Online shopping makes me happy 🙂
Let’s be honest, I’m no stranger to online shopping. My job outside of blogging is all about eCommerce, so safe to say, I live and breathe online shopping 🙂 I wanted to highlight a few of my absolute favourite online stores for beauty and fashion today! Stores that don’t involve parcel forwarding (ship direct to Australia), and provide service and shipping rates I feel are fair. My actual list ended up being over 11 different online stores, but I wanted to cut it down to my top 6!
Selfridges
My go to store for all the latest in beauty, for the most part they always tend to have something in stock the minute it is released in the Northern hemisphere. Often in Australia we are made to wait another 1-2 months before products hit our shores, and even when they do, stocks are limited. To ensure I don’t miss out on anything, I turn to Selfridges. Not only do they have an amazing range (not just beauty, but fashion as well), the user experience and navigation they offer on their site is just that, an amazing experience. Be warned however, they can’t ship anything flammable aka nail polishes outside the UK.
Everything is in British pounds, and there is a flat shipping fee of 25 pounds. However because I live outside of the UK, the VAT is deducted from everything during checkout. If I order enough, the amount of VAT deducted can work out to equalise shipping making it essentially free 🙂
Ichibankao
The place to be for most Asian cosmetics, unfortunately the prices here are very high but they do tend to stock the latest and some very exclusive pieces. I only shop here when there is something I’m very desperate for, otherwise I will seek cheaper alternatives such as friends travelling or Adam beauty. But so far every order I’ve placed here has been perfectly packaged and delivered.
Unlike most other eCommerce sites, the shipping is included into each product you purchase so there is no stated shipping fee at the end.
Shopbop
My favourite shop for fashion brands we just don’t stock in Australia (or if I’m looking for a cheaper price), all prices are based on the American prices and are directly converted into Australian dollars so there is no need to pay any extra than you would if you had travelled to America yourself! My favourite brands here are Rebecca Minkoff, Tory Burch, Marc by March Jacobs and Michael Kors.
If you spend more than $100AUD (which is very easy to do with the products on stocked here), then shipping is completely free! Else you’ll incur a flat fee of $10AUD.
YesStyle
Another Asian store, but this time I look to YesStyle for cheap fashion pieces! The navigation of this side is a little less easy to use than other eCommerce sites, but the fact that it hosts a tempting loyalty program is what sucked me in 🙂 All fashion brands are based in Asia, and range from extremely cheap to just so so. You won’t find any luxury brands here if that’s what you’re after. The style is generally more on the cutesy Asian style, which can be a plus or minus depending on your tastes 🙂 Personally I love it!
Shipping is free if you spend $25AUD or more, which should be no problem to reach at all.
ASOS
What list wouldn’t be complete without ASOS? Probably one of the most popular online fashion stores, they are like the Amazon of the fashion world. A purely online store with no brick and mortars, and a website that many retailers constantly look to for user experience and functionality. No surprises that shopping here is a blast, based in the UK most of the makeup brands are British. The fashion in terms of quality and prices sits between YesStyle and Shopbop. My favourite purchases from ASOS have always been shoes and dresses.
Shipping like many mentioned above is completely free, what should be mentioned is actually their amazing return policy. Many of my friends will purchase the same outfit in a range of sizes, try them on at home, and then return what they don’t need for a flat rate of $7AUD, and the package is picked up direct from your door. It’s literally like shopping in a traditional store, only from the comfort of your own home.
Update: Unfortunately ASOS now require Australians to spend at least $30AUD before they qualify for free shipping, bit annoying 🙁 I tend to spend more than that for my ASOS orders but I know not everyone does!
Net a Porter
Last but not least! My newest discovery in terms of beauty, I’ve always know Net a Porter stocked quality luxury brands, but unless I’m absolutely certain I’ve never been 100% comfortable purchasing high end luxury goods online without seeing them first. However when Net a Porter dipped their toes into beauty, I jumped straight on and loved it, their range is still quite limited but tends to focus mostly on the (not surprising) high end beauty brands.
Shipping is free if you spend over $500AUD, which is easy if you are purchasing high end designer goods. However for me, since I’ve only used Net a Porter for beauty, it’s a $10AUD flat fee, which is still amazing given most local eCommerce site still charge that or more even if they are only shipping from within the same city. Not to mention, a little extra touch is that Net a Porter wrap their packages up in a beautiful luxe black packaging. It’s the little things that make me smile 🙂
Hope you found my recommendations helpful, what are your favourite online stores to shop at?
Great post! Never knew that there are great stores like these in Australia. My sister did not mentioned this to me. Glad you have shared this info.
My pleasure! Glad you found it helpful 🙂
In recent news, ASOS isn’t shipping free in australia anymore, you have to spend minimum $30 to get free shipping now.
Oh man! Seriously? :/ That sucks 🙁 Thanks for letting me know, I’ll update the post!