Boxing Day 2011

I went to the boxing day sales in the city today. Boy was it crowded!

I didn't go to the big department stores (Myer, DJs) because I never really find anything I like there. I had a look around here and there in Galleries Victoria, QVB and Westfields. I tried to make wise purchases (trying to cut down on impulse buys), and I think I did pretty well!

I couldn't end up finding most of the items I wanted from my "list", but I did end up with just a pair of pants and an eau de toilette (I needed a fragrance for summer) from L'Occitane ($42, marked down from $60ish)! It smells divine.

The sales overall, weren't that good (as usual!), especially if you compare them to the Black Friday sales over in America (you lucky bunch!). I've seen people post their hauls on the soompi forums and it makes me very jealous about how good the sales are over there >A

Hopefully the sale continues down the track... I need to buy some underwear and I still have that dress for a wedding dinner to buy (( =3=))

Dec 2012 Gmarket Haul!

The 4kg package came earlier this week.

First the cosmetics:

Dr Jart was really generous with the samples <3 I purchased 2 silver label bb creams (one for my mum, the other for my aunt).

I also decided to get a bb cream from Holika Holika to try out. From the reviews I've read, the colour of it is a tad light. I haven't opened it yet, but I hope that when I do try it, it will look okay on my skin.

I also ordered the adorable bunny gloss from Tony Moly. My friend who recently returned from her trip to Korea also bought a bunch of these. I think I'll get the other colours the next time I make an order on gmarket because they're just too adorable. I'm not one to wear make up daily (blame my general laziness and the fact that I see no point in getting all made up everyday for school) but I'm trying to start looking more presentable (my new year's resolution harhar) so this is a start! It's a nice peachy colour (pink with a tinge of orange).

Adorable much!? Here's a trick - if the item you want is out of stock (esp. if it is an accessory like below), check if the seller's other pages because they might have it there! That's what happened to me when I was trying to find the blue dotted hair band - one page had it out of stock, another didn't. Can't wait to wear these!

I also bought a diary for 2012 and a bunch of stickers from this seller: 하이델. They are simply adorable and I can't wait to use it and stick polaroid photos in it and make it all pretty and stuff >v<

A card holder + freebie. The "lipstick" is actually a pen =P

(Filled with cards!)

Some shirt cuffs my brother needed.

Now onto serious business - the clothes! I ordered a bunch of blouses (I've been a really lazy dresser lately, so I needed shirts that look nice with jeans).

I accidentally ordered the wrong blouse though... I wanted the white one, but me being a bit careless, selected the wrong colour and forgot to double check (it was prolly sold out anyway). Yes. It's an odd purple colour. Actually it doesn't look too bad in this picture, but that's because of the lighting. In real life it looks much worse and unappealing lol. Still, why would they manufacture a shirt in such a colour! No one would want to buy it imo (though I accidentally did OTL)! My mum offered to take it from my hands though, because she said it didn't look bad on her when she tried it.

These are some blouses I awkwardly modelled:

And these are the stock images of the pieces and my opinion of them:

1) This was exactly as advertised. I like the gold buttons!

2) I bought this because of the detailing at the back. This too, was exactly as advertised. The length is good as well! Because the shape of the blouse is quite flowy and baggy, it doesn't really show one's figure.

Close up of the detailing at the back:

3) Okay... This piece was wayyyyy bigger than I thought it would be. On the tiny woman that models it in the stock photo - it looked like a good size on her. But for me - who's probably shorter than her and some tubbier... Well... It's really baggy on me. It's almost unacceptably baggy. I'll try to work with it though. I think it'll look decent with skirt and stockings (contrary to the really bad outfit I wore it with above!).

4) Been searching for a striped shirt like this for ages!!! I finally found it and it was way cheap as well (around $10)!! The only thing that bugs me is the weird material. Well, it's not too weird, just different from how I imagined it to be/feel.

5) I quite like this shirt (I had expected worse, looking at the seller's ratings and user reviews/comments). I was a bit surprised though, that the colour was slightly darker and more brownish in real life compared to the slightly pink hued colour of the stock image. It's still cute nonetheless and makes me feel like a doll with the big collar XD This will be cute matched with a high waist skirt of shorts.

The following are stock images of the other blouses I ordered but did not take photos of:

6) This is my favourite blouse out of the bunch. I like the cut, it's really flattering on me. It does not make me look fat like most blouses tend to!!

Detail of the front:

7) This blouse is really BIG!! Poo... And I really wanted this style of blouse ever since I saw it styled really prettily in a J-fashion magazine. But this - it's really unflattering on me... I wish that a lot of these blouses had better cuts! They look and fit great on the models, but for some reason, when I order them, they tend to end up really big and shapeless? I'll try to make it work though.

