RueLaLa vs HauteLook

So, it should come as no surprise to you by now that I am a serious lover of online shopping. Well, what could be better than having designer digs and luxury items all in one place at low prices? I really can't think of anything and that makes these two sites an online shopper's dream!

RueLaLa
RueLaLa is a site that holds daily boutiques of well, anything and everything pretty much, at "Members-only" prices (that means seriously on sale!). 

Featuring everything from vintage Louis Vuitton (I die!), Ray-Bans, Little Rue kids' boutiques, and the perfect weekend getaways RueLaLa holds the things dreams are made of. 

Their boutiques stay open anywhere from a few hours to a whole week and you can even get a sneak peak at what's coming soon and set reminders directly to your phone. 

I've gotten several items from RueLaLa over the years (mostly Lilly Pulitzer, they now send me reminders every time there's Lilly in a boutique) and I have to say that their customer service is by far the BEST I have ever encountered across the board. I'm just going to say it, there really is no one better than RueLaLa when it comes to customer satisfaction. Anytime I've ever had a problem with an order or needed a question answered my RueLaLa concierge (makes me feel so sophisticated just saying that) has been there to help almost immediately. That's a wonderful feeling and just adds to the luxury of RueLaLa.

Like a lot of invite-only shopping sites, RueLaLa will give you a credit every time someone you invite accepts and makes a purchase. That's like free money people, come on!

The only downside I've ever encountered with the site is...the shipping, but they've got a solution for that too.

As far as shipping goes, at $9.95 for basic 5-7 days, this site is kinda on the steep end, however, after paying shipping for your first order you get a period of free shipping for 30-days after known as The Rue 30.

Plus, they have really fast shipping. My items usually arrive before their estimated date and they're boxes always have cute sayings on the inside and sometimes you score stickers!

HauteLook

I was really excited to try out HauteLook after a friend mentioned that she got Urban Decay make-up for uber cheap on the site and I found out it's a branch of Nordstrom's. They have an awesome variety of items and boutiques at prices that are a little more user friendlier than other sites but also carry luxury goods like vintage Louis when you're in the mood to splurge.
Just like RueLaLa, HauteLook offers a credit for every new member purchase from someone you've invited. I'm not entirely certain but I believe HauteLook's boutiques stay open a shorter amount of time than other sites causing their items to be in higher demand which in turn creates a unique situation with their shopping cart feature. I have mixed feelings about this feature but I'll go ahead and explain it before diving into that.
Unlike most sites, HauteLook offers a hold on items you place in your cart, however, (and that's a big however!) the hold is only 15 minutes per item!
Uh, I don't know about you but I'm hard pressed to make any decision in that amount of time let alone one where my credit card is involved. Also, while you're only charged shipping once per order you're items are shipped by boutique so if you end up purchasing a bunch of items from different boutiques on the site then your items will come in different shipments which is a major inconvenience especially when shipping takes forever! By forever, I mean close to 3 weeks, which is ridiculous when you're so used to 5-7 business days and when the products finally arrive on your doorstep they sort of lack luster on the whole packing front.

How boring is it when you open up your package to find this?

However, unlike RueLaLa, the shipping is a lot more reasonable and they offer free shipping when you spend $100 so all that blah can be forgiven really.
I'm a huge fan of the variety of products and brands HauteLook offers. My first purchase on the site was from a Stila cosmetics boutique that was out of this world! I got some seriously great deals on some seriously amazing makeup!

Nothing was over $6 and because of that I was able to get a lot of shades to experiment with with!

Overall, my experiences with both sites have been really great and I hope this information has helped you out. If you like to sign up for either site just click the invite links below!

RueLaLa Invite

HauteLook Invite

until next time, darlings.

xo

Merisa

Mall Haul

So yesterday I went into work at Glamour Girlz boutique at our local "mall" a little early to see if I could hit some deals before punching the clock! I put the word mall in quotations because our town is so small and the mall is so quant that it really isn't deserving of the name, it's more like an indoor shopping center. You'll see what I mean when you realize that my Mall Haul is me just hitting two stores, even though I did try to pick up the new Lilly Pulitzer Estée Lauder gift tote at the Estée counter but let's save a discussion of their incredible rudeness for later.

