Shipping with comGateway

So I mentioned in my Hello! post that I was testing out a shipping company called comGateway because less and less wax vendors are offering international shipping and if they do, shipping fees are really expensive and generally charged at USD25 per package for Priority International. What comGateway does is that it gives me a US shipping address (in Portland, Oregon) to shop at US-only retailers and provides the option of repacking and combining packages to save on international shipping fees. Registering for the US shipping address is entirely free and I am only charged for the international shipping of my packages (by DHL) according to volumetric weight, fuel surcharge and insurance.

The last of my three packages finally arrived in Portland last Friday and I immediately set about combining my packages and getting them out for shipping. For this first shipment, I applied a complimentary coupon code for Express Shipping (est. 3-5 days).

The Bathing Garden

Order: $35

Shipping: $6.5 (International - $24)

Two Timing Tart

Order: $14

Shipping: $8.98 (International - $24)

Front Porch

Order: $25.20

Shipping: Free (International - $24)

CGW shipping fees: $34.85

Total with individual international shipping: $146.20

Total with comGateway shipping: $124.53

Savings: $21.67

As you can see, the savings are rather substantial which makes this a win-win situation for me. The more packages I ship together, the more I save, which means ideally I should always plan for 3 orders to maximise my shipping savings. Not going to complain about that! Delivery was facilitated by DHL and the shipping info was constantly updated, I was tracking my package from Portland to Cincinnati to Hong Kong and finally Singapore! Now, it's time for me to go roll around in my new wax!

Scored Some Super Tarts

I can't believe how lucky I am, I managed to score some Super Tarts during their Thursday night restock! I had been warned that Super Tarts' items fly off their virtual shelves very quickly so I tried to keep my expectations low. This was my first time participating in a limited-RTS stock opening and I went in without any strategy whatsoever.

I logged onto their website as Brandy (the owner) began loading the website with the products. I started opening up separate tabs for the scents that I wanted, thinking that I would refresh each tab and add the scent shot to my cart. I missed the moment when the store opened so by the time I went through my tabs, I only managed to get about 4 scents from my wishlist. I went through the website again for more scents to add onto the order and finally checked out with these 8 scents.

Citrus Explosion
Cucumber Mint
Honeydew Ya?
Pina Colada
Sugar Cookie
Sun Ripened Raspberries
Sweet Lolli
Vanilla Spearmint

On hindsight, I probably should have been a little calmer and waited for items to be released from carts or to have gone back into the site after the first 10 minutes to get more because Brandy allows shipping to be combined so that I could have made my shipping a little more worth it. In any case, I am still really excited that I managed to order from such a popular vendor, their tarts are so adorable looking and I am looking forward to getting them!

Catching Some Crabby Candle Co.

Crabby Candle Co. was one of the new vendors that caught my eye when I re-entered the world of wax. In early January, I wasn't sure whether they were opened, the Facebook page stated they were preparing for an opening but no date or announcement was provided after that. But they must be properly opened now because yesterday, they posted a sale for 15% off all products (discount code: TeamCrabby) and free shipping over $25 (on-going till Friday, 21 Feb!), and I immediately clicked onto the site to plan my order.

Apple Clover
Bird of Paradise
Brandied Pear
Cactus & Sea Salt
Cherry Pez
Coconut Lime Verbena
Cookie Madness
Farmer's Market
Fruity Rings
Honeysuckle Pear
Ice Cream Scoop Bread
Lemon Squares
Macintosh Apples
Pink Dunes
Pink Peppermint
Raspberry Lemonade
Serendipity
Southern Iced Tea
Sugar Cookie
Vanilla Lavender

Crabby has a nice range of scents and I got 20 scent shots in all, a mix of dupes like Coconut Lime Verbena and Pink Dunes, new-to-me scents like Apple Clover, Bird of Paradise, Ice Cream Scoop Bread and Serendipity. I can also never resist ordering Fruit Loops (or Fruity Rings) and Cactus & Sea Salt in my quest to find a regular vendor for them.

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Anyone planning any orders? Because I am! I am hoping to catch the Super Tarts restock on Thursday evening (Friday morning for me). I am also looking at Tiffany Candles, Sweet Fixations, Nene's Kitchen Melts or L3 Waxy Wonders. All opinions and thoughts on these vendors are appreciated!

Haul | Bath & Bodyworks (1)

The first Bath & Bodyworks store opened in Singapore last weekend, and as a scent fanatic, I had to visit as soon as I could! Luckily for me, it happened on the following Tuesday. My aunt introduced me to BBW 7 years ago when we were holidaying in the US. We visited the store at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and it was during the semi-annual sale, needless to say we went crazy. At that time, I mostly bought bath & body and lipbalms (loved those C.O. Bigelow lipglosses!)

This time round, I bypassed the bath & body and headed immediately to the candle section! I spent a scent-tastic 30 mins in there sniffing every single candle and every wallflower bulb tester in there. There were three collections of candles available, Signature Collection, Sweet Shop and Fresh Picked. Wallflower and home fragrance scents were mostly from the Signature collection. As I sniffed my way through the candles, I decided that I am really not a fan of cake scents, they are too cloying for me and in this constant tropical heat, it's just too much for me. Scents I did like included Merry Mango, Sweet Clementine, Sugared Lemons, Lavender Marshmallow, Eucalyptus Mint and Moonlight Path.

But beyond the candles, I was most excited to pick up some Wallflowers plugs and refills. And I was so glad that they are priced affordably at $10 each. For the opening week, the Wallflowers were on sale at $9 each, and 4 for $35. I picked up a White Wedgewood Gate (designs are limited to basic conicals and the wedgewoods) and three refills in Sweet Pea, Paris Amour and Renew & Refresh. I have the Sweet Pea switched on right now and it has a really good throw! I can't wait to pick up more scents soon!

Back on the Front Porch

Because I wanted to test out if consolidating packages with comGateway would save me money rather than individually shipping the packages, I wanted to find another vendor with a reasonable turnaround time. Each package that arrives at my US address can only remain for 30 days and I can consolidate up to three packages.

At first I considered Vintage Chic Scents because they had a V-day themed restock but the current system doesn't allow for non-US billing addresses. In the end, I went back to Front Porch Candle Co. (first order in Dec 2011) to take advantage of their free US shipping and 10% off over $25.

I had a long list of scents that I wanted but most of them weren't available. I was hoping for Fruity Loops and Apple Orchard to be available in 4-packs but they were out. Still, I managed to order 16 tarts in various fruity combinations and snag two Fruity Loops.

Apples and Peaches
Blackberry Lemon Ice Cream
Butterfly Kisses
Cherry Limeade
Cotton Candy Apple Bread
Clover and Aloe
Fruity Loops x 2
Granny Smith Green Apple
Lavender Noel
Lemon Mallow Strawberry Bread
Loopy Marshmallow Bread
Margarita Marshmallow Noel
Pear
Pink Sugar
Sweet Dreams

The one thing about Front Porch is that its scent list doesn't seem to be complete. There are many blends that are offered for sale but not described. I find that doesn't help when I am trying to select alternative scents even if they are very generic like Apples and Peaches.