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Store review: Happy Monday

I haven't written anything in a while, but while I was reorganising my closet I came across some clothes I bought from this amazing store, and I figured I should do a little review about it.

 The name of the store is Happy Monday. I came across this store on instagram, and I immediately fell in love with it. I have to admit that they really have a certain style, and you either hate or love it. I think I love half of their items, and dislike the other half. But nonetheless, their clothes are amazing, and I'm planning on ordering again soon.

 The store is based in Thailand, I believe. And the currency they use on the store website is in US dollars. All clothes are below $30, and most are even below $20, all with free shipping. So they have amazing clothes for amazing prices, which is why I love them so much.

They don't really have that many sizes, most are S-M and some also have L, so you should check the measurements. I own one of their skirts and sadly I can't wear it in public because it's too short. But that's because I'm 180cm (5'11), so I just wear it at home.

 They are very active on their instagram account, and often hold giveaways. They also do this thing where they give away free clothing that is slightly flawed but still looking good.

Although their costumer service can be slow, they always try to help as much as possible.

So far whenever I ordered it arrived pretty quickly, compared to other things I order from stores in Asia. I think it took around 1,5 - 2 weeks every time. But keep in mind that it can vary per country. 

This is gonna be a short review, but I just want to say that I love this store, and it deserves more attention. You can buy here, and you can find them on instagram with the name happym0nday

And of course I have to show of some of their clothes.

Things you should know when starting an online store

So some of you might know that until a few weeks ago I ran a store called Pastel Faery, which later was changed to Curious Crescent. I closed it a few weeks ago, and now reopened it, only now I'm selling handmade stuff instead of reselling items. Now this post won't be of much use for those who are planning of making a living off an online store, but I know that there are many people my age who would love to run their own store in their spare time.

I've made some mistakes when I ran my store, and instead of regretting them I'm going to use them to warn others and tell you what you should and shouldn't do. After all, we're here to learn right?

So first of all you'll have to choose a platform. For my store I used Storenvy, which works great. It's all free and fairly easy. Only problem is that if you want things like discount codes you'll have to pay $5 a month. Another thing is that you can list your items in the Storenvy marketplace to get more attention. However you should know that if something is sold through the marketplace instead of your storefront (your website) they'll take a 10% fee off of the money you'll get.
A thing I didn't like about Storenvy is that they work with Stripe and Paypal. Paypal is great, but Stripe isn't. If you want to give someone a refund you'll have to pay a large fee over it, which is an incredible loss. Also it can take up to 10 days for your money to get transferred to your bank account. I really dislike Stripe.

You can also go for Tictail or Bigcartel. I have little experience with those, but they are both free as well. I do however not know about fees with those two.

Another option is Etsy, a platform which I am using at the moment. Creating a store is free, and having things such as stats and discounts is free as well. However, Etsy asks $0.20 for every listing and asks a small fee for every sale you make. It's not much though, but it could be annoying.
I recommend Etsy for handmade stuff, because people who don't know your store can easily find your items.

Alright, that's some info about different platforms. Now I'm gonna tell you what I did wrong.
I was a reseller. You can resell items by buying them and stocking them, or by using dropshipping services. Dropshipping means that you buy an item from a supplier and they'll ship the item to your costumer for you. That way you only pay when you sell and won't risk having stock leftovers. It saves you a lot of hassle and money, or at least that's what I thought.
It did in fact save me money, but it was a big hassle.

Basically what happened was that my suppliers didn't really communicate with me that well. They're from Asia and their English isn't that great, but that's not the problem. The problem was that if a costumer was missing an order I would have to ask my supplier where it was. And sometimes they didn't respond, or responded a week later. It's very frustrating for a costumer to be in the dark about something, but it's even more frustrating for the seller.

I didn't know where my costumer's items where, when they would arrive, in what shape they would arrive, and if they would even arrive. Being in the dark like that really sucks, because after all you want your store to do good.

If you do choose dropshipping for your store, make sure to have a good communication with your supplier(s). It's the key to success.

Another thing that I did wrong was calculating profit. Whenever I listed an item I sort of guessed how much profit I would get. What I forgot to think about was that I needed some back-up money in case of a refund, and that if people would apply discount codes my profit would drop.
Sometimes I would have a profit of less than a dollar, and one time I even lost two dollars..
It's important that you calculate your profit carefully and create room for things like fees and discounts.

My store was mainly known on instagram, and most of my costumers knew me there. I often had giveaways and I also had some promoters to whom I gave free stuff. However I again didn't think about profit, Sometimes I hadn't made that much profit and I would do a giveaway regardless. I don't know why I did it, but I didn't think about it. Looking back at it I feel pretty naïve, and I realised that I should've put more thought in it.

