One of my favorite places in the world would be Harrods department store in UK.

True there is no shortage of department stores in Singapore, but there is just something about Harrods that just takes your breath away. And I simply love the wide selection of in-house brand of tote bags, accessories and bears they have at the store.

If you go down Takashimaya Basement 1, you will find a small selection of the items Harrods offer.

However, if you really want to purchase any Harrods items for yourself or as a gift, you should really check out their website at http://www.harrods.com/.

The great thing about doing online shopping from Harrods is that not only do you get to enjoy a much wider selection of their items, the prices are based on the actual pricing available at their UK store. Hence after conversion from UK pounds to Singapore Dollar, you will find that the items are much cheaper than what you will find at Takashimaya, especially when their online sales and special promotions are on.

Check out the below promotions on their Harrods Bears.

Furthermore, Harrods offer direct international shipping to Singapore, which is not an EU country. This means that any VAT on the items purchased will be deducted out from the sale price, which works out to be a bigger discount for us!!!

Being a Department Store, you can find a huge range of items from Harrods, ranging from Clothing to Shoes and Accessories to Beauty Products to Kitchen Equipment.

Besides their house brand selection of gifts, you can also check out their selection of beauty products for great bargains. Not only can you find brands such as Laura Mercier which are not available in Singapore, you will find a number of brands such as Lancome or Molton Brown at much lower prices compared to what you would find in Singapore. For example, a 330 ml bottle of Molton Brown Lotion can be purchased at only £15 , which is almost 30% to 40% cheaper than the prices in Singapore!!

My colleague has recently asked me to help her order some items from the website for her christmas presents. Check out some of the cute stuff she ordered below.

You can basically find things suitable for all ages :).

The website is very user friendly.  Not only are the items clearly sorted by the different departments, a search engine is also available to facilitate searches. To save time, you can also choose to view all items in a catergory by selecting "view all" instead of viewing page by page.

As you add on every additional item, the cumulative total cost and quantity of items would pop up on the shopping cart. This helps you keep track of the total purchases. The amount of VAT deducted can also be seen from the shopping cart summary.

When it was time to check out, the steps were very straightforward and clear instructions on the website made the process very easy to navigate.

As I had earlier registered with Harrods, there was no need for me to rekey in my details and shipping address. Payment can be made via all major credit cards.

The total purchase worked out to be £191.25. However £26.99 VAT was deducted due to delivery being outside the European Union. This deduction more than offset the delivery costs of £24.05 and the total amount I had to pay in the end was just £188.31!! This meant that I was virtually enjoying free shipping on the purchases :)

* All the above images (except the ones we personally shot) belong to  Harrods  unless specified otherwise.

 

A confirmation email from Harrods was received almost immediately upon my placing of the order, together with the confirmation number as well as an itemized list of the purchases.

The items are expected to reach in approximately 10 days from day of order so do keep a look out on this blog for further updates when the items arrive!

Website : www.Harrods.com

Delivery: 7 to 10 days.

Ease of Website: Easy to browse !

Price:  Much cheaper than the pricing available from the Harrods outlet at Takashimaya. Shopers can also get goods bargains on some of the other branded items which are available cheaper in UK.

Rating : 8.5 out of 10  Shoppers are easily guided by the different departments and categorization of items. A search engine is available for easy searches.

I just have to give two THUMBS UP for Forever 21's delivery service, I just received my order within 11 days (inclusive of 4 days of weekends!) !! And I like the way they took the trouble to ensure no damages to the items in the box and made the effort to separate small items from those bigger ones. Have a look at the 20 items (inclusive of 2 repeat items) we have gotten ! Some are Christmas presents for our family members and friends !

Separating the purses and small bags from the rest of the items:

& they look just like what I have seen on the Forever 21 webpage :

Gotten the following Sequined Tote Bags (Black & Silver) for some of my hubby's schooling cousins and if I stuffed some newspaper into the bags, I think they will look just like those photos on the website !

Wanted to get this Teddy bear bag as a surprise for Ms Chocolate

but was only left a last piece and my colleague ordered it before me : (

I am soooo disappointed, especially after seeing the actual bag coz

this is the type of tote bag that Ms Chocolate will definitely like !!

