[Buyee Haul Part 1] - Buyee Review

So I’ve decided to start-up my blog again. A lot of things have changed since my last blog post, but I realized to me, certain content is better in a written form versus in a video form. I hope guys will follow me through this journey as a content creator!

Before I start my review on my massive order from Buyee.com I want to give a brief intro on what Buyee is. Buyee is sister site to Tenso, which should sound familiar to you if you order from Tokyo Kawaii Life for Liz Lisa. Buyee offers shopping services to Yahoo! Auctions, Rakuten, Amazon Japan, and other various online stores. I specifically used Buyee for Yahoo! Auctions and Rakuten for my massive order.

So around early January, Buyee had sent out a coupon for Tenso users as a thank you for signing on Buyee. The coupon was a free international shipping coupon that was worth up to 10,000 yen. The moment I got the coupon I knew it was time for the shopaholic in me to run free.

I’ve never ordered from Y! Auctions until now because the service fees from any shopping service never made the purchase worth the time and effort. But with the coupon in hand I put aside my biases and went wild. Luckily, Buyee allows you bid on items in real-time and allows sniper bids, which makes the entire process easier. I also ordered through Rakuten on Buyee’s interface, which was all right but slightly confusing because you couldn’t search by stores.

Payment
You can pay for your items in two ways, link your PayPal account or link your credit card. I ended up linking my PayPal because it's just easier for me. For bidding on items on Y! Auctions, Buyee won't charge your PP/card until you win the auction. The moment you win, they'll deduct the winning amount + Fees. Buyee will foot the domestic shipping fees for you first and then when it comes to ship all your items you'll pay domestic shipping fees + international shipping fees together.

For buying items on Rakuten, you'll authorize a payment with your PayPal and when you receive an e-mail confirming that Buyee has successfully purchased your items, that is when your account will charged. Similar to Y! Auctions you'll pay for domestic and international shipping fees together ^^.

Fees
First off, Y! Auctions fees add up really quick. The fees are as follows:
Item + 200Yen Bank Transfer + 150yen OR 5% of the item you won if it’s over 3,000yen
At minimum you’ll be tacking on 350yen to each of your successful bids.

Fees for Rakuten as of 2016 is any amount less than 3,000 yen is 150 yen and anything over 3,000 yen is free.

Packaging
Everything was packed really nice, plain and simple. For size reference, I compared the box to my 50cm Alpacasso and as you can see, it was the same height

(Excuse my room)

They managed to fit all 19 of my orders in here and added a lot air packets (?) for the empty space. I didn't add the protective packaging option so the extra padding was a nice touch. Honestly, if you’re not ordering fragile items I don’t see a point in protective packaging but that’s just me. For some reason they used fragile tape on my box but I only ordered clothes, shoes and tsum tsums LOL

For fun, I decided to see if I could fit in the box and I did . . . but then I'm only 5ft tall LOL

As you guys can see, I'm actually Rilakkuma in real life, and my style is fab (just kidding)

Consolidation
I used Buyee’s consolidation services because I wanted to use the free international coupon to its’ maximum potential. Consolidation costs 500yen for two packages, and 1000yen for 3+packages. I ended up consolidating 19 packages (yes, even I think I went overboard LOL). I was worried that when consolidating my packages, Buyee would include the original shipping packages of my items, but thankfully that didn’t happen.

Shipping
The total weight of my giant box was 8400grams (~18.5lbs). I wasn’t there when my package was delivered but I’m 100% positive my mailman hated me haha. But I love my neighborhood post office, they’re always on top of their job and I’m grateful that I’m one of the lucky ones to have such an awesome post office. Because my package was 8400grams and I wanted to ship it by EMS, I ended up paying additional monies because I can’t control myself.

Overall, it’s really hard to calculate how much your total shipping would be because you can't calculate the domestic shipping fee. Some times the seller will list how much the domestic shipping will be on the listing and other times it’s a free for all. From what I’ve realized, dresses usually cost 700yen to ship while blouses/skirts are 500yen but unless the seller states how much shipping will be just be prepared to set aside at least 1000yen. Buyee will pay for the domestic shipping for you and when it comes time to pay for international shipping, you’ll pay both at the same time.
There’s not much to say about international shipping other than that you a choice between EMS, SAL, AIR, Seamail and UPS.

