Having been back into reality for a week , it’s not unusual to feel a bit down. Getting straight back into the working life and wondering when and where my next trip will be. On the upside to keep myself occupied I have been browsing several online shops daily and have been shopping.
As promised, here is my compilation of my favourite online shops from last year. For all my international readers, you probably wonder about my fascination for online shopping and my lack of reviews for shops in NZ. New Zealand being far far away from the rest of the world, I constantly have to rely on internet shopping as many brands do not exist here. Not to mention the ridiculous retail prices here (which in my opinion cannot solely be justified by freight). One example is cosmetics , say a MAC lipstick is $16 USD but for us it’s about $40 NZD , which is about double the cost in the US and that is just the beginning.
Here is my list of my favourite online stores in 2012, I have bought items from all these sites and can assure you they are reliable.
Gilt.com – for work wear, designer items, shoes, lifestyle items.
Gilt offers reasonable shipping and great quality items. Read my review on Gilt.com here
- Riverisland.com – casual wear
- Nastygal.com – casual wear, shoes – particularly Jeffrey Campbell
- ASOS.com – for everything
- Topshop.com – casual wear, shoes
- Urbanoutfitters.com – footwear, casual wear
- Beautybay.com – cosmetics, hair care
- Tobi.com – casual wear
I decided to give Tobi.com a go, they slash their prices daily with their 40% new items and plus 50% off first purchase code, it’s hard to give it a miss. I have been contemplating whether or not to get items from there for a while as I wasn’t 100% certain of the quality of the items, some of them look borderline ebay-like. But I was pleseantly surprised when I received my package. The only down side is their sizing is very limited from S – L , I am usually an XS (or size 6 NZ/ 4-6 UK ) so a few of the items are a bit big for my size. I wouldn’t purchase trousers from them as it’s likely they would be more of a size 7-8 fit.
In terms of shipping, it is free if you spend over 150 USD. I didn’t buy quite that much, I think my order totaled to about $130 USD. I could have picked a few other things to make it up to free shipping but I am always unsure as to whether or not I’d get charged customs tax if I go over $150 so I didn’t risk it. Shipping is only 9.95 USD if you spend under 150 anyway so I didn’t have much to lose. It took around 3 weeks to arrive (including packing time and also bare in mind it’s the Christmas season).
I also got several items from River Island, they had a free delivery offer in November. The parcel didn’t come for ages as it was the Christmas season so I’m just glad I got it in the end.
Bought a lot of beauty items this month as well, so I have more reviews to come!
Michelle
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Tobi.com & Riverisland.com buys and other boxing day shopping
Make up goodies bought in Jan, reviews to come
Fishing For Fashion 