Freebies – An Exercise In Trivial Pursuits

12 Days of Christmas Swop 2013 edition

Posted on October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 by Chloe Happ

Last year my pal Juanita and I hosted an international swop for bloggers (more about it HERE, HERE and HERE). A total of 9 bloggers participated. I made a video everyday as I opened the presents from my swop partner, then uploaded each unveiling video daily onto my facebook page.

We enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again this year! We hope more bloggers would join us!

What’s this?

– Are you a blogger?

– Do you get excited opening (non-$$$) mail?

– Would you like to celebrate Christmas with a (friendly) stranger through an international gift exchange?

Open to all international friends with a blog.

Swop partners will be announced on 01 November 2013.
Make a new friend!
Swop packages shall contain 12 individually wrapped items free from culturally offensive, dangerous or illegal material.
Budget: around $25 USD, excluding postage.
Mail out by 23 November 2013, Saturday. (21 days to put things together.)
By December: receive swop package from your partner.
Open 1 item a day.
Share the fun!

Win free tickets to ZOMBIELAND 26 Oct 2013 (Singapore)

Posted on September 26, 2013September 26, 2013 by Chloe Happ

Here’s a chance for wastedfashion readers to win themselves some tickets for a spooktacular evening at Wave House Sentosa on the 26th of October 2013!

It’s the ultimate zombie party and you (and YOUR FRIENDS) get to go for FREE! (SAVE $38 early bird, $48 advance or $58 event day)

Attendees are to dress up as Zombies (w00t! Zombie beach invasion) and party with DJs Reid Stefan (USA/Island Def Jam), DJ Ono (Thailand/HeavyHitters) and DJ Stas (Singapore/Mink, Fenix Room)

Details of the event can be found HERE

The prizes that I’m giving out include FOUR (4) VIP Passes and THREE (3) pairs of tickets to the event. This means that 4 lucky winners and their friends will get to attend the event for FREE!!

To qualify, all you need to do is:

1. You must LIKE facebook.com/ultimatezombieparty

2. Then go to facebook.com/wastedfashion (and LIKE the page)

3. Leave a message in my Zombieland post on facebook and say “Give me these tickets!”

Just be sure that you’re either based in Singapore and are going to be in Singapore on the 26th of October 2013! Winners will be selected through a randomizer and names will be announced on the wastedfashion facebook page by 9 October 2013! Winners should contact me by 11 October 2013 with their details and they will in turn receive their Zombie Kits by 19 October 20013!

READY, GET SET, GO!!!! MWAAAAAAAAARRRHHHH GAAAK GAAWWWWWK

Rants & Raves

Rants & Raves: My 2013 Birthday Giveaway

Posted on August 20, 2013September 18, 2013 by Chloe Happ

*Ended

I turn 35 on the 13th of September 2013 and to commemorate this significant occasion, I’d like to be generous and do a giveaway of some Vanity Trove boxes. Sorry, I jest. I mean you WILL stand a chance to win some Vanity Trove boxes but I’m not doing it to celebrate my birthday and I don’t think turning 35 is a big deal. Also, I didn’t really do anything to be born. As my mother’s firstborn, I think it’s a day that’s more significant to her than me.

This giveaway is too generous for my shallow pockets but I’d like to turn something crappy into a fun exercise (more on that below).

Anyway, here are the rules for this giveaway:

1. You must never ever purchase a subscription from http://www.vanitytrove.com/ (How am I going to police this? Who am I kidding? I’m giving them free publicity, silly me!)

2. You have to be based in Singapore. (This is 1 of the reasons why I can’t utilize my credits.)

3. You have to LIKE my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/wastedfashion

4. Share a shopping horror story on the related post on this giveaway. (It can be anything related to hardsell tactics, products that never arrived, deleting important emails about your purchase, recurring payments you forgot etc)

It’s that simple! Once I’ve picked the winners, I’ll get your Singapore-based mailing address and send you a box. Or actually, my sister will because I’ll be back in Las Vegas.

