5/21/2013

Nev Skin (Online Shop, Australia)

Nev Skis is an Australian online shop, settled in Queensland, that has been selling vinyl skins for gadgets for eight years. I am one of those people with all my computers customised to the utmost, so places like Nev Skin are my personal heaven. Moreover, the skins protect your device from scratches, and make them look super-cool.

Nev Skin has vinyl skins for almost anything skin-o-able: mobiles, tablets, Ereaders, laptops, notebooks, Ipods, and Gaming consoles. If your laptop is not there, they have universal skins that will fit most of them; you just need to tell them the exact size, and they will trim it for you; or you can get the Universal size and you trim it yourself on arrival, whatever you prefer.  They have a good selection of images, from local and international artists, and you can choose from matte o glossy finish; I always prefer matte because the skin is less affected by glare, you appreciate the artwork better, and you won't notice your fingertips on it. Nev Skin prints on demand, so your skin is freshly printed for you, and the colours vibrant and strong.  

The website is very cool to browse around by design, meaning by the specific gadget you have, or just by artist. All images are zoomable, although the zoom is limited in size. The website is very informative about shipping methods and prices, approximate time of delivery, customisation of large-size skins, and on how to apply the skins on to your gadgets. Major credit cards and PayPal are accepted for payment, check-out is no-fuss, and you'll get an email as soon as your order goes through. Once your order is shipped, your will receive another email with a tracking link. Nev Skin uses Australia Post for shipping, and you can select registered or non-registered mail. They charge you just 1 cent for shipping within Australia for most skins, except for laptops over 14" and the PS3 slim and 360s consoles, or if your order is over 500 grams.

Customer service has been very friendly, prompt and informative all the way up by a lovely lady called Joanne. 


Nev Skin has identical or very similar prices, dollar up or down, as the ones you find elsewhere online. The prices range from 15 to 30 bucks, depending on your gadget, with a surcharge of 4 bucks for oversized laptop skins.

Regarding the skin I got, it differs little from the image you see on the website. As the zoom on the image is small, I was expecting an image with colours a bit more pastel, and also a less detailed and cleaner image (as the photo below). The skin I got is gorgeous, but the colours are strong and vibrant, and the image much more detailed, which is great with me; however, it might not be the case with other people. 


ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT 
> They need to improve their zoom to get a better quality and much bigger images of the skins, so you know what you are ordering regarding colours and details of the picture/drawing. Other websites with whom they share artwork and artists do just that. Why Nev Skin doesn't?
> They could easily improve the volume of artwork on offer and add Australian local artists, which would make the site la creme de la creme in a market that, despite aiming customisation, has very similar images elsewhere.
> They should have, as other similar websites have, a "make your own" skin. You upload your own photo or personal artwork to the site and make your own skin, using online tools. Then, they print it and send it to you. That is what call, real customisation!

MIND
As Nev Skin prints your skin after you order it, your skin can take up to a week to be posted. Mine took six natural days (four working days) to be posted, plus the seven days to get from Queensland to Western Australia. 
***
I know many sites like Nev Skin on the Internet, the majority of them overseas. Other Australian sites have a bigger selection of artwork, but their artwork is less artistic. Prices are similar elsewhere, so I always prefer buying from an Australian company, especially if, as Nev Skin, they have a good customer service and a good quality product.

5/18/2013

World PAR-TEA (Online Shop, Australia)

Shop 22, 35 Merrigal Rd
Port Macquarie, New South Wales 2444
Phone    (02) 6581 4833
Hours:
    Mon - Sat: 10:00 - 04:30

World Par-Tea is an Australian owned and operated business settled in Port Macquairy Qld, that started as a humble tea market stand in NSW in 2004 and has been selling online, retail and wholesale, since 2007. Many shops in Australia distribute their products, but the only two shops doing so in WA are in Geraldton and Mandurah, so I ordered a few things from their online shop. 

WPT has an amazing variety of teas and tisanes: Black, Green, Oolong, Yellow, Blossom, White, and Rooibos teas; Organic Herbal and Aryuvedic Tisanes; Natural Fruit Infusions, Australian and Fair Trade Teas, both plain and blends. They have more than 180 tea varieties! They also have a huge range of beautiful tea ware (canisters, cups, pots, tea sets, infusion tools, and what's not) for sale.

