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  • Posted On: November 4th 2023 at 1:10 am | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Korean related, Overseas, Personal life, Rants, Shopping, Travel, Wants, Work

    I flew back to Singapore from South Korea yesterday and it was quite an adventure. Lol, my life is always an adventure especially when in airports lol. šŸ™‚ What is a sagittarius life without adventure, right? Haha.

    So here it goesā€¦

    (1) It started with my taxi ride to the airport. I just approached by the traffic officer to find out about my taxi cost and if I am overcharged. I have to share where I took the taxi from, how much is it, show my receipt, my payment method, if I have given any tips and how I book the cab. Well, I was very fortunate to stay in a pretty good hotel who got Bell Service to help me with luggage from my hotel room to the cab. First time going back to Singapore from Seoul that is so fuss free and not physically tiring at all.

    (2) Then I went to Asiana Airlines counter to drop my baggage. As usual, it is the automated system and I have to go to another place for bag drop after printing out my boarding pass. Then the staff said it is overweight and kept asking me to pay. When I asked how much is it, she said 65,000 won (or is it 60,000 won?). Anyway, I asked how much overweight is my luggage and she showed me is 28kg. Gosh. It is within the baggage limit since I booked through SIA. I am well under the limit of 30kg so I told the staff. Then she directed me to a separate counter to register. I waited and there is another staff who helped me. Again, she asked me to pay which I told her I am well under the limit. She scanned my details and found out that is true. *shrugs* Anyway, she helped me with the baggage tag and forgot to pass me my boarding pass until I asked for it. Then she realised it was dropped on the floor. Aiyoā€¦ Luckily I wasnā€™t very sleepy at that time lol.

    I didnā€™t buy much in this trip as I am very aware of the importance to keeping to budget. I still ended up exceeding a bit so that leaves less money for US. I was sharing with my friend that if I somehow managed to keep to the budget set for Seoul and US, I can reward myself with something! Then she was likeā€¦ I thought you needed to save money? Okay, fine. Maybe I will reward myself with a nice home item instead. Lol.

    (3) Then I was packing my winter jacket into the hand carry and realised I was seated opposite a group of friends where 1 lady is carrying a fake mini constance bag from Hermes. Lolā€¦ I almost brought that bag for my travels. Lol. Luckily I have already packed my Hermes mini evelyne bag into my backpack so it was not awkward.

    (4) I went to do my tax refund and gosh, only my Hermes receipt is shown jn the system. Quite bullshit to be honest. My other 3 receipts from Sulwhasoo, Osulloc and SPAO were rejected. I went to the counter and asked and they said they needed to see the items before they can provide the customs stamp. Alamak. Those items are mostly in my checkin luggage which I have already checked in. I was pissed at myself since itā€™s quite a lot of money. Oh well, what can I do? Might as well forgive myself and feel better that it could have been greater loss of money if I buy even more skincare products lol. So I complained to some of my friends to vent out my frustrations.

    (5) I got a cute cinnamonroll water bottle with vitamin C water and I wanted to drink when on the taxi ride to airport. I ended up forgetting to drink and have to throw it away. At least I managed to take out the cute cinnamonroll character head and let the customs lady throw it away. I also forgot to take out my laptop and ipad when going through customs check so they had to take more time to check my backpack. Lol.

    (6) At this point it is close to 5pm and I havenā€™t had my lunch yet. I was supposed to eat before clearing customs which I obviously forgot. I do have snacks so it is not that bad. Luckily there is a food court after customs so I managed to go there and eat. I didnā€™t manage have soondubu (soft tofu stew) when I was in Seoul. Then I saw there is soondubu at the food court and was delighted! Unfortunately it was sold out so I still didnā€™t get to have it. I just ordered pork cutlet since I donā€™t eat beef and donā€™t want octopus.

