Here's another round-up of favorite links this week.

Beauty

6 Makeup Ideas for Perfect Red Pout - Beauty and the Budget
7 Deadly Beauty Sins - Kiss and Tell
Flawless Foundation Routine - Forever Yours Beauty
What's in Your Eye Cream? - Beautylish
Which Brow Shape Is Most Flattering? - Beautylish

Homehacks and Workhacks

Make Your Own Gel Air Freshener - Lifehacker
How to Ask for a Raise 101 - WorkAwesome
Microproductivity: Get More Done and Lower Your Work Stress Without a Second Wasted - Lifehacker

Working Out

Wake Up Early and Get Motivated to Move - Fitsugar

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I was contacted by Jhing of Dermclinic this morning (Oct. 6, 2011). She actually contacted me way back Saturday, October 1, 2011 but I was not able to take the call and she texted me an e-mail address instead. This week is really hellish for me work-wise so I wasn't able to follow up my complaint using the referred e-mail address.

Anyhoo, Jhing asked me what my problem about the deal was and I explained to her what I mostly described here. She told me that 30 shots per UA is ridiculous since that's way too many for the skin to handle. My boyfriend (and some random blogs and a commenter) also noted that 60 shots for one session is uber.

Well, that's cool but what I still don't understand is how two separate people from Dermclinic SM City Cebu told me in two separate occasions that per session can use up to 60 shots per arm. And remember how the person with a white coat and whom I assume is a dermatologist told me to bring ALL of my vouchers on the next visit? Well, if 60 shots per arm is too much then why tell me that. Ugh, so inconsistent/ridiculous/dangerously misleading.

Anyway, Jhing said that the 60 shots may be a per-package thing and they might have misunderstood my question. While I totally disagree since the doctor asked me to use 6-7 vouchers in one visit, I just let that comment slide by because I'm tired and I was late for work.

The cool thing though is Jhing offered me a deal that is hard to refuse. She told me that I can..

use one voucher for one session just to see how things would go. If I am not satisfied with the service, I can always inform her and she'll give me all of my money back. Including the first "test" session.

Well, that's very nice and I was really pleased with how things went. She also facilitated the reservation by forwarding my number to the Dermclinic SM City Cebu staff who called me a few hours later. I have an appointment next week!

A few more hours after the call with Jhing, Catherine (I think) from Cashcashpinoy also called me to follow-up on the Dermclinic issue and asked me how things went. So I told her that everything's good, for now.

All in all, my complaint was addressed in a little over a week (9 days, or 7 working days to be exact), and even faster if I had answered the call last Saturday. hrhr. That's a pretty speedy resolution with which I am very pleased. However, this really isn't fully resolved yet in case I opt for a refund so we'll see how this adventure goes!

Toodles.

The weekend was pretty fun! It started early on a Friday with volunteering at a Gawad Kalinga site and then spent the whole afternoon at Kishanta for a team party. It was crazy in a fun (but totally tiring) way. I capped the night with a massage, a lovely dinner with my boyfriend (it was our 29th month!), then a facial which "awakened" all the monsters in my face.

Granny's Chicken or something something. Bigby's

Rack-a-Bye-Baby (baby back ribs). Bigby's

Saturday was spent at UP Cebu for the 2nd Cebu Comics Convention. It was okay.

My dog.

Uhm, my face.

My hair in its new cut. This is the only part of my body that I like right now. lol

I bring you some of my favorite links posted this week. These were collected around the first half of the week since the second half was all sorts of hell for me, work-wise and personal-wise (mostly face-related).

De-uglification

Choosing the Right Make Up Brushes for a Flawless Finished Face - The Beauty Files
Beginner's Makeup Kit Essentials - Beautylish
Get a Chic, Easy Monochromatic Makeup Look With Just 4 Products - Bellasugar
5 Foolproof Steps to Covering Up a Breakout - Bellasugar

Lifehacks aka Go Fix Yo'self!

DIY Rubber Band Travel Clothesline - Lifehacker
The Stupid Things You Do at Work (and How to Fix Them) - Lifehacker
How to get over your post-vacation blues - HelloGiggles

Nerdness 

Game of Thrones Season 2 Teaser - Winter is Coming

It's banned books week this week, and the week is almost ending but that doesn't mean the quest for hunting, reading and enjoying banned books will end on Saturday!

I find it weird how books can be banned. To quote my personal hero, Kurt Vonnegut..

Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.

Word, son.

And because I'm running out of things to say that won't make me sound like a ten-year old, here's a list of frequently banned/challenged books that belong to the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century. How many have you read so far?

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
10. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
11. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
12. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
13. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
14. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
15. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
16. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
17. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
18. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
19. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
20. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
21. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
22. Native Son, by Richard Wright
23. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
24. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
25. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
26. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
27. Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
28. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
29. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
30. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
31. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
32. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
33. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
34. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
35. Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
36. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
37. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
38. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
39. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
40. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
41. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
42. Women in Love, by DH Lawrence
43. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
44. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
45. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
46. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

I have not read a lot which is kind of embarrassing (lulz) but that's gonna change! I'm gonna bucketlist this bitch. Enjoy!

P.S.

If you're from Cebu, you can check out La Belle Aurore (my favorite bookshop in the world) this week. The shop's featuring Banned Books for viewing and reading.


Everyone should definitely check the shop out, and not just this week. The place is gorgeous.

Cashcashpinoy is not handling my request for refund very well. They've had the gall to:

• Block me from their Facebook page. Very classy.
• Blatantly lying to me about the sessions:

Cashcashpinoy Sucks

Don't buy it from Cashcashpinoy. Because at the end of the day, they cannot guarantee what their merchants promise and you cannot trust what they write even if its in black and white.

My Letter to Cashcashpinoy

You simply cannot ask us to renegotiate the terms of the voucher each time we face the merchants themselves. The voucher business is based on trust. Without it, I'm not sure I will purchase from nor recommend your website in the future.

No Guarantees from Cashcashpinoy

Consumers are not protected by the party that brokered the deal, Cashcashpinoy. The most that Cashcashpinoy will do is forward complaints. If you have issues, then you are on own. Imagine if its an isolated case and you are dealing with a large company, good luck getting a feedback, let alone a refund.

Caveat Emptor: Group Buying Sites in the Philippines

Also, it was only when we called that we were told that booking was only for a 15- or 20-minute treatment per session. The 90-94% savings ain’t true. It wasn’t pointed out on their website that it was only a trial treatment!

Unreachable Cash Cash Pinoy 1

Cash Cash Pinoy seems to have gone the extra mile shielding itself from complaints from customers.

UPDATE:
October 6, 2011 - I was called by Jhing of Dermclinic this morning and she offered me a reasonable deal which I accepted. Read more here.