The story behind this giveaway:

I wrote to Vanity Trove on 16 August 2013 when I realised I haven’t gotten my July box and was wondering if August was going to be the same – emailed, twittered and facebooked. I also was concerned becaused I wasn’t going to be around anymore and really wanted to get all the boxes I paid for before I left.

Before I got any responses (that being a weekend), Paypal deducted another $300 recurring payment – my fault for not remembering to cancel. But I got a reply on Facebook yesterday morning (19 August 2013) to inform me that their subscription model has changed and it’s no longer a curated box – also my fault for deleteing all their emails as they spam me with product launches and events so often that I stopped reading. I was told that to get my July and August (and subsequent boxes) I needed to log in to “buy” what I wanted. Anyway, I tried the personalized model and clicked randomly. I now had about $400+ in credits because of cycle ONE and the new cycle that was credited. I “bought” 5 boxes and was left with $300 which really, I wanted to have refunded as this was for the next cycle. I explained that I won’t be around in Singapore to enjoy them. Whoever answered me on Facebook told me to give them my email and a follow-up with this message – “I have informed my CS team about the refund and they will be contacting you soon”.

Instead of the nice, friendly voice on Facebook, I got a very corporate sounding email this morning that told me “We do not have a refund policy for paid membership made, therefore you have to utilize the credits before the expiry date stated on your VanityTab.”. And that was that. I don’t think I have time or energy to do more than explain to them my situation. I’ve asked for help and the ball is in their court. As you can see, it’s largely my fault, so that’s all I can do. I really can’t afford to do thi$ right now but really, I don’t think I have a case against corporate sounding emails. *koffkoff* And as friendly as they attempt to make their brand more appealing by creating a false persona to front it (i.e. Victoria Tan), they’re still a money-making entity at the end of the day (and I get it, they are entitled to whatever T&Cs and don’t have to practice goodwill in customer service if they don’t wish to). I am thoroughly frustrated but I have more urgent matters at hand so please enjoy and partake in this!

I have 5 boxes coming and another $300 more credits. A box is about $25 on average, so I guess if they won’t be refunding me the $300, there will be more boxes I’ll be giving away!

Learn from my mi$take!!! Read the fine print, be aware of what you’re buying, cancel recurring payments (you really don’t need it because it’s easier to decide after 1 cycle if you want to re-subscribe) and join my giveaway! There are at least 10 Vanity Trove boxes to win as long as you promise not to ever buy from them (try to resist it or suffer the folly of my ways).

Freebies, Rants & Raves

Rants & Raves: Our 2012 Christmas Swop

Posted on October 8, 2012October 8, 2012 by Chloe Happ

In 2010, my pal Juanita sent me a box of presents from Switzerland. Her in-laws lovingly carried the package back to Singapore for her. She sent me 12 things in the package and numbered them. I was allowed to open only in sequence, 1 a day. It was quite a fun exercise and I loved it so much. You can read about it here (https://wastedfashion.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/12-days-of-christmas-gifting/)

After we did the JuanitaTortilla Birthday Giveaway, we had so much fun that we wanted to organise another. This time, it’ll be open to all bloggers and EVERYONE who participates will get something! We named it the 12 Days of Christmas Swop and we’d like everyone to participate! Male, female, young and old!

Essentially, you’ll need to be a blogger (sorry for the others), sign up and we’ll use a randomiser to pair you up, you make/buy/find 12 different gifts (with a total value of at least USD25) suitable for your partner (you should learn more about them from their blog), and post them by 17 November 2012 so that they will get their package in time (12 days before Christmas). Then we all blog about our experiences! Click HERE for more details!

To give you an idea of what should be done, I have picked out my 12 items already! 6 are packed and 6 can be seen below. There are some girly things and some generic things so it might be appropriate for anyone. Do these items interest you? Join this swop! Maybe you’ll be my partner and they’ll be yours!