Aren't the ribbon and the pearl necklace cute ???

And we bought our colleague a SEXY Birthday present !

& my colleague got this nice shirt for her boyfriend ! Soooo SWEET ! 

 

And I bought these two bags for myself. Nice ???

The pictures of the actual bags:

And of course, we would not miss out showing off our apparels to you !!!

We each bought one piece of this working dress for only US$13.50 !!

Isn't it CHEAP ?? Too pretty and cheap, so both of us cannot resist buying it !

Must make sure we both don't wear it at the same time to work ! Haha !

I bought this top but I am not going to wear it as a top but as a dress with tights !!

And I bought this unique top . The actual top's color (red) isn't that bright as the one I saw on the website but I still think it is worth it !

The metal strap is really very very unique and special ! But quite heavy too !! hahha

My colleague bought the following apparels. I made her take some pictures
 and  let her show off here : P

I love her jacket! Money well spent ! Quality is good and

I think it will keep her warm in the office.

And guess how much it is ? It is only US$16.50 !!!! What a good bargain she got !!

And she also gotten herself a figure flattering nice knotted waist pencil skirt

And lastly, I bought a Tshirt for hubby's friend ! haha .. something which I think he would like :P

* All the above images (except the ones we personally shot) belong to  Forever 21  unless specified otherwise.

Are you envious of me now ? Hahaha ... start your Forever 21 shopping now and share with me your experiences too !!

Last updated: 22nd Dec 2010

Woww ... my good friend who is a regular customer of ASOS  dropped me an email yesterday telling me that ASOS is providing free delivery worldwide for a limited period ! I thought she was kidding me... Well, I went to the website and was really surprised to see this banner on the website:

I hurriedly browse through the website. As I had previous bad experiences with the quality of the clothes at ASOS, I decided not to look at any clothes . The same good friend provided me a good tip that as long as I do not buy their house brand, the quality will be good! I went straight to Women > Outlet/ Clearance Brands to check out whether I could get any bargains ! I only needed to convert whatever I need to buy from UK pounds to SG dollars for this shopping experience! I do not need to add the shipment cost to whatever I wish to buy ! How often do you get an opportunity like this ?

Within 5 minutes, I chose this beautiful Fiorelli Lizzie bag, which was now selling for only £9.00. The original price was £15.00. I used to buy this brand when I was in Australia, but I didn't remember seeing this brand in Singapore.  Is this bag nice ? I bought the cream one as the pink one was out of stock. Immediately after I put this bag in the basket, the item appeared as out of stock.

For ASOS , once you have placed the item in your basket, the item would be reserved solely for you for 2 hours. If we do not "checkout" within 2 hours , the item would be available for other customers to choose. However, deep in my mind, I wasn't sure whether ASOS  would provide free delivery for just one item. I wasn't interested in other items, and thought that this was sufficient for me since I had already spent quite an amount at Forever 21. I continued to proceed to check out and was pleasantly surprised that ASOS really did not charged me for any delivery cost for just one bag to Singapore !!

For now, I just have to wait patiently for my this bag! I received an email telling me that my bag would be "Delivered on or before Monday 06 December 2010" ! Yippy !

Order Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 1PM)
Packed Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 11 PM)
Shipped Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 11 PM)

Arrival Date: 2nd Dec 2010 (Singapore Time - 1230 PM)

Added on 2nd Dec 2010 >  I received my package today ! I am pretty impressed with the packaging and delivery this round ! The only part which I am disappointed is the color - cream. It appears to be rather dull. It isn't as bright as what I have seen in the picture earlier. However, I still love Fiorelli bags and is very happy to have gotten it at a bargain. So  I won't complain much ! Got to clarify with all the readers. The quality of ASOS stuff really depends on the brand.

After I placed this order, I excitedly shared the news with my hubby's good friend who has been telling me to help him place some orders online as he hasn't got any time to go shopping for new clothes. I excitedly shopped for him and by night time, we ordered two French Connection tops for him. One French Connection Polo T and one French Connection T-shirt. Aren't they lovely ?

