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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Gyaru on the cheap: KKCenterHK False Eye Lashes ES A29

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I really want to try and dispel the preconception out there (which I am also guilty of) that only expensive false eyelashes like Dolly Wink, Eyemazing or Melliesh are worth buying. While I think that the high quality of those brands are well worth the price, there are great low cost alternatives that you can make work if you’d rather not fork out $15-20 for just two pairs of, lets face it, a couple of strands of hair tied to fishing line!

KKCenterHK have given me a set of ES A29 lashes to review. I’m always on the lookout for great defined lash styles, and as soon as these arrived in the mail, I knew I would love them!

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The A29 eyelash design creates long defined lashes, perfect for enlarging the eyes. The effect is quite similar to of Dolly Wink No.1 and Licca Dolly Lashes.

My first comment about these lashes is that, as they are cheaply made compared to the more expensive brands, the spine and strands are quite stiff. This has both an up side and down side. On the one hand, the inflexibility of the spine makes this eyelash difficult to apply; on the other hand, the strands have a perfect curl, and look extremely pretty when on.

So here’s how they look.

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A word of advice when trying to apply these lashes – use an eyelash curler to bend the spine of these lashes as much as you can. If the spine isn’t sufficiently curbed, the edges will keep coming unstuck as you are trying to glue them, and will drive you nuts! For this reason I wouldn’t recommend these lashes for absolute beginners who have no eyelash application experience. I can imagine for any beginners out there you might get frustrated with trying to get these on and give up on false eyelashes all together.

If you want some tips on applying false lashes, have a look at my tutorial!

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  • Looks great when on and really makes your eyes pop
  • Amazing value at $6.50USD for 10 pairs!
  • You don’t have to worry about ruining these as you get so many pairs

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  • The quality reflects the price – not mounted on a thin transparent spine as more expensive lashes, and the strands are quite stiff and do not look nature (but then when do false lashes look nature?). However, when applied, I think these look fantastic.
  • Limited reusability as strands easily pull off, but I don’t think there’s any sense being thrifty when these are so cheap anyway.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Vanity Box 7-day Coordination: Day 4-Sweet and girly with Mana T

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A few weeks ago Vanity Box gave me a $100 budget to create 7 outfits in conjunction with items from my own wardrobe I selected three versatile basics that could be dressed up, down, or even sideways if so desired. Each item was under $35!

Check out the other outfits:

Day 1 – Biker chic with Christian blouse

Day 2 – Cool casual with Mana T

Day 3 – Preppy with London Hearts

Day 4 – Sweet and girly with Mana T

Day 5 – Retro with Christian Blouse

Day 6 – Shirt and Jeans with London Hearts

Day 7 – Summer Layering with Christina blouse

Today’s coordination is with the Mana top in black, for a bargain at only $22!

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I wore: headband from Daiso in Japan; Top from Vanitybox; Collar and socks from ASOS.com; Skirt by Hakei; Pumps from Tony Bianco.

If you have been staying tuned to this post series, you’ll have seen my first coordinate with the Mana T. While the previous look was more of a boyfriend/casual look, this one is girly to the max. That’s what’s great about a perfect basic black t-shirt. You can create so many different looks with the right accessories.

So which one do you prefer?

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about_the_store_thumb

This review is sponsored by Vanity Box (http://vanitybox.com.au). They are based in Australia (yay!), but they ship internationally as well! They are still quite new, having only been around since 2010, but with their amazing products, excellent customer service and super fast shipping, I can tell they are going to be the next big thing. But there’s definitely something special about this retailer that gives them an edge against other more established online stores. Unlike some Asian fashion retailers, Vanity Box doesn’t ‘cattle drive’ their stock. You get a feeling from the effort they put into their well built website and excellent product descriptions that they are passionate about everything they sell. Also I might mention that the store owner is a dear!

This description on their website:

Beginning in mid 2010, Vanity Box is an online boutique store focusing on chic and trendy Korean fashion wear and Korean cosmetics. At Vanity Box, we aim to provide a pleasant shopping experience. Our motto is to provide quality yet affordable products without compromising our service. Vanity Box is the only foreign supplier of Ameli cosmetics, a new contender in the Korean market with a strong following online.

vanitybox

Sunday, October 23, 2011

[CLOSED] Mini Giveaway– 4 x Pairs of Diamond Lash Angel Eye! Ends 30 October 2011

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I’m thinking it’s time for a little giveaway away~ A lot of my friends in the blogsphere say they would like to try Diamond Lash but can’t find anywhere to buy it or don’t want to pay the outrageously inflated prices online. In August I reviewed Diamond Lash Angel Eye and as I did not personally like this style, the other four pairs have just been sitting in a draw. So I’ve decided to give a pair to four of my followers so they can try this product without taking a wallet hit.