Stop #1: Bath & Body Works Semi-Annual Sale!

My mother and I wait all year for the summertime sale simply because they bring back all of our all time favorites! I barely shop at B&BW any other time because I only really like the discontinued fragrances. I'm all about some Midnight Pomegranate and Exotic Coconut! Which leads be to my first purchase:

My all-time favorite B&BW fragrance is Exotic Coconut because I am a coconut freak and will wear it any time of the year! However, I did try to restrain myself and make this trip one of only necessity as the sale lasts for like four weeks and I plan to pace myself.

I was bound and determined to get a 3-wick candle while they were on sale but the problem was finding a scent I liked. I ended up picking up the limited edition Summer Boardwalk

I liked the scent, which really does smell like a boardwalk with cotton candy, popcorn, and salt water which really isn't the worst combination believe it or not but it wasn't the scent I meant to pick up. I grabbed a Gelato scented candle and loved it but made it away with the boardwalk candle by accident. Not complaining, it will definitely get put to use this summer but I'm going to have to pick up the Gelato candle next time I pop in.

And stay tuned, I might do a tutorial on how I clean out the candle jars because they make the cutest little containers. I've got a set holding my Essie polish now.

Of course I couldn't make it out of there without lip gloss! I picked up some classic clear mint flavored gloss, a super cute jelly pop, and a really great blood orange gloss that's a nice bright redish orange with orange sparkle that is great for summer and has a great flavor too (I broke into it during my shift last night).

I even grabbed one of those rubber holders for lip gloss like the ones for their hand sanitizers because I thought it might be a good way to keep my favorite gloss from settling to the bottom of my bag where it's usually out of reach. We'll see how it goes.

Stop #2: Claire's and the 10 for $10

I'm a huge fan of Claire's mainly because we don't have a Charlotte Russe or Forever 21 and they offer the discounted 10 for $10 which is always great! 

I went in to get some new nails for summer and possibly a cute new iPhone case but couldn't resist the allure of the 10 for $10. 

Clock wise: a braided brown leather head band, a Libra zodiac necklace, elastic headbands, Minnie Mouse elastic hair bands, Hello Kitty 3D nails, pink & green composition book make up bag, heart shaped ear cuff, and red bow & arrow bracelet. 

Not to mention my favorite purchase of the day...

my XO necklace which I love so much and wore to work last night because I consider it my signature sign-off! How lucky to get all these great finds for just $10! 

I didn't forget the mission though and snagged some awesome nail kits.

I love the tribal print for summer and how cute are the little tuxedo nails? Too cute!

I managed to make it away without checking out the phone cases and my bank account is appreciative but it was mainly because I got distracted by the sight of all the Lilly totes at the Estée Lauder counter.

However, Stop #3 was a fruitless effort as I encountered some of the rudest make up counter girls ever! I fell in love with the blue and corally red tote so badly that I was bound and determined to make a purchase to get my hands on it! There I was, a customer with money burning a hole through my Coach wallet, fully prepared to be hoo-dooed into buying whatever granted me the "free" gift tote. I was a counter girl's dream! I figured I pick up a new foundation or eye cream, all I needed was a little assistance and I had 20 minutes before I was expected to be back to work. Plenty of time to make a purchase but what did I get from the counter girls? Nothing but dirty looks, a "give me a second, honey" while I get back to gossiping with three other counter girls, and an empty shopping bag. I'd just like to say that Estée Lauder herself would not be happy with their actions and neither would Lilly Pulitzer, God rest her soul.

So instead of walking away with the prize I treated myself to two of my favorite things...two scoops of Birthday Ice cream and a diet coke and all was well again. 

Let me know if you all want to see more hauls...I promise the next one will be a little bit more interesting.

xo

aFm