Freebies

The SmartBuyGlasses Giveaway

Posted on October 6, 2012March 6, 2013 by Chloe Happ

*EDIT – This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Kasia!

As if those awesome Ray Bans weren’t enough! I have a pair of sexy shades to share with my readers (local and international)! Aren’t we lucky? Thank you SmartBuyGlasses for sponsoring this post! This giveaway will run from 6 October 2012 (SGT 1800hrs) and end on 27 October 2012 (SGT 1800hrs).

The winner will win a pair of UNISEX Vogue sunglasses worth C$99.00 from SmartBuyGlasses.

Here are the requirements to enter the giveaway:

Like SmartBuyGlasses Canada: http://www.facebook.com/SmartBuyGlasses.ca
Follow SmartBuyGlasses Canada on Twitter: @SBG_CA
On the SmartBuyGlasses Twitter, answer to this question : “what’s your favourite pair”?

I have progressed to using a fancy-smancy widget for this giveaway! You can chalk up chances your way! Unfortunately Rafflecopter is not compatible with WordPress, so instead you should
Click HERE to enter

If you’ve entered using different userIDs, be sure to let me know in the comment below!

Freebies

The Juanita Tortilla Birthday Giveaway – Results

Posted on September 14, 2012September 14, 2012 by Chloe Happ

This post was supposed to be for yesterday – my birthday, but 2 of my winners did not fulfill all the requirements of the sponsored giveaway which was conducted a month ago, so I was waiting for their responses.

My Winners were:

1. Saralyn / TwitPic

2. Tasneem / A Gift

3. Razaan / Photo

4. Jason

5. Siew Lin

All they had to do was send me a “birthday present” i.e. photo – email, tweet or a blog post, of them and the gift that JuanitaTortilla handmade and sponsored. I mailed them out diligently and was disappointed because I even sent reminders a few days ago. Anyway, I’ve given it away and that’s that, right?

Thank you to everyone who participated and completed the task!

Freebies

The 3rd WASTEDFASHION blogaversary Giveaway

Posted on September 8, 2012September 14, 2012 by Chloe Happ

*EDIT: Ended!

This is another giveaway and it’s in conjunction with my 3rd blogaversary happening on 15th October 2012! Just like my birthday giveaway, I hope that on 15th October, I’ll be able to do a post of the winners WITH their prizes (my birthday is next Thursday, 13th September and I’m still waiting for my 5 winners from the previous giveaway to send me the photos).

This giveaway starts NOW! And will close when I have 15 participants. The final 3 winners will be picked via an online randomiser and results will be screen-captured and posted here.

To participate, you should:

1) Be a wastedfashion reader

2) LIKE my Facebook Fan Page (Please indicate below in the comments if your Facebook name is different)

3) Follow me on Twitter (Please indicate below in the comments if your twitter ID is different)

4) Leave a comment below to indicate that you’d like to participate.

I will leave a comment after yours to let you know if you’ve completed the above requirements accurately and whether you’re officially in the lucky draw or not.

If you win, please send me a photo of YOU & the prizes you’ve received before 15th October 2012. It’s that simple!

*EDIT: I’ve just amended the rules a little to accomodate other readers. Leaving a comment gives you 1 chance, following me on Twitter & Facebook gives you 1 additional chance each. So if you do all 3, your name will be put into the lucky draw 3 times. I just want everyone to have a little fun 🙂

The items in the above photos have all been packed into 3 random boxes – there are cosmetics box sets and accessories included. All are brand new and unused.

Good luck and have fun!

Rants & Raves

Rants & Raves: My CLARINS Haul

Posted on August 17, 2012August 17, 2012 by Chloe Happ

I’m raving about my CLARINS experience at the Raffles City Shopping Centre ROBINSONS today. I wasn’t really looking to buy anything but chanced upon CLARINS “Big Beautiful Eyes Pledge” on Facebook. By entering your particulars, you get invited to try some products out at your chosen CLARINS counter. I made my appointment at Raffles City because it was closest to work.

