Hello lovely people, this is a very exciting post for me to be writing, because it is an update to the most read post on my blog so far 'how I got colourpop to the U.K'. After a year, I decided it was time to place another order and over the past 12 months I have been building up quite an extensive list of products I wanted to try out. I was absolutely thrilled when colourpop had a flash 20% off sale, saving money on a brand I had SOO much I wanted to try from? YES PLEASE! However I am going to be brutally honest, they were
extremely unprepared for their flash sale and the website crashed multiple times. Eventually they decided to use a queue system, where you had to 'wait in line' and you could see all the tens of thousands of people ahead of you waiting. Everyone was assigned a place in line and an approximate wait time, for me it was 40 minutes, so I continued working on my essay whilst keeping the tab open. Once you were on the site you got 15 minutes to add whatever you wanted to the basket and then you had to check out. It was HECTIC! But as they extended the sale to the next day due to a lot of upset on twitter, I managed to place a second order asking my friends if they wanted to order anything through me.
Although this haul is called part 1, it's actually the second order I placed a couple of hours later, because for some reason they worked backwards with their orders when processing them. Some of these items aren't mine, they're either gifts or ordered products for other people. I'm going to be talking you through each step of the ordering process through using a forwarding service. I will also be writing out the prices to let you know how much it costs and if its worth ordering through a forwarding company
spoiler alert...it is!
The ordering process
The first step when ordering from Colourpop is to create an account with Shipito, which is the forwarding service I used. Last year I used borderlinx (
post here) but it was far too expensive for the amount of products I ordered. When I calculated the cost of each item using borderlinx, including the delivery, customs etc. each product cost me around £6.43...which is still cheaper than what U.K sellers are charging, but for the amount of items I want to try, it wasn't good value for money. When I read Jasmine's post (
here) on how she forwarded colourpop to the U.K, I decided to give it a go. The reviews for shipito are very intimidating, so many people seem to have problems with the service, which is why Jasmine was reluctant to recommend the site and I want to stress the same thing. It is a bit of a risk, however there are precautions you can take (such as insurance) which makes the whole thing a bit easier!
So once you have signed up (entering the details as shown above) you're given two different addresses within the U.S and one for Austria. These are essentially warehouses where your package is sent too. I didn't have time to check out the difference between the two U.S addresses, but now I know that the
one based in California is better for short term storage and the delivery will be quicker - which is worth noting if you're planning on being away and need your package to reach you that little bit quicker.
Something very significant at this point, is that you will need a U.S phone number to order from colourpop - I wasn't aware of this (as last year I don't think I did??) but luckily the process of getting one was quick and easy.
You just have to download an app which provides you with a free number, I went for '
whistle phone' - free and allows you to pick an area code too. I was quite apprehensive to use this but there was no need to worry as it is VERY simple to use.
You then simply go onto the colourpop site, add the products you want to your basket and check out as a
guest. When entering your details, you choose between one of the addresses you are given and type it in. Then you input the phone number you're given from the app, and you have all the tools you need to get through the checkout process with no issues! You proceed to pay through paypal and you'll get a couple of emails over the next few days.
Colourpop will email you about your order, they will then email you when you have dispatched the order (which usually takes one week, BUT due to the sale it took THREE weeks for my second order to be dispatched and FOUR-FIVE weeks for my first order 😧). When it arrives at the Shipito warehouse, they will email you with a
customs declaration form, and you have to fill it out with all the details. What each item is, the name and the price. You then have to declare if it is a gift or for merchandise purposes,
of course go with gift unless you're planning on selling them all on. You submit it off, they review it within a day or two and then you are provided with delivery options. You can choose to have it shipped to you within 4 days which costs around $40. The cheapest option is Airmail although it is also the slowest.
