Where I Go for Online Shopping

Tip: This is best viewed on a computer because I decided to put things in tables.

Admit it, we all love online shopping and sticking the middle finger up to our Australian retail stores and their ridiculous prices. I mean, I don’t want to but when a game I buy is $50-60 online compared to the $120, I kinda do get a bit upset sometimes or you know, when almost everything is 150-200% more. But at least for the most part, I am only buying small items. My larger purchases remain here in Aussie land. 🙂 I SUPPORT YOU AUSTRALIA, but you just suck sometimes.

So I’ve compiled a lovely list of websites I tend to throw money at, keeping in mind that shipping fee or free shipping is important to me because we’re so ******* far away and delivery times is based on my own experiences to Sydney.

Beauty Websites!

I have a big thing with skincare so I’ve used most of these websites for skincare rather than makeup, but I do see a lot of them providing a really broad range of stuff too. Most of these sites sell the same brands and products.

Website	Ave Shipping (days) / Fees	What I think
	10 / Free!	This is probably the thing that started it all, I was pretty impressed with the range of brands they have and this is also where I got the ‘Emu Oil Eye Cream’ from. They have pretty good navigation and easy to use site but unfortunately for them, they don’t ship a lot of brands out to Australia so I no longer really shop with them any more. Great site otherwise.Bought: Emu Oil Well, MD Formulations, Caudalie, Weleda, theBalm, Stila, Bareminerals
	12 / Free	I’ve only purchased from here once, buying some Pai muslin cloths and a lip balm. No issues with this site, just not something that has the brands I tend to look out for.Bought: Pai, Dr Hauschka
	8.5/ Free!	They have REN products, like, cleanser at <$20 vs our $40!? :O I find they’re also the cheapest site with sales all the time. I’ve already made 3 purchases with the website since finding out about it a couple of weeks ago. The GBP is better than Euro at the moment so purchase in that currency. Probably my favourite right now.Bought: REN, Caudalie, Keratase, Weleda
	14 / ~$5AUD for up to 2kg	This website offers all the French brands that are focused on sensitive skin! Avene, Nuxe, Vichy and La Roche Posay.Bought: La Roche Posay
	11 / Shipping fee	I bought some real techniques and eco tools brushes from them and that’s probably the last time I buy from them. Not that there’s anything wrong with the purchase, it just doesn’t have the stuff I want! 🙂 And also because the website’s a bit ugly.Bought: Real Techniques Brush, ecotools and Weleda

Games Websites!

Playstation 3 games, nuff’ said. Also visit http://www.gamecafe.com.au to search across the multiple different gaming sites.

Website	Ave Shipping Times / Fees	What I think
OzGameShop	14 / Free	Probably bought most of my games from here, however it isn’t always the cheapest in comparison to Zavvi/The Hut
	14 / $1 to $2	Pre-ordered Ni no Kuni and received it 2 weeks later as expected. These guys are actually the same people as TheHut below. A lot of other people say they’ve had trouble with them, but since I’ve received mine, I’m fairly happy.
	14 / $1 to $2	Ah, the big TheHutGroup. LookFantastic is actually also under this group and I have the same things to say about it as Zavvi. It’s probably worth checking their other websites out.

Other Stuff

Website	Ave Shipping Times / Fees	What I think
	10 / Free!	This is a given. If you don’t know about it then thank me, thank me now! It’s great. It’s a book store and it’s great. They have a .com and .co.uk site; in most cases I find .com cheaper than .co.uk and the easieast way to check is just to replace that bit in the URL when you’re viewing a particular item. Easy.Bought: A shit load of books, including piano books and manga.
ebay		Everyone buys from ebay. Bought from: special_spice (Revlon Lip stuff), accessorieswhole (Skin79) and sgpstore1 (for SGP Spigen products)
catchoftheday.com.au		Yes! I have bought stuff from catch of the bloody day. I recently purchased the L’Oreal Youth Code BB Cream from them which I thought was pretty weird but nonetheless they were the only ones selling it. So there you go.

You’re probably wondering where the fashion stores are, you know, there’s a shitload, like asos, net-a-porter etc but I generally don’t buy clothes or shoes online just because I find it incredibly hard to do so and have found I return more than 60% of the time. And also because I am visiting the states soon so I am going to shop myself crazy there instead.

Other tips include searching online for discount codes, you’ll find them, trust me. And also use your 28 degrees card to shop for things that aren’t in AUD!

Enjoy and let me know what other awesome websites there are. 🙂

Playstation 4 and Whiners

Warning: this will be a fairly gamey, geeky post.

First of all I was able to listen in on most of the “Playstation Meet 2013” live event announcing Sony’s Playstation 4 yesterday. I also read up on it from various forums and blogs. And then I saw this video that just about sums everything up in 3 minutes. I fucking love this video and you should probably watch it to find out why.