This experience didn’t start really well. I’m sure it’s partly because of how I look and dressed. To be fair, I didn’t identify myself and waited for the consultant to serve another 2 women before stepping up. The first thing I asked was about a gorgeously pink lipstick, then I passed her the printout (which you were supposed to bring to prove that you LIKED their page and signed up for the challenge). After clarifying, she explained that she could do it on my hand (which would be faster and simpler) or remove my make-up and try the products out on my face. I chose to try it out on my face because I have time anyways.

I spent close to 1 hour and 30 minutes having my make-up removed, then getting the various products slathered on my face – including a mask. This allowed me to feel the products on my skin and see how they’re being used. It was full-on slather and not a half-hearted affair. During the trial, I asked questions because I was genuinely interested in the products as she was offering them to me. I got the feeling that she was more enthusiastic after I showed more interest. She wasn’t pushy and explained how the products were used, even answering my questions about some similar products I was already using from competitors like Shiseido.

Anyway, long story short, I bought the lipstick (Rouge Prodige 102), Water Purify One-Step Cleanser, HydraQuench Intensive Serum Bi-Phase and WHITE PLUS Whitening Velvet Emulsion with SPF20. I also received a full sized bottle of their Satin-Smooth Body Lotion with Sorbier Bud as well as a set of travel-sized skincare (toner, make-up remover, scrub etc) because they were having a promotion. Also, I was given a $50-off voucher to the Wheelock Place Clarins Spa once I was automatically made a member. AND because I spent over a certain amount, ROBINSONS gave me a $20 voucher (which the cashier promptly used to deduct from the total cost). In the end, I spent only $259 on everything!

I know it’s a little more spendy that I usually am (partly because I’m a bargain hunter and I am skint) but I think today’s haul is a fantastic deal! For those products that I was unsure of, I was given a suitable stash of samples to try. The consultant also indicated in a product guide, which ones to use, when (including the samples). I am impressed because this gives me an idea of what my entire skincare routine would entail and whether or not the extra products will benefit me.

The beauty consultant that serviced me was Janice Han and I’m very happy with today’s CLARINS haul and experience (much better than what I can say for a certain SK-II counter where I was told I needed every product under the sun because I had really bad skin, then refused to give me more than 2 sample sachets to try out the products). I’m sure I lucked out with the triple-bonus and after today, I don’t think I’ll ever bring home that many CLARINS products for $259. But then again, if they work, I don’t think I’ll be that worried because I know that I can try out the products adequately before I plonk down the moolah.

So does this count as a haul?

Freebies

The JuanitaTortilla Birthday Giveaway

Posted on August 13, 2012August 14, 2012 by Chloe Happ

*EDIT – This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to all 5 winners! Hope to see the photos of you and your loot soon!

Hey it’s my birthday in exactly a month and I’m gonna give you presents! There are 5 sets of sponsored jewellery up for grabs! (See, I play nice and I share my things!)

Please visit JuanitaTortilla and say hello to my lovely sponsor and beloved childhood friend!

This giveaway is open to all including international readers! To participate:

You must have a blog or twitter. (Please leave me your blog address & twitter handle)
You must LIKE both the wastedfashion and JuanitaTortilla Facebook pages, then tell us you’re there to win the JuanitaTortilla Birthday giveaway
Be the first to leave a comment on this post to claim 1 of 5 sets!
Just say “I want” and if you’re amongst the first 5, YOU WIN! (Randomly packed with a few items seen here.)

My birthday is on 13 September and here’s what I want from you in return – I’ll send the items out as soon as I get your address. Hopefully by 13 September 2012, you can tweet me a photo of you with the freebies (@wastedfashion) or/and write a short blog entry about it.

This giveaway starts NOW and ends when all 5 items have been claimed.