Some weeks ago, Jenny from My Funny Valentine and I went a "bit" cray with USA online shopping and had our combined parcel forwarded to us in Australia via Shopaholiques.com. An advantage of this parcel service is that they allow perfumes, nail polishes and such to be shipped, which is AWESOME. I didn't get any perfumes this time round, but did get several nail polishes as you can see! And, they also forwarded candles and a hair texturising spray which a lot of services won't. I ordered from Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Chanel. Nordstrom took the longest to ship, but once all orders arrived at the US address, we opted for express shipping to Australia and it only took a few days to arrive (just as well, as it was VERY expensive).
In general, however, I think it's most beneficial to share shipping costs between people when there is a flat rate like for Selfridges and Harrods, compared to the usual parcel forwarding services whose shipping rate is dependent on the total weight of the package. Nonetheless, I did enjoy trying out a new parcel forwarding service (I've only ever tried Parceliton, which I'm quite happy with, but unfortunately do not ship nail polishes, perfumes, and other items considered 'dangerous' to ship).
From left to right starting from the top:
Chanel Nail Colour in 'Pink Tonic' (619) and 'Sweet Lilac' (615)
Tom Ford Nail Lacquer in'Incandescent'
Chanel Illusion D'Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in 'Mirage', 'Utopia' and'New Moon'.
Above (left to right):
Luckily enough Nordstrom were having a 10% off sale on nail polishes including Dior!! So of course, I took advantage and picked up a couple more of the new Dior Colour Couture Gel Shine and Long Wear Nail Polishes in 'Metal Montaigne' (803) and'Junon' (494).
From Chanel.com, I picked up the new Les Beiges Healthy Glow Multi-Colour Broad Spectrum SPF 14 Sunscreen Powder compact in No. 01 along with the new nail colours I mentioned above from the summer collection.
From Neiman Marcus I picked up the new Dior Manicure Transat in 'Sailor' (700) and as I've been dying to try it for ages - the much raved about Oribe Dry Texturising Spray. I decided to splurge a little bit more and it in the set called their 'Black and Gold Collection'. It includes the Dry Texturising Spray in a full-size 300 ml / 8.5 oz bottle, a travel-sized version in 75 ml / 2.2 oz, and their Côte d’Azur Hair Refresher (65 ml / 1.6 oz).
Last but by far not the least from Neiman Marcus is the ultra-luxurious Fornasett Profumi Scented Candle in 'Burlesque'. I have been lemming this candle for a while, but couldn't justify paying the ridiculously exorbitant amount for it! However, by some miracle the stars in the universe aligned and Neiman Marcus was having an amazing 30% off(!!) homeware sale at the time, and it included the Fornasetti Profumi candles!!! Yes, I couldn't believe my eyes at the time. O_O I was sooo happy indeed to finally be able to have this candle shipped to Australia AND at such a great discount! It was fate. ^_^
Just look at this utterly beautiful piece of art work! And, the scent! Oh my! As soon as I removed the outermost protective layer of plastic, the extremely strong waft of amazing, unique scent instantly emerges from the box even before I opened it.
The porcelain features two iconic Fornasetti images: Number 22 (face with mask - pictured above) and Number 78, "Theme and Variation"(face with Mantilla - pictured below).
It also has a lid which is used to put out the candle and also reused to keep whatever you wish to store in it once the candle has been completely used up (delicious biscotti perhaps, trinkets or precious jewels?).
Looking forward to trying everything out and sharing my thoughts on them with you!
Thanks for looking. ^_^ xo
What's been your exciting purchase(s) of late? Have you tried any of the products above? Do share in a comment below - would love to hear.