Deal Review: Victoria FaceLift Singapore

So, a couple of weeks back, I utilised one of the facial treatment vouchers found in the NDP voucher booklet at BIOSKIN, and wrote about it on my Dayre account here.

That was not the only voucher available in the booklet, so I decided to go for another, for one more try. This time round, I picked one that was complimentary - Victoria FaceLift.

Crumpled Voucher

The voucher entitles me to a free 90 minutes Victoria Power Lift and a 3 piece product set. What the Victoria Power Lift does, is to:

Photo Credits: Victoria Facelift Singapore website

I will be talking about the whole experience by breaking it down into the various stages - Pre, During, Post. 

1. Pre Visit: Making an Appointment [Rated 8/10] 

As stipulated by the voucher, one needs to make an appointment before heading down. And that's what I did. They were fast to reply, prompt in fixing appointment, and proactive in following up from the day the appointment is made, to the actual day of visit. Why do I say so? 

Fast to reply - they were not the only facial company offering complimentary facials in that NDP booklet. I sms-ed to the number indicated as per instructions, and they responded within a few hours. Compared to the others (I shall not name, as they seem to be pretty big local brands), I have yet to be contacted as of today. One may say, maybe they are too busy to respond to every single SMS. Fine, but I thought of that too. I actually made a couple of calls on top of the SMS, but no one answered. A case of not being sincere enough maybe? 

Prompt in fixing appointment - they had timeslots available that suited my schedule. Again, it could be because they do not have much clientele yet. But I find it good that they are able to manage their schedule to be well spaced, and not tell me things like 'we are fully booked for the month, so you wouldn't be able to use the voucher', which can be rather irritating. If you already have such a solid customer base, why bother having this promotion, where you end up having to turn everyone away? 

Proactive in follow-up - they dropped me reminders as the day of the appointment approached. This is something that I am VERY used to, as I had been pampered with this with my usual facialist. So for me, instead of a value added service, this is a basic to me. Not only did they remind me, they also called me on the day itself, 30 minutes prior to the appointment, to check on my status and if I am on my way. 

Photo Credits: Victoria Facelift Singapore website

2. Actual Visit and Treatment [Rated 7/10] 

Being familiar with these sort of deals, I already knew that I would be getting myself into a sales pitch after the treatment is done. But I shouldn't be too skeptical, I know. So I decided to reserve my comments till after the treatment. 

First Impression - the receptionist and consultant lady (mine was called Denise) was quite friendly and smiley. They addressed me by my name the moment I walked in (must not have been hard to guess), and processing of me as a customer was very fast. But I did not have a good first impression because 1. I was kept waiting for quite awhile for the consultant to attend to me, and 2. I actually could overhear what one consultant was saying to her customer, IN the consultation room. That consultant was very aggressive, a little rude in my opinion, and SUPER pushy. In my mind, I already decided that if I am going to hear things like that, I will say NO and walk out. 

Before Treatment - lucky for me, my consultant turned out to be a sweet young lady who is very gentle and friendly. What she did was to use the machine to analyse the condition of my skin, before the treatment. And informed me that she will be taking 'before' and 'after' photos to show the effect of the treatment. Which then seemed all so familiar... then I realised, few years back when I went to New York Skin Solutions, they had the exact same procedure. [This is a story for another day, but I had an utterly bad experience with them and never went back again.] 

I was a little horrified to see from the analysis that my skin had became very dry. Not sure if its due to the BIOSKIN treatment I did previously, but I am pretty sure it played a part. Seems like I should have gone more paranoid in my application of moisturisers after that visit... *sighs* After finishing explaining, off we go for the facial! 

Treatment Room

Treatment - I was brought to the treatment room shown above, which is EXACTLY how New York Skin organises its room too. It's not a room of its own, its just a room with many treatment beds, each separated by a curtain. Pros for the company - space saving, since they are renting the commercial space from a mall. Cons? All to the customer. I can hear other consultants going about doing their work, conversing with their customer, people going in and out (which is very frequent as they do not have a sink with water supply for each room). Again, I am comparing with my usual facial place, who have their own room, an ACTUAL room, with walls and doors, where each customer have their own privacy and consultants have their own sink with water supply. 

Photo Credits: www.dreamstime.com

Treatment itself was alright and as per usual. First double cleanse the face, then softening, followed by extraction and soothing mask. Next, the machine was used to give better penetration of the materials applied and to provide massage to both the face and neck. The experience was peppered with massages here and there, and Denise never fail to inform me what she will be doing next, the purpose of each step and its advantages. Basic criteria all checked =) 

What I like: 

1. They got their basics right, with all the massages and strength of application etc. 

2. Customer is informed at every step of the way, which is definitely the way to a customer's heart. I'm sure every girl, or guy, will want to know what is happening to their face, no? 

What I did not like: 

1. A paper mask was used for the softening. I am rather conservative and always believed that the traditional method of mixing and creating the mask on the spot is much better. Anything instant have the impression of being too chemical for me. 

2. Soothing mask was left on for way too long. This got me irritated, because I was sure that the time limit for a mask, which is 20-25 mins, was up and yet Denise was nowhere to be seen. And even more so after realising that she was attending to another customer. Not very good multi-tasking if you ask me. Especially for pampered me who have gotten used to having a 1:1 customer consultant ratio during time of visit. 

After Treatment - I was brought to the consultation room once again, where the sales pitch was done and I was taught how to use the free kit. Although I would say that everything above was just okay to me and they 'met expectations' but definitely not 'exceed expectations', I have to be fair. I DO feel that my face had become lighter and more glowy in some sense. Can feel that it is cleaner and tighter. 

3. Post Visit [Rated 6/10] 

Sad to say, I succumbed to their offer and purchased a 6 times package, only to regret it after. So why regret? Here are my considerations:

But I guess in the end, I did. Because I wanted to give it a chance, and to TRY. The good thing is, there is no expiry date to the package, but a word of caution - the consultants will try to squeeze the next appointment as soon as possible, which is NOT good. The best resting period in between facials is 3-4 weeks. My habit is to do it monthly, especially after having period. Because that's when your skin is at its most natural condition without any hormonal interference from a girl's period =) 

Based on my overall scoring for the above factors, Victoria FaceLift scored an average of 7/10 overall. Will write again after I return for another visit, and see how it goes. Till then, all the best to myself, and I hope I made the right choice! *fingers crossed*