Things to bring along

As I was going on my sample and freebie collection spree last week, I started to think, "What do other sample collectors bring with them on their sample collection journey?" This little question stemmed from the fact that I misjudged where Kent Ridge MT Station was and that the collection location is at the Science Park, which in Singapore terms can be termed "ulu" since the nearest place full of human activity would be the National University Hospital and living areas are at least a station away or 2 bus stops away.

The sun wasn't shining that bright at Science Park, you can say it was a cloudy day. But hell, I was sweating so much I probably looked like I just took a dip in the swimming pool with my clothes on. Yes, you heard me right. It was cloudy and yet I was sweating profusely. And from this heat came that question. And at the same time I wonder too, is it weird to bring this little "ammo" in the pursuit of freebies and samples?

Anyway, let's take a look at my own "ammo":

Card Holder for my EZ-Link card. Let's just say I was a little sick and tired of losing mine once every few months. I personally think it's worse when someone saw you dropping it, and instead of yelling loudly at you that you dropped something or even picking it up and running after you like a loanshark to return it to you, I've had the misfortune of encountering people who simply stared at me when I dropped something, not saying a word. In this way, I wouldn't give a second glance and that person can happily picked up my card and either use up the money stored in the card. Or even worst, return to the TransitLink office and get a refund.

And unfortunately, I am not joking at all. The last time I lost my EZ-Link card, this guy just simply stared at me like I just murder some stray cats and never said a single thing at all. It wasn't until when my bus arrived that I started to panic. I knew I bought out my EZ-Link card, and yet, I was unable to find it. I went back home and it's still missing. Until I remembered that guy who was staring daggers at me less than 30 minutes ago, and figured out, damn bugger picked up my card and kept it for himself. I hope he have nice dreams after picking up something that doesn't belong to him, much less call out to the person who dropped it.

I only got this after redeeming my EzyHealth goodies from Kent Ridge's Science Park area. Like I mentioned, the sky was really cloudy and not a single ray of sunshine can be seen. And yet, I was sweating like I just took a dip in the swimming pool with my clothes on. I never understand Singapore weather, if it's supposed to be cloudy, shouldn't we feel cooling without the sweat? How come a cloudy day can induce so much sweat while a hot, humid and sunny day doesn't necessarily do the same? So, I got a little frustrated with the weather and bought this from Daiso to beat the heat from weird cloudy days. Although it's a little noisy, but it sure beats having no breeze on a hot and sunny day out.

This hand-held paper fan, is brought along with me, in the event the other battery-operated fan stopped working due to the batteries not working. I think it's actually weird to lug around spare batteries when you are trying to travel light to pick up samples and freebies. And knowing myself, I wouldn't bring out 2 spare batteries, it will be more than 2 spare batteries. Which is why I am going to feel weird and awkward in doing that.

If you have just barely took a bus or train after unwillingly hanging out under the sun, you can use this to instantly cool off faster. It's slightly better than to wait for the air-conditioning to gradually cool you down, I personally just like it to be a little more express.

Music. It's going to be even weird if you tend to mumble to yourself, but having an iPod with you kills that mumbling-to-self habit. And besides, the tempo of the music can push you further on, just when you think the nearest bus or train station seems to be further than it actually looks. To anyone who's curious, my music choices tend to go towards the rock 'n' roll, death metal, r&b types. That's Usher's Yeah! playing there lol

In the event you forgot to bring your own water bottle with you or there's simply no supermarkets or convenience stores anywhere near you, a small packet of candy can help chase the thirsty feeling away until you "recharge" with a sip of water. Or whatever your favorite beverage is. Besides, I think sugar can actually help give us a little boost when you least expect it.

Looking all wet and sweaty in a gym is alright. Looking all wet and sweaty at a really swanky place waiting to collect your goodies, not alright. Either pack a good hankie or a few extra packets of tissue paper to mop up those sweat. And if the sky decide to send down a torrent of rain, you'll be thankful for the existence of tissue paper and hankies.

Umbrella. You might think it's heavy, but I think it's an epic little thing to shield you from the rays of the sun when you just can't seem to find any shelter to duck into while on the road to sample and freebies collecting.