There were a few things I was good at though, or at least my costumers told me I was.
One thing that I heard a lot was that the costumers liked the way I interacted with them. I always took my time to respond to them, even when it was on a weekend or late at night. If someone sent me an email regarding their order I would respond no matter what. I was, and still am, dedicated to my costumer and refuse to leave them in the dark about something. I respect all of them, even if they are rude. And it turns out that people really appreciate that. So if you're starting a store, make sure to have a good costumer service. Be polite and respectful. I've seen stores insult their costumers after they were rude, and it just makes the store look bad.

Another thing people said is that they liked how active I was. Even if I wasn't posting to instagram I would get online and see what was going on. I want to know who my audience is, and I think that's a very important thing to know. As a store owner you have to reach out to the people, and social media is great for that if you use it the right way.

I've also heard people say that they liked how different I was. Even though I sold products many others sold as well, I tried to be unique. And I wanted to let my costumers know that they are welcome. I support all kinds of people, and everyone should feel safe on my store account. When I listed clothes with small sizes I would write a little note underneath saying that "your size doesn't define your beauty", because I know many people struggle with their self-worth. People actually liked that and it made them happy.
So having good connections with your costumers and knowing them well is essential.

I think that was about all I have to share. I've started over and I'm now selling handmade stuff on my Etsy store called Curious Crescent. I'm using the knowledge I have gained and hopefully my store will be a success. If you wish to create your own store and you have questions don't hesitate to comment or if you have instagram you can find me (@peculiarplanets) and ask me anything.
Have a nice day!

Shopping on Aliexpress: what to look out for

I love shopping on Aliexpress. I think I buy something from there at least twice a month. It's cheap and it's easy, and they have so many items that you can't get here. I like having stuff that not many people have. I don't know why, but I do. And it's very tempting to buy things if they are very cheap.
But now that I've been using Aliexpress for over a year I've learned some things about it that I want to share with you, so you won't make the mistakes I did.

SIZES
First of all, if you're going to buy clothes please check the sizes first. Most clothing is made in Asian sizes, which are generally smaller than western sizes. Normally I'm size M/L, but I've bought clothes on Aliexpress that were size XXXL in Asian size. For this reason a lot of sellers put the measurements in the description of the item. So please measure yourself and compare that. But keep in mind that often the clothes are measured by hand and in most cases they'll be smaller than the seller tells you they are. Going for a piece of clothing with bigger measurements is a good thing to do. I've had tons of clothing items that turned out to be a little too small or short for me, and it's just a waste of money. Especially sleeves are a often shorter than the description tells you.
For example, today I received a flannel I ordered. According to the measurements it should've been a bit oversized for me, but it turned out to fit perfectly. Though I'm glad that it fits, I was hoping it would've been a bit oversized.

Also, don't fall for the "one size fits all" thing, unless you're below 5'6. There is no such thing as one size fits all. If it says it's one size, check if there are measurements in the description. If those aren't there, I don't think you should risk buying it.

If you have big feet like I do, shopping for shoes is very risky. The sizes they list are often wrong. This is mostly because they go for US size, and they forget to tell if it's US man or women size. They often put measurements in the description, but if you go and check a site that lists feet measurements and shoe sizes, you'll see that those two are different.

SHIPPING TIME
Okay so what many people forget when they are buying from sites like Aliexpress and Ebay is that most products have to come from China. Now, if you live in Europe like I do, or in the US for example, it can take quite some time for those items to arrive. I think the fastest that I've ever had was a week, but that's pretty rare. I'd say the average for me is between the 2 and 3 weeks after I've ordered it. You should realise that if you're going to buy something here you'll have to be patient. But I noticed that the more I ordered the more I got used to the long shipping time.

A lot of items have tracking numbers, but half of the time those don't work. That doesn't mean it was all a scam, but it just means that your post office can't track it (yet). Often this is because the code only works as long as the package is in the country of origin. You could try and track it on sites like 17track.net, though often the results are in Chinese. And even 17track can't always track it.

Before you go and order, you should check something very important: the processing and shipping time, Some sellers take a lot of time to process and ship your item, and that just sucks. One time I ordered something that had a processing time of 30 days and a shipping time of 30 - 60 days. Of course I could've cancelled the order before it got shipped and buy from another seller, but I was an Aliexpress rookie and didn't know that was possible. I always try to find items that have a processing time between 1 and 10 days (15 if I really want it) and a shipping time between 15-39 days. Though it isn't guaranteed that it'll be delivered within that time, it often is the truth. Also, if you've ordered something and the seller doesn't ship it within the stated processing time, the order will get cancelled automatically and you'll get your money back.

