As mentioned before, I prefer online shopping to in-the-shopping-mall-shopping. No parking fees, no busy shopping malls, no queues & no overbearing sales people.
To read {Part 1} of this blog post trio, click here. In Part 1 I give you all the deets on what you should look out for when purchasing online, what you need to make a purchase online, how long delivery usually takes etc.
To read {Part 2} of this blog post trio, click here. In Part 2 I show you a few of my favourite local online shops.
There are many, many international online shops out there, but only a select few who actually ship to South Africa. Remember, even though a website might say they ship worldwide – it doesn’t necessarily mean they ship to South Africa. So always check this first, before you start falling in love with all the products the site has to offer. I do this by adding any product to my online shopping cart, then going to ‘check out’ and will then see under the shipping locations drop-down whether they ship to South Africa.
We are talking about international online shopping here, thus you will in most cases have to pay duties / taxes on your parcels. Unfortunately I can’t give you a specific calculation on how the amount is calculated – in most cases it’s the luck of the draw. I have received parcels valued at over R 500,00 and have only paid R 50,00 (BeautyBay, Vivadream Cosmetics, Cherry Culture) & then I have also received parcels valued at about R 700,00 and have had to fork out R 250,00 (Makeup Geek & Sigma Beauty).
Regarding how long it will take for your parcel to arrive, it’s also difficult for me to give you a specific amount of time. Makeup Geek, Sigma, BeautyBay, BH Cosmetics and Asos parcel usually take quite long (about 2 months). Feelunique & Kiss And Makeup take about 1 month. Cherry Culture, Vivadream Cosmetics, Sedona Lace take 2 to 3 weeks. BUT in saying that, our postal service here in Gauteng has been on strike for the last 1,5 to 2 months and we all know what that means…
I am an online shopping fanatic, so if you know of any other online shops that stock amazing brands (and who ship to South Africa), please let me know in the comments section below. I am VERY interested in discovering new online shopping websites.
Here are my favourite international online shops:
Shop Name: Asos
Products: Clothing, beauty products, accessories.
Brands: American Apparel, Daniel Sandler, Illamasqua, Marc By Marc Jacobs, Maaji, Pixi, Ted Baker, theBalm (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE
Website: http://us.asos.com/?hrd=1
Take Note: Asos can only send your parcel to a physical address (they do not accept a PO Box address as a delivery address).
Shop Name: BeautyBay
Products: Makeup, skin care, hair care, body care, nail care & makeup tools.
Brands: Alterna, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Antipodes, Beautyblender, Cargo, Deborah Lippmann, Dr Jart+, First Aid Beauty, Kevyn Aucoin, Mario Badescu, milk_shake, Sara Happ, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Zoeva (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE
Website: http://www.beautybay.com/
Take Note: BeautyBay is now quite strict about which products they send to South Africa – so even though they say they ship worldwide, some of the products cannot be sent to SA.
Shop Name: BeautyNet Korea
Products: Makeup, skin care, hair care, nail care, body care & makeup tools.
Brands: Etude House, Lioele, Missha, Milky Dress, Skinfood, Skin79, Tony Moly (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE
Website: http://beautynetkorea.com/
Shop Name: BH Cosmetics
Products: Makeup & makeup tools.
Delivery Fee: Starts at $21,95 (+- R 243,00 – shipping price has gone up significantly – it never used to be this expensive).
Website: http://www.bhcosmetics.com/
Shop Name: Cherry Culture
Products: Makeup & makeup tools.
Brands: Beautyblender, China Glaze, Jordana, Milani, NYX (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: Starts at $ 12 (+- R 132,00).
Website: http://www.cherryculture.com/
Take Note: Something strange is going on with Cherry Culture – they’ve been having sales like crazy lately and are not restocking products / brands. I sent them an email asking them if they are discontinuing certain brands and they said yes but would not specify which brands. They also told me to check back later this year as new products would be back in store soon.
Shop Name: Coastal Scents
Products: Makeup & makeup tools.
Delivery Fee: Starts at $ 15 (+- R 165,00).
Website: http://www.coastalscents.com/
Shop Name: eBay
Products: Everything
Brands: Everything (but beware of fakes).
Delivery Fee: Each seller has their own delivery fees.
Website: http://www.ebay.com/
Shop Name: Etsy
Products: Handmade items
Delivery Fee: Each seller has their own delivery fees.