The only stuffs I didn't include here would be makeup. I just cannot fathom putting on any makeup if I know I am going to look like a wet chicken while collecting my samples and freebies. You have to constantly re-apply your makeup, which I think will make sample and freebies collecting feels like a chore. Unless you have your very own transport, taking public transport is already bad as it is, but having to constantly worry about re-applying your makeup due to sweat streaks, it's like a major killjoy.

What about the rest of you? What's your preferred arsenal when going out to collect your samples and freebies?

Read More

Gauging Samples for Collection

Image Source: Dormify: Dorm Living

As promised on my Facebook page that I will post up a mini guide on determining which samples are worth going forth to collect and how I do it. I'll try to keep this simple, short and painless as I possibly can. But then, it's not really that hard to get around to it. Anyway, I'll just get to the issue before I bore anyone else to tears and snooze from too much talking.

Basically, if you are lucky, there will be at least 2 to 3 companies subsequently releasing new products and along the way, come up with sampling exercise or in short, sample collection on their new products for fans and non-believers to try before buying. A good way to literally "stalk" the respective Facebook pages would be to go through this link here: http://puniaogoodies.blogspot.sg/p/links-to-samples.html and visit through the listed links on a once-a-week basis. But at the same time note that most sampling exercise for newly released products tend to last at least a whole month before newer activity takes over, such as contests, giveaways, sales promotions, for example. Or worse case scenario, there will be "deadlines" on how long the sampling exercise will last. So, take note of it too.

For example, let's take a look at Lancôme's Visionnaire product. When it first got released in Singapore, no doubt, there will be sampling activity involved. This is a good way to get non-interested fans to try and subsequently end up buying due to the fact that it may work for them. But how do you determine exactly if the samples are worth getting in the first place? Easy, just keep reading:

Presuming that Lancôme's Visionnaire costs S$135 for a bottle of 30ml.

• 30 ml @ S$135/-

And when you go to self-collect any Lancôme samples, you will always get 7 sachets and each sachet is exactly 1ml each.

• 1ml X 7 sachets = 7ml altogether

What you will do here is to divide up the costs from bottle to sample sachet, which is 1ml each. In this case, take the amount of S$153 and divide it with the amount the retail bottle comes in, which is 30ml.

• S$135 ÷ 30ml = S$4.50 @ 1ml

And since 1 sample sachet is at exactly 1ml, that means a 1ml sample sachet costs S$4.50. But since you know you should or would be getting 7 sample sachets, this makes the sample amount goes up to 7ml in total.

• $S4.50 X 7 (1ml sachets) = S$31.50

But if you are feeling a little lost here, here's the recap again, without too much explanations:

• Lancôme Visionnaire - S$135/- at 30ml bottle
• S$135 ÷ 30ml = S$4.50 at 1ml
• If you think you are getting only 5 sachets at 1ml each, multiply S$4.50 by 5ml = S$22.50
• If you think you are getting 7 sachets at 1ml each, multiply S$4.50 by 7ml = S$31.50

Now, here's the little fun part. After you got the amount of the samples' worth, here's the next thing you need to be aware of, transportation costs to get them. In this case, always try to collect any samples you come across at the same location. For example, you are collecting 2-3 different samples from different beauty companies such as Lancôme, Estée Lauder and L'Oréal Paris, try to ensure that you are collecting samples from these 3 companies at Orchard Road for example. This means that you are essentially keeping your transportation money as low as you possibly can, and in a way, this makes collecting the samples much more affordable in terms of transportation money.

And now, let's presume that you can only collect your Lancôme samples from Tangs @ Orchard Road, and you are living in Choa Chu Kang, for example. According to TransitLink: Bus Enquiry, the bus fare from Choa Chu Kang to Tangs @ Orchard on bus #190 would cost exactly S$1.55 and the same amount back home.