Their website is very pleasing to the eye, simply organised, easy to browse and shop from, and has a great section devoted to brewing tips. You can check out as a registered customer or as a guest, and select standard or express shipping, the later a bit more expensive but traceable. They accept major credit cards and PayPal as payment. Shipping costs are weight-based, but up to a maximum of 15 bucks; this is great, especially if buying tea crockery, which tends to be heavy, and you might end paying a lot if the  shipping costs weren't capped. 

After placing your order, you will receive a receipt email and a confirmation order. They shipped immediately, and my parcel took a natural week, exactly, to get from QLD to Perth. Everything was safely packed and in perfect order.

WPT is, in a way, very similar to T2 regarding what they offer for sale, but its approach to business is completely different. WPT is more family-business style, more Zen and organically driven, less corporate and also less trendy regarding branding and image. To me, they are way better than T2 in several fronts:
- Organic herbal tisanes and Aryuvedic blends. They have a great variety of plain or blend herbal tisanes, some of them difficult to find elsewhere. I especially recommend the Australian Lemon Myrtle tea, which is fantastic in scent, flavour and on your stomach. However, their list of herbal teas is huge and you will certainly find those herbs that you like. 
- Variety of prices. 
  • They have different packaging sizes, from the 10 grs sampler (not all varieties, though) to the 250 grs (not all). If you are a fan of any of their products, you can save by ordering a big package. If you want to try something new, just pay for a sample. 
  • The sell their teas in bags or tins, the latter being more expensive for the same quantity of product. I buy the packets, which are made of foil and plastic, resealable, and they are great. 
  • Their tea ware is way less expensive than T2's, and in many cases way better in quality and prettier, at least for the average items.   
  • They have a small selection of tea and high-tea related books.
On the contrary, they have less variety of Oolong teas than T2 has, and a wider range of brewing tools.

Customer service is diligent, and they reply to any query you might have.

The main downsides of the online shop are:
1/ The FAQ area is useless, as it all about tea - the product. They could put that info elsewhere, and introduce here practical information for online shoppers, like:
  • Ways of shipping.
  • Price of shipping
  • International shipping?
  • Average delivery period.
  • Return policies.
2/ They do not send an email informing of shipping if you check out using standard or express check-out. Even if there is no tracking link to give, customers always want to know when exactly the order was shipped. The Order Status in Your Account area is worthless as shows as "processing" those orders that you have already received.
3/ Some of the photos do not zoom in, that is, you get the same small image you have pre-zooming. 
4/ The wish list is great, but it doesn't show the price of the item, so you have to click on the item and go to its specific page. The web designers could correct this easily. 

***
WPT is a terrific shop for tea lovers, organic herbs nerds, and explorers of the world of infusions, no matter you are just are buying for your own use and household, or a business owner looking for a specific unique blend for your business. They have a huge variety of tea-related products, good prices, a diligent customer service, and fast and safe shipping procedures. A great online shop with great products I am in love with! Still, they need to fix some of the flaws of their online tracking system. 

UPDATE
They do not sell pottery teaware, just those made of iron. What a pity. 

5/17/2013

ASOS (Online Shop, UK)


ASOS is an international online retailer shop settled in the UK that sells a great range of men and female fashion, beauty and jewellery products at great prices. Young people, from 16 to 34 y.o.a. are their preferred target. They cater for all sizes, from petite to oversized. In a way, ASOS is a "very fashionable right now" sort of shop, although they also sell items from well-known designers like Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Dita Von Teese, Ralph Lauren, and Armani Exchange among others. They even have a marketplace area to buy/sell pre-owned, second hand and vintage clothing.  

Although usually ASOS is not my cup of tea, this is a great place to shop from, and I especially like their lingerie and hosiery areas. I bought a couple of fancy tights, which are ridiculously expensive in Australia, for a very good price.

ASOS offers free shipping to Australia on all standard orders, no matter how much (or how little) you spend. This is great, always, especially if you just fancy little cheap things, which you would not buy if you had to add a shipping fee.

