More Than Skin Deep

Last week was my "layover" week here in Singapore, so I thought I would talk about that today. I've successfully made the rounds of Dell folks living here - special thanks to Jae, Steve and Janet, and Lisa for hosting me in their lovely places! These guys all have very good lives here in Singapore.

I've really been looking ratty the last few weeks. I almost never use a hair dryer, and some days I put on makeup, but it gets so hot it melts off. Last Friday, some friends of Lisa's invited us to a dress-up party at the Ritz Carlton hosted by the Italian chamber of commerce. The theme was Ferrari and you were supposed to wear red. Naturally, this entailed my shopping for a red dress. I decided to go all out and get my hair and nails done.

Regarding the dress shopping, it was an experience. I have no idea if I will ever wear the dress again, but it was not too pricey so it's all good. At home, I wear a size 4-6 but in Singapore I am a 10-12! Ay chihuaha!

I chose a salon in Chinatown, the Corner Salon, which uses Kerastase (I admit to being a brand snob). I wanted a manicure too and they said they could do everything all at the same time! I was not sure how this was all going to work but quickly learned. My stylist (see pics below) came over with a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of water and started working on my hair while it was still dry. Before long he had it all lathered up and proceeded to give me a relaxing scalp massage which went on for a good 20 minutes. He was making some very interesting hand sounds and I have no idea how, but that's for another time. Meanwhile, the manicurist is working away at my nails. Finally, I had to get up and go to get the shampoo rinsed out at the sink, which caused a pause in the manicure thankfully. Once that was done, everyone resumed.

I realized that the salon was not too busy because everyone there seemed to be an employee, or maybe they just wanted to help. The woman in getting her hair done below helped the manicurist dry my nails, for which they used 2 hair dryers on cool setting for about 20 minutes. They really did not want me to mess them up! The total bill came to $29 Singapore dollars, or about $20US. Not bad considering the great service.

The cleanup was a definite and needed improvement. Here we are at the party with a Ferrari!

At the party, I met another blogger - Filippo Olivi, Director of the Italian Chamber here in Singapore. Filippo had fun a the dinner, but wished the speeches could have been longer. I promised I'd link to his blog, http://mangoditreviso.blogspot.com/.