Sasa Ladies's Day

If you think this dress looks familar, that's because it's inspired by Victoria Beckham's AW12 collection.

[Pic credit: Glamour.com]

I know that many people have described the collection as military-inspired, but when I first saw pics of VB in this particular dress, I immediately thought "jockey". And that is reason why I chose this to wear to the Sasa Ladies' Day event, Fashion on the Turf.

Still early, the crowd has yet to roll in.

It's a day dedicated to us ladies, so think manicures, makeovers, photoshoots and fashion. It's a great concept, but what was the reality?

The first thing that disappointed me immediately was that there was only one door gift to share between my partner and I. You see, I got a free invite from Sasa, but I was told I could bring along a friend. So I RSVP-ed for the bestie and I thinking we could both go for a girly day out. Upon arrival, I was told that there was only ONE door gift per pair. Wow.

Oh, but wait! They passed me a little printed coupon for me to redeem a goodie bag later, so I asked whether they were giving us 2 goodie bags. Again, they said nope, ONE goodie bag per pair. Wow. (Fantastic baby. Sorry)

My suggestion (since I'm here to give constructive criticism) to Sasa is if they can't afford to give out gifts to too many people, then don't invite so many in the first place! It was super embarassing for me to bring my bestie as a guest only for her to be left out.

Finger food was pretty nice

The next thing was when I saw that the event was held in a makeshift tent. With the unforgiving afternoon sun giving off heat as if there was no tomorrow, you can be assured that it was very uncomfortable. I saw a tweet by someone saying there were a lot of butter faces there. She sure was right. You could literally see and feel the makeup sliding off everyone's faces. I, myself, was sticky and my face was definitely not a pretty sight.

I actually Googled to check out how it was previous years and I was under the impression it was held in an air-conditioned room. Why they changed that this year, I've no idea. But bad move.

Suggestion? Air-conditioning. And lots of it.

Getting my nails painted for free, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a manicure

I had near zero makeup on that day except for concealer to hide the massive pimple on my chin. I heard there were free makeovers and I definitely didn't want to miss out on that. They did indeed have a makeup station and the Sasa staff were hard at work. This was commendable and I praise Sasa for having these stations.

However, I just felt bleargh and didn't feel like having anymore make up clogging up my pores or melting down my face. What a pity. I would have loved to get a free makeover.

One thing that really impressed me were that the guests were all dressed up. I love it when people are sporting enough to adhere to dress codes.

By the way, the theme was "Hats" you know, ala Royal Ascot style. There were many pretty ladies sporting all sorts of hats. I barely wore mine for 2 minutes because it was just TOO frigging hot! I admire the ladies who kept their hats on throughout the event. I kept chugging down iced ribena/sprite, but that didn't help at all.

With Chui Ling, host for the day who did a great job

As you can see, it was a good turn out and I'm sure some people enjoyed it, but personally, I didn't. We left pretty early because the heat was just unbearable. We wanted to leave at 1.30pm, but a staff told us we were only able to redeem our goodie bag at 2ish. We reluctantly sat and waited 'till 2ish only to be told that the goodie bags were only to be given out at 4ish. Boy, was I peeved!

I suppose it's a trick to get people to stay 'till the end. As for us, nowayhosaythankyouverymuch. It was so hot I didn't even have the strength to tell the staff off and just left quickly. Even the promise of meeting Kate Tsui (Hong Kong actress) wasn't enough to make me stay a minute longer. I missed out on the fashion show, but I really couldn't stay any longer due to the...you guessed it, heat. Also, my heels were killing me and there just weren't enough seats in the tent.

Let's play spot the mistakes on this poster!

You see, this event has so much potential, but I think there's much improvement to be made on the execution. Would I go again next year? Probably not.

All that said and done, the event does not affect my love for Sasa. I'll still continue shopping there!