ASOS' website is very easy to browse, very simple and clean to the eye, still very well organised and extremely informative. They even have a corner devoted to fashion trends. The photos are zoomable, their refining search system fantastic, and Australian sizing and prices are shown all the time as the ASOS Australia online site is where you are automatically directed if you live in Australia.

Major credit/debit cards and PayPal are accepted for payment, but you will need to register before checking out. ASOS stands out, to me, for the great service and diligence with which they fulfil your orders. I placed my order on a Sunday, and the parcel was posted that very  day! This is the first time that an online shop does that, and I buy online a lot. Confirmation order and tracking link were provided a immediately, and the tracking link was updated and emailed to me once the parcel was handed over to Australia Post. My parcel (normal standard shipping) took less than a week to reach my place in Western Australia from the UK. That is... how to put it?... wow! That is what usually takes parcels from the Eastern States to reach WA.

I will definitely order from them again.

SilverBeauty (Online Shop, Australia)


SilverBeauty Is a family home-based business settled in NSW that commercialises a few lines of Natural, organic and Arjuvedic beauty and body products (men, women, and babies) that are fabulous in quality but low and mid-priced: Reniu (Fiji), Shahnaz Hussain (India), and DesertPea Australian Native Skin Care (Australia).

RENIU is what brought me to them. Reniu's body and hair products are produced in Fiji and use as a base organic virgin coconut oil that is then infused with natural fragrances of Tiare, Frangipani, Watermelon, Pineapple, White Gingerlily, Passion Flower, Star Fruit and Coconut. David Jones used to sell Reniu, until they decided to discontinue the line to the dismal of a large group of devotees, me among them. Reniu smells of what they package says it is, and the scents are fresh, natural and noticeable; if you don't like any of these scents, the brand might not be for you. If you like them, you'll be in heaven. Still, the coconut scent is wonderful, and the most subtle and neutral of the lot. The pineapple and watermelon scents are great for shampoo/conditioner and natural soaps and if you want to use the products on children. I have used all their products in the past, and my number one, without a doubt, is their coconut sugar body scrub, which is fantastic and leaves your skin like the one of a newly-born baby. The  whole range of products is great.
 
SHAHNAZ HUSSAIN'S herbal Arjuvedic cosmetics are renowned in India. Her cosmetics creams are emollient, very rich, well priced (for Westerners, at least) and luxuriously packaged. However, their rose scent is markedly pungent, not my liking, and can put off anybody with a delicate nose. If you decide to try them, use them as night creams, as the scent won't bother you as much.

I have never tried the Aussie brand.  


THE SILVERBEAUTY'S WEBSITE is very simple in design, but very effective. It looks a bit amateur, but it is very practical and easy to browse and shop from. This is a home-operated business, so I don't expect their website to be as professional, good-looking or well designed as those of a big business.

SHOPPING ONLINE from SilverBeauty is very easy, and you can check-out as a guest or as a registered customer, and pay using your credit/debit card or PayPal. Even if you check out as a guest, SilverBeauty will open an account for you and let you know, just in case you decide to use it; it comes handy for checking your order status and having a wish list. 

An order confirmation email is sent right after you make your purchase. They dispatch your order very fast using Australia Post as a carrier, and you will get your parcel in four or five working days. They claim an average of 72 hours, and this was the case with my order. 

The shipping and handling fees are quite low, but they are not clearly stated in the website, and you will find them while checking out. Ordering a bunch of products instead of individual ones always pays off, always. You can return your order and get a refund if you send them within seven days and the products are unopened.

SiverBeauty's customer service is very friendly and prompt to reply any query. I always have queries!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
> The welcome page in the website should be revamped, so it looks more professional and appealing.
> They should include more details about shipping and handling in the Shipping area. It does not cost much explaining ways of shipping, costs of shipping, and that sort of thing. 
> They should make sure that once orders are dispatched, customers receive an email confirming that this is the case, and also that "your order" status is updated in Your Account area. 
> Their privacy policy sounds a bit dodgy.

MIND
/ They only sell to Australia. If you live in Australia, this is kinda of great :)
 / The body oil and body scrub by Reniu have a high concentration in coconut oil, natural one. This means that in winter the product tends to solidify and in winter is liquid. A bit of a bother, but you know this is how natural oils naturally react to temperature changes, and you buy the products because they are natural, right?

