Mascara By Mail : sasa.com :.

I think everyone knows by now how much I love to shop online..  Hehe.. Yeah.. I am a true shopaholic.. Online, Instore, In warehouse even.. I LURVE to shop..

Anyway.. I was happy to receive my parcel du jour today.. I shopped at sasa.com last week for the first time. Yes, sasa.com is a member of the Sasa International Group, which has stores in some Asian countries. I’m sure you’ve seen them in Singapore or K.L. Well, I’ve been to the stores in K.L, the ones at Mid Valley Megamall and Sunway Pyramid in particular, and I’ve had good shopping experiences at both. Even though the stores were small on space, they still had quite the variety of make-up and beauty products, and I never failed to spend less than RM150 at each visit, but because there were a lot of things I really wanted.

I found sasa.com about a month ago, and it was only last week that I decided to take the plunge and purchase a few things. They’re having a July Clearance sale, and you can get products from great brands from 5% – 40% off. In addition to the discounts, if you sign-up as a member on the site, you get an additional 5% – 10% off each product, and free samples. Also, you get points on your purchases to redeem in the online store, and if you spend above a certain amount, you get free shipping. So there were quite a few incentives already.

I was pleased to see a lot of brands that I used to purchase in the UK there. One in particular is Bourjois, which I can’t really find in Singapore or K.L.

I simply L.O.V.E their mascaras.. They’re non clumpy, don’t sting my eyes, and they have these gorgeous colours that are so drama, without being OTT. Their Maxi Frange mascaras are excellent, as they have that white base lengthener, and it applies on easily with a mini comb. The waterproof version, with the beautiful orchid packaging is excellent, as I have once walked into a shower, with mascara still on, and didn’t get panda eyes or bleeds.

Atm, they’re part of the clearance sale, UP: $22, sale price $15.50, additional discount: $0.80. I couldn’t resist picking up a few of them because I love them so much! On the page they do show you the colours available. Shades are usually represented on page, so you can pick what you like without wondering, ‘How blue is the Bleu Bora Bora?’

I also picked up a T’estimo eye colour palette. They’re part of Kanebo, and they have these gorgeous office friendly colours. The palette I bought was also part of the sale. But their usual price on sasa.com is slightly cheaper than usual retail price. So you still save.

If you, like me, need those variety of brushes, sasa.com has a great selection online. I bought the own brand ‘smudge brush’ to get those smokey eyes right. The great thing is that when you’re selecting the brushes, that they make note if it’s made out of horse, pig or other animal hair. I selected the teklon (artificial) version.

When you check out, you can either pay by credit card or Paypal. Note that they have the ‘Verified by Visa’ logo..  Now HSBC Brunei Visa card has that input page to verify that you’re making the purchase and no one else, so you’re troubled with a few extra clicks, but you can be sure that your information online is pretty safe.

At checkout, you’re likely to get a free sample, it’s pretty random, so you won’t know what you’ll get. Make sure you log in so that you get that extra discount at check out. And if you spent that USD75, you’ll get the free shipping.

The parcel arrived intact, with labels printed. Upon opening, I found foam peanuts and the products were all wrapped in bubble wrap for that extra measure. So very happy with experience.. Would recommend.

A few peeves though.. The site is a little bit annoying to navigate. The text is so small.. on a laptop screen it was teeny!  The site is arrange in alphabetical order, so unless you know what brand and what exactly you’re looking for, you’re likely to surf for hours and not find the thing you’re looking for, just lots and lots of things you want to get. The site is graphic heavy, so it may be slow surfing for some.

Some of the prices are inconsistent. You may be paying for it less in another currency than USD, but it also sometimes works out the other way.

But I’d give the whole shopping experience a 4.0 out of 5. Very pleased.