Website: http://www.truccominerale.it

Trucco Minerale was the first Italian mineral makeup company. Over the years, the company changed its name to Neve Cosmetics (but kept the old domain name) and expanded its range of products: Trucco Minerale is the range dedicated to pure mineral makeup products; Le Metamorfosi is the range dedicated to professional products such as primers, mixing mediums and setting sprays; and Kiss Design, the smallest range, which consists of a lipstick pen (not mineral and not natural). I’ve been wanting to order something from them for the longest time and finally I lately took the plunge and made a purchase.

The website
I have to admit I’m not too fond of the graphic and layout of the website. It looks neat and is easy to navigate but the design is just too simple and not that appealing. It doesn’t look that professional to me but obviously that’s just my personal opinion. In any case, I’d rather a website have a simple layout rather than those heavy flash intros or music which I can’t really stand. And considering how easy it is get around and find what I want, I can put up with it. The products are categorized by product type, color and collection and there is also a section that explains what mineral makeup is and how to apply it.

How to order and methods of payment
First of all you need to register. You’ll be asked your name, username, email, password and later your address. Then you can start adding items, most of which are available in full and mini sizes, to your cart. The mini sizes are huge and contain a lot of product so, unless you know you’re gonna use a color very often, there is really no need to splurge on the full version. All the products are reasonably priced, although quite high if compared with those of USA mineral makeup companies. But at least you won’t have to deal with customs, which is always a huge plus. The website accepts several methods of payments: paypal (my favourite and the one I used), credit card or you can pay when you receive your order at home (in this case, there is an additional €2,40 fee). After you’ve paid, you’ll receive an email confirmation of your order.

P&P and delivery
You can chose to have your order delivered by courier, which costs €4,90, or by recorded mail, which will set you back €6,00. Considering how slow and unreliable the Italian post service is, I opted for delivery by courier, which is also cheaper. The courier is also the only option you can choose if you want to pay by CDO. If, instead, you live near Turin, you can also decide to go pick up your order at their office. Unfortunately, at this time, the website only ships to Italy. Delivery is very quick. A few hours after I made my order, I received an email saying my order would be sent the next day. And the next day, it was duly sent and delivered to my house. I was really impressed. Never an order had arrived that quickly! Everything was carefully packaged and arrived in good condition. And the lovely people at Neve Cosmetics even added a sample to my order! Wasn’t that nice? I’m dfinitely gonna purchase from them again in the future.

Summary
While I don’t find the Neve Cosmetics website to be particularly pretty, it is easy to navigate and find what you want. They accept several payment methods and most of their items are available in mini sizes which contain very generous amounts of product. Delivery is very quick and usually a sample is included with your order. Unfortunately, they don’t ship internationally at this time.

Rating: 4.5/5

Disclaimer: I ordered from the website for personal purposes and the review is based on my own experience with them. For more information, please see my disclaimer.

Website: http://the-body-shop.it/

I’ve always liked The Body Shop products (especially their Body Butters, can’t live without ‘em) but for years I could only get hold of them when I travelled. Despite being a big and popular brand, they only have a handful of shops throughout Italy! But luckily for all of us who don’t have a shop nearby, The Body Shop has opened an e-commerce website. I was really happy they decided to do this cos not many brands sell online in Italy (seriously, why is that?! We’re in 2011 for goodness’ sake!) and even happier when I was offered a 20% discount by their PR. And so, I placed my first order…

Ease of navigation and out-of-stock items
The website is easy to navigate and the products are categorized both by type and range so you can quickly find what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, the website doesn’t let you know when a product is out of stock, which is a huge inconvenience. I had spent a couple of hours placing and deleting items from my cart to decide what to get and, once I finally made my mind up and placed an order, a The Body Shop employee called me to say that one of the items was out of stock and if I wanted my order delivered without it. I didn’t and asked her if I could just get something else for the same price, to which she replied she would cancel my order so that I could make a new one. It was a bit of a hassle cos, if your website allows me to add products to cart then I expect you to have them in stock, but at least the person I spoke to was very nice and helpful and the money was back in my account after only a couple of days.