5/08/2013

The Perfume Shoppe (online shop, USA)

"The Perfume Shoppe" is a family-operated American perfumery located in Stottsdale Arizona that also sells online. They are specialised in exclusive, hard to find, niche male and female perfumes. They sell perfumes from about 30 different world-class perfumiers. Some of those can be found in similar Australian online sites, or in exclusive shops in your city - "Mariposa" sells some of those (not all) in Perth. However, TPS is excellent for something that we crave in Australia, and in Perth - vials and pre-packaged samples of exclusive perfumes. This is one of the specialities of the TPS, and what brought me to them. 

The price of an average bottle of these exclusive perfumes is so high that you do not want to buy anything you haven't tried a few times. It is difficult not to love perfume samples, especially when each of us have a specific reaction to and relation with the perfumes we wear, and fashion has little to say about the ph of your skin and how a perfume smells, precisely, on you. On the other hand, samples are great to test perfumes you have never tried, to build up a perfume wardrobe (to use in different seasons, events, mood states, outfits, and so on), to use them while travelling, or carry them in your handbag to  spray on any time.The TPS's sample program allows you to do any of those things. I love the fact that you can get sophisticated products within a budget. That sounds like heaven to me.

You have different shopping options and all of the samples are shipped worldwide for free:
1/ Five scents of your selection from their whole range for $20.00. They use decanters to fill in mini-vials (no spray), which come with handwritten labels. 
2/ Pre-packed samples, provided by the original perfumiers, usually five, for an average price of $25.  TPS doesn't make the selection, they just send them. 
 
3/ Six scents from the family of perfumes of your selection (floral, gourmand, fruity, oriental, marine, and so on) for $25. The mini-spray samples are pre-packed by the original perfumiers, but the guys at the TPS choose the perfumes for you depending on availability. I ordered the female gourmand and fruity collections, and I am quite pleased with the quality, presentation and smell of most of them; you can give away those you do not like.   
 

4/ Fill in a travel or trial spray atomiser with your choice of perfume for, about, $30. It contains 4-5ml, which lasts for about 60 sprays.

The TPS  staff are very kind, and they always add an extra free sample to your purchase and attach a Thank You card. The staff are also very nice and promptly reply to any of your queries by email.  

The shop does ship to Australia, not only samples. Alleluia! Once you order, you receive two emails, one confirming the payment and another the order, and a third one will arrive after dispatch. Parcels with samples take about 15 working days to reach Australia (or at least Perth).

THE ONLINE SITE
The TPS's website is SSL protected, so you can shop without any worry. You can save your personal details in Your Account, and the system will automatically fill-in the check-out forms next time you shop. Shopping from there is truly hassle free.


Colours and style are nice, but the navigation lacks functionality at times due to the structuring of the site; moreover, some of the photos have been badly inserted, stretched beyond their size capability, and some of the icons need a transparent or black base to match the site's background. 

The site does not have a logout button. A logout link does exist, but it is a faint grey line, not even underlined, written at the bottom of Your Account area, barely distinguishable per se. You can also see a blue underlined logout link while you are checking out, but you are checking-out, therefore processing your payment, why would you want to sign out from there? Helloooo web designers!

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
= They need to make their website more customer friendly. Simplicity is a great virtue, but good organisation and good design are also good ones. Creating an specific logout button or clearly visible logout link in all private areas, inserting icons properly, and removing photos that aren't clean and good are simple tasks that will improve the site enormously and are easy to implement.  
= They should create separate areas devoted to women and female perfumes, perfumes by categories (floral, marine, citrus, oriental, and so on), and create an area devoted to things that aren't strictly perfumes, like perfumed candles for example.  

THEIR REWARD SYSTEM
They have a points rewards system. You get one point for each dollar spent, and you can exchange 10 points for 1 dollar discount at your next checkout.  You can redeem all or some of your points from "Your Account" area. Do mind - the points are allocated to any purchase in which you are not redeeming points. If you spend, say, 100 dollars, and use a reward point discount on that purchase, you do not earn any points on it instead of the 100 points you could have earned if you had not claimed any of your points. Therefore, use your points wisely! 
 