Despite the time it would take, I went for airmail and decided it was
essential to spend the $5.57 on full insurance. This way if the package went missing I would get every single penny back. I also asked them to send me a photo of the contents of the package (something I won't be doing next time but I just had to be sure). This cost me an extra $2, so all in all
insurance and postage cost me $24.69 = £16.81. Pretty reasonable, especially in comparison to borderlinx!! It took two days in total from it arriving into the warehouse to it being sent off to the U.K, and then I had to wait a total of
two weeks and two days before it arrived. I was expecting a pretty substantial customs fee and I'd worked out that it would be around £18-£24. To my absolute delight however, it came to my home with not a customs note in sight! So despite the long wait time (which really was due to colourpop's lack of preparation for the sale and amount of orders), in total it cost me around £17 and just over two weeks to get my order which contained 19 items. I'm pretty happy with that and even if I had to pay customs with my next order, it would still be a lot cheaper than going through borderlinx again.
Now I will talk you through how much money I saved by using a forwarding service, instead of purchasing from U.K sellers. I just want to make it clear that I have nothing again U.K sellers, however I would only recommend purchasing from them if you
just wish to pick up one or two items. If however you want more, I promise you using a forwarding service will save you a HUGE amount of money! Despite the fact that I got these items on a 20% off sale, the savings are still considerable sale or not. Just to be clear I'll be writing the
sale price in orange, original price in blue and the U.K seller price written along side it too. By the way, I've used one UK site to copy and compare their prices, however they are all very similar.
- 12 Liquid Lipsticks - $57.60 = £39.84 - $72.00 = £49.80 To buy them in the UK = £119.88
- 4 Lippie Stix - $16.00 = £11.07 - $20.00 = £13.83 To buy them in the UK = £35.96
- 3 Eyeshadows - $12.00 = £8.30 - $15.00 = £10.37 To buy them in the UK = £26.97
- My Order Total: $85.60 = £59.20 + £16.81 shipping = £76 in total.
- Non sale it would have cost: $107 = £74.00 + 16.81 = £90.81
- To buy each of these items in the UK it would have cost me: £182.81
I hope this all makes sense, I didn't envisage having so many equals signs in this post ._. but basically I managed to save a huge £106 by using this forwarding method! If the items had not been on sale, I still would have saved £92 (this is including shipping too!), so now you know why I strongly recommend you purchase a large order of colourpop using a forwarding service!!
Last time using borderlinx I calculated that including shipping, each item cost me around £6.43. This time each item has cost me on average: £4, which is basically the U.S price that they sell it for! Please do let me know below if you have any questions, I hope I've gone into enough detail but still in case I have missed anything drop me a comment.
Pros of using Shipito:
- You save a TONNE of money!
- There is a wider range of choice as you are ordering from colourpop yourself, rather than having to pick from limited supplies that a U.K seller has instock.
- If you really want your order quickly, you have the option of paying more and getting express shipping too.
Cons of using Shipito:
- If you choose the cheapest delivery (airmail) you'll have to wait at least 2weeks-1 month from placing your order to it getting to your door and the lack of tracking is frustrating.
Right I think 23935794594 words later, I am done with that part! Now on to
the haul. I just thought I'd mention here that as this was my second order, none of these things were at the top of my list of things I REALLY wanted to try if that makes sense - because I had already managed to pick them up in my first order. Then a couple of hours when the queue time had reduced, I got rather impulsive and decided to make another order, quickly asking my friends if they wanted anything too. So these items are just the start of a very exciting haul ^_^
As I mentioned in my last post, I have an on/off opinion about the colourpop shadows. I decided that I wouldn't be buying any shadows unless they were great for adding extra pizzaz to an eyeshadow look (eg. glittery and pigment like) OR they would have to be a unique enough matte shade. The three I picked up are (clockwise):
Cornelius: is one of the shades created by Kathleen and I love it! Its a beautiful brown shade which looks amazing in the crease. Its actually a hair or two shades deeper than Makeup Geek's creme brulee (probably why I'm such a big fan of this shade already) and one or two swishes of this in the crease makes any eyeshadow look appear that much better.
So Quiche: is a khaki based shadow with a tonne of glitter/shimmer. The shimmer is a little silver but more pink when swatched and if you swipe a little on the lid using a brush you'll get more glitter than colour. However if you want more of the khaki shade to come through - use the fingers. I love applying these types of shades with my finger, literally packing it on where I want an eyeshadow look to be that extra bit special and it works like a charm!
