5 yrs, 2 mths ago

Best online shopping experience for cosmetics?

During the post-Christmas sales, I indulged in quite a bit of online shopping and had some mixed experiences.

L’Occitane online was a bit woeful compared to in-store customer service.

Mecca was amazing: beautiful packaging, generous samples, low spend for free shipping and speedy delivery.

Sephora I skipped over as I don’t like their in-store customer service or lack thereof…

While I didn’t shop on Adore Beauty, I normally do do throughout the year and I’m impressed.

What are your experiences, pros and cons?

29 comments 32 voices

Replies

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Has anyone used Oz Hair and Beauty. Have been tempted to order from their website in the past but haven’t tried it yet.

    • 5 yrs, 1 mth ago

      I’ve never heard of the site.

      Looks intriguing!

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I have bought some hair products from them a few times and had really positive experiences! the shipping was pretty fast with good tracking.

      • 5 yrs, 1 mth ago

        Thanks for the reply, good to hear you had a positive experience using their website.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I have brought online from
    1) Strawberry net – cheap and reliable.
    2) Adore beauty – love it that they always give you heaps of samples and a tim tam bar!

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I have always had great customer service and delivery times with Adore Beauty.

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      They are good, would recommend them to anyone, delivery is super quick, I can order on a weekend or early in the week and delivery has arrived within a few days. Much easier for me than finding the time on a weekend to get to the shops often to find what I want isn`t in stock in store anyway.

      Their online skin care recomendation service is good to, as is the ability to review and earn points to go towards shopping credits for future purchases.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Mecca is quick with great packaging and samples

    Beautylish is the best, great brands that are reasonably priced (ie I brought the Amrezy ABH highlighter for ~$10 cheaper than Sephora Australia) free shipping on orders over 35 US. Occasionally I get an amazing sample, once I received a Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream (deluxe sample size worth ~40) on a $70 purchase .

    YesStyle is also good, just make sure to check the expected shipping date as some items take a while to receive.

    Pat McGrath does wonderful packing and very quick delivery times.

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I get my Hada Labo from YesStyle…

      Now to explore BeautyLish!

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    Kiana Beauty (hands down best wrapping I have ever seen), Adore Beauty, Mecca, iHerb, Beauty Bay (although I would not recommend the Saver shipping option – my item got lost but they refunded me immediately after I notified them), Roseroseshop, Jolse, Sweetcorea, Klairs, Yesstyle – these are my favourites.

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I’ve never heard of Kiana Beauty, Jolese or Roseroseshop.

      Are they Korean?

      *edit Kiana is from Melbourne?

      Score!

      • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

        Hi Lucy,

        We are based in Berwick, which is South East of Melbourne.

        Thank you Ethelinde for the kind words! We take pride in our service and glad to see you love our signature gift wrapping.

      • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

        Very familar with Berwick this way…

        Just checked out your site.

        Happy to give you custom!

      • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

        Jolse and Roseroseshop are Korean but have English websites.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I’ve been really good lately so haven’t shopped online but I did have an issue with an eye of horus mascara a few months back and their customer service via email was amazing, replaced my product and sent me a new one to try out as well. Super impressed!!

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I usually order my beauty products from mecca since the shipping usually only take a few days after ordering and they always include a handful of samples!

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I was mindblown with superb customer service while online shopping with all 3 retailers I got goodies from just recently. And one other from the past.

    Foreo (Europe) – super polite and helpful staff. They sent me free device of my choice as my old just stopped working just under 2 year warranty. Normally you get replacement of same if they see that device was faulty. I just dropped mine several times in the shower…sooo…woops.

    CurrentBody (UK) – delayed shipping (3,4 days) due to one of the attachments being sent from NuFace to them. Because of that, they gave me free express shipping and a full sized product (that I looove! Already reordered). Emails so polite and personal. Very fast delivery!

    IME Natural Perfumes (Aus) – Tonia, maker of these, wow, just a beautiful person. Also exchanged couple of emails. Had no problems, just needed to sent appreciation for what she does and makes.

    and Native (US) – funniest and such a cute emails exchange! They have time to write immediate response with such a wit.

    All , just outstanding. Also their products (ones I have used).

    Worst ever experience- ColourPop. Matches with the quality of their products. Lets put it this way, my last declutter included everything I ordered from them.

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I really want to try the IME perfumes…

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      Such a shame about ColourPop, I ordered two eyeshadow palettes from them (no issues, blend out fine but a couple are a little chalky when first applying).
      I was considering ordering some lip products but think I`ll give that a miss!

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      Ouch for ColourPop lol, what products exactly didn’t you like?

      I’m the opposite, I love their shadows and their liquid lipsticks, some of the best I’ve used right up there with Tarte and Juvias place. Cream Luxe lippies are also great.

      Will say though their lip colour swatches are totally wrong. I ordered a “light nude pink” with their stock pic showing just that, turned out to be a hideous bright barbie pinky-fuscia. Thought I got wrong shade and contacted them they said basically your fault you should have checked swatches of people on social media….. like, really?

      • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

        I got super shock shadows. Quality is like kids makeup. Liquid lippies, Satin. Sooooooo drying and make every feature of the lip accentuated, no, worse…creates lines with movement and they stay, lips look super weird. I have smooth lips, but with these they look shriveled. And feels like those water paints I used to play when a kid. Also lippy sticks. Just look cheap on the lips.

        Yes, their emails….just [facepalm]

      • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

        Oh I looove the supershock shadows (except for 2) but they work best with a certain brush (dense synthetic crease brush) or a finger then they stay all day. Funny though what works for one doesn’t for another, I have dry lips and find their liquid satin lips work well as they blur out the yuck bits on my lips.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    The body shop was fab, as usual, in-store or online I’m always impressed. Lush is better in store to get the unique experience I guess at least for me. David Jones is good instore or online however their return policy is a bit annoying.
    Sephora was amazing I shopped online and instore, they were very friendly. Mecca the same.

  • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

    I have had great experiences with Adore Beauty and Beauty Bay. I’ve also bought beauty items off Asos, iherb, DJs, Morphe. MAC and Myer all no problems. I find it annoying that the majority of Australian sites have such a high minimum spend for free shipping compared to overseas sites which confuses the hell out of me as to how that happens!

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I shop on iHerb quite regularly but have never bought off Beauty Bay…

    • 5 yrs, 2 mths ago

      I agree with you about the Australian sites that put me off, if they want us to support them they should rethink that policy.

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