How to order and methods of payment
Placing an order is really easy. First you need to register, then add the items you are interested in in the cart and hit checkout. If you have any discount code, enter it in the box provided. You can pay by credit card, debit card (so you can use your Postepay card too) or, my favourite method and the one I chose, Paypal. Once you paid, you’re gonna receive an email stating that they are checking whether your items are in stock or not (which is annoying as they should ensure that all products on the website are already available anyway and, when they are sold out, clearly state so on the product page) and if they are, you get another email saying your order has been dispatched. If not, you get the phone call mentioned above.

P&P and delivery
TheBodyShop.It only ships to Italy. Shipping is €7,00, which is not cheap but not too expensive either. If you pay by COD, though, there is an extra fee of €3,00, while shipping is free for orders over €70. Delivery is very quick. I received my package after just a couple of days. Everything was carefully packaged and thus in great condition and nothing was missing. They also added three small samples to my order, which really made my day as I didn’t expect that at all!

Summary:
Overall, my experience was positive and I will order from Thebodyshop.it again. The website is easy to navigate, you can chose whether to pay by credit/debit card or paypal and shipping, although not cheap, is very fast and everything is carefully wrapped. However, they check if the items you ordered are in stock only after you placed an order.

Rating: 4/5

Disclaimer: I ordered from the website for personal purposes and the review is based on my own experience with them. For more information, please see my disclaimer.

I have a confession to make. I’m an addict and Ebay is my drug. You wouldn’t believe how much time I spend on the site browsing and looking for some great deals. Ebay is a fantastic place to get items that aren’t available locally or expensive products that I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise. But it is also full of scammers and dodgy dealers and for this reason a lot of people are nervous and scared about buying on ebay.

I admit I’ve had a couple of bad experiences in the past, mainly when I first started using the site and didn’t know very well how it all worked, but once you learn your rights and how to spot fakes and dishonest sellers, shopping on eBay isn’t scary anymore but very enjoyable. So, here’s a few tips I learned to avoid dodgy sellers and get genuine discounted makeup:

1. Check Seller’s Feedback

The first thing to do when you’re thinking of buying something from eBay is to check the seller’s feedback to see if they are reliable. Usually I prefer buying from sellers that have at least 100 feedback, a lot more if the item I want is really expensive. Of course, when someone has a lot of feedback, a few of them are bound to be negative. It could be than an item was lost in the post, arrived damaged or maybe the seller didn’t send it quickly enough. As long as the seller solved the problem with the buyer and it doesn’t happen too often, that’s fine with me. What you should avoid is buying from sellers that have been reported selling fake makeup. If someone sells a lot of fakes, someone is bound to have bought it, realized it wasn’t real and left a negative feedback. Also, I tend to avoid buying from people that have 95% or less positive feedback cos, unless they have thousands of transactions, there’s probably something wrong with them. And I beware of people that sell things for the first time as well cos even if they are honest (hard to tell without feedback, although if they have good feedback as buyers they probably are honest), they might not know very well how the ebay system works and what to do should there be any problems.

2. Google the item you are interested in

If something looks too good a deal or you simply don’t know the brand well enough to know if an item is real or fake, just do your research. The first place to visit is the brand’s website to see if the picture and description of the item on ebay looks exactly like the real product sold in stores and on the official website. If instead you’re interested in a LE or discounted item, just google it. If something exists you’re bound to find some pictures, review or mention online. For instance, MAC eyeshadows don’t come with sponge tip applicators and a quick search on the net will reveal that, preventing you to waste money on fakes.

3. Buy from sellers that take their own pictures

Personally, I prefer to buy from people that take their own picture as that way not only I know what I’m getting, but it is also easier to spot fakes. From a promo picture, you can’t tell if that MAC eyeshadow we were talking about earlier has a sponge applicator and is therefore fake for instance. Unless the seller has been recommended to you by a friend who has had a positive experience (and knows how to spot fakes!) or has thousands of positive feedback, meaning he/she is reliable, always buy from sellers that don’t use promo photos or you may end up getting something different from what you thought you’d get. Also, some people take really close shots of samples they got with GWP or at stores to give the impression they are selling the full size products, so look at the pictures carefully and if the price is too low, then it is probably too good to be true.

4. Buy from personal sellers

Personally, I prefer to buy from personal sellers, people that just want to get rid of something they bought or were given that they don’t like or use anymore. Spotting them is easy. Just click on “see other items” to know what else they are selling. Personal sellers won’t just sell makeup but also books, clothes, bags etc. If someone, instead, has 10 of the same palette and don’t have a shop or aren’t registered as a business seller, chances are they are dodgy, so run away. Of course, sometimes personal sellers can sell fakes too. Maybe they are reselling something they had bought from ebay without realising it was fake (sometimes mistakes are made in good faith), so don’t forget to carefully look at the picture and, when in doubt, ask. Which leads me to the next point.