    (7) Linking back to (4), I went to tax refund counter after I have my late lunch. I just gave all the tax refund forms and the lady somehow managed to scan all of them for me and I managed to get my refund. The form stated only credit card and alipay for the refund but I was able to get cash refund in the end. šŸ˜€ Yay. So I didnā€™t lose my money haha. I opt for USD since I have to fly to US 2 weeks later. Turns out to be ā€œlosingā€ a bit of value since I could have gotten more in KRW. At that point I didnā€™t think I will be paying in KRW for any purchases at duty free stores. I ended up going to Gentle Monster and got a new spectacles. Price is listed in USD but they only accept KRW. Sigh. Oh well, at least I will still be using USD 2 weeks later anyway.

    (8) I went into Hermes, Chanel, LV stores and walked out empty handed. Haha. Actually I found stuff I liked at LV and maybe Chanel too but I was able to have self discipline and not spend on them. Iā€™m so proud of myself. Iā€™m a changed lady haha. Well, my close friends will know what caused the change since I have been harping on it almost everyday. Lol. Unfortunately I forgot to get my lip balm refill from Hermes even though I went there. I guess I have to either get it from Singapore or Japan or San Francisco.

    (9) I found my gate about 15mins before boarding time then saw Angel-in-us coffee next to my gate. Somehow I decided I should get matcha latte (since I can claimā€¦) 5 mins before official boarding time. People already started queuing at the counter. I went to queue to buy matcha latte instead of the gate lol. I still make it in time and the gate hasnā€™t open by the time I joined the queue for the gate. Mind you, I was carrying a backpack, a huge tote bag as carryon luggage, 1 paper bag of snacks from GS25, including my cinnamonroll cartoon character in it and a cup of iced matcha latte. Really #likeaboss at that point. Lol. The gym workouts have helped for sure lololol.

    That concluded my adventures of flying back to Singapore from Incheon airport. Which trip do I not have adventures? Lol. Not sure if I am attracted to adventures or adventures are attracted to me at this point. Hahaha. Iā€™m proud of myself to be able to handle all these in a calm and positive manner by myself for sure. Definitely a Sagittarius! Hahahaha.

    Iā€™m blessed to get middle seat empty as my flight to ICN had a relatively plump Korean guy sitting next to me and he was sleeping and falling on me throughout the flight. I got quite irritated and just push back his head then he woke up to look at me and I gave my most #badgirl look while watching my korean drama on my ipad. Lol. He never do it again anymore.


    Posted On: June 20th 2021 at 12:14 pm | 1 Comment
    Categories: New stuff, Personal life, Shopping, Wants

    I finally managed to get my Hermes Evelyne 16 (also known as mini evelyne)! It has been close to 12 months hunt for the bag and I finally got it.

    Actually, I got it under my boyfriend’s profile and he scored it before me. I went to collect it on 1 Jun 2021 and it is Noir and Palladium hardware with Clemence leather. Unfortunately there is a slight peeling in the leather stitching and it turns out to be a quality control issue. We bought it back to the store on 15 Jun 2021 after discovered the issues on 14 Jun 2021. Well, it took some time for my bag insert to come and I didn’t want to start using it before my bag insert is here.

    The SA at Hermes Takashimaya said it is a quality control issue hence they have to send the bag back to Paris for fixing. I didn’t want to wait for so long since it will be minimum 6 months wait for bags that go to Hermes Spa servicing – be it Singapore or Paris. So I requested to change to another bag but they don’t have any available for me to purchase. So I have to be added back to the waitlist for the same combination as other combination waitlist will be too long.

    Fortunately, I got added to a Noir and Gold hardware with Clemence leather more than a month ago at Hermes MBS. Well, I had the other evelyne 16 bag in waitlist and the SA didn’t realised it before adding me for the Noir and Gold hardware with Clemence leather combination. When he realised, he was scolding me and said it is against the “rules”. Well, the system didn’t flag any issue though. Shrugs. I told him he can remove it then. I can just keep my existing evelyne 16 waitlist. What I didn’t realised he didn’t remove. Maybe he couldn’t remove it? Anyway, more than a month later, the bag came and he called me to inform me. He called me on 14 Jun 2021 after I discovered the issues on my Noir and Palladium hardware with Clemence leather bag. I was in a dilemma as I will have both bags in Noir – just different hardware options. Fortunately, I was able to return the Palladium hardware bag at Hermes Takashimaya and use the store credit at Hermes MBS store to buy the bag I was waitlisted for.

