CoverLook Studios

2 months ago, I got a call.

Ms Vanessa claims that she is from Coverlook Studios.
Apparently, I had won a free makeover and a photo shoot for myself and one or two friends at their premises from some competition I entered. I vaguely remembered entering something like that through Glamour magazine but hey, a free makeup session and photo shoot?! Bring it on!


But then came the catch - I had to pay a refundable deposit of 30pounds per person to guarantee myself a spot in their appointment book. For that I get:
- a full make over by their professional make up artist
- hair styling by their professional hairdressers
- 30 frames of shooting per person
- an A4 photo of our choice to take home
- 4 VIP tickets into one of the top clubs in London

All for FREE!

WOW.

A quick phone call to Liwan settled the whole thing and I booked us in for the 27th of December 2008 at 4pm.

I know. At this point, you are probably thinking - Wah, stupid!!! Kena con!! Pay 60 bucks to unknown people!!

Which on hindsight, I have to agree that I was - VERY STUPID.

But. Anyway.




Fast forward to the 27th, Liwan and I made our way to CoverLook Studios that was situated near Oxford St in London.
To my immense relief, the place actually existed.


Upon entering, we were met with a room full of girls waiting for their turn and what was supposed to be an appointment at 4pm, turned out to be an appointment at 5pm.
We waited for one whole hour before we were called to the chair by the make up artist. My make up artist was a freelancer (professional my @$) and she did my face in 10 minutes.
10 MINUTES!


Woman, I can do better make up than whatever it is that you did.


Where is the lipliner to lock in the lip colour? In fact, WHERE is the lipstick? Lip gloss goes ON TOP of the lipstick, thank you very much.
Where is the highlighter to enhance the 3D effect of the face? Where is the contouring of the nose and the cheeks to create an illusion of a sharper nose and higher cheekbones?
Jeez, even drawing my eyebrows in was a half done job.


Now to the hairstyling. It was done by my makeup artist too(once again, professional my @$). All she did was curl my hair in a few strokes with the straightener and spray on some hairspray. Which, I can also do myself with my 30pound Babyliss hair straighteners from Boots.

Not. Impressed.

Liwan got a bit of a better make up artist than I did but her hair was also done in almost the same way.

Great.

All in all, the whole make up - hairstyling ordeal took about 15 minutes.

We then had to wait another 2 tooting hours before we were called to the studio for our photo shots to be taken.
This, I have to give credit. It was fun posing - but that is because I'm a poser-olic and can do all sorts of nonsense with a camera in front of me. They also did deliver the 30 frames as promised and the photographer was really, really nice.


After that, we were ushered back into the waiting area and waited further 30 mins until we were finally called to view our pictures.

Through this, I truly understand that nothing in this world is free.

Not only were we quoted ridiculous prices for the pictures (75 bucks for 1), our supposedly 'free' A4 photo shoot came in the form of a passport picture size photograph. We were also only allowed to choose ONE picture as opposed to two as promised over the phone. In the end, the saleslady quoted us 4 pictures in exchange for my 60 quid deposit - which I promptly turned down.
I then enquired about the VIP tickets to the atas atas London club but was told that I had to call CoverLook to let them know when I wanted to go and they will then call the club to book us in.

-_-

Which means I still have to pay for the cover charge la!
Buang masa sial.

So, in the end, what I got out of the 5 hours I spent in CoverLook Studios was, a low quality passport size photograph in a CD, make up (which I can do much better myself) and styled hair (that surprise surprise - I can also do MYSELF) with I suppose - the opportunity to feel like a model where I am allowed to pose however I want and have my photograph taken. I reckon this is as close I will come to brushing with the modelling world, and this was the saving grace of the whole CoverLook experience. You'd be happy to know that I also got my 60pounds deposit back.

My ballerina pose

Liwan's ANTM McKey pose

Verdict:
CoverLook are not 100% scammers, just 50%.
But they did provide us a great opportunity to take pictures at their premises, so I would not bring them to court for wasting 5 hours of my precious time. Also if being a model involves waiting about for half my life - I guess I am better off as a doctor.

That is..

If I pass my finals in June.

Spreading the Tea Love

I was all wrapped up in my black trench, checkered scarf and earphones plugged in, ready to brave the bitter cold for my 10 minute traipse from the Sick Kids Hospital back to my warm, cosy flat.

As I turned the corner to the main road, I saw him up front, standing and staring into the sky.

Eyeballing him, I noted his scruffy hair, unkempt beard, raggedy clothes and dirty scarf. His woolen beanie that was once - what I suspect - white has turned into a greyish brown colour and his boots looked like it has seen more winters that any shoe I owned. He was holding a few Tesco plastic bags - probably filled with unwanted cans, dirty blankets, bits and bobs like how the others like him always had.

So I turned off the kerb to avoid him. But he looked straight at me and took a step into my pathway.

"Not another tramp to ask me for change again," I thought.

But still, being the ever polite daughter my parents brought me up to be, I halted in my tracks and removed my earphones, ready to smile and say 'sorry' in the most empathetic way possible if he ever mentioned the word 'extra change'.

"Hello, I am running a project called Spreading the Tea Love", he says in a wide toothy smile, the cracks on his lips stretching with the movement of his mandible muscles.

