One thing that I truly believe is that every girl loves to receive flowers and surprises.

Even if they do not show it outwardly and proclaim how cliche or boring or redundant the flowers are, inside their heart they would be screaming with silent joy and pride, especially when their friends or colleagues are ooh-ing and aahh-ing over the flowers, speculating who the "secret admirer" is.

However, you don't have to be a "secret admirer" to send your good friend a surprise today.

I remember when Ms Black was feeling down some time ago. As I could not meet up with her as I was busy, I decided to send her a surprise bouquet to cheer her up and to remind her that even when she's sad, there are people who are still are thinking of her.

So I went to my computer and log onto the website of Far East Flora and started choosing my "surprise".

Being Singapore's leading online florist, Far East Flora has an established website which is very easy to navigate. Besides offering floral bouquets and hampers sorted into different categories and occasions, the website also allows me to choose other not-so-conventional , non-floral items such as cakes and wines and gift. You can choose to surprise your friend with a wine basket, or pamper her with a Crabtree and Evelyn hamper or simply indulge her with cakes and chocolates from the likes of Mariott Hotel or Canele.

In the case of Mrs Black, I chose for her a simple floral arrangement with blue roses and customized it by adding 3 doggie stuff toys since Mrs Black is a dog lover. This way, even after the flowers have wilted, the doggies can still be kept as a memento.

I made the order online in the morning and arranged for a same day delivery. By evening time, Mrs Black had received her "surprise" :) and called me excitedly to thank me. And I also experienced how much joy there is from giving :)

If you have friends staying overseas, Far East Flora  also have affiliates in a lot of other countries. So why not send them a small "surprise" to let them know that you are thinking of them.

The website itself is very user-friendly. Customers will first need to login to their account whereby all the details and the buying history are already stored in the website. What I like about fareastflora is that given the busy lifestyles we have today, they provide us a reminder service whereby I can input my friends and family's birthdays. I can also store the delivery addresses in the system. Thus, I will not ruin the surprises for my recipents by asking them for their addresses each time I want to send them something. There is also an order tracking service just like those international courier services like DHL and Fedex once I have placed an order!

* The above image belongs to Far East Flora unless specified otherwise.

Besides that, there is also a wide range of selections for me to choose from. Not only are there gifts for  special events like Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday, Baby , there are also a large variety of gifts from skincare, flowers, jewellery just to cater to different events. You will  be amazed to find even hampers and cakes on the website! I think, Far East Flora can be considered as an one stop shop for customers !! It is just so convenient and the prices are very affordable as well!!

* The above image belongs to Far East Flora unless specified otherwise.

What I like most is actually the promotions offered by Far East Flora . I can save up to 25% if I place any promotional order. Every month, they will have a range of promotional items for that particular event in the month or for birthdays!

* The above image belongs to Far East Flora unless specified otherwise.

Website : http://www.fareastflora.com

Delivery : Order will be processed and shipped in 24 hours.

Delivery Costs : Free delivery.

Tips : Customise your bourquet or hampers by adding small personal touches such as the receipinet's favoutite flower or stuff toy

Rating : 8 out of 10

I finally received my ASOS order >> Click on this to go to my earlier ASOS blog. I think they were experiencing some problems with their September orders. Saw so many people with complaints on ASOS's facebook page. I realised that they do not have such issues in the past.Well, it was my first order with ASOS and it wasn't a good experience !!!!! Aww !

* All the above images belong to ASOS facebook unless specified otherwise.

But meanwhile, I realised something interesting! I have two friends on my facebook who have clicked "like" on ASOS Facebook and they are both guys !! mmm ... that means guys love to do online shopping on ASOS too !! And these are the two guys whom I think are usually very well dressed . Now , I know where they get their clothes from .. mm ....

* All the above images belong to ASOS facebook unless specified otherwise.

My ASOS order came in a very different packaging from my Forever 21. ASOS order doesn't come in a box but in a black ASOS bag (I was quite glad that I didn't order any bags or else they might have be damaged!)

The clothes came in individual bags too and there is a label on each bag to tell you the item and the size.

There is also a return form whereby customers who are not satisfied with their orders can do an exchange or refund.

2 pieces that I bought from ASOS:

I like the style but the quality wasn't as good as I thought. 

The fabric is super thin and it is definitely not worth to buy at £16.00 (approx SG$33) , not inclusive of shipping fees ! The dress is definitely not flattering to my body. I am quite disappointed and will do a refund for this dress as I didn't expect the quality of the dress to be that poor : (

 

I think I will keep this Lightweight shorts playsuit. I bought this at £15.00 (approx SG$31), which is already at a Sale Price! The quality of this suit is average (Cotton) and it is rather comfortable. However, I still think that the item is abit overpriced !