    It turned out to be well and I am now a very happy owner of Hermes Evelyne 16 – Noir and Gold hardware with Clemence leather. šŸ™‚ Not my number 1 dream combination (Gold and Gold hardware) but it is my number 2 dream combination. :happy: Noir and Palladium hardware with Clemence leather was never one of my dream combinations but I convinced myself to accept it because I have been hunting endlessly for 12 months and still couldn’t get an evelyne 16. What I didn’t expect it is that the bag had issues and I didn’t check before I buy. Well, I trusted Hermes quality excellence at that time which now I certainly don’t trust as much now. It has been incredibly stressful to have a bag with quality control issues. I was thinking if I should sell it and I will make a slight profit for it. But nah, I don’t want to go through the stress of selling which I briefly went through. I will just buy what I truly love and never sell it. I’m fine to forgo the potential profits for lesser stress in life.

    Now I have the exact same combination as my Hermes Evelyne 29. :happy: After I got the bag, I don’t feel tempted in any other Hermes bags anymore. Haha. I shall pray for my wallet safety.

    I did buy an orange twilly when I picked up my bag at Hermes MBS though. Now both of my Hermes bags each have a twilly and a bag charm to go with. I think I can have many styles with it. Haha.


    Posted On: March 15th 2021 at 10:17 pm | 2 Comments
    Categories: Fashion, Friendship, Insights, Korean related, Makeup, Personal life, Rants, Shopping, Wants, Work

    I was watching YouTube and saw 1 video from a YouTuber about minimalism spending. I thought it will be a good topic to talk about in ViolinStar.NET too. I haven’t been blogging as much as I hope to this year. I also haven’t post any photos on my Instagram accounts in 2020 and 2021 so far.

    One of the first few things I realised after turning 30 in last December is that my health/body is not as strong as before. I can’t stay up late without impacting my mornings. I really need at least 7 hours of sleep everyday. I can no longer work so hard because I will get burn out. I need to pace myself in both personal life and work life.

    I also need to save up for the future and rainy days. After seeing 1 of my friends who got cancer when she is the same age as me back in 2019, I cannot underestimate the amount of money and insurance coverage I need to protect myself. Having a deep pocket provide more options for treatment too. Insurance is important if you don’t have really deep pockets. Hence, I really should not spend wastefully like what I did in my 20s.

    These are the categories that I want to spend less in my 30s as I learn from my mistakes in my 20s after reviewing my expenditure in my 20s. Yes, I do track all my expenses ever since I started work in an Excel file. šŸ™‚ I should have done it over MySQL on hindsight but oh well. Data analytics will be much easier if I am not tracking in Excel. :sigh:

    (1) Buy less lower quality bags

    I spent quite a bit of money buying fashion bags that are either in trend or of poor quality (such as Charles and Keith) when I was in my 20s. I even bought a Steve Madden bag from San Francisco. I thought it was leather but it turned out to be PU. It only lasted for a few months? It really cannot carry heavy stuff and it was the most expensive backpack I ever own at that time? It was US$54.44 (S$79.16) and only lasted a few months. :sigh: I have now discovered Fjallraven Kanken and got the second original kanken bag in Beijing after my first bag lasted for more than 2 years. We are talking about more than 2 years of daily use. It could have lasted even longer if I didn’t see a sale at Beijing store and decided to replace my old, dirty and worn out bag.

    I will still buy bags but I think I only want to buy the better quality ones. For backpacks, I am sticking to Fjallraven Kanken or Thule. For other bags, I think I want to either get real leather bags which I can send for servicing/repairs or nylon/cloth bags which can be dried which I can bring out on rainy days.

