Review of Facial at Heart Springs Spa (Hougang Branch)

I signed up a package at Heart Springs Spa for a facial when I did my Eyebrow Embroidery there. I can't remember the exact numbers, but after deducting the Eyebrow Embroidery, I had calculated that each of the 10 facial sessions would only cost me $88. This is the first time ever in my life that I have signed up for a facial package. I usually steer away from signing up any beauty packages. To be honest, I can't remember what made me decide to sign up. A smart person probably would've tested out the facial first before signing up. I did however get a mini facial for free when I did the eyebrows, and at that time it was acceptable to me and thought that the normal facials would be not bad too.

The Pros:

• The place is in a convenient location since it's situated in Hougang Mall, so it's easy to get to.
• The place is clean and not dodgy looking.

The Cons:

• They will always try to upsell you add ons etc. So be prepared to keep telling them no.
• The beauticians (I've had 2 different ones do my facials thus far), don't have very gentle hands. They just seem to be in a hurry to get it over and done with and it's all very methodical. And there are parts where they slap on the whatever creams or mud mask with a heavy hand.
• One of the biggest annoyance is when they put the full face mask on your face, it can get very claustrophobic and I think it's important that the beauticians do this gently and especially pay attention to the areas around the mouth and nostrils so that the customer doesn't get freaked out (like I did).

Yesterday when I had my facial, it was a different lady who did it. Let's just say she wasn't a local. I appreciated the fact that she didn't bother with small chat with me, she probably realised I couldn't speak Chinese much. But anyway, there was one part where they put this netted cloth thing over your face which also covers your mouth and nose. The cloth material had big enough holes in it that you're still able to breathe through it. They cover your eyes with cotton and proceed to slather a very cold mud/clay mask over your entire face except for the nose and mouth. The previous beautician cut out the nose and mouth area but this lady didn't and I started to feel like I was getting buried alive or something. I was starting to feel really freaked out and almost felt like I was going to get a panic attack. It definitely would have been better if she took the time.

I have 5 sessions left and it's very unlikely that I will sign up for any other packages. I would rather try other places.

Musee Platinum Tokyo - non paid review

Any woman can tell you that it is real hassle to maintain certain areas of your body hair free. Not to mention the annoying way thus said hair sometimes decide to become in-grown hair causing yucky bumps here and there and then causin you to pick at this said bumps then causing scarring 😡. I really really hate it. When I was younger I did the normal shaving thing using your typical disposable razor. Then I discovered Epilators and have been using it since then. I liked epilating coz the hairs came back a little finer and I would really only need to epilate like once a week. But again those pesky ingrown hairs would make their appearance.  Hate.

I wish I had plucked up (no pun intended 😝) the courage to go for IPL earlier. IPL stands for Intense Pulse Light treatment. I won't go into the science behind it because you can look it up yourself. The interesting piece of fact that I came across when I was reading up on IPL is that it will only work if your hair is dark and your skin is pale. I never knew that!

I only did my research online and didn't didn't really look up that many places. The reviews for Musee seemed acceptable and they had a promotion on their website for Unlimited Under arm hair removal for just $30! Sounds too good to be true right? We all know how these beauty centres work, you go in coz of the promo then they'll try to sell you a more expensive package. But with Musee apparently they pride themselves on no hard selling. More on this later. 

According to their website, Musee uses the SSC system. "S.S.C. Hair Removal stands for Smooth Skin Control Hair Removal, which is a new state-of-the-art pain free technology*. With S.S.C. Hair Removal, our specially formulated gel is activated when exposed to beams of filtered light. As compared with self treatment such as shaving, plucking and waxing, this technology is more gentle to your skin with minimal or no discomfort. The plant peptide in the gel also helps your skin become even smoother & polished." 

Sounds promising doesn't it? Plus the fact that it was from Japan was enough to convince me to try them out. So off I went to their Plaza Singapura branch at Dhoby Ghaut. At first glance they look like any beauty centre. What I do like about the place is it seemed pretty open, the beauticians are all visible out front and there seemed to be quite a number of them. Honestly I was pretty nervous going in knowing that it was highly likely that they would try to sell me some kind of package. 

