Finally, I have gotten this post all tidied up and ready to click publish.

So, today I will share a few sites I bought my cosmetics, including tools and nail products from. Hopefully, this will help provide more information if you want to purchase them as well. Most of these brands are not yet available in Singapore.

Let’s start off with Illamasqua, shall we?

Illamasqua from London is one of those brands not available in Singapore. No idea when it will be, not even sure if it ever will be. I made my first online purchase from them earlier this year.

PACKING & SHIPPING
It took approximately 7 days to reach me from the date I ordered. It’s registered and items were all packed in a black box with black tissue paper as cushion. And everything arrived undamaged.

Illamasqua don’t provide free international shipping. However, they charge a flat rate of GBP7.50 for all international orders which I think is relatively reasonable if you order in bigger quantities.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
One of the items I ordered was out-of-stock so one of their customer service officers emailed me with several options. Either wait, a refund or replace with another product. I picked another product so I didn’t have to wait. Replies and responses were fast.

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my post on Illamasqua’s Door Bell.

For sure I will shop with them again. In fact, I just placed an order for some of their awesome nail varnishes and their new Art of Darkness Collection for Fall.

 

Benefit from San Francisco is available in Singapore. At TANGS and SEPHORA. But I noticed, some products and gift sets are not available locally. And it takes approximately 1-2 months (if not longer) for the new products to arrive in Singapore. Due to exchange rate, it may work out to be slightly cheaper to purchase them online.

PACKING & SHIPPING
It comes in a box with Benefit’s tissue paper wrapped around as cushion and a little sticker to seal. It took slightly more than 14 days to reach me from the date I ordered. All products arrived safely.

Benefit offers free international shipping for orders above USD115. Remember to enter promotional code when checking out. Occasionally, Benefit provides free sample sized products with purchases and if you are lucky, some times, they throw in full-sized products too.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Now, this is the part I can’t comment. My orders were smooth with no out-of-stock items so I didn’t communicate with anyone from their side.

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my post on Benefit Has Landed.

I will shop with them again, no doubt. But only when I can’t wait to get my hands on their new products or if I spotted some gift sets and/or palettes I must have.

Nordstrom from the USA is well-known for the designers’ clothings and accessories but for me, it’s a makeup haven. They carry many beauty brands, you name it, they have it. But most importantly, they have NARS (not available in Singapore) and YSL (hard to find in Singapore) cosmetics.

Do note that some brands like Burberry Beauty and MAC are not allowed to be shipped to Singapore. You would have to try an error on this. When you check out, they will prompt you to remove all items which are restricted. I have no idea which brands can/cannot be shipped to Singapore.

I tried adding Giorgio Armani’s “Eyes To Kill” Palette and “Eyes To Kill” Mascara, the palette got rejected.

If you are looking for some limited edition products from certain collections, you may find them at Nordstrom.

PACKING & SHIPPING
Shipping is mega fast. I placed my orders on the 18th and received my first package on the 24th. But, the weird thing is, Nordstrom separated my orders into several shipments. Some consist of only 1 product. For shipment with 1-3 products, Nordstrom packed them in heavy-duty padded envelopes to ensure nothing is damaged. Shipment with more than 3 products, it comes in a box with craft paper as cushion.

All goods arrived in one piece and I received my last shipment on the 30th.

Nordstrom don’t provide free international shipping. In fact, shipping is pretty costly, not to mention the Duty & VAT I have to pay.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Again, I can’t comment on this part as my orders were processed smoothly and I didn’t communicate with anyone from their side.

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card.

FYI, NARS Blush cost S$36.50 and NARS Duo Eyeshadow cost S$45 excluding Duty & VAT and Shipping & Handling.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my posts on NARS From Nordstrom, Yves Saint Laurent Cosmetics From Nordstrom, Laura Mercier Makeup Brushes and NARS Makeup Collection For Fall 2010.

Due to the Duty & VAT and Shipping & Handling, I will most likely shop with them only if I need to find certain limited edition products or products not available in Singapore.