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How to enter:

To be eligible, you have to be following my blog through:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Friend Connect (blogger), or
  • Bloglovin’

If you are following my blog, just reply to this post with the following details:

Name:

Blog address (if you have one):

Email address:

This giveaway is open for ONE WEEK only, and ends on 30 October 2011.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Sponsored Review: Ameli Shiny Cake Blusher from VanityBox.com.au

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If you were impressed by the Ameli Eyeshadow I reviewed in a previous post, you’ll love the Ameli Shiny Cake Blusher. VanityBox.com.au were kind enough to send me both a blusher and contourer (and some other delicious gifts!). I’ve forever been a blush-skeptic because I find very few blush products work with my tanned skin tone.

If you’ve never heard of Ameli (where have you been! :P), here’s a background from VanityBox.com.au’s website:

It is an online only business(lower product costs compared to store front retailers) and has only recently opened to end customers(2008), prior to that they only specialised in providing cosmetics for make up artists. They have been gaining immense popularity over the past 2 years, recently winning the best cosmetics site award(In Style Korean Magazine). Having reviewed their products, we feel that Ameli eyeshadows are an excellent buy as they have a range of colours similar to that only found in branded cosmetics and is of equally superb quality. Ameli’s products also come in a generous amount, i.e – their eyeshadows come in twice the amount of content compared to a majority of brands -  at affordable prices. You can read more about Ameli here.

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The colours I’m reviewing are #02A Ameli Blush(Pink) and #01B Ameli Contour Blush (Brown)

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First lets have a look at the #02A Pink. This is a pale baby pink colour with light reflectivity. It’s well pigmented and very buildable.

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This colour is so flattering, even on my skin tone. It brightens my cheek as well as ads colour, and gives an overall glowy appearance – I love it!

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Next the contourer. While this looks brown, it’s a true contourer which diffuses light rather than adds colour. The effect is similar to the Canmake Shading Powder.

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Personally, as I have quite a broad ‘flat’ face, I don’t feel that contouring really helps me achieve the illusion of a ‘smaller face’. However, this contourer works wonders at defining my nose.

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word_thegoodnews

  • Both products are of high quality.
  • Pink blush is highly pigmented and buildable so it can be worn sheer for a hint of glow or applied more liberally to complement the gyaru look – this is now my favourite blush and the only one I use!
  • Though the blush is a super powdery baby pink colour, it’s flattering on even darker skin tone, like mine.
  • The contourer diffuses light falling onto the face to give illusion of shadows(available in this range is a highlighter: #01A Ameli Luminizer(Ivory) – your face needs both light and shade).
  • Generous product portions that go a long way, so it’s great value for money at only 19.50.
  • Pressed powder, so no mess of getting the powder everywhere after a few uses.
  • Package sizes are great for fitting inside your makeup bag.

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  • The blusher is currently not available in any other colours. I would probably buy this in every colour if they had it!

Get these products here.

about_the_store

This review is sponsored by Vanity Box (http://vanitybox.com.au). They are based in Australia (yay!), but they ship internationally as well! They are still quite new, having only been around since 2010, but with their amazing products, excellent customer service and super fast shipping, I can tell they are going to be the next big thing. But there’s definitely something special about this retailer that gives them an edge against other more established online stores. Unlike some Asian fashion retailers, Vanity Box doesn’t ‘cattle drive’ their stock. You get a feeling from the effort they put into their well built website and excellent product descriptions that they are passionate about everything they sell. Also I might mention that the store owner is a dear!

This description on their website:

Beginning in mid 2010, Vanity Box is an online boutique store focusing on chic and trendy Korean fashion wear and Korean cosmetics. At Vanity Box, we aim to provide a pleasant shopping experience. Our motto is to provide quality yet affordable products without compromising our service. Vanity Box is the only foreign supplier of Ameli cosmetics, a new contender in the Korean market with a strong following online.

vanitybox

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Does she have a blog…?

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Maybe living in Canberra has made me fashion-soft, but once in a while I am blown away by how rad someone’s outfit is. The first thing I think is: ‘does she have a blog?’ But as Canberrans generally don’t blog. Indeed 80% of the humble 360,000 population don’t even know what a ‘blog’ is! To me it’s a total tragedy, especially in a small town where you literally have nothing to dress up for. Call me vain but I think a great outfit just goes to waste if you don’t snappy-snap it and show the world!