I was taken into a very nondescript private consultation room where I had to first fill out some forms and surveys. Things like any medical problems to what kindd of self hair removal methods do you use to how many times a week do you remove your hair.  After a whole a consultant came in and started explaining to me anout hair removal and hair growth cycle, etc. Oh my gosh she spoke so fast that it was hard to keep up! From what I remember she hardly talked about the basic $30 package ($38 including bikini line). She asked me what areas I wanted to remove.  I said under arms and bikini line and she tried to persudade me to consider getting my whole netherregion done including the...let's just say booty region.  I've never been a full Brazillian girl but she did get me thinking. And before I knew it she was calculating some numbers and decided that 36 seasion would be enough to do everything and that would cost i think just under $2000 with discount Oh and did I tell you there's a credit card interest free installment plan with certain banks and she punched out some numbers on her trusty calculator to show me how much it would cost each month.  By this rate my head was swimming. I've never been good with numbers and making decisions at the same time.  I did ask her again but what if I just want tondo my underams and bikini line, oh then thats just $38 she says really hurriedly. But really should consider this package one you can also use it for your legs, she continues on. And anyway the bikini line area only remove not much, she says. And she says it's also good for hygiene to get it all off. 

She really wasnt that pushy I guess. I was never uncomfortable talking to her. So it was more like strongly advising and encouraging. 

Despite the fact that one of the requirements before treatment is for you to hve shaved 2-3 days beforehand she was ok tongove me an appointment for the next day to get whatever procedure done and sign on the dotted line. You know at first I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't just start the treatment that day. But on hindsight I'm so glad that I had the extra time to work out what I really wanted. If I had signed a package I would basically have about 2.5-3 years to use up all the sessions. That's a long time!!! What was I thinking to even consider it?? Basically if you're removing all your pubes off you will need that many sessions because it's supposed to be a highly resistant area. Back to the point, I can't even commit to a gym for more than a year and that's with me dragging myself!

So after this initial consultation I left feeling slightly confused and dazed. Oh and I also got this triangle thing which I guess was for us to go home and use as a template to shave for our bikini area. The lady should've explained it to me better since it's all in Japanese.  

First Appointment:

So today I came back for my official first appointment. Point to note, appointments before 12 are easier to get.   When I got there they asked me which package I wanted to sign up for and I told them just the basic underarm and bikini line. I was expecting a whole lot of of questions but that was it.  The lady (different from yesterday's one) wrote on the form and got me to sign and make payment. Before proceeding she made sure that 12 hours prior I hadn't drank any alcohol, take medication or worked out. Phew I almost did work out this morning before I decided to go back to sleep 😄

After that she led me to the procedure room. The room was smaller and shabbier than I had expected. 

If you notice, the curtain on top of the pic divides you from the other customer in another room. 

So here's the bed all wrapped up in plastic. There's a towel, a change gown and the little blue thing is disposable g-string paper undies. 

A little locker to keep your belongings and clothes. 

After changing into the garments the beautician will knock on the door asking if you are ready once ok she then comes in, you lie down on the table and the procedure begins by her putting paper towel over my eyes followed by googles or glasses and another towel on top. Next she asked me to lift up my arms above my head. She used an electric shaver to shave off whatever hair was still there. Then cleansed with a wipe or maybe she did that first, can't remember.  Then she spread this really cold gel on my armpits. I quite liked the cold gel feeling actually 😄.  Next she tells me she's gonna start with the IPL and I brace myself for some pain. Pain that never came. It really was pain free! For me anyway and I'm assuming it's the same for others. You might feel a slight warmth and that's it. The only other uncomfortable thing was seeing bright flashes out of the corner of your closed eyes. After that she wiped off the gel and put some cold ice pack things on my pits and moved on to my bikini area. 

This area really is not for those who are shy coz she will literally be able to see everything as you are asked to bend your legs in a 90 degree angle (think breast stroke style).  The procedure was pretty much the same as the armpit on. And then all was done within 30 minutes if not less! 

For 12 hours after the procedure you can't exercise, drink alcohol, sauna, etc. And you're not supposed to swim a week after the procedure is done too. There's actually a long list of don'ts. 

So for now I have to just wait patiently till my next appointment two months later in September. Why two months later? Well they said it's to allow the skin to rest and for your hair to go through it's natural growth cycle. The hair should fall out by 2 weeks and the new hair that comes out should be finer. Fingers crossed! They kept on reminding us to be patient before you can see results. Don't expect immediate results. And try not to shave, if you must at least wait 2-3 weeks. I'll try....that's all I can say. 