5. Email the seller

If the picture isn’t clear or is a stock one, or if you want to know if an item is new and unused, or when it was bought/manufactured to avoid buying something that’s gone bad or have any other question or concern, don’t hesitate to contact the seller. Don’t worry about not trusting their honesty, just write them a polite message explaining you’ve had a bad experience before and if the seller is reliable they will soon get bad to you with all the information you need. Dodgy sellers instead will refuse to do so, and for obvious reasons, so if you don’t hear back from them, don’t bid.

6. Only pay by paypal

When you buy something from eBay, pay by Paypal only. Unlike cash sent by mail or money given in person, Paypal is trackable so, in case something goes wrong and you get a faulty or fake item, you actually have proof that you paid. In addition, if you pay by Paypal, you can submit a claim within 45 days and get a refund. But don’t wait more than 45 days or your right to submit a claim will expire and you’ll never get your money back.

7. A note on what New means

Due to hygienic reasons, on eBay it is possible to sell only new and unused items. For this reason, when sellers lists a makeup item, they can’t choose the option “used” like they can with clothes or other items. However, a lot of people sell used cosmetics and if they are honest, they will say so in the description. If something is lightly used or just tested and the sellers states so, I don’t mind. I don’t worry too much about germs cos products can be sanitized (I avoid liquid eyeliners or mascaras though cos you can’t sanitize them if they’re used and you can get an infection, but with everything else I’m not too bothered), but read carefully so that you know in what condition the item you want is and only complain you got something used if the seller didn’t state it was used or if it was used more than what you were led to believe.

8. Follow your instinct

But the most important thing is to use your best judgement and follow your instinct. Always. If after following all the tips above, something still doesn’t feel right, don’t bid. Of course, if you get a fake you can always get your money back with Paypal within 45 days, but at the end of the day, it’s your hard-earned money we’re talking about so if you’re not sure, it’s best to spend a bit more and go buy what you want in a shop.

I hope these tips have helped you. Do you use eBay? Do you have any additional tips you’d like to share?

Website: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/en/index.aspx

It’s no secret that I’m a massive Sleek fan and after waiting eagerly for months the launch of their ecommerce website, I couldn’t help but make an order as soon as it went live. Placing an order is easy. You just have to register, select the items you want and place them in your cart and hit checkout.

Payment Methods and Order Tracking
On the Sleek website, it says that you can pay either via credit card or paypal but when I went to pay I didn’t see the paypal option at all, which is a shame since that’s how I prefer to pay. I had to pay using my credit card and almost immediately got a confirmation email saying that my order got accepted and a couple of days later I received another one telling me my order was dispatched. If you wanna keep track of your order, you can also login on the website and it’ll tell you if your parcel has been processed, shipped or delivered.

Delivery charges and times
European delivery is charged at €5,99 which I think is reasonable as that’s the average price most online shops charge and my package was quick to arrive: it took just 5 days! But despite Sleek packing everything carefully in a small box, their eyeshadow palette in Bohemian arrived with one broken shade. I was disappointed but not surprised. Sleek’s shadows are very soft and break easily so when I made the order I knew this could happen. (And the box arrived dented so I think the people at the post office are more to blame than Sleek).

Missing item and quick refund
What I was really gutted about though was that the gel eyeliner I had ordered was missing from my parcel. So, I contacted Sleek straight away and after only 20 minutes they replied saying they would refund me the money. And when I checked my account the next day, the money was already there! But to be completely honest, a few minutes before contacting Sleek about the eyeliner, I had tweeted about the missing item on my Twitter account so that not just my followers, but also the people at Sleek would see it.

I’m not sure if that may have made them reply to me faster or if they reply so soon to everyone, but I was happy to see that if you have a problem, there’s actually someone on the other end that can help you sort it out. So, I will probably make another order soon and this time, let’s hope that the gel eyeliner is in stock!

Note on European prices
Also, if you’re from Europe (UK excluded) and want to buy Sleek products on their website, the prices are a bit higher than those charged in the UK. I wasn’t really happy about it but Sleek have explained on facebook that for legal reasons they have to charge the same price online as their charge in stores. And since in Europe Sleek is sold only in Sephora (and I don’t have one near me!!) and Sephora refuses to charge the products  at a lower price, the European price you see on the website is the final price.