Anyway, here’s a few key points I learnt yesterday:

Point #1 – that there are a bunch of useless people out there who need to STFU about

• Sony not presenting the actual hardware.
  I understand why there may be a few eyebrows raised or a question as to why they didn’t actually show the actual Playstation 4, but people really didn’t have to make the biggest deal or pull all of their hair out over it. Hair is precious. Someone commented on rather seeing what it looks like over the talking, the talking that you know, tells us what it does. In other words, he wants to see a black box, literally. Heeeeeeey guess whattttttt, it’s going to beeeeeeeeeeeeee a black box! 😀
  I honestly hadn’t noticed they didn’t show what it looked like until much later because you know what? IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER. And only brings in more hype for E3. (The real reason behind is because they haven’t finalised the design).
  … Alright fine, here’s a picture of it. Top secret. It has wings. Everything from the future has wings.
  

• PS4 not being more powerful than a high-end PC
  Oh no, this shit again? We know. We god damn know the PC will always be more powerful. Unless you want an annual upgrade, I don’t think it’s going to happen. It also won’t be at the price it will be if built like a high-end PC. DUH DUHHHHHHHHHHH. Why, why do PC gamers have to step all over console gamers, just go away and play your own shit and leave us alone. It’s a different piece of hardware and experience altogether, so go away and go … pick on someone your own size!

• Lack of women presenters
  HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA, I mean what? I mean, I don’t even… how is this even relevant at all? Big bloody friggin deal, dumbasses. I’m a woman and even I don’t see a problem or give a shit. We’re not talking about period pain or pregnancy labour pains here, in which case I would probably find it odd if there were no women presenters… maybe. I’m not sure.

Point #2 – that there are some pretty cool games coming out and I am excited about

• Watch Dogs
• … shit, I can’t remember the rest, I only remember that THERE WILL BE A FINAL FANTASY GAME, because that’s pretty much the only thing Square Enix came out to say. One sentence and everyone jizzed.
• …and then there was Blizzard which got me even more excited. Could they be bringing in a new IP?! Nope, just Diablo 3.
• …and HOLY SHIT how could I forget. Bungie’s Destiny. As in, Bungie, the guys behind Halo. Bungie you, finally releasing something for Sony, youuu.

Cool games and all but then I realised they were going to be released for the PS3 and other platforms anyway, so what’s my purpose in buying the PS4 then? Where are the exclusives? Where is Final Fantasy Versus? WHERE IS THE LAST GUARDIAN?

Yeah, I mean, the graphics were good for some of these trailers and demos, but they were only a bit better than the best of PS3, until I saw this.

Woooowwwww, that’s amazing. They should make a Game of Thrones PS4 game with that kinda quality. I’ll play it.

Point #3 – that they didn’t forget about the PS Vita and it was a good thing I didn’t sell it

The best bit being remote play, where I can play PS4 games on my Vita away from the TV. This will be super useful since my mom uses the TV fairly often.

Point #4 – that I really didn’t give an ass about the specs, I just wanted to know about the games

Point #5 – that I will probably buy it anyway, eventually; particularly if they have really awesome exclusives, but it seems like they don’t, so far anyway. E3 will tell

So basically my biggest lesson yesterday was that I probably shouldn’t go around reading people’s stupid comments because I went from pretty excited to pretty angry. A bit ironic here but eh.

I can finally play Final Fantasy 6,7,9 on my PS Vita

So I have one of these, a Playstation Vita or PS Vita for short.

My crappily taken PSVita

Except it’s been collecting dust. BUT NOT ANYMORE. I don’t know if you can see, but the 3rd row of bubbles …

FINAL FANTASY VI, FINAL FANTASY VII, FINAL FANTASY IX

… This probably doesn’t mean a lot to many of you, but to me… ;_; I’ve been waiting so long for this. My PS Vita is finally compatible with PSOne Classics. And I can finally play the shit out of my Vita.

If you know what the hell I’m going on about and wondering why the hell I have this beautiful advanced piece of hardware and using it to play old school games… well, let me tell you… I am not the only one. And you are probably born after the year 1995. Old school games are just meant to be played on on-the-go devices.

“Oh but what about the PSP?” The PSP is a piece of poop in my opinion. Sure sure, I play the Vita for old school games but I also want to play CoD on it and frankly, the PSP is limiting. So why not get something that allows the best of both worlds!?

So there you have it, I am going to play the shit out of Final Fantasy VI, VII and IX. I’m going to breed every single possible combination of a chocobo ever and fight them ultimas and explore every inch of the world map and talk to every single friggin person there is. I am also exaggerating to the max, but only by a little.
And when they release the other FFs, you bet I will be playing the crap out of them too.

Tip 1: The games will begin in a smaller window than the screen but fear not! Pressing the screen until the settings pop up allow you to zoom out.
Tip 2: When asked to change CDs, do the same thing as Tip 1 and look for the option there.

P.S Sony man, I love you but you’re still a piece of shit for allowing one account per device.