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This adorable girl is my housemate’s friend, Anika. We happened to bump into her at lunch the other day, and I loved her style so much I asked her to let me snap her outfit and blog it on her behalf!

I am loving the ethnic/navajo oversized knit, which is so huge for A/W in the northern hemisphere (for Aussies it will probably be next season). Anika picked this up for $1 at a thrift store in Sydney – this girl knows how to shop! I’m also a huge fan of her dipped hair – very Drew Barrymore o’2009 but with a youthful twist.

Do you sometimes wish you could go all Sartorialist or FRUiTS Magazine Japan and snap people’s outfits on the street?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Maria’s Wedding

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So if anyone was wondering why there had been no updates on my Blog for a while, it was largely because one of my oldest friend’s, Maria’s, wedding day finally arrived! So I grabbed my bridesmaid's dress and shoes, shoved an armful of emergency makeup supplies in a big black bag and sped myself over to Sydney for a couple of days to carry out all my bridesmaidly duties and of course, for a great party.

Maria had also asked me to take some photos, but unfortunately I broke my Canon 1000D right before leaving D: and had to borrow my housemate’s Olympus DSLR, which I have no experience with. The worst outcome of that was that I didn’t know he had it set on taking pictures in JPEG mode…who takes photos in JPEG mode?! As a result I had to touch up all the photos in photoshop with a side order of loss of picture quality and the photos didn’t turn out nearly as nice as I had planned.

Between hair, makeup and stuffing our faces, I managed to get some shots of Maria’s beautiful hair and makeup for her big day at her fiance’s house:

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This is my favourite photos of Maria’s makeup. She looks so natural and glowy.

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The groom, Chris' mum made all the flower decorations for the wedding and this is the amazing bouquet she made for the bridesmaids. I really wanted to take this home with me, but with all the rush, I unfortunately left it at the reception hall! :(

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At about noon, the groomsmen turned up in their shiny cars to chauffer us to the wedding. I think events like a wedding brings out everyone’s old fashioned chivalrous side. The groom was so sweet with the bride – taking her arm at all times; opening all the doors; fussing over her constantly - I thought at one stage he might lay his jacket over a puddle to save Maria’s dress. The groomsmen were also such gentlemen. It started raining that day, so they did all the running around for us so that we didn’t have to go in the rain and ruin our hair and makeup!

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Shoshanna was Maria’s maid of honour. Her makeup looked amazing. While she said she didn’t think the hairdo was her style, I thought she looked really elegant!

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These pictures skip the ceremony, so onwards to the party! All of Maria and Chris’ hard work for months and month paid off in a beautiful perfect wedding!

Below are some of our friends from Law School.SONY DSC

The groomsmen – they looked so dashing in their vests and tuxedos!

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Some lucky folks went home with a huge chocolate jar I made as a game for the reception xD

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As a photographer you largely remain faceless. Someone offered to take this photo for me and Maria. There was probably a reason I should have stayed out of the shots hehe.

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Finally, the cutting of the cake. The couple just looked so happy I almost started crying again (I’m a wedding crier!)

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My bridesmaid’s makeup look:

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Hair up-do by local Seven Hills hair dresser. My blond layer looked like foils with this do.

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Friday, October 7, 2011

Should you buy from Wholesale-dress.net

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I’ve been hearing so many things about Wholesale-dress.net, some good, and a lot bad. I’ve been ‘window' shopping their site for a few months, now, wondering whether it was worth ordering from them or not. I mean the prices are fantastic, and the pictures of products are very promising. Finally I decided to just take one for the team and test this seller out for all my readers who might be indecisive as well!

Before we begin, it’s important to note Wholesale-dress’ own product disclosure statement:

2. How is the quality of your products?
Our product quality is good relatively to many our rivals. Around 70% of our products are the same as the photos, other 30% imitate from fashion magazines.
Our products are suitable for price-competitive, non-high-ended market. Suggested selling price see question 4.
3. How can I know whether your photos are100% exact with products?
Most of photos of our product are being shot by our own camerist. Only a little part of photos are from magazines, you can easily distinguish them.

With this in mind, and the fact that they will not tell you when the item is ‘the same as the photos’ and which are ‘imitate from fashion magazines’, don’t be surprised if the item  you receive from them is slightly or even entirely different from what you expected! I’ve seen a lot of complaints about this point, but really? You are paying $5 for an item you would usually expect to pay $50 for, so can you really be upset when it’s not great quality?

