Have you been Bitten by Smitten yet?

Here on the sunny island, most girls (and some guys) read Cleo. Elle. Her World. Female. Some would venture further ashore and get their hands on Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan.

How Boring? They are all "same same but different". Product-centric, undifferentiated layouts, what's cool, what's not. Offering 101 shades of blushers in pink and telling you the same dieting tricks in all holiday issues during December. Sometimes even offering fashion advices which do not apply (Fur coats in Singapore?).

How pathetic to not have a voice of its own, and a personlity to own?

I've been waiting for a breath of fresh air and when my best friend handed me a copy of Project Smitten, I was both hopeful and sceptical.

Project Smitten is a NEW magazine, which just debut-ed in September. New kid on the block in a rather saturated industry, I was interested to see how it will differentiate itself. Hopeful bc this might be the messiah in our magazine world. Sceptical bc it's new, which translates to untested, lack of credibility.

So after reading, here's my verdict.


Why the Fad girl hearts it?

: Interesting cover page. Instead of using real life models (Trés expensive!), illustrations are used instead, of dolly-looking avatars. Bright cheery background colours of royal purple and cherry pink, an assortment of pretty fonts and layouts that mirror the Schönbrunn palace with its frou-frou-ness and rococo theme. Pretty! Worth 3 Fad lip glosses.

:: A presence in Facebook, allowing interaction with readers. From there you'd realise that P.S is owned by VISCION MEDIA. An independent company that owns three other mags and 1 newspaper. Their mission statement sounds cool just like Fad!
So 1 Fad lip gloss for being techy-trendy! 5 Fad lip gloss for their irreverence.

::: Snooping around the Facebook group of their other magazine, BeautyBlackBook,

I came upon a request by Miss Cheapo-Smartie, who typed:

I am sorry. Typical Singaporean. I hopeto get a free trial copy. At least online before I decide or not to subscribe.

One of the guys from Viscion replied:

drop by the office. 70 emereald hill road.

And Miss Cheapo-Smartie said:
Typical Singaporean. Dont like to travel to take one thing. Heh.

She was then slammed by another reader.
But the reply from the Viscion guy was suave, so 1 more Fad lip gloss!



Why Project Smitten is not to be died for?

: Readers who subscibed to them have been complaining on Facebook that they receive late issues. Seems like the company was too eager to reel in supporters yet can't be bothered to check logistics. Readers also complained that when they called to enquire, no one cared about them. This is baaaaaad. 5 lip gloss smudges!

:: True. This is a shopping magazine. It has every right to be product-centric. But to feature high-end dresses that cost $900 a piece, how is that relevant to most people's budget? 1 lip gloss smudge for that.

::: A little too cluttered. A little too wordy. A little like a cross of Style, Cleo and Female. And some say, Lucky.

Credit: Pause4Thought

1 lip gloss smudge, but there's room for improvement.

All in all, this is not too bad for a magazine that has 3 issues so far. If Project Smitten continues in such direction, tweak a little here and there to make it more relevant for its readers, it has potential to dazzle our local mag scene.

What say you?