I don't believe in new-age mumbo-jumbo, voodoo spells or mind control. I don't meditate, I don't know how to "centre myself" and I sure as hell don't join in the "ommmmm" sessions during the few times I've gone yoga-ing. So when we were invited to get hypnotized as part of our trial experiences with Spoilt, and FashionGeek chickened out, I said sign me up. Let's see what these guys can do.

The experience is titled "MindSpa", and entails a certified hypnotherapist coming to your apartment to put you in a trance so you can relax and empty your mind of toxins and polluted thoughts and all the other clutter that prevents you from sleeping at night. I was a little bit nervous about getting robbed or raped while under the spell, so I made sure someone was home at the same time (other than my dog, who would undoubtedly welcome thieves to the apartment with a big lick of saliva and a waggedy tail).

Thus, at 330pm on a Saturday afternoon, a pretty young woman by the name of Michel showed up at my door. She instructed me to sit on the couch in a comfortable position, and then took a seat suspiciously close to me on the same sofa, so that I could be sure to hear her voice throughout the experience.

Once I got over the slight invasion of personal space (I mean, we have three couches in a dead silent living room. There is no real reason for me and a total stranger to be sitting on the love seat together), the hypnotism began. Supposably, you are meant to be conscious the entire time, and you can think of it as a "guided meditation", a fact which had me entirely skeptical.

The session then started, not with a swinging pocket-watch and a repeated chant of "you are getting sleeeeepy," but with the simple act of closing my eyes and breathing in and out deeply. To accompany the breathing exercise, Michel told me to breathe in, imagining the air filling my eyeballs, and then breathe out, feeling all the stress leave my body. Rinse and repeat x every body part I own. She then proceeded to have me visualize a beach on Thailand (my chosen image of relaxation) with birds chirping, blue skies, etc, yada yada yada.

At this point, I was thinking to myself "OH MY F-ING GOD HOW AM I GOING TO LAST THROUGH THE NEXT 80 MINUTES OF THIS CRAP..." and then somewhere along the way, I don't know what happened, I fell under the spell. The last thing I remember was her saying "you are feeling soooo relaxed, you can see the sea in the distance and..." zonk. Intermittently, I remember such phrases as "when you wake, you will feel happy and relaxed and successful" and I sort of remember thinking "well I already AM happy and relaxed and successful." And then before I knew it, she was saying "When I count to 10, you will slowly wake up. 5. You will be so relaxed when I get to 10. 6." Meaning that I missed 1-4 and only really started to rise from the beyond at the end.

So there you have it. A non-believer, converted. Michel even told me that I was easy to hypnotize, but I still have no idea whether I fell asleep or got hypnotized. I guess the point is, did I feel relaxed afterwards? I suppose I did, and I suppose what's more important is that this would indeed make a good gift experience, primarily because it isn't something that someone would buy for themselves, but also because it's kind of a unique once-in-a-lifetime thing that a person would remember. It's also a very good beginner's intro to hypnotism, especially for those who are interested in experimenting with those techniques in order to quit a habit, like smoking, or heal a phobia.

More importantly, it's a tale to tell, if you haven't had the good fortune of being called on stage to be hypnotized into doing silly stuff, like eat your own arm off. Everyone loves hearing an "I was hypnotized" story. Or maybe they don't, but I've repeated the story several times already, and nobody has dared to complain.

Should you wish to try the experience for yourself, or gift it to someone, you can do it at Spoilt.

Image: Selfcaremanual.com

Okay, so I have a confession. I always sort of associated arts and crafts with sad old spinsters with 10 cats and too much time on their hands, or 12-year-olds on summer holiday with too much time on their hands, or creepy stalkers who spend time studying how to make homemade bombs and have too much time on their hands. You get the point. Luckily I have the perspective-broadening influence of FashionGeek to prove to me that you can sit at home and make jewellery while you watch Top Model or Project Runway without being a loser. At least that's my new POV and I'm sticking to it. And now, thanks to the experience-gift site Spoilt, I have now also converted to the church of scrapbooking.

As our first Spoilt experience, we elected to attend a scrapbooking workshop at Random Art Workshop in Causeway Bay (which, incidentally, carries Chic Infinity, jewellery designed by our very own FashionGeek). Frappucinos in hand, we stepped into the workshop with a stack of old photographs, and were quickly introduced to the myriad of materials and tools at our disposal. We both were sold on Tiffany-blue albums, and as you'll see below, FashionGeek got into the theme of the brand by adorning hers with keys.

We were left to our own devices for the next two hours to slice and dice papers, apply stamps and paper cut-outs, glue random shiny crap and otherwise use our imagination to create a pretty little photo album for ourselves. And goshdarnit, it takes TIME to do this. Who knew? By the end of two hours, we each had four or five pages of lively layouts. And a hunger to stay there all day and night to continue creating. But alas, real life awaits, and plus, RAW was hosting a bachelorette party, a Scrap 'n Strip, or Whorecratft, so to speak. We were, unfortunately, not invited, because if anything is funner than scrapbooking, it's scrapbooking while a fit-looking policeman entertains you with the bulge in his pants. What a genius idea.

Anyway, it's entirely likely now that we will be getting each other experience vouchers for another scrapbooking session from Spoilt, come next birthday. It's not just for weird losers with too much time on their hands, okay? Hit the site for this and other experience vouchers.






RIP white leather butterfly ankle-tie sandals (2002-2005)

How many of you have moaned about not know what to get that significant other for their birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas etc? I find that the older you get, the harder it is to buy someone a gift that they will appreciate which is why I normally go through the boring route of asking people what they want for their birthdays. I’d much rather give them something they want/need than something that is just going to be regifted, or hidden in a closet for years and years. After all, we all know closet space is a premium here in Hong Kong and there’s only so many old gifts we can shove in there before our clothes scream for mercy.

So I was really excited when Spoilt contacted us to be their ambassadors. What’s Spoilt? It’s a brand new startup that was launched last month and brings the concept of experience gifts to town.

Here’s how it works. You go to the Spoilt website, www.spoilt.com.hk and choose from a selection of gifts in the following categories: water, flying, outdoor, gourmet, creative and pampered. You can also browse by occasion, recipient type or price range. After you make your selection, an experience voucher is couriered to the recipient and packaged in a personalized gift box. ShoeGeek and I have had a wonderful time browsing through the experiences and our favourites include:

Tall Ship Sailing with Pirates - Join a pirate crew and learn to sail this beautiful European tall-ship, The Bounty. Get an introduction to Escapology and help with hoisting the sails! Afterwards, relax and enjoy the harbour view!

Mini Coffee Cupping Experience - This one is perfect for coffee lovers. Coffee cupping is a coffee tasting experience where you will get the opportunity to compare the aroma and flavour profile of different coffees.

Scrapbooking Workshop- Commemorate your precious moments by decorating and narrating your photos in a scrapbook! More than just a photo album, scrapbooking is a way of preserving memories by arranging photos, journaling and other embellishments in a creative layout.

And these are just the beginning. According to founder Michelle Lam, there will be more experiences rolling out throughout the year. So keep an eye out for our new column, Spoilt Rotten as we embark on some of the experiences and bring you a review of our favourites.