Honestly, I think I’m more pissed off at Sephora for refusing to lower the prices and not even having the decency to open more stores in Europe so at least we would save on p&p. But overall, the prices are still cheap and considering the good quality of Sleek products, they’re still a steal. And even though I’ll keep buying from their website, I think I’ll also look for other online retailers so that I can get what I want at a cheaper price.

Summary:
Overall, ordering from Sleek is easy and delivery is quick. And even though one item was missing from my order, they refunded my money straight away (although maybe my tweet helped?). Also, for legal reasons, the prices for European customers are higher. Still a steal, but I’d rather buy from other retailers when I have the chance.

Rating: 4/5

Website: http://kikocosmetics.com

Despite being an Italian brand, Kiko Cosmetics products are only available in a few big cities throughout Italy at the moment. That’s why for a long time, I could only get their products through swaps with other fellow beauty addicts who were lucky enough to have a Kiko store near them.

Luckily, about a month ago, Kiko Cosmetics have become easily available to all Italian girls (sadly, they don’t ship internationally yet) with the launch of their online store. Since Kiko products are very inexpensive and there are often offers and discounts on the site, I decided to place an order, which will probably be the first of many.

Making an order is very easy: you just need to register, select the items you want and place them in your cart and click check out. Then, you will need to select a payment method. You can choose to pay with paypal, like I did, credit card or COD (in this case, there’s a €2,90 fees plus shipping).

Kiko ships by courier only and p&p is €5,90 but if your order is more than €59,00′s worth, shipping is free. Delivery is quick: I made my order on Thursday and got the package on Monday and everything arrived in perfect condition. Nothing was missing either. What a relief!

The only thing I didn’t like about their service is that I got my order in a huge package. And I only ordered four small items! I’m glad that they packaged everything carefully, but I thought the huge box, which was more than a half empty, was a huge waste. But oh well, I recycle everything anyway and nothing got broken, so it’s not too bad.

Summary:
Overall, I had a positive experience with Kiko Cosmetics. Their website is easy to navigate, you can choose several shipping methods and delivery is fast. All the items are carefully packaged, although I feel the huge box is just way too big and unnecessary for small orders, but unfortunately they don’t ship outside of Italy.

Rating: 4.5/5

Website: http://www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk

I’m always looking for online shops that sells cosmetics at cheap prices, MAC items that I have missed and NYX cosmetics (they are so hard to find in Europe!), when one day I stumbled on Cocktail Cosmetics, an UK website that offers all these things!

Products Available
In addition, to MAC and NYX products, Cocktail Cosmetics sells makeup and beauty items from a wide range of brands including Barry M, Gosh, Benefit, Opi, Stila, Bobbi Brown and Clarins to name just a few. Most of these products are limited edition or offered at a discount price and new items are added very often.

Authentic products
So far all the items I got from the website were authentic. I haven’t purchased any MAC products yet (but will soon) so I can’t personally vouch for those. But judging from the pictures that are up on the website, they all seem authentic to me, which is also what the people that bought from her website say. (I always do some research before ordering online as you never know).

Nice and reliable owner
But if you have doubts, don’t be afraid to contact Julie, the owner of the shop, and ask for more pictures and information about the products so that you can be 100% sure that you’re getting the real thing. You can also contact her to request any items you want but don’t see on the website and hopefully she will be able to track the item down and add it to her shop.

Ordering from the website is easy. You need to sign in and once that is done, you should get a confirmation email. I didn’t get one so I contacted Julie and she replied about an hour later saying she had checked my account and everything was in order. I was very pleased with the prompt response and I was able to make a purchase without any problems.

How to order
Just add the items you want to your basket and click checkout. You can pay in several ways: google check out, credit card or debit card and paypal which is the method I always use online. After you’ve paid, you should get a confirmation email (I got this one! lol).

Postage, packaging and delivery
All orders are shipped via Royal Mail. There is a flat rate of £2.95 for all orders to the UK, while postage to Europe and the rest of the world is sent via International signed for at £5.25 and £5.50 respectively for the first 3 items and each product after that is charged 25p.

