Summer Haul~~

Ahhh~ I can't believe it's summer already. I've been meaning to post more regularly but laziness won out. However, I plan to do my due diligence and post more regularly now! Aiming for once a week! If not, once every two weeks >_< *fingers crossed*

Soo about a month back I ordered my Hanyul Optimizing Serum (review here) from Amazon through a seller called honestskin as they carried it the cheapest. Sadly, after I received my order, I realized their website stocked it much cheaper (I'm guessing since they didn't have to pay Amazon commission) T_T although it has since sold out -_-"

And I believe earlier this month, Honestskin came back revamped as Style Korean. For some reason, I find it a lot harder to remember Style Korean than honestskin although luckily the latter still has a web forwarding address. Anyway, without further ado, some haul pictures!

It came in a rather huge box xD

There was a TON of bubble wrap in this box.

Freebie Samples! The Laneige kit was a special for puchases over $50+

My purchases carefully mummified in bubble wrap!

Laid out without bubble wrap!

Here's the breakdown of products ordered:
Ryeo Habitmo Damage Care Shampoo & Conditioner
Sum37 Secret Programming Essence Samples (1ml x 10)
Sum37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick
Belif First Aid Overnight Brightening Mask
Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Moisture Cream - Combination
Sum37 White award Bubble De Mask Sample
Banila Co Clean It Zero Purity for Sensitive Skin
Etude House Beauty Shot Face Blur SPF 15/PA+
Etude House Cherry Lip Gel Patch (I wanted to try the Tony Moly one but it was sold out)
Skin79 Hot Pink BB Cream sample (1ml x 30)
Skinfood Black Sugar Mask

Pros:
1 - I feel that their prices are very fair and definitely on the low end. Among the lowest of the online retailers I have found and often below Korean retail prices.

2 - Their response time was great. So the reason I placed this order was because I had wanted the Ryeo Shampoo & Conditioner but when I checked the previous night, the conditioner was Out of Stock so I figured I would just get the shampoo. And my cart somehow mutated and then I placed my order on Thursday at 10:39am PST which is 2:30am Korean Standard Time. And of course, right after I placed my order, I decided to check for the conditioner again and it was in stock this time! I was so mad. I feel like this happens to me all the time. I was so upset and I wanted to cancel my order so I sent an email/chat message (I love places that offer chat functionality...although I'm always on at the randomest hours so it usually isn't usable). I got a prompt email at 5:30pm PST (~9:30am Korean Standard Time - They are open from 9am-6pm KST) letting me know that they cancelled my order. And then I promptly repurchased with my conditioner! :D

3 - SUPER fast shipping time! I did pay for DHL 3-5 day shipping as it was cheaper than EMS and same time and the total weight of my order was too heavy (due to the shampoo/conditioner) for the regular airmail. I ordered Thursday night 8pm PST (which is Friday 12pm KST) and received my items Monday! So about 4 days! Which is faster than I get some of my domestically shipped items!

4 - Wrapped super carefully. I do think they could have used less bubble wrap -_-

5 - Good Manufacturing Dates. All of the items that I checked were manufactured within this year.

Cons:
1 - They didn't let me know that my order shipped and I was never sent a tracking number although I do believe this was because it was the weekend as the item was received at 6:30pm KST which is after their office is closed and I believe they close for the weekend. When I checked today, the shipping information was updated although by this time I had already received my items.

2 -  Many things on their site do go out out of stock quite frequently

3 - Website could use some proofreading overall. It doesn't bother me but I know this bothers some people.

4 - Shipping costs. I think the shipping is fair if you are buying a lot of items but ebay will probably be a better route if you are getting one or two items.

Overall: (tl;dr)
I was very pleased with my experience (especially with the shipping time) and definitely plan to order from them again! Time to go play with my goodies~~ and eventually put up some reviews ;D

They are having a grand reopening sale til June 21st~ so definitely check it out

Sephora Favorites Summer Obsessions Set

Well I saw on Nouveau Cheap that Sephora inside JC Penney had an exclusive beauty makeup set called Summer Obsessions Beauty Kit for $39, I knew I had to get it. Especially since it coincided nicely with the Sephora BI/VIB sale. BTW, there's still one day left for VIB/Rouge members. Unfortunately for BI members it was only til 4/20 :'( I was a little sad that the sale this year was only 10% compared to the 15% it used to be in the past :/

Regardless, I was determined to pick it up this weekend as I assumed the sale was only for the weekend and went to the mall on Saturday to find it was sold out. The SA mentioned that it sold out the same day it was released. I wasn't willing to drive to another mall since I commute that way and refuse to drive to that area when I'm not working so I forgot about it until today when I got another email from Sephora saying that the sale was until today! I figured I would call the Sephora inside JC Penney near my work and surely enough it was sold out there too. Then I remembered that I pass by another mall on my commute home (mostly cuz this mall is the worst of the three in my area and I forget it exists even though I pass by it everyday on my commute) that has a Sephora inside JC Penney and gave that place a call and sure enough (since I swear nobody really shops there) they had one left! So I asked the SA to put it on hold and I picked it up on my way home! Score! So I would definitely recommend calling before going since it doesn't seem to be a highly stocked item. I did ask the SA and the SA mentioned that she thought it would be restocked since it is a summer kit so fingers crossed for those of you who weren't able to get ahold of one.

I found it a great value since it includes the following items:

1. Full Sized Beauty Blender Pro. Retails for $19.99.

2. Full Sized Nars Lip Gloss in Turkish Delight. (0.18 oz) Retails for $26.00.

3. Travel Sized Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. (1 oz) Retails for $14

4. Tarte Lights, Camera, Splashes Waterproof mascara. 0.13 oz - Deluxe Sample (Mini size 0.13 oz for $10)

5. Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer. 0.14 oz - Deluxe Sample (Full size 0.35 oz for $30)

6. Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush in fearless. 0.05 oz - Deluxe Sample (Full size 0.2oz for $26)

7. Benefit Watt’s Up. 0.08 oz - Deluxe Sample (Full size 0.33 oz for $30)

So as you can tell, it's a great value. Personally I just bought it for the Lipgloss and Beauty Blender Pro alone. Just remember, this set is exclusive to Sephora inside of JCPenny.

Did you pick up anything during the sale?