MIND 
> You need to register to order. No shopping as a guest allowed.
> No Paypal available as way of payment.
> No tracking link is provided after dispatch of samples. You can get one on full bottles depending on the shipping method you select.
> Do not order with a hurry, because your parcel takes a while to get to  Australia. Dispatch, according to the site, takes 24 hours. My experience has been of nearly 48 hours every time. Add to this the about fortnight you need to get your parcel.
> You might not like some of the perfumes you receive in the pre-packed lots. But you know this beforehand and you are a risk taker, right?

***
The Perfume Shoppe, despite the little flaws of its website, provides male and female perfume lovers with a great customer service and awesome fragrances delivered at your doorstep. This is especially important in Perth WA, where getting perfume samples is difficult, and finding samples of exclusive perfumes is like a miracle. Imagine if you live in a little town or in rural Australia. You can get 5/6 vials for 20-25 bucks and brands that you cannot get in Australia at all. A bit pricey for samples, but they are worth the price. And everybody is going to be asking you about your perfume. 

Let us smell divine for the sake of our own un-royal noses.

5/07/2013

Jetstar Australia

Jetstar Australia, despite being a low-cost carrier, does a great job without being cheap in service. They travel all over Australia, and to a good number of Asian countries, plus New Zealand and the USA (just Honolulu). I have never used them for International flights, just for domestic ones within Australia. 

Their website is easy to navigate, allows you to book a flight and manager it afterwards with great easiness. 

Prices are super-cheap if you book flights without check-in luggage, just hand luggage. In general, even if you have check-in luggage, pricing is very good. Prices go up, also, depending on hours of departure, the most inconvenient being the cheapest. But you expect this to be the case, no? 

The planes are as comfortable -or uncomfortable- as any other plane you take if you fly economy class. Yes, a tin of sardines, not good for tall people, medium people or small people. Still, OK. My experience has always been excellent regarding punctuality within Australia. It might sound superficial, but I love the crew uniforms and the mix of colours that the airline uses; I think they give a serious but trendy image of the company. 

The crew are efficient and very helpful at organising the on-board luggage in the cabin, which can be tricky, because everybody seems to bring fully packed mini-not-that-mini hand luggage. Me included!

You need to pay for your meals and drinks on board. However, Jetstar flight meals are tasteless, tiny and overpriced; nothing you would want to spend your money on, unless you buy chips or nibbles. However, you can eat before boarding and/or taking a sandwich, cookies, nibbles and (not smelly, please!) food with you. If you are flying domestic, don't waste your money on their food.

My main complaint about Jetstar would be that the crew is matter of fact, a bit pushy at times, and not that smiley. They do a great job, but a bit of more friendliness wouldn't hurt anybody. A final thing that annoys me a bit is the fact that, at least in Perth WA, we usually get to/from the plane from/to the airport through the tarmac, up/down steep stairs, luggage in hand, instead of using one of those covered jet bridges that make a whole of difference. 

Jetstar Australia is a decent low-cost carrier that does what one could expect from them. I'd rather flight with Jetstar than with Virgin because, for similar or identical prices, you get better service and a more caring and efficient crew. That is my experience. However, I think, overall, Qantas is still cheaper for domestic if you take into account what they offer for their pricing.

SOMETHING TO BE AWARE OF
Whether you book through Jetstar's own website, Expedia or through any other online booking site, Jetstar will charge you, just because nobody is stopping them, 7+ bucks in fees just for paying with your debit/credit card, which, according to new Australian legislation is abusive and even illegal. I recently booked a trip that has the departure with Qantas and the return with Jestar merely for schedule reasons, and Qantas charged me only 2 bucks for the credit card payment. Really, this sort of things unnerve me and the law should prevent this from happening.  

5/04/2013

Answers to the Liebster Award

Lee from the blog Coffee Couture was kind enough to nominate this blog for a Liebster Award. It requires of the nominees posting 11 random facts about themselves as well as answering the questions posted by any of the other nominees.