Customs
Because of the amount of items I ordered, the size of my package, and the amount I spent, I was really afraid I would get hit by U.S. customs but I didn’t –knocks on wood-. So yay~

My overall experience with Buyee has been really positive. The fees do add up, but I guess you have to pay more for convenience. I’ll definitely use Buyee again, but in moderation (unless they send another coupon my way which I’m down for ;D)

Here's a preview to part 2, which is when I’ll actually show you the pretty stuff I got ^^

[REVIEW/SWATCHES] Urban Decay Naked Basics

Before I start off my first review of the New Year, I hope everyone is having a wonderful year so far!

So yes, I did jump on the Urban Decay Naked bandwagon! I actually was not planning on getting the Basics palette at all. I was content with my INGLOT palette and my Naked 1 palette but let's just say I got caught up with the Sephora BI Gift card and Wrapp frenzy that I was able to get it at steal price.

  

Well let's get on with the review!

[REVIEW/SWATCHES] INGLOT Eyeshadows

[It's currently 12:49 AM (EST) as I am typing this but I am back!]

So in August, I actually visited New York City with my close friends for my 19th birthday, and on my places to shop/visit was INGLOT! Sadly, I was only able to go the INGLOT inside Macy's Herald Square (I know sucky) but I we were on a tight schedule so that was my option. Funny thing was that I only purchased one shadow in person and it was 47 AMC SHINE. The rest I had ordered online when I found out INGLOT was having a 20% off sale on their pan shadows so I made up my haul online haha!

So enough of my babbling and onto my review!

[REVIEW] H2O Marine Daily Hydrator

So I bought this moisturizer during the Winter time because my oily face becomes oily/combination with random dry patches. I paid $5 at Marshalls, but I did see this at TJ Maxx as well. On the website it retails for $22.

Now, I bought this moisturizer because I needed something heavier for the winter to keep my random dry patches in tact and it did the job for the price I paid for.

Here is the back of the bottle for those who are interested in the ingredients:

The moisturizer comes in a squeeze bottle so it's definitely hygienic compared to the bottles where you have to dip your finger in. Personally, I don't mind if I did have to dip my finger.

The consistency of the moisturizer is like a thicker form of a moisturizer but not thick enough for it to be a lotion. Honestly, even though the product did the job, it felt like the lotion was sitting on my face and not actually hydrating my skin. I really do not like that feeling and it's one of the many reason why I don't like using lotions (gasp! I know) I would never use this during the spring or summer time because of the fact that the product sits on top of my face, oil will build up and it would not be a pretty sight.

All in all, I felt the price I paid was alright. The product itself is mediocre, but only because I have oily skin. I think those with dry skin would love this product. I only justified this purchase because it only cost me $5, but I would never buy this at retail price of $22. Not worth it at retail price.

Would I repurchase? Probably not, I have found a better moisturizer since the last time I used this.

[REVIEW] L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows

Hi guys, sorry for not updating for so long! I was sick and midterms came and attacked me T.T BUT! That is all over now, and I am back with a review on the famous L’Oreal Infallible eyeshadows, I’m sure a lot of you guys have already seen swatches and read reviews about these eyeshadows, but I still want to give my two cents about these.

I bought these at Rite Aid during a buy one get half off sale, so for three of these the total was about $22 with tax. These originally cost 7.95, probably cheaper at Target and Walmart. The Infallible eyeshadows can be described as a pressed pigment because there is a cap inside the packaging to press the pigment and keep it fresh. These are also known to be dupes for the Giorgi Armani Eyes to Kill, but I don’t have that so I can’t compare ^^;

My first impression of these were wow, they are so pretty and sparkly HAHA. But when I tried them out, I thought these were over-hyped. These were pigmented when I swatched them with my fingers but when I used a brush, I had hardly any pigmentation. Then I started searching to see what other gurus used to apply these and a lot of them used eyeshadow brushes. In the end, I used a sponge tip applicator and I felt like those worked the best for me with these eyeshadows. After finding the right application, I liked the eyeshadows but I didn’t love them as much as I thought I would. I still need to use my trusty Urban Decay Primer Potion under these eyeshadows because nothing will survive on my oily eyelids.

Out of the three I purchased, I’ve used Amber Rush the most as a brightening color on my inner tear duct. I have replaced my trusty sparkly white eyeliner from Sephora with this baby and it does the same thing, except this is less harsh. It looks a lot more natural and it definitely stays on my eye for a school day (8-10 hours). I have used Eternal Black to smudge out my eyeliner for a smokey-ish look and it lasted about 6-8 hours before I started getting raccoon eyes.

Now onto the pictures! ^^

When these are displayed, they display the bottom where it shows the color while the cap is faced away.

