(updated from January 2012 to August 2013)
Since moving from the UK to Monaco I have become somewhat of an online shopping professional.
In my work life previously, working in and around a busy city of London, I was constantly surrounded by places to purchase lots of different beauty items including products for my professional kit and I also had staff discounts to take full advantage of and purchase many make up, haircare and skincare products. I had lots of favourite local stores and beauty warehouses that I frequently visited.
When I moved from the UK I was in for a shock, where were all the beauty stores in Monaco?? This beautiful Riviera destination was missing 'normal shops' to purchase cosmetic brands that I personally couldn't live without....yes it was that serious.
Well apart from Sephora, which I absolutely adore that is it really for make-up stores here (Sephora is similar to Space NK). There are a-mazing French Pharmacies that sell a fantastic range of beautiful skincare, a little make up, hair care which stays very loyal to french brands, so finding anything other than a french brand is a tad difficult. Pharmacies are fantastic to get all your skincare but not for getting make-up brands.
Sephora (top), French Pharmacy (bottom)
I decided to go online and find out what other shopping options were available to me and find websites that would not only stock all the relevant products but that would also ship to Monaco for a relatively reasonable cost as its so easy to get ripped off with shipping nowadays. Other than that its a case of asking very nicely friends and family to send me SOS beauty parcels.As I meet new people/clients here they all seem to have this issue so I am here to help with that. Here are some fantastic websites I have found and use often that I absolutely love as they help massively with VIP beauty needs and deliver all over the world! So happy shopping ;-)
Feel Unique
www.feelunique.com
Feel Unique are an online beauty company that sell absolutely everything for every beauty need. Even better still they ship not only to the UK but Worldwide for FREE! A really great company that I completely recommend you check out as I use them all the time. Join their Facebook page also for updates on offers and promotions.
Look Fantastic
Look Fantastic also offers an amazing wide choice of luxury beauty products and again offers FREE worldwide shipping. You must check this site out.
www.asos.com
ASOS not only offer an great selection of clothing for men, women and children, they also offer a great selection of beauty items and often have a lot of promotions and discounts on these often. Its great for more high street brands of make up aswell as high end brands. So if you are in France for instance and want drugstore items such as Rimmel, Barry M, L'oreal, then shop here and get them delivered for free!
The best thing is they offer FREE worldwide delivery and the speed they deliver is incredible (like 2/3 days) with amazing customer service.
GlossyBox
www.glossybox.frA monthly Beauty Subscription service where you sign up for only €10 a month (plus €3 postal cost) and each month you receive a luxury beauty box filled with 5 luxury, high end samples to try. This way you can then purchase if you like them. I must say they are really great as I have received at least one full size product in my box each month and more than 5 samples, so very worth trying out. This way you can see whats new without spending a fortune and cancel your subscription for free at anytime if you want to opt out.
www.glossybox.co.uk
This is the same for anyone in the UK, a £10 a month subscription fee, plus £2.95 p&p, for a luxury beauty gift to yourself every month. They now offer several payment packages too with the option to cancel at any time (not you will want too). Just click on the website to check out which countries are eligible for this as I know it is rapidly expanding! Subscribe today and trust me you shall never look back.
House of Fraser
www.houseoffraser.co.uk
House of Fraser offer a good selection of beauty brands and gift selections as well as lots of other departments. They do have an international delivery option on most products for only £6 which is quite reasonable compared to some other charge.
thebeautybooth.com
Beauty Booth offers a wide selection of all beauty essentials for both men and women including skincare, haircare, make-up, body, electrical and more. This is a recent discovery and a great website.
They offer FREE UK standard delivery but also worldwide delivery from £3.50 (for the 1st item) + £1.50 for each additional item and free delivery on orders over £70 (5-7 days).
www.hqhair.com
HQ Hair, another recent discovery which offers again a wide selection of all beauty and cosmetic items including fragrance, haircare, bodycare, electrical and amazing brands of make-up. The best part is that they offer FREE Worldwide delivery on all orders!! Go see ;-)
www.beautybay.com
Beauty Bay is another beauty online supplier stocking a wide range of well known brands and always updating their site with the latest must have beauty products. A very up to date beauty site.
Beauty Bay now offer FREE Worldwide/Europe/US/International delivery permanently! Even more reason to shop!
www.Escentual.com
The perfect website if you are in the UK and out of France and wanting to buy French Skincare as this site stocks brands such as La Roche Posay, Bioderma ... that I know is almost impossible to get in the UK so this is fantastic. They offer a great choice of free and pay delivery options but great for UK buyers.
Gorgeous Shop
www.gorgeousshop.comThis website offers a fantastic selection of beauty brands especially brands that are harder to find elsewhere so definitely check this one out. Offers a wide selection of delivery options to the UK and internationally, just bear in mind international rates maybe a lot more so buying a few things together is the best way to get the most out of it.
Debenhams
www.debenhams.comDebenhams is a UK department store that stock an array of high end beauty products as well as clothing, jewellery, bedding, household items etc and offer some free UK shipping deals and other international shopping deals but do not post every brand abroad so check when on the site. If you sign up free to their Beauty Club then they offer beauty club reward points on every purchase which then totals into money off next purchases so worth signing up to!
If you know of anymore great online sites then let me know so I can share it!