8) Yes... This shirt... of which I mistakenly ordered the wrong colour!! Please double check when you order so you know you're really getting the right colour/style >A

♦

Here is a list of the sellers I bought from:

Clothing:

ShesBB

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=215619934

Ashlynn

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=214889161

마크막스

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=219779018

나나니나

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=219866561

Bunny hairbands:

glam girl

http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=211255900

♦

It kinda sucks when you live in the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are opposite from Korea, because that means there are barely any summer clothing available on the site! I wanted to purchase some nice high waisted and paperbag style shorts, chiffon pleat maxi skirts, etc. I guess I'll wait until they start stocking clothing for the spring season.

If you'd like the links of any other items in this post, leave a comment and I'll get back to you (:

Making the most out of Gmarket #1

While I'm waiting for my package, I thought that it'd be a nice idea to write up some tips, from my experiences, about making the most out of gmarket. I don't know how helpful this will be because a lot of it is "common knowledge" that one would get out of using the site, but it may be an informative read for some people!

Well, here we go!

1) Use coupons

You can save a lot of money on gmarket using coupons, especially if you're ordering a lot of items! I probably saved over 20,000won using coupons on my latest order!

So basically what I did was, a week or so before I decided to place my order, I logged in everyday to get as many coupons as I could (coupons expire, so it's best to get them when you know you're going to order). Most of them are from luck-of-draw so I didn't know whether I'd get them or not, but it's good to stock up so you're ready to use them on what you're purchasing.

Please note that you can also apply coupons on the items in your shopping cart, not just on the item's page!

As of this blog post (7/12/2011), you can get coupons on Global Gmarket here:

Discount Coupon Draw:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/eventzone/EventDiscount.asp

My Benefit Zone:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/eventzone/EventMyBenefit.asp

Paypal Xmas Event:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/planview/plan.asp?sid=100767&pos_shop_cd=EN&pos_class_cd=90000006&pos_class_kind=T

Deals of the Week:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/eventzone/DealsofWeek.asp

For New/First-time Shoppers:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/eventzone/NewComer.asp

Returning Shoppers:
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/eventzone/ComeBack.asp

Super coupons in particular are good because you can use them on top of discounts/coupons to get more won off!

Also, note that the coupons may have restrictions and apply only to certain categories (such as Apparel, or Beauty products) or prices (like purchases over 10,000won or 20,000 won). Check your discount coupon conditions for more info.

Go to the Korean Gmarket page to get LOTS of beauty coupons. I saved like 5,000 won with a 20% off coupon for Dr Jart (BB cream)! You can get 10% or 20% coupons for brands like Etude House, peripera, Lioele, Holika Holika and banilla co to name a few! You can find a tutorial to get these coupons at this site here: http://ciramisu.blogspot.com/2011/04/gmarket-tips-6-beauty.html

2) Checking if you have the right item

So for those of us who don't know Korean, like me, it often takes a bit of time to get used to using the site and making sure we're buying the right item.

It's easy most of the time, but sometimes it's a bit more difficult when the item does not have a code/number+letters in the name (which makes it tons easier to find in the drop down menu) or the writing on the item description/image is a bit hard to decipher. A way to make sure I have selected the right item is to go to my shopping cart, copy and paste my item selection, chuck it into an online translated, and if it matches up with the item I want, then I probably chose the correct one. Click the images to make it larger.

Select the item and put it in your cart.



Since your item is now copy+paste-able, now's a good time to do that!


Put it in an online translator.


Compare.
In cases where the item has no English text, check if what the translator spits out matches the description of the item. Eg this was one of the headbands I bought:

And what I chucked into the translator came out as something along the lines of "dot headband... mint".
Also, the name of the item on the item image/description SHOULD match in every letter in the drop down menu. If not, you might be selecting the wrong item! Also click the item if possible since the pop-up with more images/details might actually show the item name with a number/letters in it's name. If you can't find what you want on the drop-down menu, then that probably means it's out of stock.
I found this guide with the English translations with it's hangul counterpart and vice versa useful: http://ciramisu.blogspot.com/2011/04/gmarket-tips-5-useful-words.html
But I guess the best solution in the end, is to learn Korean (if you have the time)! It'll save a lot of time and frustration when ordering on gmarket =P

Holidays

I guess I'm back on this blog for the holidays! Haha it really does seem this blog is my "summer holiday home" - I'm away from it for most of the year, lest it comes December! I also changed the layout. It's now a wonderfully cute template by Gisele Jaquenod (link at the very bottom).

Today I ordered from gmarket, probaby the biggest order I've made to date. Argh! Spent Almost two hundred! Dirt broke now (I really do need a job).

Will post about it when the order comes!