For my 2 other pieces, I am going to ask for a refund. I am disappointed with both the quality (very thin material) and the price they were sold at. For the dress on the right, I was so shocked to realise that it is a SEE THROUGH dress when I received the dress! The picture on the website does not hint about the see-through nature of the dress.

I think the experience is enough to prevent me from ordering anymore items from them. I would never consider ordering any item that wasn't on sale. Shipping costs are ridiculously high yet there is no tracking method and customers need to wait longer than the estimated arrival date. I will check with my colleague on Monday whether she wants to do any refunds for any of her items and we will ship the items back together. I am going to use the money to buy more Forever 21 items instead !

Website : http://www.asos.com/

Delivery /Cost:

Option 1 - Delivery to Singapore is up to 11 working days at a flat rate of £10.50 , with no tracking service.

Option 2 - Delivery to Singapore is up to 4 working days at a flat rate of £20, with tracking service.

Service : Email correspondence between buyer and Customer Service is prompt and fast.

Product: The clothes are of poor quality, similiar to the clothes we can buy from local blogshops or Bugis Village. I didn't expect the material to be so thin. According to many reviews I saw online, the size chart on the website is not accurate. It really depends on your luck whether you have chosen the right size for your clothes!

Price: Definitely overpriced. I will never buy any item which is not on Sale!

Rating : 5 out of 10 (I was disappointed with the delivery, quality and the price ! Too slow, Poor Quality & Overpriced !)

I had a big surprise this weekend when I realised that one of hubby's friends , Mr L has been shopping for his apparels online ! He was sharing a korean site with the guys and I on buying some Korean Shirts, branded - "Purple Club" for work! And we were all so excited and started browsing the site on TV so that everyone could give their opinion on the clothes. ! It was quite a fun and interactive experience but I was rather surprised to see the guys get excited about it as well. I have never really gone shopping with these guys, so it was rather interesting to hear some of the comments by the guys - "Nah, too old fashioned!", "Not bad, looks like you can attract the gals in this!", "No! No! I wearing this for work! Not party!" , " Yucks! I don't think he can carry it well in this." etc..

* All the above images belong to the seller unless specified otherwise.

Not too bad for these guys who hate crowded places and do not like the hassle of shopping in malls! Furthermore, these men in their 30s would not have any time nor energy to go shopping after work! Within half an hour, they shortlisted 3 shirts for one of the guys. It was fun for me because I get to be involved in the decision-making process too ! The shirts are very reasonably priced at $30+ per shirt and they are definitely very styled - just like those you see in Korean dramas! The site also comes with a useful size chart that lets the customers know what size they need to get .

But guys will forever be guys. I was the secretary who had to take all the details of the shirts that they short-listed and they are expecting me to help them place the order.

Website : http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=178681171

Delivery :  Item is mailed out and should arrive within the 14 working days upon receipt of payment.

Delivery Costs :  Every 5 pieces of shirts - cost around SG$2-3/piece  

Product Range: Men Apparels - Tshirt, Shirt, Suit Pants, Jacket, Pants, Belt and Knit ! Fashionable Korean style which cater to Asian fashion and lifestyle

Price: Cheap if you compare them to G2000 shirts. Similar quality but much more fashionable :P

Customer Service: Quite good. And you can even sign up as member as earn points to redeem for stuff later !

Rating : 8 out of 10

I am so excited that my first order (Click on it to view my first order!) of  F21 has arrived today !

The stuff were well-packed in this small box. I didn't think that all the stuff could fit into the box.

The clothes were all nicely wrapped in paper, separated from the bag and the accessories!

The accessories were all bubble packed to prevent any damage !

I couldn't resist my excitement and torn the paper that wrapped the clothes.

The bags were also nicely packed in their respective bags.

I forced my colleague to take the picture of her bags!

The bags look exactly the same as what we saw on the website.

So do the dresses ! They look exactly like what I saw on the website too!

* The above LHS images used in this post belong to www,forever21.com unless specified otherwise

I happily put them away into my wardrobe !! Yippy !

On a separate note, I brought the stuff to office to show my colleagues. All of them were so excited to see that the stuff looked exactly like the pictures on the website and they wanted to join in for my next order with F21 !

I am going to arrange one more spree for Christmas or Chinese New Year. Anyone takers?

Whilst searching for reviews about Tony Moly, a popular Korean skincare line, I came across this website selling Tony Moly Products at a great discount.

I had seen the fresh tear aqua gel cream at the Tony Moly outlet before and loved the cute packaging of the product, which comes in a beautiful tear shaped bottle. But at $53.00 per bottle, it was over my budget.

So I was very excited when I chanced upon this website that sells the exact same product for only $20.00. That works out to be a discount of 60%!!! Furthermore, this pricing is inclusive of delivery !