My order:

1.Fashion Button Embellished Lapel Blouse Light Green $5.14
2.
Western Style Half Sleeve Blouse Rose $6.76
3.
Korean Fashion Wave Pattern Skirt Orange $6.22
4.
Individual Nail Pearl Paillette Chain Decorate Vest $11.35
5.
Sexy Slim Style All Match Vest Leopard $4.00
6.
Fashionable Stripe Hip Wrap Skirt Green $3.78
7.
New Arrival Single Breasted Grid Embellished Blouse Turquoise $5.14
8.
Slim High Waist Pencil Pants Sapphire Blue $8.11

I received 5 out of these, and then an extra something I didn’t order…

‘Korean Fashion Wave Pattern Skirt Orange’

Yes, that’s actually the name of this item.

Product picture:

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Actual product

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Overall this looks like the picture in terms of design, but if you want to be pedantic like me, there are 6 ‘waves’ in the skirt pictured, but the actual skirt has 5 ‘waves’ at most, so this is clearly not EXACTLY the same skirt. But all I really wanted was a fitted mini skirt, and that’s what I got. The colour also seems to defer slightly. The quality also wasn’t too bad – it was actually lined. The thing I didn’t like about this was the material it was made from. It has that shiny thread woven into it that gives it an instant cheap ‘Barbie clothes’ feel. IMG_3080

 

‘Sexy Slim Style All Match Vest Leopard’

I threw this one in as it was only $4!

Product picture

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Actual product

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Overall, this looks pretty much exactly like the picture. but it has one tiny problem. I think it was made for someone with breasts of a 12 year old! I’m by no means well endowed, being a C cup on my best day. To give you an idea of how small the cups of this top are, have a look at it against one of my *ahem* bras! I literally can’t wear this top for this reason… … AT ALL.

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‘Western Style Half Sleeve Blouse Rose’

I really wasn’t sure what they meant by ‘western style’, but I liked the way this shirt looked in the pictures.

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Actual product

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I figured, can you really go wrong with an oversized/slouchy shirt? All you have to do is make it big. But apparently you can go wrong. When I put this on, I realized it wasn’t oversized or slouchy at all, but a pretty run of the mill slim fit. The length however was as pictured, and reaches down to my hip. Here I’m wondering just now much skinnier is this model than me that it hangs off her, but clings to me (I’m an Australian size 8)! Looking at this up and down, it does look like pretty much the same shirt, so I’ll just have to assume the old rule that Asian sizes are tiny. But I’m Asian so…I guess I’m way overweight by their standards!!

Finally, this checked shirt. I have no idea. I didn’t order this, and I can’t wear it because of how freak’n tiny it is! I actually can’t even get my arm in the sleeve!

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Now onto what I did like!

‘New Arrival Single Breasted Grid Embellished Blouse Turquoise’

Product picture1310953434156855630

Actual product:

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Again, looking at the picture, this is represented as an oversized shirt, but when I put it on, it was not by any measure oversized. It was unfortunately perfectly sized. Looking at the details though, this does look like the same shirt as pictured.

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Despite it being a different fit than expected, I still quite like this shirt!

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‘Individual Nail Pearl Pailette Chain Decorate Vest’

This is my favourite item of the haul.

Product Picture:

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Actual product:

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While I really like this vest, worn in my outfit earlier this week, it’s clearly not the same product as pictured. The beading, chain positioning and the buttons are all different. But I’m not too fussed, as the vest is pretty cool in itself. It’s actually one of my favourite items at the moment. Unfortunately, I checked again and this now appears to be out of stock. However I’ve seen this exact vest sold on ebay if anyone is interested!

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Shopping on wholesale-dress can be very confusing. They have thousands maybe even hundreds of thousands of items listed (80% of which already say ‘bulk order’ which I take to mean they are out of stock), and while their catagorization system has improved a lot in the past few months, it’s very difficult to find something specific and you have to resort to browsing page after page. There is a search function, but Wholesale-dress are often inconsistent in naming the items, so this is fairly unreliable. My personal complaint is you can only display 60 items per page. 

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Products: $54.82
Shipping: $33.94
Refunded: $25.01 ($17.03 products + $7.98 shipping)
Total bill: 63.75
Cost per item: $7.56
Shipping per item: $6.59

More about shipping later, but you can see that shipping is the same price as the item on average.