The Liebster (favourite in German) is more of a way to get to know bloggers than it is an award. The one rule is that the nominated bloggers must have less than 200 followers. This is very much the case with my blog. I have a few followers, but they do not follow me officially, they watch in silence, which is fine with me. Hello voyeuristic stranger!

Here are a few things about this "bloggeree".

11 Random Facts About Me
1 - Teo Degas is an alias I have been using for years for anything that is not professional. I wanted an alias that wast Artsy but close enough to the phonetics of my real name. Voilà!

2- I have a tendency to buy things I don't need without worrying about the price, but I tend to delay buying those I do need and I  worry about the price.

3- I am a geek. I have always found easy using and teaching myself computers and software. Still, I have difficulties with simple electric things. Ha!

4- I love, with capitals, original unique jewellery, beautiful china tea cups and tea pots, artistic Tarot decks, shoes, handbags, and anything that it is well designed, artistic, delicate and colourful.  

5- I have tried, unsuccessfully, to teach myself Swahili, Finnish, Arabic, and Japanese, but I still speak several languages. 

6- I am a mediocre cook because I don't enjoy cooking. That it is my excuse!

7- I try to improve myself every single day, so I can be a refined soul when I die at the age of 93.

8- My favourite colour is red, but I tend to buy and wear anything purple, orange, blue and black.

9-  When I was a child, I wanted to be an Astronaut. 

10- I cannot live without my laptop. This is my window to the world, my work tool, my communication tool, my artistic tool, my reading tool, my writing tool, an extension of me little robot.

11- I was a coffeeholic until five-six weeks ago. After a nasty long stomach infection, I have switched to tea, and I have discovered that my addiction was mostly a psychological hook. I have killed the "oholic" in me, but now I am obsessed with T2 teas. Oh Dear! 

Questions Asked by Cafecouture

What did you eat today? 
For breakfast I had a milk Monk Pear tea, a mini-bowl of peaches with skim natural yoghurt, and a toast with cream cheese and bacon.
For lunch I had a glorious meal at Must: lamb rump dish, truffle and a coffee.
For dinner I have had half a cake slice I bought yesterday and two cups of tea.
Oh Jeez, I should keep a food diary. Perhaps... not.

Cappuccino, Long Mac or Espresso?
Long Mac.

Your favourite thing to do on the weekend?
Eating out, shopping, reading, watching movies, blogging and anything that is chores free. 

Where do you want to go on your next holiday?
South Korea. Hopefully North Korea doesn't start a war!

What inspires you?
Amazing human beings. 
Talented people.
Eye-opening books that make me grow as a person and expand my view of the world.
The Arts.

What is your favourite blog/website?'
- I contribute and enjoy reviews platforms like Urbaspoon, Yelp and Tripadvisor. 
- I like randomly browsing Tumblr or Flickr for illustration and digital Art posts and artists.
- I cannot live without IMDb and Amazon.

A memorable event in your life? 
Oh, so many! I will share three.
- Being born was memorable. Not that was aware of at that very moment :D!
- Publishing my first academic book.
- My first trip overseas, to Rome, alone, to study Italian, poor and with a big suitcase. I was robbed on the metro in my first hours there. I was lucky enough that the Police caught the guy at the exit with all my money. My second day in Rome was spent in Court, where the guy was taken, just in case my declaration was necessary. The rest of my stay was great! 

Favourite movie?
I have a huge list of favourite movies and I can't choose one.The last two ones I loved were Django Unchained and Mr Nobody (the later on DVD).

What do you buy online and where from? 
OMG (Online My Guilt) I buy online a lot: handbags, cosmetics, books, jewellery and anything in between. Some of the sites I buy from are Nordstrom, Revolve Clothing, OzCosmetics, StrawberryNet, Boticca, Etsy, the Book Depository and Amazon. I do buy regularly from Coles, Officeworks and Undiewarehouse, too. Oh, I buy from so many places online that it is embarrassing, or perhaps exciting.

Do you love Winter or Summer? 
Winter!

What camera or phone do you use to snap pictures?
A touristy cheap compact Coolpix Nikon. You can buy one for about 60 dollars. I have it on automatic settings and I use it mostly for super-fast snaps in restaurants/cafés.