Labien (underwear)

 

What's the first impression when you hear of "labien"? Is it "lesbian" as Mum had thought so? =/ Bless her heart, and yours too if you did. Of all names, why this for intimate wear? Anyway, here's a series of underwears which Mum and I co-purchased as they were adorable (no we are not sharing them!). I particularly like the one with a bunny countenance at the top right corner. 

The material was cotton but of good elasticity. Even for one with a huge bum, this one fits perfectly to the bum contours. And look really cute. One qualm that I had was the fact that this was another korean company peddling China-made goods. *sigh*

Fortunately, there were still some which were authentically Korean.

Source: Gmarket

Price: $1.90 each + $5.00 shipping

Rating: 8.0/10

Freebra, an alternative to Nubra

I have plenty of clothes requiring strapless bras to be worn, but I rarely wear them since I do not really possess those suitable bras with half cups. Adhesive "nubra"s offer a good solution, but the authentic ones are sooo expensive! So here's a cheaper alternative:

How does the quality compare to the original one? Honestly, I do not have any idea, since my shallow pockets do not offer me the luxury of owning one. What I can deduce about my use of this product is that, it's tacky enough to stay on the skin and I can barely feel it, a definite must-have for a girl's wardrobe! It does get a little loose at times but not to the extent of dropping off, just have to nudge it a little through a discrete action like hugging my bag or crossing my arms around my chest. My first time lasted >10hours!

I must stress that one has to make the effort to wear the bra correctly, if not it would not last as long on the skin and might feel uncomfortable. It's up to your imagination to try out the different angles, with the hooks etc. Do put on your top and adjust accordingly, for some times it might look fine when you only have it on and then look weird after putting your top on. And please be gentle, plastic hooks looking like this can't survive rough handling:

Some tips to make your adhesive bra more durable and retain its tackiness:

• Wash with mild soap and water after every use to remove the natural body oils from the surface
• Air dry, do not dry with towel, so that lints will not get stucked to the surface
• Use a plastic sheet (comes with the bra) to cover the adhesive surface and store the bra in its original box so that dust will not get stucked

Dislike the way the seller packed the bra though, no bubble-wrap and the flimsy box resulted in this:

 Source: Gmarket (Note: cheaper one here, but may not have stock)

Price: $7.5 (got it for $6.50 from coupon) + Free shipping

Rating: 8/10

Buyingcoins 3.5mm Headphone Splitter Jack Cable

This works. But there’s an issue with the sound quality when I plug two headphones through this connector. Background music is fine, but the voice of the lead singer will sound far far off. Not very sure if it’s due to my headphone, or the splitter though. I'm clueless about such electronics. =x

Source: ebay

Price: USD $0.99 (~$1.27) + Free shipping

Rating: 7/10

Lelong Lelong (spaghetti top)

Nope, these were not edited, the spaghetti top was needed of this kind of shape. Material-wise, it's acceptable.I couldn't complain much since it costed only $4 with free shipping. What I was more pissed off with was the poor packaging that resulted in my envelop being opened during the delivery.

 

Source: Gmarket

Price: $3.80+ Free shipping

Rating: 7.0/10

Style Zoom (cancan skirt and full dress)

Stylezoom offers decent quality clothes, and I had bought from this company a few times as well. Mum particularly like their crease band pants, since they are comfortable. For me, I would prefer others and only when the basic price drops to $3.90! 

#1: si-008 cancan chiffon gray $3.90 

Totalling $5.50, this skirt with frills is a definite steal. A closer look would reveal a satin-like inner lining, and the outer translucent fabric extends an inch beyond the inner lining, casting a beautiful sheer look without exposing too much of the thighs. Wished they had other colours for this one!

#2: st_037_gray_free $5.90 

This one's good too! Thick material, unlike from those of Jennie's shop, suitable for airconditioned workplace or shopping malls! I will probably be wearing this next time when I go to work or when the weather's really cold!

Source: Gmarket

Price: As per stated individually + $3.20 (for 2 pieces)

Rating: 8.5/10

Dodozzang Clothes (fuff box, simple dress, basic dress)

I have been a regular customer of Dodozzang's collection as I find that their clothes are generally well-made with good material at reasonable prices, refer to the image below for the sewing. However, I will only purchase when the basic price drops to $4.90 (<-- take note take note!) 

This time around, I bought 3 dressses, of which two were to my liking. Let's start with the one that I do not fancy as much. It was called fuff box. Blame it on myself that I did not check the exact dimensions, for it was too big! Had to give it to Mum, who did not wear it till now. The material was of tee-shirt type, but of thicker quality.

The 2nd and 3rd dresses were aptly named, as there were really basic, and simple to match with any bag or shoes or accessories. They were not tight-fitting, and just like Fuff box, they were made of tee-shirt material of thicker quality. Good for the cooling weather during this period!

Source: Gmarket

Price: $4.90 + $2 (Total of $6.90 per dress) + $2.5 shipping

Rating: 8.0/10

Singhealth New Year Freebies

This is treachery. I had joined another healthcare institution and here I am, siphoning free items from Singhealth (again). Well, it’s not exactly a flaw in my character, there wasn’t any limitations on participants and was open for everyone what.

So a quick signup got me these – Singhealth-customised Ezlink card with $0 value and an appealing calendar.

I placed the calendar with some others which I possessed, and this one stood out the most. Vibrantly-coloured and packed with eye-pleasing images, the calendar is tactfully-designed to deliver practical health tips while serving it’s purpose as a date reference.