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One great thing about Wholesale-dress is their great communication. I received 4 emails. The first was an order confirmation, on the day I ordered, 16 September. Then I get a second email on 17 September saying ‘Your order is being prepared’. Five days later, I get another email saying ’Order have been refunded partially’. Basically they have confirmed which items I’ve ordered is actually in stock. When they say refund, they actually mean store credit. Then I get another email on 22 September saying my order was shipped.

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Wholesale-dress offers an extensive range of shipping options. All the fast ones are very expensive! My order ranged between 13.74 (shipping by sea taking 50 o 80 WORKING DAYS) ,and $49.92 (UPS shipping in 1 to 3 days).

A lot of people comment that the shipping cost is arbitrary or nonsensical, but I think that it probably makes sense. Most postage services offer postage at a flat rate up to something like 250g and then a higher incremental price relative to weight. This is consistent with how wholesale-dress calculates postage. I have had the same experience with postage from sellers on websites like Ioffer.com, which uses fast shipping services like FEDEX or DHL. With shipping, you get what you paid for. I received my order from Wholesale-dress within 5 working days of them shipping it (but I was not impressed that it took them almost a week to get the products ready for shipping).

Some of your might be thinking now, ‘but Chinese sellers on ebay often ship for free.’ I’m not sure why this is. I mean you would think that businesses who ship a lot would get some kind of shipping savings they can pass on to the customers. Retail giants like ASOS, for example, ship for free no matter how big the order. I’m not sure why wholesale-dress doesn’t give customers a break on shipping. I would not immediately assume, however, that they are simply trying to make more money by setting arbitrary or inflated shipping prices. It could be that they are just charging you exactly what shipping costs them. It’s difficult to know unless you’re in the business.

One piece of good news is that Wholesale-dress lets you easily calculate mailing on each item’s listing page, so you know what you’re in for.

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Wholesale-dress has an extensive refund policy, as follows:

Return
If we send wrong item to you or the item you received has quality problem, then you can return it to us. You should report the problem in 3 days after receiving the products and return it within 7 days and the item must be in original condition when returning to us.

When the returned package arrives, we will examine the item, check the problem, then we will ship the correct items back to you without extra cost. We will be responsible for the returning shipping fee (from Wholesale City to you but you have to pay the shipping fee from you to Wholesale City).

If we discover nothing wrong with the items, we will promptly ship them back to you. In that case, you have to pay the shipping fees in both directions.

Refund

Wholesale City offers partial or full refund on most items within 3 days of receiving your goods. The first step in the refunds process is to contact our Customer Service.

Full Refunds
We offer full refund on any items that are found to be faulty or damaged due to our fault. Damage caused because of the fault of the third party or customer’s own fault cannot apply for refund.

Partial Refunds We also offer partial refund on returned items which have some original parts missing. In such a case, the customer can only get partial refund.

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I see a lot of complaints about wholesale-dress’ unique system of allowing you to order items that are already out of stock, and then altering your order later when this is confirmed. While this might be fine if they just gave you a refund, but their default position is to give you store credit. This policy is listed on there ‘About Order’ part of the FAQ.

7. What will happen if there are out-of-stock items in my order after payment?
Usually there are 5% items out of stock. We'll contact you for the out-of-stock items in 1-2 days since payment received, and you can make replacement, or just ask us to send out the ready items. We'll recalculate the item prices and shipping fee. All excess payment would be credited to your balance account for latter use. If you want, we can also refund to your Paypal account.

8. Can I confirm stock status with you before payment?
Yes, you can contact us before payment, we’ll check and inform you which items are out of stock. But as you know, our stock status is changing every hour, so we can’t promise that the items will be still in stock when we prepare your order.

So remember you CAN ask for a refund to your paypal account. I didn’t as I do plan to order from them again, just for kicks.

 

 

So should you buy from Wholesale-dress.net? I would personally order from them again, but I’ll probably be more careful with what I order. I am not willing to give this place the ‘tick of approval’ as I feel this shop is not customer friendly. You’re never sure if you’ll get what you ordered or like what you get. That said there are clearly a lot of repeat buyers out there who are quite happy with them.

The stringent consumer protection laws/policies in western countries encourage the attitude that retailers have to meet all the customer’s expectations while the customer should have all the rights to restitution should anything go wrong, even if it was their fault. This is not necessarily the case online, where buyers have to take responsibility for their own decisions. If you are going to order online, it’s up to you to the right purchase choices and that if anything were to go wrong, you options may be limited. Also remember that if you can’t sort any disputes out with a seller, paypal and also your own credit card will usually have a service to pursue a refund for you.

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