Nillionaire: Is the shade I was most excited for, it has a brown base and it even more sparkly than So Quiche. These shimmers are more silver though, which makes it a little more versatile. If you want to spruce up a smoky eye, this is the shade you need! I'm sure I'll be whipping this out every time a special occasion rolls out, theres nothing like some glitter to add some pop!
I also had to pick up a couple of lippie stix too because I love the formula and they're incredible value for money! The first on the left is
Cami, which is from their new 'matte X' formula and I love the colour so so much. It's a deep flattering very autumn/winter type of shade and the formula is super comfortable, without losing the matteness either. This is extremely beautiful for olive skintoned ladies, I've only worn it once but I adore it. It's not transfer proof but it doesn't smudge and it lasts very very well. I then purchased a back up of
Brink (
reviewed here), this swatch hasn't translated the colour very well though ._. but I'm very happy to have another in my collection. And the third and final shade I picked up is '
Aquarius', which is yet another collaboration shade with Kathleen Lights (can you tell I'm a fan? 😝). It is much more nude and not a matte nor a satin finish, rather it is 'creme' finish. I've yet to try this out, but I shall be updating you soon!
And finally the 6 liquid lipsticks I ordered! I picked up the shades:
Clueless: Definitely one of my favourite colours from the 6 I picked up in this haul, it is a cool toned nude shade but more wearable than Stila's baci (reviewed here). I like to apply a deeper lip liner around this shade, as its still a little light for me but it's the most wearable nude shade in a liquid lipstick formula that I have found so far. It also does remind me of the Kylie lipkit in the shade kandy k...I won't get into how I feel about her lipkits but let me just recommend you to watch
this video and make your own mind up D:
Solow: A coral shade which doesn't look as bad as I had anticipated! However its still a little too light/bright against my warm skintone to use alone, so since getting it I have been using it in the centre of the lips with other shades and this has been working a treat. When I did apply this alone, I wasn't so keen on the formula of this shade in particular, it accentuated dry cracked lips more than the others. So for me this shade is only useful as a lightener, to be mixed with others.
Are N Be: This shade was definitely a risk for me as its pretty dark! Now if you check out the lip swatch on their site, I have to say the colour in person doesn't translate similarly at all. It doesn't have any of the pinky tones and it pulls out much more purple on me. However despite this, I really really like this shade. Its a deep and rather dull purple, which doesn't look gothic against my olive skintone. Lets be honest, I won't be getting a tonne of use out of this shade but I can definitely see myself using it in the colder months.
Bad habit: Colourpop describe this as a dusty mauve pink, however I would say its more of a toned down deeper magenta shade and I think its gorgeous! Bad habit is a great shade for warm skintones, it's slightly more muted than the next shade and I'll be using this throughout the summer and its the type of colour that can be worn with minimal makeup - it just pulls the whole face together! The formula of this is smooth and doesn't feel as drying as solow.
More Better: This is the more vibrant, out there sister to bad habit! Colourpop describe this as a 'deep violet wine' and I think it's perfect for medium/dark skintones as it compliments deeper skintones beautifully (but if you google it, you'll see that every single skintone rocks this shade). for some reason the swatch below is more red toned ._. but anyways... its not one I'd wear day to day, its a little too dramatic, but I'll be saving it for evenings and special occasions.
Limbo: The dupe for 'true brown k', this was a shade I really got on a whim because I was sure I wouldn't like it....well I was wrong, this is a surprisingly flattering colour! Again its a shade I won't get a bunch of use out of (which is technically going against my lessons learnt from za 7 month spending ban
tut tut) but there was no way I was spending $30 on a shade from KJ, when I could give this a go on the whim from Colourpop...justifiable right??
And that is the end of my colourpop haul part 1. I really hope it was helpful to you if you were looking for a way to get a bunch of colourpop stuff for an affordable price - the key thing if you choose to use shipito is 1.Insurance is worth it 2. Patience is KEY. Totally worth the wait though and I am so excited for my first order to arrive next week (hopefully!).
Have you tried anything from Colourpop?
Thank-you for reading ♥
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