Online Shopping Experience ~ Nail Supplies

Hello ladies :) Yesterday, while I was taking a break from my Masters research project, I was thinking about what to blog and instead of a review I though of sharing my online shopping experiences when it comes to nail art accessories and nail polishes.  I will do other posts on jewellery & accessories and yet another one on cosmetics/skin care if your feedback for this post is good :)

We all know how convenient it is to shop online especially for products and articles you do not get where you live or else they are simply too expensive to buy at home.  As a general rule, I only buy from a website if they accept PayPal and if shipping charges are reasonable.

In this first post, I will basically go into details about dispatch of orders, shipment times, customer care and all these things about the different websites that I buy nail supplies from so let's get started!

ebay is the site I use most frequently to buy nail polishes and nail art decorations from as I find it is very easy to compare prices in one place and since I would know how much a particular product retails in local stores, I know I'm getting a very good deal on here.

I use the ebay.co.uk site and these are my favourite sellers for China Glaze nail polishes glitzandglamorize; beautyzone2007 & enchantedbeautyspot (all US sellers).

As for nail art embellishments, what I do is I type the item description in the search box and then sort the results by 'Price + P&P: Lowest First' and check out the best deal as to quantity, colours and more often than not, I do not pay for shipping! In case I buy more than one item from the same seller, and there happens to be a shipping charge, most sellers offer combined shipping discounts.  Also, you can opt to bid for certain items, giving you the opportunity to get an even cheaper deal!  Last but not least, the site is very user-friendly and there is also a Buyer Protection Scheme. As for customer care, I can't complain as whenever I had problems with orders, the sellers were more than helpful :)  Shipping is usually fast and you leave feedback on each item upon receipt.  I order mostly from Hong Kong based sellers.  In the My eBay section, you can keep track of all orders and save items in your Watch List for easier access. PayPal is accepted.

Born Pretty Store is another online nail supplies store (based in China) that I like to shop at.  I am also an affiliate with the store but that doesn't mean this is going to bias my views just because I get free stuff to review.  Born Pretty also sell all other kinds of beauty-related stuff such as hair accessories and make-up.  Most of their products are good quality and they dispatch their orders fairly quickly.  They can improve a little on customer service though.  Orders typically take anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks to arrive and everything is safely packaged in bubble wrap and a standard big padded envelope.  What I like most about this site is that you can upload your pictures, videos and thoughts on the products and in return get BPS points to spend online so you can also get some items for free that way.  Prices are very reasonable too and they decrease per unit, the more you order of the same item at one go.  They also offer free shipping worldwide irrespective of the order total. PayPal is accepted as a payment method and you get an email notification once your order is dispatched.

Nail Delights is my latest discovery with regards online nail supplies stores.  They are based in the UK and offer free worldwide shipping on orders of £10 or more while if the order amounts to a lesser cost, the shipping fee is £1.50.  It is not difficult to spend £10 so might as well save on shipping and getting another item instead. You get an order confirmation once your payment has gone through but to check if the order has been dispatched, you have to click on a link in this email or log on to your site account as you do not receive any email notifications.  PayPal is accepted as a payment method and the orders only take a week or so to arrive.  They use bubble wrap to make sure that your items arrive intact.  Definitely worth a try!

So that's it for the first post in this kind of series.  I would really appreciate it if you let me know what you think about these kind of posts and also whether you have different views than mine on any of the websites shared :)