Delivery is very quick. Usually it takes me about 10 days to receive packages from the UK but this time my order arrived after only 4 days! Also, all the items were carefully wrapped and arrived in perfect condition. I was very impressed and I’ll surely order from the website again and again!

Summary:
Overall, my experience was positive. Cocktail cosmetics has a wide range of items including LEs and discounted products that are hard to find. Delivery is quick, the items well-packaged and Julie, the owner, is very sweet and helpful.

Rating: 5/5

Website: Makeup Mix Shop

In January, Toma, the beauty behind Makeup Masala blog, opened her own online store, called theMakeup Mix Shop.

Toma sells her own mineral makeup line, called Makeup Masala minerals, as well as other brands like NYX, Jesse’s Girl, Eco Tools and Coastal Scent to name just a few. The website also has a nice selection of jewellery and wallets. Most of the brands sold on the site are hard to find in Europe, so I was very excited I finally had a place to get them online. And I was also very curious to try Toma’s makeup line. So, I decided to order some stuff.

Buying online from The Makeup Mix Shop is very easy. You just need to create an account and follow the instructions. After selecting the items you want, you are taken to the payment page. The only payment option available for my order was paypal, which is actually my fave method for paying online as it quick and safe.

Toma ships worldwide and delivery charges aren’t very expensive at all! International p&p is $3.95 on orders up to $19.00, $5.95 on orders from $20.00 to $39.00, and free if you spend more than $40.00! In addition, The Makeup Mix shops often has lots of sales and discounts. There’s also a Customer Discount Loyalty Program, which entitles you to a discount if you spend more than $50.00 in a month. Please check the website for more details.

After making the order, I got a confirmation email. Half an hour later, I got another one stating that my order was being prepared to be shipped and, after a couple of hours, I got the last email saying that order had been shipped! The package took about two weeks to arrive. I was actually surprised it arrived so soon as packages from the States to Italy usually take longer to be delivered. Also, keep in mind that I ordered the items around Easter, so I probably would have got it sooner if postal offices hadn’t been closed for the holidays.

Everything was packaged very carefully. The pigments jars were put in a cute little bag and they arrived intact. Toma also included a sample of one of her mineral eyeshadows. I thought that was very nice of her. Thank you, Toma!

Summary:
Overall, my experience was very positive and I will definitely buy again from the website. Delivery is quick and not very expensive, the products are well packaged and Toma is a really sweet, professional and reliable lady. She was also so nice to add a sample as well.

Rating: 5/5

Website: http://www.eyeko.com/

I had been wanting to try Eyeko products for ages. Their packaging is just sooo cute and the price are really cheap too. Everything only costs £5 ($7.48). In addition, shipping is free on all orders worldwide! How could I resist making a purchase?

So I went on their website and I was very surprised to find out that they don’t have a FAQ section. You can find information on delivery and returns but I didn’t like their stockists section. It only has a list of  Superdrugs stores stocking the brand, which is written in such small characters you need a magnifying glass to be able to read it! Also, you can’t find information on payment methods anywhere on their website. They do have a wholesale enquire section so I contacted them to ask about that. Not every online shop accepts my credit card,  so I just wanted to be sure they would before creating an account and add items to my shopping cart only for my card to be refused. I contacted them on Sunday evening and I got a reply on Monday morning, saying they accept most major debit and credit cards. The fact that they replied so quickly reassured me. I’m always worried there could be problems when I buy online and it is nice to know there is actually someone on the other end that can help with any enquires or problems you have.

So, I selected the products I was interested in and was taken to their payment page. I thought I would be asked to fill a form with my credit card details (after all didn’t they say they accepted payment by credit/debit card?), but instead I found out that the only payment option available for the order was paypal.That was fine with me, I actually prefer to use paypal.

Packages are delivered by Royal Mail standard service and delivery takes about 14 days to arrive for international orders. My parcel was shipped the day after I made the purchase and took about a week to arrive. It was packaged in a medium-sized white envelope and together with my order I got an Eyeko leaflet with this message on the back “Ciao!!! Benvenuta a Eyeko!!!”. (It means “Hello!!! Welcome to Eyeko!!!”) I thought that was very nice of them. They also included a discount code to claim a free Eyeko gift with any purchase.

Summary:
Overall, my experience was positive. Delivery is fast, they reply quickly to emails and include discount code and a nice welcome message in your package. I just wish their website was more informative.

Rating: 4/5