Swatches:

The primer I used was the Urban Decay Primer Potion and as you can tell, there is hardly any difference if you use a primer or not. Midnight Blue and Eternal Black are a did bit darker with UDPP but it's a subtle difference.

There are 2 matte shades in the US Release for these (I'm not sure which colors they are ^^;) but for the rest of the collection they are indeed sparkly or metallic shades.

Overall, would I repurchase these? Probably Amber Rush but not Eternal Black because I have a lot of other black eyeshadows that could do the same thing. I still want to try out the other colors so I would give the L’Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows a 4/5.

[REVIEW] Sincerely, Maeko

WARNING! VERY IMAGE HEAVY!!

(First off, this is not a sponsored post at all. I was not paid to do this in any way or form! I used my own money to purchase the items ^^)
So on Wednesday (January 25th) it felt like it was Christmas LOL.

I had placed an order with SincerelyMaeko (http://sincerelymaeko.storenvy.com/) with a couple of friends after finding out about her through anzfalcon. We ordered 13 bows total (HAHAHA) and it makes me wonder if Cat (the owner) thought I was crazy ^^" For myself though, I only ordered 4 bows while my friends had 3 bows each. You should have seen me when I saw the package. I was giggling all the way to my room with the package.
Cat's bows are well made, and each bow came with an alligator clip! I had several questions regarding my order, and Cat answered my questions ASAP! I mean, I can't really say anything else except I would definitely order from her again. Her bows are well priced, and well worth the money (and a steal if you have a coupon code!) My friends love the bows that they ordered, and they would definitely order again.

To be honest, when I got the package, I was expected everything to be in a yellow flat envelope or some mailing bag but this was what I came home to

This totally caught me off guard! LOL. And within the box was a sweet letter from the maker herself ^^

Cat definitely packaged everything with love and care *Q* She had sent some extra goodies, like the photo frame calender below and a mini notebook (not pictured)

Now onto the bows! The following pictures are of all 13 bows me and my friends ordered ^^

Now, for the next set of pictures are of the bows that I ordered. I tried to edit these pictures to show the true colors of the bow! O:

(Secret Garden Bow)


(Modeled)


(Fresh Mint Bow)


(Modeled)

(Picnic Bow)

(Modeled)

(Black Cat Bow)

(Modeled)

Even though the bow came with alligator clips, it didn't stay in hair that well. But that's because I have thin-normal hair so I opted to take off the clips and slipped a headband through the bows ^^ But, the alligator clips come in handy when I want to wear the bows when I have a bun or something :D

In conclusion, I would definitely order from Sincerely Maeko again!

[REVIEW] Revlon Lip Butter + Swatches!

Today I'm reviewing the famous Revlon Lip Butters that have taken over the blogosphere

I actually got these right when they came out so I tested these for awhile now. The two colors I got were Cherry Tart and Tutti Frutti.

(Left-Right: Cherry Tart, Tutti Frutti)

As seen above, Cherry Tart is a red lip butter while Tutti Frutti is a coral orange one. When I first saw the display for these I was automatically drawn to Tutti Frutti because I have an obsession with Coral- Orange lipsticks!

(Left-Right: Cherry Tart, Tutti Frutti)

Tutti Frutti is a color more suited for Spring/Summer while Cherry Tart is more suited for the Fall/Winter. That's why it looks like Cherry Tart has been used more often than Tutti Frutti~ Cherry Tart is a very wearable everyday red. It looks like it would suit all skin tones and it's definitely a good choice if you're scared to wear the bold red lip look (like me! Haha). The pigmentation between Cherry Tart and Tutti Frutti has a subtle difference. Cherry Tart is a tad bit more pigmented than Tutti Fruitti because Cherry Tart is darker than Tutti Frutti. What I like about Cherry Tart is that even after the color fades, it leaves a tint on my lips like a lip tint! ^^

Also! You can't tell from the swatches or the pictures above, but Cherry Tart has shimmer in it, but once it is on the lips you can't tell at all.

I did have a small problem with them being moisturizing. Since it's a lip butter, I thought it would be good just to have this on and my lip would be fine but I was wrong. I still needed my lip balm under and I also had to exfoliate my lips before wearing these because they settle into the dry patches on my lips (but then what kind of lip product wouldn't? ^^) So, would I repurchase this? I probably would if they were on sale but I wouldn't call these my HG lip items.

Now onto the swatches!

(Left-Right: Cherry Tart, Tutti Frutti)

Lip swatches:

Bare Lips

Tutti Frutti (1 Layer)

Tutti Frutti (2 Layers)

Cherry Tart (1 Layer)

Cherry Tart (2 Layers)