Gift cards as ampao.

It's my first time to spend Christmas in the States and it's only now that I realized that they have the best and biggest sales - ever. I don't remember if Zara back in Manila ever had a sale. But last Thanksgiving, the Zara red patent flats I was almost dying to have were at 60% off!!! Good thing I didn't buy them right away the first time I saw them. There's also this rabbit hair gray sweater at Ruehl No.925 which had the softest material. Again, I didn't buy it right away. Come Thanksgiving, I decided to come back for it - and it was already in the clearance section at 40% off! (See shoes and sweater from my outfit in this blog entry.) Ruehl is the high-end version of Abercrombie, as Banana Republic is to Gap (although it does seem like they're Abercrombie clothing, only retagged). Oh and I also bought this Ralph Lauren shirt, from $30 something down to $8. Lol. San ka pa!



Anyway, I also found out that the easiest gift to think of and the safest and probably best gift one could give and receive are gift cards. Why don't we have those back in Manila?! Well we do have gift certificates... Rustan's, National Bookstore, Mercury Drug. Lol. I think Ayala Malls tried it before. I'm not really sure. Or maybe there are gift cards and I'm just not aware of them. But anyway, I'm sure we don't have those pretty cards (the size and thickness of a credit card) with fancy designs and logos. I mean it's nice to be able to not try to think too hard of what to give someone, wondering if he/she would like it. You wouldn't want to give money in a tiny red envelope too right? So it's much safer to buy someone a gift card from a store you know that person loves to shop in - and that's easier to figure out.



This Christmas I only received 2 gift cards, Sephora and Victoria's Secret. :) Yey! I bought a Diorshow Mascara (Sephora's Best Mascara for 2007). I was contemplating on getting that or the Imju Fiberwig. The Fiberwig is said to be the top-selling mascara in Japan, giving one "false eyelash-like" results. So I tried both, on each eye. Yep, Fiberwig is definitely clump-free and smudge-free... but my eyelashes looked the same, only curled and a bit longer. They were clean, fine, and indeed fake-looking. But one can't remove it with eye makeup remover, only warm water. In Manila, we don't have warm water! We only have lukewarm! Lol. Diorshow on the other hand, was very thick yet clump-y therefore fabulous! So that's what I got instead. For Victoria's Secret, I didn't get lingerie. Boohoo. I haven't found that lucky guy to show off to yet. Lol. I'm tired of buying bikinis, so I got this one-piece swimsuit instead, in time for summer. Hot. Hot. Hot.



Oh and by the way, my cousin gave my parents an iTunes gift card. Wow. I never thought my parents would get to use iTunes before I do. Lol. They each bought the new square iPod Nano plus speakers (I don't even own speakers!). And guess who uploads their Abba and Carpenters songs each time? Don't ask.