* All the above images belong to ASOS unless specified otherwise.

And the best thing is they aren't expensive !! They cost around SG$30 each !!!! I got these two pieces of clothings under Clearance sale as well with no delivery charges !!! 

Order Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 10 PM)
Packed Date: 20th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 8 AM)
Shipped Date: 20th Nov 2010 (Singapore Time - 8 AM)

Arrival Date: 21st Dec 2010 (Singapore Time - 4 PM)

Added on 21st Dec 2010: After waiting for more than a month, my friend's order finally arrived ! The FCUK tops look exactly like what we saw online ! Yippy ! Improved my opinion of ASOS despite the delay. Have a look at the clothings:

I wanted to place another order for my hubby after receiving the tops, but ASOS has stopped offering free worldwide delivery : ( That is so disappointing ! Thought the promo would last till Xmas...

If you are interested in reading my other ASOS posts, please refer to the following entries:

My ASOS order is finally here !

ASOS

My buddy at work and I decided to do some shopping from Forever 21 for Xmas. There was this 30% promotion to all the bags and wallets online! I compared the prices one day when I was shopping at the retail Forever 21 shop at Orchard Ion. The bag I wanted to get cost around SG$20 on the website and around SG$50 in the shop. Since then, I told myself, never to get a bag from the local Forever 21 shop unless I was desperate !

With this promotion that lasted only for 4 days, of course we weren't going to miss this chance to get some Xmas presents for ourselves and friends !

* Tips: Take note of this line in the promotion - "In Stores And Online Use Code: VETERANS" - Shoppers will need to apply this code before they check out . I will provide a more detailed instruction later in this entry.

After spending around 1 day to decide what we really wanted, we decided to enter all the orders into the basket. Before we "checkout", we will need to enter "VETERANS" in the Enter Promotion Code (if applicable) and press "Apply".

Once that was done, all the discounts will be shown on the left side and the nett price after discount will be shown on the right for all the bags.

We ordered around 26 items and was quite disappointed to realise that for each shipment, we can only order maximum 20 items ! Sigh, that means that even if we get more people to share the shipment costs, we can only fit 20 items into one shipment !! SIGH ! SIGH ! SIGH !

After "Checkout", the website will bring the shopper to a page to enter the credit card details. On the right side, billing and shipping address will be shown. So remember to check all these details to ensure you receive the order !

After the shopper has placed the order, he/she will receive the confirmation number. He/she can then go back to the past orders to view their orders.

• Shipped - The order has  been delivered
• New - The order has just been placed. If you wish to cancel your order, you will still be in time. Just drop the customer service an email.
• Cancelled - The order has been cancelled.

* All the aboce images used in this post belong to http://www.forever21.com/ unless specified otherwise.

I like Forever 21 delivery service. Forever 21 maintains their standard for the delivery period as the previous round:

Order Date: 12th Nov 2010 (Friday)
Packed Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Friday)
Shipped Date: 19th Nov 2010 (Friday)

Arrival Date: 23th Nov 2010 (Monday)

Okay, that's it ! If you want more information on ordering from Forever 21, you might like to read the posts below as well! Enjoy your Forever 21 shopping !

First Shopping At Forever 21

My First F21 order has arrived!

I am so excited that my first order (Click on it to view my first order!) of  F21 has arrived today !

The stuff were well-packed in this small box. I didn't think that all the stuff could fit into the box.

The clothes were all nicely wrapped in paper, separated from the bag and the accessories!

The accessories were all bubble packed to prevent any damage !

I couldn't resist my excitement and torn the paper that wrapped the clothes.

The bags were also nicely packed in their respective bags.

I forced my colleague to take the picture of her bags!

The bags look exactly the same as what we saw on the website.

So do the dresses ! They look exactly like what I saw on the website too!

* The above LHS images used in this post belong to www,forever21.com unless specified otherwise

I happily put them away into my wardrobe !! Yippy !

On a separate note, I brought the stuff to office to show my colleagues. All of them were so excited to see that the stuff looked exactly like the pictures on the website and they wanted to join in for my next order with F21 !

I am going to arrange one more spree for Christmas or Chinese New Year. Anyone takers?