CHECK FEEDBACK
Aliexpress is like Ebay: a place for people to sell items. Aliexpress itself doesn't sell anything. This means that there are ten thousands of sellers on Aliexpress, and they're all different. (Also keep in mind that if you order multiple items, they're often from different sellers and thus will arrive separately). But how do you know if someone is trustworthy or not? Well, you don't. But the feedback that the seller has received will help a lot.

Basically it's like Ebay; it shows you how much positive feedback a seller has received. The higher the percentage, the more trustworthy a seller is, or so it seems. However, not everything is the way it seems. It works like this: when you have received an item you can give feedback. You can give 1 to 5 stars for shipping, communication, the item, and overall experience. You can also leave a comment. If everyone was to give someone 5 stars, that would mean the seller would have 100% positive feedback, however, not everyone is as positive in the comments as their stars show. I've seen people give someone 4 stars, even though they didn't receive their package, simply because the seller gave them a refund. Imagine if you buy a product that has four stars, but no one ever received their package. Then those 4 stars don't say anything.

On the contrary, I've seen sellers who haven't made enough sales yet to get an overall feedback score. Not many people buy from them, but I have. Sometimes they're even better than the big guys. I'm not saying that goes for everyone, but having no feedback score doesn't mean you're not trustworthy.

The product itself also has a feedback score. And just like the seller's score, it isn't always what it seems to be. Sometimes it'll say "0% of the people enjoyed this product", but that's simply because no one has given feedback yet. So my advice is to read a product's feedback and see what others say about it. And if you're in doubt you should check the seller's feedback and read that.

RETURNS AND REFUNDS
Not many sellers accept a return, simply because they have too many costumers to deal with that. (Plus, shipping costs would be a little high for you). But it's something you'll have to ask the seller. Most sellers don't speak English that well, so take your time to make sure you understand each other. If you haven't received your order, or you have received it but you aren't satisfied with it you can open a dispute. However, this can only be done as long as the purchase protection is still running, so always make sure you keep it running (you can open a dispute to extent the purchase protection if you haven't received your item yet).

If you open a dispute the seller will try to give you a solution. Many people don't know that they can get a refund, no matter what the seller says. If you haven't received your item and the seller says you should wait longer, here's what you have to do: nothing.
Aliexpress has this system where a dispute has to be solved within a certain time period. If there isn't a solution by then, they will step in to solve it. So if you don't agree with the solution all you ahve to do is wait until the time limit passes, and Aliexpress will step in. This usually takes a few days, but in most cases you can get a refund. I'm not promising that, but in my case I got a refund 90% of the time.

CONCLUSION
Aliexpress is great for shopping, because it has many items and often for a low price. But you do need to know how things work around there, and make sure you don't get disappointed when you receive your package. I hope that informed some of you, as I know there are many people out there who don't trust sites like this. Maybe you'll now feel a little bit safer.

Review: Twilight Bathbomb

Today I finally had time to use my last bathbomb. I really needed a bath, as I had been cycling all the way to the other side of town for my dentist appointment, and on got shat on by a bird on my way home.. I felt really gross and sweaty, so a nice cooling bath was needed.  

Smell: Very sweet, but subtle and soft, it's not overwhelming. It's kind of energising and reminds me of flowers in spring (it sounds cliche but it's true).

Grade: 7

Look: It looks cool with the moons and stars on it, and the colours that are shining through make me wonder what's inside. I have high hopes for this one.

Grade: 7.5

Effect: The effect in the water isn't that spectacular to be honest, although the colours are very pretty. My bathwater didn't really change colour, which is a bummer. The smell isn't really strong there either, but I did feel relaxed.

Grade: 6

Afterwards: Although the smell wasn't really present in the bath, after I dried myself I could smell is very lightly on my skin, which was pretty nice. I had high hopes for this one, but it wasn't as great as I expected.

EDIT: hours after my bath the tub dried and it was full of glitter. So apparently there is glitter in the bathbomb, which is kinda cool, though I did not notice it.

Total grade (average): 6.8

Now that I've reviewed all the bathbombs, I can say that the Dragon egg bathbomb was my favourite, and it had the highest grade. If you're planning on buying a bathbomb from Lush, you shoudl definitely go for that one.

Why is it so hard to be nice?