Next in line, I have Louise Young Cosmetics from the UK for you. Louise Young is well-known for her makeup brushes. Superb quality made affordable to makeup artists and yourself. They carry all sorts of brushes, from face to brows and travel sets, not available in Singapore.

PACKING & SHIPPING
All brushes are wrapped in individual plastic envelopes and all the brushes are bubble wrapped and shipped in an envelope together with a Louise Young leaflet. All brushes were nicely packed and undamaged.

Louise Young don’t provide free international shipping but they charge a flat rate of GBP6.99 for all international destinations. I placed my order on the 20th and received them in my mail box on the 25th. Very quick shipping, I didn’t expect to receive them so soon.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
I received two emails from them in total for my order. One stating my order and the other is payment confirmation. I believe they don’t send out emails notifying buyers they have shipped our orders out.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, just in case you are wondering. At some point, I wondered if they have shipped my order. So, let’s just be patient.

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my post on Louise Young Makeup Brushes.

Will I shop with them again? Yes, I will. I want to collect an entire range of Louise Young brushes slowly and I am quite excited about her upcoming makeup range.

Rescue Beauty Lounge‘s Nail Polishes are famous for its fabulous colour range and extremely good quality. They cost USD18 a bottle, not cheap at all but definitely worth a try for those who are into nail varnishes and they are not available in Singapore.

PACKING & SHIPPING
All the nail polishes come in individual boxes which spells C.H.I.C to me. The nail polishes are wrapped in Rescue Beauty Lounge’s tissue paper and bubble wrapped in a box.

Rescue Beauty Lounge provide free international shipping with purchase above USD200, that’s 12 bottles of nail polishes. I placed order on the 20th and received it on the 27th, delivered right at my door step.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Ji Baek, founder and owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge replies emails on-the-go. Very quick replies and response. 

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my post on Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Polishes. And for swatches on the colours I bought, check out my post on Rescue Beauty Lounge Nail Varnish Colour Manual.

I will definitely shop with them again. I am loving their nail polishes and colour range but being USD18 a pop, I would have to do it very slowly. Waiting for more new colours so I can get accumulate 12 bottles altogether for free shipping.

The Brush Guard, a new innovation for packing, storing, cleaning and protecting your brushes. It doesn’t say what they are made off (probably a trade secret). They feel like plastic or some sort of polyester fiber interwoven together to produce this stretchy membrane.

They are 5 different packs of various sizes and each of them cost USD5.50 excluding shipping.

PACKING & SHIPPING
The Brush Guards are relatively easy to ship as they do not require bubble wrap or cushion. These guards come in packs and shipped in envelopes. Arrived in my mailbox without any problems at all.

I bought a total of 6 packs and shipping cost USD6, pretty reasonable. I am not sure if they offer international shipping at a flat rate, I guess not.

Placed my order on the 20th, order was shipped out on the 21st and I received my order on the 2nd of September. It took slightly longer compared to other stores I ordered from on the same day. But well within the expected time frame.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Excellent follow-up from The Brush Guard. There will be an email notification that says my payment have been verified by Paypal. Then they emailed me with a short introduction together with a video on how to use the brush guards.

PAYMENT
I made all payment via Credit Card but there is an option for Paypal.

For more details on the products I bought, check out my post on The Brush Guard.

I absolutely have no second thoughts on purchasing the same thing from them again. I need them for my growing brush collection and I have added these guards into my list of must-haves for my toolbox.

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I am extremely careful when it comes to purchasing cosmetics, especially if I am buying them online. So, whenever possible, I will try to buy them directly from the brand’s website itself to ensure the quality of the products are genuine.

I am also aware that some items can be purchased cheaper on certain websites. I have not fully explored the entire e-tailer community but isn’t it better to pay an extra few bucks making sure that the product is new and fresh? And it reaches me without any problems? I would think so, as doing refunds, exchanging of products and checking for defects can be a long process.

And please note that all opinions above are based on my own shopping experiences. If you have encountered a different experience, feel free to share them with me below.

Thank you for reading.