Website: https://www.etsy.com/
Shop Name: Feelunique
Products: Makeup, skin care, hair care, body care, nail care & makeup tools.
Brands: Antipodes, bareMinerals, Benefit, Burt’s Bees, butter London, Caudalie, Daniel Sandler, EcoTools, Evian, First Aid Beauty, GlamGlow, Macadamia, Pixi, Real Techniques, Tanya Burr, theBalm, Urban Decay and soon…Zoella Beauty (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE on orders over $ 20 / +- R 220,00.
Website: http://www.feelunique.com/
Take Note: Feelunique is also quite strict about which products they send to South Africa – so even though they say they ship worldwide, some of the products cannot be sent to SA.
Shop Name: Kiss And Makeup
Products: Makeup, skin care, body care & makeup tools.
Brands: Beautyblender, butter London, Fresh, GlamGlow, Kevyn Aucoin, Laura Mercier, Model In A Bottle, NARS, Sara Happ (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: $ 9,95 (+- R 110,00)
Website: http://www.kissandmakeupny.com/
Shop Name: Look Fantastic
Products: Makeup, skin care, hair care, body care, nail care & makeup tools.
Brands: Aveda, Alterna, Antipodes, Bumble & Bumble, Burt’s Bees, Benefit, Caudalie, Daniel Sandler, Deborah Lippmann, GlamGlow, Instyler, Japonesque, Ojon, Real Techniques, Tanya Burr, Urban Decay (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE
Website: http://www.lookfantastic.com/home.dept
Take Note: Look Fantastic is also quite strict about which products they send to South Africa – so even though they say they ship worldwide, some of the products cannot be sent to SA.
Shop Name: Makeup Geek
Products: Makeup & makeup tools.
Brands: Makeup Geek, Z Palette, NYX, Palladio, Beautyblender.
Delivery Fee: Starts at $ 6 (+- R 66,00).
Website: http://www.makeupgeek.com/store/
Take Note: I have placed 2 orders with Makeup Geek in the past and although their shipping costs are very reasonable, on both occasions the duties / taxes were horrific – R 250,00 on a R 500,00 valued parcel.
Shop Name: Sedona Lace
Products: Makeup & makeup tools.
Brands: Sedona Lace
Delivery Fee: Starts at $ 16 (+- R 175,00) or FREE on orders over $ 150 (+- R 1665,00).
Website: http://www.sedonalace.com/
Shop Name: Stephensons Online
Products: Makeup, skin care, body care, nail care & makeup tools.
Brands: I love…, Rose & Co, Soap & Glory, St. Moriz (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: Starts at £ 4,50 (+- R 82,00) or FREE on orders over £ 35 (+- R 630,00).
Website: http://www.solretail.com/
Shop Name: Vivadream Cosmetics
Products: Makeup, skin care, body care, nail care & makeup tools.
Brands: Alterna, Beautyblender, Caudalie, GlamGlow, It’s A 10, Rodial, Sara Happ, theBalm (to name a few).
Delivery Fee: FREE
Website: http://vivadream.com/
I am DYING to place an order on Bellami for hair extensions, but they don’t ship to South Africa anymore (they used to though). See? Below they say they ship worldwide but when I try to checkout my basket, they say they don’t ship to SA. Boooo!
Also really want to get my hands on something from NuMe but they’ve never shipped to South Africa – and it pains me, because I really REALLY want one of their curling wand sets!
I used to also shop on BeautyJoint but their shipping prices have sky rocketed in the last couple of months, so I’m not including it in this blog post. BUT, they do also have an eBay store (check it out here) and their shipping costs are A LOT more affordable.
Real Techniques recently started shipping to South Africa but I have heard from quite a number of people that they have had issues when receiving their parcels – Real Techniques often doesn’t include an invoice amount on the parcel, in which case South African customs will hold your parcel until you can supply them with an invoice from Real Techniques.
I have also heard of iHerb, which stocks brands such as elf, Real Techniques, Aveeno and EcoTools (amongst other brands) but I haven’t placed an order with them as yet.
Nordstrom also ships to South Africa, but their shipping charges are… *cough* …a bit hefty.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
♥
The post Online Shopping 101 – My Favourite International Online Stores {Part 3} appeared first on Pink Peonies.