UPDATE 9/10/16
So I've gone back for the second treatment and I'm glad it was fuss free and they didn't pester me again to sign up for a package. The hair on my bikini line and my left under arm is still growing, but interestingly the hair on my right under arm has kinda stopped growing. I mean there's a few that pops up here and there but it's not even that noticeable. So it's interesting that one armpit is growing and the other one isn't...weird yeah, but I guess that's how the body works..I dunno. Anyway, next treatment is in January, I hope it doesn't take too much longer to do. 

Love my Purple Hair....But.....

So about a week and a half ago I took the plunge and coloured my hair Purple. I've been contemplating it for weeks, if not months...hmm...ok I think months and I even booked an appointment at a salon to get it done but by chance and luckily for me the salon miraculously closed down!! (fyi, it was Kimage at Nex Shopping Centre).

When I finally decided to just do it, I went to LeJean salon at Far East Plaza (Sg). My friend who had previously used a Groupon voucher to get her hair coloured here said it was pretty good. Salons really make me apprehensive, first coz I'm always afraid the colour or cut won't come out right, and second usually I get a stylist who doesnt speak much English and that day was no different....I got stuck with 2 stylists who barely spoke English (they were Mandarin speakers). Lucky I had a picture of what I wanted done and I could still communicate in basic Mandarin.

Basically I didn't want a whole head of purple hair. I just wanted like an ombre purple look.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465911523930441346/

So first thing they had to do was bleach the lower half of my hair. Bleaching does scare me but hey you gotta do what you gotta do right?

The 2 hunky guys putting on the bleach. I could actually feel the 'heat' from the bleach on my back.

I can't remember how long they put the bleach in my hair, I think about 30 minutes?

And this is what it looked like after they washed it out and blow dried.

What do you think of this look? I look a bit like a poodle :p

While they were blow drying my hair I instantly knew that I have damaged my hair with the bleach. It felt coarse and rough and they were pulling and tugging at at it so hard just to brush it out.

Next they applied the purple dye. They double checked with me using the colour swatch the colour that I wanted to do. The guy explained that up top will be darker while below will look lighter.

With all the purple dye in my hair.

The dye again was left on for about 30-40 minutes. It did sting my scalp a bit. Once time was up they washed my hair for quite long. And they put some kind of ice gel or menthol shampoo or whatever. Not too big a fan of that because it was literally too cold for my head! Once my hair was dry and blown out I actually wasnt sure about the look. I could hardly see the purple. My hair just looked dark....black.

You can see the colour a bit.

where's the purple?

Then the stylist decided to curl my hair. I was like, cool. I don't usually get curls after I get my hair done. Most of the stylist, if not all, that I've gone to would just blow my hair straight. I was quite excited to see what the finished look would be like.

Ta Da! I loved the final look! Still looked too dark for me.

I only realised how purple it was after I stepped out into the sunlight and omg, I was totally in love with it!

The colour with the sun reflecting on it whilst I was on the bus.

This was taken with my digital camera rather than my iphone and this is more accurate of what the colour is.

So all in all it took about 4 hours of salon time and I felt that it was well worth it! So what's the But that I mentioned above? Well as much as I love having purple hair, the problem is it doesn't last. From the first time you wash your hair and every time after your water will resemble grape juice. Even though I'm using a Redken shampoo made just for coloured hair, every single time I wash my hair purple dye would be running down the drain. To make the colour last longer I'm only washing my hair every 2 or 3 days and use a dry shampoo in between washes. 3 days is a real stretch for me because by that time my hair is so greasy....ewww....tmi right? :)

Up close this is what the colour looks like today. I can see some yellow bleached hair coming through and I think the purple is now fading to a light magenta colour or even a dark pink. Which is all fine by me.

So I'm sure if you stayed reading this post all the way till now you're curious to know how much it costs to get this done? Well at the salon I went to, inclusive of colour and bleach, it was SGD$150. This by far is the cheapest I know. Prior to this I've asked around at lots of different salons and the quoted price ranged from $180 to over $200.

Would I get it done again? Heck yeah! You only live once so why not :)

Hope you've enjoyed reading my hair journey. Be sure to check me out on the various social media links below and follow me on Youtube!

Post Edit: Well this colour washed out super fast! It barely stayed in for a month.

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