• S$1.55 x 2 trips = S$3.10 altogether

Now that we have the transportation amount (to Orchard Road and back to the home area) finalised to S$3.10. Compare it against the amount of the Lancôme sample you will be getting. In this case:

• Lancôme samples - S$31.50 @ 7ml
• Bus trip to and fro - S$$3.10 for 2 trips, to and fro
• If the total amount of the samples are way more than the amount of your transportation fee, go for it
• But if your transportation money is going to cost more than what the total amount of samples will be, either wait for at least 1 - 2 more samples or just forget about it. Alternatively, go to the nearest Metro near your area and try your luck.

And here you have it, my mini price guide on how I gauge whether individual samples are worth making the journey to collect. In the event of samples not indicating how much the it is worth in volume, like how many ml per sachet, and you really don't want to make a journey only to find out the samples are not worth it. Here's another much more simpler method that actually calls for patience. You wait at least another week and see if there's more sampling exercise. But also note most sampling exercise do last for up to a month, so, it is definitely possible to wait at least one or 2 weeks for another sampling activity to pop up, before making the journey from Point A (a.k.a your home) to Point B (a.k.a Wherever you have to go collect the samples, in the event there's no counter location for you to choose from).

Like last week for example, I finally dilly dally and waited until I accumulated at least 5 samples, freebies and goodies. And in this instance, you do need the SMRT Train map as well to plan your route so that instead of taking a big round, you end up being able to plan your route in a way that each place you plan to ends up being a place where you can collect your goodies.

For example last week as according to my latest Samples Redeemed & Received post at http://bit.ly/WBPUa1, I got to collect:

• Estee Lauder's CyberWhite HD
• Lancôme Hypnose Star Mascara goodie bag
• Venus Beauty Jimmy'z Skin Care Oil-Control Cleansing Foam
• Clarins New Plus White
• BUT BECKY Radiance & Luminous Pearl Mask

And in this case, I chose to collect my goodies in this order:

• Estee Lauder's CyberWhite HD - Orchard Road via Bus
• Lancôme Hypnose Star Mascara goodie bag - Orchard Road via walking
• Venus Beauty Jimmy'z Skin Care Oil-Control Cleansing Foam - Train from Orchard to Ang Mo Kio
• Clarins New Plus White - Train from Ang Mo Kio to Woodlands
• BUT BECKY Radiance & Luminous Pearl Mask - Train from Woodlands to Jurong East
• Bus from Jurong East to Home
• Total bus transport amount - Not exceeding S$6 in total

If you were to check the SMRT Train map, you would notice that it's actually a straight journey that goes from Orchard MRT, all the way to Jurong East. With stops in-between where I can still collect and go. Instead of going from Orchard MRT to Jurong East, and realizing that I could stop in between Ang Mo Kio and Woodlands along the way. And the other reason for collecting this much goodies in a day? Because of the transportation amount as well, you see, if you were to look at my goodie collection schedule as I've previously mentioned, hopping in-between train and bus rides meant that there will be a small discount on my bus and train fare and the total amount spent on transportation won't go past even S$6.

However, if I were to dictate one collection per day in a total of 4 days. For example:

• Monday: Estee Lauder's CyberWhite HD + Lancôme Hypnose Star Mascara goodie bag - Orchard Road via Bus @ S$3.10 to and fro in total
• Tuesday: Venus Beauty Jimmy'z Skin Care Oil-Control Cleansing Foam - Train from Choa Chu Kang to Ang Mo Kio @ S$3.54 back and fro
• Wednesday: Clarins New Plus White - Train from Choa Chu Kang to Woodlands @ S$2.46 back and fro
• Thursday: BUT BECKY Radiance & Luminous Pearl Mask - Train from Choa Chu Kang to Jurong East @ S$1.11 back and fro
• Total transportation amount accumulated over 4 days = S$10.21 altogether

And there you have it, collecting as many goodies as you possibly can in 1 day is cheaper than spreading out the collection on 5 different days for 5 different samples. Unless there's really no more samples or goodies to collect, then it would make sense to have single collection journeys.

Why not like my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PuNiaosProductReviews to be informed of latest samples I found, which is duly updated? Also includes updates to contests that I've sourced out for you to join. It will definitely save you the trouble of having to hunt them down :)

Read More