"Sor-." the words died on my lips.

And I observed him again, noticing that one of his Tesco bags was actually filled with food - bread, fruits, cheese.

The other was chocked full with tea boxes of various colours, brands and sizes.

He lifted the tea-boxes-Tesco-bag, opened a box of tea, contemplated for a while and handed me 3 bags of tea.

"Drink one yourself, and give the other 2 to your friends. Here is a Rooibos tea from South Africa, here is a relaxation one.... and the last I give you the teabag of Love for your boyfriend. Tell him he is very lucky. Bye bye now."

And he smiles his toothy smile to me again.

I stood for a while before managing to blurt out "Thank you", all politeness and empathy forgotten.

Upon reaching home, I looked at the tea bags, wondering if there were any poisons in it or possibly black magic.
But they were all new and unopened, and so I did what he told me to.

I spread the Tea Love.

The Rooibos went to Joanna, the Love to Kai Lin and the last, I didn't drink it myself either but gave it to Choon Seong.

I've continued his chain of tea love and I guess we are all part of his project now.

I'm just waiting on reports back from the 3 of them - whether they suffer any tummy aches or suddenly sign off their life savings to charity - or, if they just carry on with their daily life as normal - an individual in this vast universe touched with his Tea Love.

The Scottish Borders

For 3 whole weeks, I was posted at the Borders, the piece of land that is right smack bang in the middle of Scotland and England.

A really pretty place indeed, except that it is also right smack bang in the middle of nowhere.

The closest town is Melrose which is a 30 minute walk away, and there they only have ONE street.
Yes.
ONE.
The only supermarket there is Co-Op which in my opinion, is some charity rah-rah supermarket that does not have anything of everything.

The next town which is a 10 minute drive away is Galashiels. What I like about Galashiels is the multi storey Tesco they have there that is alike the Carrefour or Giant supermarkets in Malaysia. And of course, being multi level, they have EVERYTHING of anything!

Amazing!!

Gala also has ONE club, called Indigo that has 12 year old kids DJ-ing in it. It is 1 pound to enter, and 1 pound for a vodka mixer. That is DIRT. CHEAP.

While the accommodation and company in Borders was good, what made my 3 weeks of separation from civilisation worth every minute was a tour I got from a lovely NHS technician on the 2nd last day of my attachment.

The bridge leading to the residencies

Oh wait, the 45p scones and 40p coffee was also unforgettable. Makes eating breakfast at home and drinking homemade coffee almost not worth your while.

On the 2nd last day of my attachment, I accompanied the consultant all the way out to Duns (again, in the middle of nowhere) for a clinic. He drove at a tearing speed of 20 miles/hour and what do students do when in a car with their consultant?
The right answer is to suck up. Praise his driving skills to the sky and comment on how effortless the glide of the screen wipers are.
But no....
Dr Consultant gave both Leanne and I a tutorial on urinary tract infections before we could even start mentioning how swanky and totally hip his new speed-o-meter is.
Imagine sitting in the car with someone hammering questions at you (which you do not know the answer too) when what you really should be doing is to talk about the weather?
Nope.
Not Good.

After Duns, we made our way to Eyemouth (yes, Bingo. In the middle of nowhere too!) where another clinic was held. 45 mins drive to Duns and another 30 mins drive to Eyemouth pretty much means we have been around the 3 corners of the Borders.

Upon arrival, the consultant insisted we go try this amazing fish and chips in a local restaurant and to walk to the harbour wall.

Wah, where got people go for clinic but get sent off to sightsee wan?

Yes, only in the UK.
So off we went to Giacopazzi and had their famous fish and chips. It WAS good.

And after that, off we went obediently to look for the harbour wall.

Nothing too exciting about the wall, but it was a lovely, cold day and we did what we had to - looked at the harbour, the water and also oohed and aahed at the seals that kept popping out of the water.

After about 1 hour of sightseeing, we decided to return to the clinic to do some proper work. However, upon arrival, the receptionist told us that we were to follow this NHS electrician back to the hospital as the consultant cannot fit us and the rest of the doctors in the car during the return trip.

So we hopped into this van:


and followed Mr NHS electrician to do his odd jobs all over the Borders.


From Eyemouth to Coldstream (apparently they get first pick of Kodak Bear skins from Canada to make the Beefeaters of London's guard hat) to Kelso, we bumped along the wintry, windswept roads touring the Scottish Borders - all courtesy of the NHS.



The tour was so good that there were actually pit stops for photo taking opportunities.


The highlight of our tour included visiting Henderson Park in Coldstream where we got a first class view of the bridge over River Tweed.


This bridge, says Mr NHS electrician-tour guide, Is the bridge where the Stone of Destiny was returned to Scotland from England, when it was removed from Scotland in 1930-something. It is also... (and proceeded to recount the entire history of conflicts between England and Scotland)

He also brought us to Floors Castle through the back way. Mr NHS tour guide then mentioned that over the summer, some royal wedding took place there and Prince William and Harry was IN that castle. Once again for me, wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine if I met both princes. I wouldn't be sitting here typing this entry anymore.

Floors Castle is there... beyond the road.. into the distance...

Our tour ended 2 hours later when we finally reached home.

I knew being a medical student had its perks.

I just didn't know that touring of Scotland was included in its package.