How I bought from Sephora, in South Africa!

DISCLAIMER: This is the exact process I followed. Many have said that this does not work for them. Although, since I had success with it, I wished to share it with my readers.

Hi guys,

So, I know all of you have been waiting for this post for weeks (ever since I posted a picture of my Sephora delivery box on my Instagram stories)! The day has finally come where I show you how I shopped Sephora, via Aramex Global Shopper, to South Africa (this is also applicable for most of the other countries that Sephora does not ship to).

In January, this year my boyfriend was in New York, so you know your girl had a make-up wish list! Before he got to America I decided to sign-up for a beauty insider account on Sephora’s website. After purchasing all my make-up, my account hit VIB Rouge. GIRL, I WANTED TO CRY.

While he was there I asked him to redeem some points since I knew it might not be possible for me to redeem it in South Africa, as Sephora doesn’t ship here. But since it was the holiday period, most of the gifts were gone.

He and I had been chatting for a few months as to when I want to redeem my points since I had over 2000 odd points left. He told me it was my choice when I wanted to redeem it and he would help me shop it via Global Shopper (we didn’t know if this was going to work, but we wanted to give it a try). Every week I would tell him I wanted to do it but never sit down to actually start the process, but one week I was like nope, today is the day! I chose a day where rewards get restocked and chose my items. I picked:

· *Make up forever giftset

· *|Bare minerals giftset

· *Becca champagne pop highlighter – Full size (VIB Rouge exclusive)

I also saw a Fenty mini giftset that included a mini gloss bomb and mini highlighter on the website and it was decided that he would get me that to add to my birthday spoils. It was around $25 which equates to roughly R370-00 (Under the allocated customs amount). I didn’t pay shipping because Rouge gets free flash 2-day shipping. I also added a few samples to my cart.

As soon as it all went through because I had ordered on a Friday they didn’t ship it out that weekend, but by Tuesday it was shipped out to my New York address. I think in total of placing the order to getting I delivered to me, it took maybe a total of two weeks, which is really not bad!

One little hiccup was when it got to Aramex they valued the box at $100, which scared me because customs on that would have been crazy! But we uploaded the invoice that showed a $25 purchase and it was cleared, and shipped out to me.

Below I have listed exactly how we went about placing the order and all the steps included in shopping via Aramex.

Step 1: Set Your Address

Go to the Account section in the navigation drop-down menu.

Select ‘Saved Addresses’.

Select ‘+ Add shipping address’

Next, go to Aramex Global Shopper on a separate tab/window. Navigate to ‘My Addresses’ and go to ‘New York’. You will see the following:

This is the delivery address you will be using. So, return to Sephora and we will complete the address addition. Enter the details from your Aramex Global Shopper address as above and click ‘Update’. Well done! You’ve added your address!

Step 2: Checkout

Upon checking out, you will see your shipping address already selected, yay! Just select your payment method (i.e. a Visa or MasterCard) and pay. Done!

Step 3: Wait for your parcel to arrive at Aramex

Sephora will provide tracking information under your order’s details. After their tracking system says your order has arrived at the Global Shopper warehouse, give Aramex 2-3 days to process the collection. Then they will email you as follows:

Again, even at this point there isn’t anything you can do besides wait.

Step 4: Upload Invoice

Next is when Aramex asks you to upload your invoice.

If you go to your portal in Global Shopper, you will see an ‘Upload Invoice’ option. You must do this for them to calculate customs fees appropriately. Simply attach your invoice/receipt from Sephora. The sooner you do this, the faster they can determine your fees!

Step 5: Pay shipping and customs fees

Now the good part, your parcel will be shipped – yay! Aramex will then request payment in full for shipping and customs charges. Do this as soon as possible so as not to hold up delivery to you once it reaches S.A.