzzing about the earthquake that hit Japan. I told myself that it's nothing new since tremors occur every now & then in the country that lies in the "Ring of Fire". I became more curious as the hours passed by cuz it had became the main topic of conversation. Sensing the urgency, I visited Yahoo! & was shocked to discover the severity of the damage caused by the undersea earthquake.

A 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred at the epicentre offshore of Sendai, triggering a 7 metre tsunami which completely swept everything in its path - buildings, cars, ships & even the small airplanes at the Sendai airport.

As you can see, sea waves were gushing inland ever so violently just like scenes from Hollywood disaster movies such as The Day After Tomorrow. The aftermath of the tsunami was catastrophic. Seems like whatever was depicted in the movies are not exactly exaggerated. It can happen~

Initial reports indicated that 1,000 people were dead, 300+ injured & close to 700 missing. Death toll is expected to rise as more bodies are being washed ashore. Back in 2004, the tsunami which hit Acheh was devastating enough to make me teared up. To witness this calamity in Japan was even more heartbreaking. Let's pray that Japan will rise from the rubbles & become a stronger nation - rebuilding the affected city & economy. May the Japanese stay strong during these dark hours.

Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership for all the above pics. They were taken from various websites related to the Japan earthquake disaster.

Land of the golden palm tree

I was pretty excited when I had the opportunity to attend the Lumix new line-up launch which will be held at Golden Palm Tree Resorts & Spa, Sepang. To my colleagues, it's just another launch that happens probably twice a year. To me, it was eye-opening experience especially coming from an FMCG company which hardly has any budget to even organise in-store activities.

We set off at about 10am in one of our agency's car as the event is due to start at 2pm. The drive took more than 1 hour, a surprisingly long journey cuz it's even further than LCCT. It's another 30 mins drive from Sg Pelek town, nearby Morib. Upon arriving the coastal area, the resort is visible from a distant view.

The lobby has a unique open design concept which is a shape of a pavilion with very minimal walls.

Each villa is built on stilts which stretches out to the sea. From bird's eyeview, the whole resort is a shape of a palm tree, reminiscent of The Palm in Dubai.

Due to the distance, a buggy is required to travel to the furthest villa from the lobby.

Our giant backdrop with our new brand ambassador, Ms. Natalie Den Dekker.

I shall not speak much about the event for fear of revealing too much private info. Anyways, the launch ended at about 4pm plus. We left the resort at about 5pm & only arriving back to the office later than 6pm. Spending the day there was a little tiring but quite interesting. The resort reminded a lot about Legend International Water Homes, only a little more lavish.