JenneWithAnE: Etude House Orders and Review, Plus Tips For Ordering

I recently placed three orders with Etude House during their 30% off sale (and then another two orders during their 20% off sale, I'm still waiting for those ones to arrive). It was my first time ordering directly from their website, I've always ordered from YesStyle before. For this post, I'm just going to post some really unprofessional-looking photos of everything (taken in MEMEBOX boxes because they're so PINK) and talk a little about my experience ordering from them. I will be posting mini reviews of any products I love/hate.

As you can see, I ordered a lot. I started out small and then everything snowballed because Etude House has a lot of cute products and I wanted to try...Pretty much everything. I have used their liquid eyeliner before, it's the only eyeliner I use now. And I've tried their sheet masks before. However, everything else was new to me.

Before I get to the pictures (because it will take up a ton of space), I want to talk about a few things that are good to know if you've never ordered from Etude House before.

When you create an account on their website, it says you will receive an e-mail after your first purchase with an offer for 15% off your second purchase, but I never did. In fact, aside from promotions for sales and new products, I never received any e-mail from Etude House, even when my three orders shipped. It's not really a big deal though, you can track the status of your order (along with the tracking number) on their website. All of my orders shipped on the next business day, even during sales.

Etude House has events where if you spend a certain amount of money ($60 or $80), you qualify for free gifts. One gift was a shower kit (it was sold out, unfortunately) and the other was a trial kit of their Pink Vital Water line. If you want one of the gifts they offer, go to your cart and add the gift there. If you complete your order without adding the gift, they won't send it to you.

So, here's what I really want to talk about. Shipping. If you've ever imported anything from Korea, you know how expensive shipping is. I bought a pair of Running Man sneakers and the shipping cost me as much as the sneakers did. Shipping is ridiculous. I'm going to give you some pointers for ordering from Etude House so you can avoid paying double on your orders.

My first suggestion is: If you are planning to place an order, make sure it's a decent sized order. It's not worth it if you only plan on buying one thing. If your total comes to $70, you'll qualify for free standard shipping! (Honestly, if you spend less, with shipping your total will probably come close to that anyway, so you might as well buy more instead of wasting your money on shipping, right?) The nice thing is that if your order is $70 before applying a discount code, you still receive a free gift and free shipping. To put things into perspective, let's say your order originally cost $70, but with a discount code, it now costs $50. You'll still get the free gift and free shipping. Most websites don't do that, so it's something I really appreciated.

There's one catch. If the weight of your order is over 1600g, it won't qualify for free shipping, so keep an eye on that. I had to edit my shopping cart to avoid paying an extra $60 for express shipping.

With standard shipping, my orders took about 9 days to arrive to New York, including weekends. I was really impressed because the website said it could take up to 20 business days, so I wasn't expecting my packages so soon. Why wasn't I expecting them when standard shipping comes with a tracking number? Well...

You can only track your orders while they're still in Korea. Once they are dispatched, that's it. USPS no longer tracks packages from Korea. That's sort of annoying to begin with, but what makes it even worse is that it's registered mail, which means you have to be home to sign for your package. It would help knowing when it's arriving then, right? And yes, you do have to sign for it even if you choose standard shipping. You know how Fedex/DHL/UPS will let you leave a note on the door with your signature and tracking number? USPS doesn't allow that. If you miss your mail carrier, you have to reschedule the delivery or pick it up at the post office. It isn't the end of the world, but it is inconvenient. Just to be clear, I don't blame Etude House for this. It's just the way it is.

For now, I'm going to post some really terrible pictures and then I have some reviews to put up either tonight or tomorrow.