    (2) Buy less makeup

    I spent my 20s exploring different types of makeup and also going for makeup classes. I bought mascara that I end up throwing away after using 2 to 3 times? Yeah, it’s the cheap ones from Innisfree/Watsons but to use them for less than 5 times before throwing it away because they have a expiry date of 6 months is just too wasteful. I still like lip and eye brow makeup though. Sadly, this pandemic has force us to wear masks all the time when we are out so there’s really no need for lip makeup anymore. Maybe when we don’t need to wear masks, I can go back to using lip makeup again. :happy:

    I definitely want to buy less mascara or eye shadow palettes or eyeliners since I am just too lazy to put on full makeup and these items expires too fast for me to use them up.

    (3) Buy less costume jewellery

    When I am in my 20s, I really love to buy earrings and sometimes necklaces. I used to buy at least 20 pairs of earrings when I go to South Korea for vacation. I buy earrings and necklaces in whichever country I go to. I have some that I really love and some are just brand new which I haven’t wore. I have some that is very dressy which I can only wear when I go for wedding lunch/dinner. I really like accessorising my outfits and spend quite a bit on them. It makes me very sad and I can’t bear to throw away the ones that has either tarnished or rusted. As a result, I am always running of space to store them. šŸ™

    I have learned to buy fine jewellery in recent years. These don’t rust and I can send them for professional cleaning at the jewellery stores. My first fine jewellery necklace is a silver necklace from Tiffany and Co. It’s from their Return to Tiffany collection and I bought it when I went to San Francisco in 2018. I remembered walking in to want to buy the music note necklace but they don’t have it so I fall back to my backup plan of the Return to Tiffany necklace. I have sent it for professional cleaning in Singapore boutiques numerous times. Silver is not really a fine jewellery piece but since I paid a premium (because it is Tiffany and Co), I decided to consider it as a fine jewellery piece. šŸ™‚ I was quite sad when my pendant was badly scratched after using for some time. I even brought it to ask if they can polish it and the sales associate told me it costs S$40 for polishing. :shocked: Ever since then, I decided not to get another silver piece for a few hundred of dollars. It’s either yellow gold or white gold for me.


    Posted On: March 8th 2021 at 12:32 am | Add a Comment?
    Categories: Fashion, New stuff, Personal life, Wants

    I wanted to send my Hermes Evelyne 29 bag for Hermes spa since I discovered a patch where it looks like I scratched it. I got a cheaper bag insert from Etsy (JennyCrafts) and I think it was not suitable so end up damaging my bag. šŸ™

    I called Hermes customer service hotline to make appointment with my SA since I don’t have his mobile number. Then he whatsapp me back and I scheduled my appointment on the same day (22 February 2021).

    I went in and he advised against sending it for spa. Well, I went back in December 2020 and asked about the Hermes spa pricing and it was S$385. He seems ok for me to send it in. Now the prices have increased to S$405 and he said it looks brand new to him and perfectly fine. I listened to his advice and decided not to send it in. It will take 6 months for it to be cleaned/checked anyway. In the end, I opt for buying a twilly to try to cover the patch up. I should have bought a twilly last year before the price increase. It was S$260 previously and now due to price increase, it is S$280. :shocked: Oh well. There aren’t many choices for twilly too. I opt for the Jungle Love rainbow collection (red twilly) instead.

    I also asked to look at some calvi and bastia. There aren’t many calvi card holders to choose from but there were many bastia coin pouches to pick. I have always love their bastia designs. In fact, I wanted to ask Eunice to help me buy during her staff sale when she was still working at Hermes. She has never seen bastia available in staff sale so I didn’t manage to get any bastia before she left Hermes. I was thinking that since I always like the design and I foresee myself buying one in future anyway, I decided to just pick one I like in the store on the day. I picked the Chevre Chamkila leather one in a brown shade. Because of the leather type, it costs S$440 for the bastia.

    Yes, very expensive purchases made at Hermes when I only went there with the intention to send my bag for Hermes spa. :happy: