Thursday, July 9, 2015 :: My Beauty Trail in Orchard Central (with Kenko, Pink Parlour, Haach & Superberry)


I can never say no to a beauty trail when it is at one of the malls I am familiar with, so when I was offered this opportunity, I just couldn't say no to a day of pampering like a body massage, facial, manicure and shopping!

At Orchard Central (OC), there is a good mix of retail stores, F&B dining outlets, beauty and wellness salons. I frequent Orchard Central often for its interesting mix of carnival vendors at its atrium (well, it's just next to 313, and I pop by to get my hair done with John!).

On my ME-TIME alone at OC for a beauty trail, I first started off with a Kenko signature body massage (deep pressure) where I was given a veryyyyy good kneading for my tight muscles. It is very hard to find a good masseuse in Singapore who has great manual dexterity and can be in total control with smooth maneuvers that maketh a good massage ;) All I can say is, I had a very good sleep that night!

Stepping into Kenko is a picture of calm, serenity and a cosy ambience. The feeling is so...zen that I felt like I was transported to a place without any stress or worry in the world.





The massage gave me a deep sense of relaxation as this signature massage harnesses the best of different massage strokes to allow the smooth flow "chi" in my body. I left the shop feeling so light and my spirits were lifted - well I do appreciate that because I am usually so stressed up with work by mid-week that my muscles will be extremely tensed.  I definitely see myself going back again! Why didn't I discover Kenko earlier? Used to think they only offer fish spa but hey, they have been in the business for more than 20 years providing quality massages! Now, who's up for a mid-week massage with me at Kenko? ;) 

I was toying with the idea of the fish spa but I chickened out in the end because I am THAT ticklish. Yes, I do consider tickling a form of torture. 


Kenko Reflexology & Fish Spa
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road 
#04-10
Singapore 238896
Tel: 6509 0303

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Since Orchard Central has all the shops to complete my pampering experience, I decided to visit Pink Parlour for a classic manicure and to freshen up my nail color. It is such a pink and sweet place with a grand entrance to boot! You CANNOT miss this shop. If you have not heard of them, they are one of Singapore's leading hair removal specialists offering treatments from waxing, IPL hair removal, spray tanning to even manicure and pedicure services. 





The manicurist who attended to me was very professional and friendly. Most importantly, throughout my entire time there, she did not try to upsell anything to me - which is easily one of the factors that trigger a bad experience for me with beauty spas. I was given the peace that a pampering experience require and I do appreciate that ;) 

One more thing I was very happy about is the hygiene of the place and manicure process. My excess cuticles were also removed very cleanly and pushed back properly to see my pretty white crescents. 



Opt for a french manicure with thin white tips and nude base!

There's a promotion happening between 1 July 2015 to 31 August 2015!
For just $50, customers can purchase (either one)

Gel manicure in red and white
Brazilian Wax
Boyfriend's Brazilian Wax 
Snow White Brazilian 

*Terms & Conditions apply. 
Applicable to all outlets
Valid till 31 August 2015
Discount is applicable to all customers
Not valid with any other promotions, discount voucher or gifts. 

Pink Parlour
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Rd #03-19/20/22
Singapore 238896
Tel: 6100 8266

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I have long heard about the award winning facial treatment by HAACH known as Phytopeautics Everlasting Youth which has raving good reviews online! So I included a facial into my beauty trail as well after seeing the directory and finding HAACH salon on the third level! 




HAACH's Phytopeautics Everlasting Youth uses only cultured phyto-stem cells and powerful botanical actives so you can be sure it is completely free of paraben and other harsh chemicals commonly associated with facials. The formulation contains a unique anti-wrinkle peptide which actually lifts up your face and removing lines. My therapist was very excited to show me its effects immediately after the facial with a mirror and oh my, I am a convert for this facial. 





It was such an invigorating experience with myself waking up after 60 minutes to a head and shoulder massage. In just an hour, my dull skin was exfoliated, dead skin cells were removed, facial lines were all plumped up removing my ageing lines on my face and neck, and hydration and elasticity were restored revealing smooth, supple and intensively hydrated skin. I woke up hoping the facial could have last longer - I was properly taken care of by my therapist and in a fantastic setting with ambience, it is just so easy to just fall asleep.. 




Definitely coming back again for this facial! 

Yet another promotion available now!
Pay $39 instead of the usual $288 for Phytopeautics Everlasting Youth Facial when you call 62380123 and quote my name "Tricia" when making an appointment! 

*Terms & Conditions apply
Valid for 21 years old and above
Singaporeans or PRs
Applicable only at Orchard Central #03-10/11
Prior appointment is required. 

HAACH
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road #03-10/11
Singapore 238896
Tel: 6238 0123
Opening hours: Mon to Sun 10am to 9pm

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Having the mall divided into several clusters, serving different establishments at different areas such as salons for pampering, fashion and F&B, it gives Orchard Central a very good mix of tenants. You can be sure to be able to do shopping, pampering, food then dine at a cafe for desserts all in a day's fun - just like what I do one day each month ;) 

I will set aside a day every month for a day of pampering and grooming. It usually starts with a quiet lunch at Milagro Spanish Restaurant then right after filling my yum-tum, I will scoot off to my full body IPL appointment with Datsumo. That will take about 2 hours and by the time I'm done, I will usually need some desserts or hot tea haha. I will either head down to Level 1 for a hot cuppa at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf or the swanky new dessert cafe - Lady M. It will be about 4.30-5pm when I am done with my tea break then I will do my shopping n Orchard Central. 

For this day, I checked out Superberry, which is a concept store housing more than 500 products from over 30 brand innovators all over the world!  Over here, I discovered a highly edited selection of the best beauty products and some very well-kept beauty secrets ;) Walked out of the store with 3 purchases and I can't rave enough about those three babies! Oh, did I mention? There is a GSS promotion at "Buy 1 and get 1 at 50% off" till the end of July so hurry hurry down! 

If you were to see the store, every corner you turn to, it is jam-packed with loads of skincare products and makeup! I am sure you will spend AT LEAST 30 minutes in there just like I did. Shops like Superberry.me has got to be my heaven... 



The shop is equipped with a team of trained beauty advisors who provide customers with knowledge and products best suited for my personal care needs. I was introduced to human+kind brand by the beauty advisor seen in my photos below, and learnt that Superberry.me is the exclusive retailer for Human+Kind range of products. A look at its ingredients revealed Human+Kind formulations are all made using natural healing and restorative ingredients which is perfect for sensitive skins. 




My eyes are always drawn to products with award-stickers on them. And yup, I got two products from human+kind namely the Wash Off Cleanser (which comes with a deep cleansing cloth) seen below with a Cleo Beauty Award Winner sticker and All-In-One Body Oil for my face, body and hair. I have been looking to get a all purpose body oil mainly to try it out on my face together with my foundation ;) Remember my meeting with korean star Yoon Eun Hye at her hotel suite previously? I learnt that her dewy skin is achieved by using an all-purpose body oil mixed in her foundation to achieve the healthy looking glow koreans are famous for! Okay, now I have let everyone on this secret... I will leave you to discover it yourself with human+kind's All-In-One Body Oil! 




Gaya Mineral Blush which is made with 100% minerals and is an eco-friendly makeup and skincare brand. It is 100% natural, hypoallergenic, inorganic, non-comedogenic and most importantly, they do not test on poor animals! 



I also found Re'skin V Lab Whitening Collagen Mask which I had previously purchased from Korea!! This is extremely good if you have dry and rough skin. The collagen mask is pretty hydrating and it replenishes moisture back into your skin and plumping it up so your skin will look supple. 



Found Blinc as well in the store! If you do not know, this brand is a cult favourite amongst Hollywood celebrities such as Jessica Alba, Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Lopez. I walked away purchasing the Ultra Thin Liquid Eyeliner Pen below! Heard about how this brand offers the world's thinnest brush with a precision tipped at 0.009mm from a makeup artist previously but did not get to try it! Knew I had to get it when I found in Superberry and my verdict is, it is definitely worth the $47! The brush is sooooooo thin that it allows exact and precise application with the right amount of liquid dispensed from the brush. It is NOT easy to make mistakes with this eyeliner. And best of all, it does not budge even after a longggg day. 



Happy camper with my purchases which I got at a steal ;) Psst, this was also my post-facial skin from Haach without any makeup on (yes because the therapist convinced me to step out without makeup and just healthy looking skin) - the facial actually removed tired lines, lifted up my face and live up to its reputation for its anti-aging benefits! 


Superberry
Orchard Central
181 Orchard Road, #03-29
Singapore 238896
Tel: 6835 9288

And...this marks the end of a glimpse into a day of my life spent for pampering myself! These places I visited are one of Orchard Central's best kept secrets haha. 

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With Love,
Tricia

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Saturday, February 28, 2015 :: Spending a day with Ridzwan, concierge staff of Orchard Central


In the relentless pursuit of learning ways to improve the quality of customer service in the www.vgystore.com and in our flagship store in Haji Lane, where books do not suffice, I decided to spend some time with one of the finalists in the Customer Service (Retail) category of the 2014 Singapore Experience Awards. This finalist, Muhammad Ridzwan Bin Ramly, creates great experiences for shoppers at Orchard Central by being engaging and goes as far as to build relationships with the shoppers!

To give you a short background on Singapore Experience Awards and why are these awards given out, here is an extract from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong,

“To keep Singapore special and to keep the tourists coming, we must grow the tourism industry by raising the quality of the experience and value of each tourist, rather than solely by increasing visitor numbers.”

Simply put, experience creation and delivery is more often than not, planned, communicated and delivered by the service staff to customers. By investing in upgrading of the capabilities of the service staff and awarding deserving recipients, it serves to increase the quality of the tourism industry as a whole with healthy competition. 

If you have not read my previous post on one of the 2014 finalists of the Singapore Experience Awards under 
"Best Travel and Learning Experience", you can read the post here. 

I met Ridzwan from Orchard Central to understand more about his day to day activities, quality of service in Orchard Central, and my shopping experience. Being in his work environment at Orchard Central where the mall is very young is a plus point because it gives so much room for growth as compared to established malls. 


Orchard Central is a place I always frequent because it is just next to 313 Somerset where John works. In fact, of all the shopping malls in Singapore, I frequent 313 Somerset, Orchard Gateway and Orchard Central the most because I am able to do most of my shopping here while waiting to pick John up from work! 




Once a week, I will make it a point to visit the long row of flea market stalls located at the first level of Orchard Central where I love taking my time to enjoy admiring the knick knacks sold at different stalls. The stalls usually feature aspiring shop owners hoping to bring their passion forth in their crafts/hobbies and let more people know about them!







Occasionally, there are gems among these stalls with delicious confectionary all baked by local growing entrepreneurs! 



A check with Ridzwan revealed that the shop in Orchard Central with the highest amount of traffic is Cold Stone Creamery. Have you tried it before? It is always so hard for me to find a seat there during the late noon! 



The concierge at Orchard Central is located at the very end of building.  The counter was overwhelmed with customers redeeming gifts and making enquiries during the holiday season and a thought struck me. I have always imagined concierge staff to have a lot of free time on their hands - where they can hide behind the counter and simply answer general enquiries to where so and so shop is located. I thought the hardest part of their job is to remember exactly where all the shops are. 



This is Ridzwan, and I was extremely interested to meet him as he is only in his early 20s but has been in this industry for 5 years now! He feels that there should be more young people coming into this dynamic industry as there is so much to learn and the satisfaction derived from delivering personalized service and building relationships with new people is priceless. 

(Yes that’s Tintin in tow! Thanks to OC for allowing her to accompany me shopping this time round)

In the midst of our conversation, Ridzwan excused himself when he saw a mall shopper who looked lost and offered assistance to him. Come to think about it, how often does that happen? Not even in big commercialized malls has a concierge staff walked up to me and asked if I needed any help. Being a frequent mall shopper, I have never seen concierge staff making rounds in other malls. 




According to Ridzwan, the role of a concierge staff goes further than what I had imagined. This includes patrolling the entire mall and keeping a lookout for customers who may be lost and providing immediate assistance to them. Right now, you may be having the same thoughts as I do - "If the onus and responsibility to approach customers and provide assistance lies on the concierge staff, then there may be staff who may not fulfil this aspect of their job satisfactorily because there is no supervision". 

And this was the same question posed to Ridzwan as I am an employer facing these issues as well. 

Ridzwan gave a very inspiring reply. He mentioned that if the employee is passionate in providing good customer service, then "going the extra mile" does not make sense because a person with a burning passion in his job will carry out his roles responsibly and in his case, making sure every customer walks off with a smile or even better, to nurture friendships with customers within the mall.  In his case, he has a passion in the customer service line and could be considered a veteran in the industry.



When I threw him a question regarding challenges in his job, I have to admit I felt sad for him when he mentioned one encounter where he faced racism on the job. As the Singapore government works to deepen the engagement with Singaporeans like building up our tourism industry with star attractions and enhancing the skills of service staff in related industries, we Singaporeans have to feel proud of our attractions and acknowledge the quality of service that deserving employees provide far and beyond the challenges they face daily in their work. 

Fortunately, Ridzwan formed a personal friendship with this customer who now drops by the mall to visit him and share his overseas expeditions. 

How enlivening to hear that!

Another challenge Ridzwan faces is a language barrier, which he tries to overcome by being patient and simply being a listener. He mentioned that there are often common questions posed by shoppers so he tries to understand and identify the issues faced by the shopper by being more sensitive to their body language and hand signs. Most of the time, he is able to help out the shopper and break past the language barrier by spending more time with each shopper, to better understand what kind of help the shopper might need.




I always watch the micro expressions on people's faces while they speak and all I can see in Ridzwan is the glint in his eyes as he spoke animatedly about his job and made me understand why he was willing to work for a new mall as compared to an established one. 

From him, I learnt that the role of a concierge is many things and that includes being a listener, a talker, a problem solver, a quick thinker, a skilled multi-tasker and on crazily busy occasions; a miracle maker haha. 

I also learnt that the hallmark of a concierge staff is one with passion and thirst of knowledge. Then, service excellence will come in naturally with a genuine desire to look after the needs of customers in the mall. Service excellence can be achieved when it is engrained into the core values of the company and most importantly in every staff in the company, from the front-line to the managerial level. The greatest takeaway from my meeting with Ridzwan is that building relationships and connecting customers/shoppers on an emotional level is the key to establishing lasting relationship with the brand. Shoppers specially pop by the mall to look for Ridzwan and share with him their exciting holiday experiences. As an employer hearing that, I felt Ridzwan has exceeded my expectations of a concierge staff. 






At the end of the day, Ridzwan, derives his satisfaction from seeing smiles from customers' faces be it when they have their enquiries answered or problems solved and each smile he received is his driving force to service excellence. 

I see similarity in the level of commitment and passion Ridzwan and the staff at S.E.A. Aquarium which I wrote about previously. All of them have so much passion in their work and these are the people who contributes to bettering the quality of customer service in Singapore - and these are folks who will help to place Singapore on the map as a tourist destination because of the experience they created and the value for each tourist. 



Thank you for bringing me around on a tour around Orchard Central and sharing your experiences and insights, which I can share with my staff. I wish you all the best for future editions of the Singapore Experience Awards and you are already a winner in my heart! :) 


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With Love,
Tricia

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