However, I find that the calendar is more suited for the ladies from it’s design and health tips. For example, information about conception don the first page of the year (corresponding to January 2011):

Other useful categories include (in order of months):

Sinusitis

Cancer

Eyebags

Stroke

Bowel movement

Ovarian cysts

Maternal depression

Angina

Breast cancer

Oral hygiene

Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Perhaps this is one that is designed for ladies, by ladies! Ladies are after all, seemingly more concerned about their own and families’ health!

Xiaohua-fly PC Computer Headphone

Headphones are really not my forte, since I’m not really particular about the bass/quality/etc. What’s the difference between a $2 headphone and a $200 one? Not much difference to me, since their primary purpose is to transmit sound to my ears.

I had bought this one at a price that would put electronic stores out of business if everyone chooses to buy their headphones online. But with such a price, one cannot afford to be too choosy. The connections are slightly rusty, that’s why the volume is slightly softer (good for the ears). The microphone’s functioning ok, and the size fits my head well too. Full specifications are as shown below:

One common problem with such headphones is that they make your ears hurt after you have used one for some time. Any recommendations for earphones that do not cause such a problem? My brother would definitely love to know.

Source: ebay

Price:USD $2.69 (~$3.45) + Free shipping

Rating: 8/10

NUS Perception Survey Gift

Received this solar-powered “Thank-You” 2gb thumbdrive for my participation in NUS Perception Survey.. My first win ever, after 3 years of participation! I wonder if most Year 4s get a souvenir before they leave the school.

I really have no need for this though. Why won’t the school present to me an Ang Bao in view of the coming Lunar New Year Celebration instead? Yeah, I should make a mental note to have this penned down in this year’s Perception Survey.

Jennie Shop Clothes

It has been a long time since my last clothes purchase (after my huge online haul last year). The time around, the truckload wasn’t really up to my standard. Ok, that’s an understatement. I thought they were not totally worth the money for the kind of thin material that I had received. 

#1:  H545 puff sleeves $11.80

 

This one's for Mum, which was really suitable for her but not for me. It looked extremely baggy and odd-looking when I placed it flat on the floor.

#2: N363 jewels rain $11.80

 

This looked really different from the online image. Kudos to the photographers. I like the silver sequins though. 

#3: N391 halfsleeve simple dress $10.80

The sleeves were tight relatively to the body of the dress. And I am very sure that Dodozzang offered a better price with thicker material of similar design.
 
#4: N393 elegant ops dress $10.80

Ok, now which part of this rectangular piece of flimsy fabric screams "elegance"?

#5: H449 slim line flare $9.80

I'm most satisfied with this one over the whole batch, but I haven't worn this out yet. The material is thicker and is of stretchable type. 

#6: N388 peacock tail $10.80

Originally intended for Mum, this ended up in my stash of clothes as it was too small for her (but oversized for me).. And for those who have flabby arms, beware, those will show in this.

Most of the clothes were all pretty much the same - too big, of odd sizes, and too thin. Some had sewing defects.
 

 
I had some hesitation before buying the items, but I really wonder what prompted me to purchase them.

Of course Mum was satisfied with her part of the purchase (except for the one she couldn’t fit into and had to pass on to me). But not for the fussy me. For the amount of $ paid for each item, I could get better ones. I do not really mind the thin material if the prices were lower. Anyway, lesson learnt. Be more prudent, read reviews, stray away from Jennie’s Picks and follow yours.
 

Source: Gmarket

Price: As per stated individually + free shipping (if >$55.00)

Rating: 7.0/10

Chachap Phone Memo

I'm not very sure if it's some big organisation or whatsoever, Sglady.com has always offered a good variety of cheap (hopefully useful for customers who bought stuff) items. 

Recently, I'd bought an iphone-lookalike memo pad for $1.50 on one of my favourite online buy-sell platform, and received it 3 days later. Sglady.com has maintained its good reputation in handling and delivery speed, however, its packaging method really has to improve. None of my purchases were bubble-wrapped or protected in plastic, so most of my items came dented in paper envelops that couldn't keep the rainwater out (Singpost delivery staff hadn't been very meticulous in avoiding the rain. Imagine my horror when I opened up the mailbox to witness a pile of semi-wet envelops). To be fair, I do not expect bubble-wraps for $1.50 items but at least wrap the poor box up. There was a time when I had bought more than $50 worth of items, but there was no bubble-wrap. Oh, I returned the $50+ items since I did not find them suitable and some had defects. I hope Sglady.com wouldn't hold a grudge for that, and definitely wish that that incident wasn't the reason why it hadn't been packaging my items well and not providing me with decent quality items! 

Alright back to the product, the box was dented due to rough handling and poor packaging, and there were dark stains at some corners. 

To illustrate that the box was slightly yellowed, I had placed it on a white paper for comparison as well. 

Measuring 11.6X6.3 cm, the memo or sticky note as I would prefer to call it, was of standard paper quality albeit slightly rough in my opinion. I wasn't not really sure of the tackiness of the glue though.

When I was looking at the credits on box (right) and sticky note itself (left), I was flummoxed. Take a look:

So the manufacturer wasn't really sure if the product was made in China, or Korea? And couldn't decide to use an appropriate box with an image similar to its product? Oh come on, Sglady.com should really take pride in the items that it get from its manufacturers and look into this issue of conflicting data. After all, a confused customer is a dissatisfied (or perhaps angry) customer.

This is definitely not a present you would wish to give to your friends, unless they wouldn't mind. Remember the old adage "it's the thought that counts?"

Source: Gmarket

Price: $1.50

Rating: 7.5/10