rinnah's consumer views|a straight talking, tell-it-as-it-is consumer lifestyle blog

This has to be one of the most expensive moisturizers I’ve ever used.

When I bought the Santaverde Aloe Vera Creme in Medium, I was desperate to find a product that would work on my sensitive, eczema prone skin and thus was willing to throw money at the problem if it helped solve matters. So I used this at the height of my eczema breakout last year and ended up with two completely different opinions about this product.

Firstly, the good stuff. I love this for short term use. It’s wonderful when my skin is relatively normal – which means those *rare* periods of time when I have no eczema breakouts, no dry flaking spells, no sensitized redness. It doesn’t contribute to extra oil production on my oily t-zone and makes my skin feel comfortable. Unfortunately for me, my skin doesn’t behave itself all the time.

But…(you knew there was a but coming, right?) when my skin is misbehaving and breaking out in patches of rashes and what not, I hate this cream. It stings my eczema patches (I thought aloe vera was supposed to help calm!) and that in turn makes my skin turn red and irritated. I’ll also find that the cream formula becomes too rich for prolonged usage because I developed painful pimple bumps underneath my skin’s surface in the areas that supposedly need more moisture (my dry flaky cheeks). Not fun yo!

What’s a girl to do?

For now, I’m keeping this cream in my office to use as the air-conditioning tends to dry my skin out. And I use it very, very minimally, mostly on my hands and neck. Such an expensive hand lotion!

Would I repurchase this? No but only because it didn’t suit me.

Yes factors : Organic ingredients, smells great, handy size for travel, keeps skin soft and moist
No factors : Too rich for dry skin in the long run, expensive, not easy to find – currently available in Singapore only via Pure Tincture

Description : Pure Aloe Vera juice and valuable oils from seeds and fruits provide your skin with moisture, protect and preserve elasticity and suppleness.

Directions : Apply twice daily after cleansing and toning to face and neck.

Packaging : 30ml

Recommended retail price : SGD 73.00

Did you know that there are two Fullerton Hotels in Singapore? I didn’t.

First there’s The Fullerton Hotel.

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And then there’s The Fullerton Bay Hotel.

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And while they look nothing like each other, both hotels are run by the same group and are situated near to each other, just a 5 minute walk either way.

My learning adventure took place last night when I arranged to meet up with a friend for drinks around 9.30pm. While I was on the way, I called up The Fullerton Hotel and asked to be put through to my friend’s room. As luck would have had it, she had already left her room and was waiting for me in the lobby downstairs.

Now, as I left Raffles Place MRT station, I followed the signs to The Fullerton Hotel (note that I did not spot any signs for The Fullerton Bay Hotel then). When I exited, I got disoriented as there were no more signs to follow, so I headed out in the general direction of where I assumed The Fullerton Hotel would be.

Instead of The Fullerton Hotel, I saw The Fullerton Bay Hotel ahead of me. I naturally assumed that the name Fullerton Bay was a recent name change and that the signs had yet to be updated. So confidently, I walked straight into The Fullerton Bay Hotel and asked the concierge to ring up my friend’s room.

You can imagine the shock I had when the concierge told me that the room was listed in the system as unoccupied!

I’ll admit that the concierge did do her best to help me track down my friend by checking for her name in their database only to tell me in the end that there was no guest registered under my friend’s name.

Long waiting story short, I managed to get through to my friend and we soon sorted out that I was waiting for her at the wrong hotel.

However, in hindsight I found it very ironic that the concierge at The Fullerton Bay Hotel did not gently suggest to me that I might have ended up at the wrong hotel. Surely I’m not the first guest to mistake The Fullerton Hotel and The Fullerton Bay Hotel based on their names alone?

It also added to my confusion that the concierge welcomed me to the hotel by saying ‘The Fullerton Hotel’ rather than ‘The Fullerton Bay Hotel’ which was where I was actually at.

I also found out from my friend later that night that guests at either hotel are welcome to patronize the F&B outlets at both places and can have it charged to their room bills, which suggests an integrated database or at the very least the ability to access the other hotel’s guest database. Now how come the concierge did not take the initiative to check with the other side to see if I had accidentally gotten the wrong hotel?

I can easily imagine taxi drivers and foreign guests running into the same confusing scenario that I found myself in last night.

Would I go back to either Fullerton based on this experience? I’m afraid not.