I immediately placed an order online made payment via interbank transfer. I also sms-ed the seller of my payment and the response was very prompt. Within an hour, I had received the confirmation of receipt of payment via sms and I received a further email confirmation when the item was dispatched the next day.

3 days from the date of order, the item was delivered directly to my home. The item was securely wrapped in a box with bubble pack, so the risk of damage during delivery is minimized.

Besides Tony Moly, this website also offers a range of beautycare products such as skin and body care, masks and makeup from other popular Korean Brands such as The Faceshop, Skinfood and Etude House.

So do check out this website cos pampering yourself does not necessarily have to come at a high cost.

You do not even need to register yourself on the website and you can start shopping! You can choose to searcht either by category or by brand.

* The above image belongs to Korea Beauty House unless specified otherwise.

I can then get a number of products under that category or brand

* The above image belongs to Korea Beauty House unless specified otherwise.

I just have to click on the product I am interested in and I can easily add the product I want to the shopping basket.

* The above image belongs to Korea Beauty House unless specified otherwise.

The product I want will then appear in my shopping basket and once I click on "check out", the website will bring me to the list of products I have decided to buy and will also show me a login for existing customers or to register for a new customer.

* The above image belongs to Korea Beauty House unless specified otherwise.

Website : http://www.koreabeautyhouse.com

Delivery : Item is mailed out within the next 1-2 working days upon receipt of payment and should arrive in 2-3 working days.

Delivery Costs : Free standard local Postage for all products, except for sheetmask.

• $1.00 normal mail postage for sheetmasks.
• Additional $2.50 (for local) on top of normal postage for Priority Registered Mail.
• For Normal Mail its free for Local on all products, except for sheetmask, you are required to pay $1.00 for the normal mail postage.

Sevice : Fast and Prompt Service.

Rating : 8 out of 10

Our motor insurance is going to be due in 2 months. Recently, I realised that hubby has been very active online looking for quotes on motor insurance. So I made him share his experiences with us. He was quite happy and agreed to share the experiences with our dear readers. This is from him:

I have been getting my annual motor insurance through insurance agents all the while. Till a friend recommended my these 2 websites.... Aviva and Directasia.com. You can actually get a genuine quote from the portal within seconds after in-putting your personal data. Once the quote is activated, its actually binding and will be activated once you make payment. Validity of the quotes are 30 days. Gone are the days when you have to wait for your agent to come back with quotes after a week or two. Ease as well as speed in getting the quotes are fantastic.

  VS

 All the above images belong to www.aviva.com.sg/ and  http://www.directasia.com.sg/ unless specified otherwise.

Convenience in getting your motor insurance quote and getting it incredibly fast within a couple of minutes is really great. But the quotes that I received from both portals are really something else. If you are a budget motorist like me, the only concern I have about motor insurance is the price of the premium. Guess what kind of quotes I received?? Aviva quoted me a premium that is almost 60% cheaper than my existing insurance.... while directasia quoted me 70% cheaper!! How's that for cost-savings. I went through the t&cs and they are definitely not inferior to my current plan from Liberty Assurance.

If you have similar worries that I had when I received the super low quotes, both are very reputable big insurance companies from overseas. I reckon the low premiums are to gain a foothold in the sg motor insurance market. Well, they just gained a new customer in me!!

If you are an avid book reader, this is a website that you should definitely check out.

I love to use this website to search and check out the availability of titles at Kinokuniya, especially obscure titles which are not commonly available.

By purchasing these titles immediately online, I can save on the hassle of looking high and low through shelves and shelves of books to locate those hard-to-find titles.

Just key in the title on the bookweb and you know instantly whether the book is available. The search results generated also include the full details of title, including the author, publisher, year of publish etc, thus minimizing the risk of ordering a wrong title.

* The above image belongs to Kinokuniya unless specified otherwise.

Besides home delivery, if you stay or work near their main store at Takashimaya, like me, you can also choose to order the book online but pick it up at their Takashimaya outlet.

This was what I did. I just ordered the book online and stopped by their store to pick up my reserved copy and paid for my selection at the counter. No wasted trips to bookstores and no more searching and asking around in the store. Just totally fuss-free and convenient shopping .

Website : http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=04

Delivery : 1 working day for processing of order and 1 working day for delivery

Delivery Costs : A delivery charge of $5 per delivery will be added to your bill (minimum purchase of $10 required). Free delivery is available for one-time purchase of $50 or above.

Tips : If there are any books which you are looking for which is not on their database, you can even send Kinokuniya an email appending the details of the book you are looking for and they will help you to source for the said book !!!

Service : Pretty good service as books reserved can be easily collected from counter or delivered to your doorsteps.

Rating : 7 out of 10