So, Friday was my birthday. Thankfully I had the weekend off & had a blast. We scored tickets to see the Maury Show live (more on that later) in Stamford Fri morning and it was so worth the troublesome NYC traffic~ ♥
Even though my bro had to head back home to Japan the week before last, he surprised me by leaving an awesome haul of cosmetics & gifts for my bday!
August's issues of steady. & Sweet magazines came with adorable バッグINバッグ style pouches~ These are incredibly handy for stashing things in my purse on the go. He also grabbed two 7-11 brand exclusive ParaDo items: an eyemake palette (GN01) & a lip rouge (BE07). I'm totally amazed by the surprisingly high quality as I could almost swear the lip rouge was NARS or MAC. (☆▽☆)
Also, I winded up with goodies from Sephora thanks to the giftcard he purchased for me: I've been DYING to grab NARS bronzing palette which includes their award winning blush, highlighter and Laguna bronzer. As a bonus goodie I also decided to try PACIFICA's new coconut scented bronzing lotion which is as delicious smelling as it sounds.
A huge thanks to my brother for the wonderful gifts~ ♥ I have to admit he was pretty brave to wonder into the cosmetics section ;;;;
today, lovelies, i'd like to mention one of my favourite online shops, KANFUL. an online (& physical) consignment mega store, they cater to the savvy fasionista watching her wallet.
including a laundry list of brands from cher to chanel, marc jacobs to moussy, rebecca taylor to rich, it's a one-stop shopping experience for both japanese & western brands alike. surreal & almost mind blowing to see gelato pique and prada side by side, their prices are even more head spinning, nearly bordering on insanity. 3,990 yen for a gorgeous marc by marc jacobs tunic? well, i never!
even more outrageous is their quality ranking criteria. a couple weeks ago i found this gorgeous rich (リッチ) quilted chain purse. one of my absolute favourite brands, rich is a more upscale, expensive name that caters toward us fabulous ladies with elegant and classic taste. retailing for well over $150 USD, KANFUL had it listed for around ~30 USD at a "D grade" ranking. willing to take the risk, i quickly ordered it & was shocked when it arrived in new-like condition. the only, barely, visible traces of its second hand origin i could find were a tiny scratch on the front logo plate and a teeny stain on the inner lining.
their customer service deserves a gold star for prompt and friendly attention while the shipping & handling charges were EXTREMELY reasonable. sadly, overseas sellers tend to ship things less than economically in huge, bulky boxes adding to the shipping costs beyond reason. (i'm lookin' at you, ROSE FAN FAN & Makiko Online Shop~) for EMS i only paid around 20 USD (which generally SOUNDS expensive.. but trust me, for a heavy, padded chain purse sent via express mail from japan, it's not). in person, this is actually a very, very large bag & not at all what i thought by the original photos! ♥
i would 101% recommend giving KANFUL a shot for those looking to score an awesome deal on gently used designer goods. they have a very large selection of japanese brands not listed on their front page (use the search box).
Labels: haul, japan, KANFUL, purse, rakuten, retail whore, review, rich, rich (リッチ), shopping
shop spotlight ☆彡 shibuya closet
Monday, August 1, 2011, 4:30 PM
if there's one thing that frustrates me, it's dropping loads of $$ for shipping/handling charges, especially for a single tiny item. far worse, is the wait for overseas items, especially when ordering via airmail to save a buck or two. never mind the hassle of second party middleman services which typically charge fees that quickly add up (sadly, the US dollar is pretty weak compared to Yen..).
today, i'd like to discuss one of my favourite stores, Shibuya Closet~ located in costa mesa, CA, they have a web store in addition to the physical shop. which is an extremely lucky thing for us gals across the US! ♥ i've been playing orders via the web & phone for about a year now & i can honestly say i have had the b e s t experience everytime! reiko, the shop owner, is quite a lovely person and you can tell that she, and the staff-chan, really put forth a lot of effort and passion into picking out pieces straight out of ViVi/Sweet, etc with an japanese sensibility that would still cater to american buyers.
i adore the overall style of the shop: granted brands like MA*RS, Sly, dreamV, etc are flashy, fun and glamorous, it's significantly more difficult to find fashionable and sensible coordinate items wearable to the office or for someone my age~ (although, gal is neither age or number!) for example, lovely beberose retro shoulder bag from earlier this year above! they carry a wide range of brand & off-brand items, namely my FAVOURITES, beberose, DazzliN', Spiral Girl, Cecil McBee and so much more.
the selection on their website is updated frequently with much care. ♥ while some of the items may seem a little pricier than shopping directly in japan, you must consider the shipping is significantly cheaper, the difference of yen > dollar is vast and you eliminate the steep middle-man fees (assuming you don't have relatives or friends to purchase for you). also, as opposed to purchasing items from many of the rakuten sellers, these are 100% brand name or designer names. i jumped on the DazzliN' straw bag above as soon as i saw the post ☆
also, they have many perfect items not listed on the website: if you e-mail or call they're always willing to send you pics of pieces in stock for your choosing! please take a look at their shop blog as well and definitely give them a try!
Labels: beberose, DazzliN, gyaru, japan, review, shibuya closet, shopping
