Online shopping has dissolved the boarders made it possible to shop at any time anywhere in the world. During The Black Friday sales a couple of sites have again experienced problems when the sheer number of online shoppers overloaded their servers. Why bother going to the shop when all your favorites can be neatly saved in a wish list and are just one click away? I pretty much did all my Black Friday shopping within 20 minutes on 4 sites. Now just need to wait patiently till my parcels arrive. Wish I could just buy everything online.
What about you guys, do you prefer to buy nail polish online or in a store? And, if you prefer online, what’s your favorite store?
ps. Got a nail question? Email Maria at editor@sonailicious.com. We’ll do our best to find the answer!
Carolin says
I would love to do some more on-line shopping but sometimes the shopping rate is so high that it’s not worth it…..unfortunately living in Italy a lot of sites do not send here. once I shopped from an Italian store 5 polishes arrived in a box without any plastic or paper to protect them. It was pain luck they arrived not broken!
Maria @SoNailicious says
That is ridiculous! Sending you nail polish unwrapped?! By the way, it’s the same here – not many online stores ship to Australia. So we usually use mail forwarding service, which makes it even more expensive! However, at the same time we simply have no choice because so many great nail polish brands are twice expensive or not available at all here, in Australia.
Jema says
Hi Maria,
Curious as to what mail forwarding service you use as a package of mine containing 2 polishes was just refused to be sent to me as it contained polish.. im dying to order some zoyas and hopefully you can help :)
Thanks,
Jema.
Maristela says
I send for you.
Kitty says
I only order online these days since the price on US sites is half of what my physical shops are. And there are so many great nailblogs showing good and proper colour swatches! So decision is just as easy as in shop. But I agree with Carolin, the shipping prices have gone up last years making it more expencive, so I dont shop that much anymore due to total costs being higher.
Maria @SoNailicious says
Shipping costs are too high sometimes! But at the same time I understand why. For example, if we buy $200-$300 item from ShopBop, of course we get free shipping simply because shipping costs have already been included in the price of the item. With nail polish $8-$16 per bottle, sellers simply cannot add extra $7-$14 shipping fee. That would make a bottle of nail polish cost twice as much. So I usually wait till sales or free shipping specials and buy in bulk.
Indian Lacquerade says
We do not celebrate Black Friday in India, of course. But I did get good deals on some indie polishes I had been eyeing. So three cheers for online shopping!!!
Maria V says
Lucky you! I’ll be checking out indies tomorrow.
Chester says
In the past I bought many times in online shops, mostly for international brands. But as my collection grows I shop offline much more simply because the polishes are instantly available to me. It also gives me greater satisfaction now to appreciate our local nail polish landscape with lots of brands that are only available in brick&mortar shops.
I still sometimes rely on online shopping when brands like OPI cost 2-3 times as much here and brands like Orly, China Glaze and Misa are non-available here.
Chester :)
Maria V says
Agree! In Australia we also have some really good brands that are only available locally:
– Ulta3,
– Kester Black (https://sonailicious.com/easy-spring-nail-art-kester-black-fairy-floss/),
– Face of Australia (https://sonailicious.com/face-of-australia-carnivale-ferris-wheel-bird-of-paradise-review-swatches/) – just to name a couple.
Jenny says
This post has a picture of the Ciate mini mani month/advent calendar… Has anyone tried this years? Thinking of buying it today. I’ve never had any Ciate before. My alternative is an Aeropostale calendar for half the price. Probably lesser quality. Trying to decide. Thanks!
Maria V says
I own some Ciate nail polishes and the quality is superb, great colours too. I haven’t tried the Ciate advent calender yet but… last year I saw a lot of girls posting photos on Instagram and the nail polishes from the calender looked quite pretty.
Ash says
I have just discovered online shopping for nail polish and I love it! The range and variety is amazing. I do get very impatient waiting for it to arrive though lol
I still buy from stores as well. I can’t leave a shop without buying a nail polish. .
Maristela says
In store.
Michelle says
I do most of my shopping online when it comes to nail doodads for two reasons. One, variety/availability. I’m not really into ‘beauty’ products so maybe I’m missing good bricks & mortar stores that are out there. Two, I don’t like to be surrounded by lots of other shoppers as they touch my polish ;)