I've always been taught that nothing beats kindness. I'm always as kind as I can be, which can be hard sometimes. I know that if someone is angry at you it doesn't help to return that anger. Instead, you should stay calm and be nice and act like a reasonable person. So far that has helped me a lot. Whenever I stay calm and kind in nasty situations I feel much better and stronger, simply because I know nothing can beat kindness. If I say kind when someone is angry at me, I will always win. If I give in to anger then it will only get worse and the situation might go out of control. Maybe I explained it a little weird, but it's how I feel.

I never understood why people feel the need to be mean to each other. I mean, if you see someone on the street whose hair you don't like, is yelling something mean at them gonna make you feel better? Why do people find it fun to hurt someone else's feelings? What do you gain from that?
This is just something I simply cannot comprehend.`

I'm not saying that I'm a perfect angel who never means harm, but at least I'm not mean to others. In fact, I can't be. Just the thought that I insulted someone or made them sad makes me feel so terrible that I just cannot bring myself to do or say something mean to someone. That doesn't mean I can't say anything mean to someone about someone else, but I will never say it straight to their face because why would I hurt that person? Besides, I'm never the one who starts with being mean. If I say something mean about someone to someone else it's always because they did something similar.
It's honestly not that hard to keep that mean comment to yourself. And if you really want to get it off your chest, say it to someone who is not the person in question. It can save someone's day.

But that's just a start of what this post is about. I haven't even talked about bullying, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and all those kind of things.

Why do people make it their mission to ruin someone's life by bullying them? Why do they put so much time and effort in making someone else feel terrible? What is wrong with them?

Why do people hate LGBT+ people? Because the bible said so? You know how many other things the bible forbids? I doubt those people listen to that too. Gay people are people, trans people are people, we are all people. We are people with thoughts and emotions and opinions and we are all valid.

Why do people hate on poc? They have done nothing wrong, but just because they have a dark skin they are getting harassed and killed. Wake up people! You're being ridiculous!

Why is it so damn hard to be nice to each other? Why can't we accept each other for who we are? No matter the colour of your skin, no matter your sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion. We're all living beings who deserve respect and acceptance. Why is that so hard to understand..?

Holiday haul

It's been a while, but I'm back!
I was on a holiday in Luxembourg, which I spent with my family. I think all of us calmed a little (see previous post) and we had a lot of fun. We went to different castles, went shopping in the city of Luxembourg, and we went on a 11.7km walk, which is something I'll never do again, mostly because my mom tricked me in coming with her by saying we would only walk the first part of the route. I've learned my lesson.

Of course when I buy things in the capital city I gotta show them off. So here's what I bought:

I got these books from an English book store that was somewhere in Luxembourg. It was a small, but nice store. There were so many cool books there, but eventually I chose these two.
I heard a lot of good things about Eleanor & Park, and although I'm not one for the romance stories, I decided to give it a try. It has lots of great reviews so it has to be read worthy. The other book, Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda, is a book I had never heard of before but it got my interest when I read the quote "Straight people should have to come out too. The more awkward it is, the better" on the back. I don't know why but it made me snigger, so I decided to give this book a try. I don't know if it'll be any good, but I'm sure eager to start reading it. I also wanted to buy "An abundance of Katherines" by John Green, but my sister wanted it too so I decided to let her have it on the condition that I could read it when she's finished. This basically means I have a free book.

I found this beautiful fluorite at a small market in the local village. I've been collecting crystals ever since I was five, and whenever I go on a holiday I try to bring a crystal home with me. It was hard to choose a crystal, as the seller had so many different ones. But eventually this little fluorite stole my heart and got to go home with me.

I got this cute grocery list at a store called Hema. It's a Dutch store, but it slowly starts to spread across Europe. It always has the cutest stationary and a lot of other cute things. Since I'll be moving out soon I figured I'd need a grocery list thingy of some sorts. Whenever I see my mom make a grocery list I wonder how she never forgets anything. Even if I'd check my fridge and the cupboards for missing food, I'd still forget half of the things simply because I wouldn't miss them until after the grocery shopping. So my idea is to write down my groceries as soon as they come to my mind. So if I'm in my room and thinking "I need to buy painkillers" I would have to get up and write it down so I won't forget it when I'm going shopping. Let's hope that'll work..

I bought these clothes at H&M. The jeans, which are in a seventies style, were on sale for 7 euro. The top was only 10 euro. I fell in love with the jeans the moment I tried them on. I've been very insecure lately, mostly because in the summer I always gain weight. I don't know why, but I do. In two months time I gained 4kg, which makes me feel terrible. But these jeans made me feel confident because I love how they fit. I wish I could wear them forever.

The shirt caught my attention because it has constellations on it. I'm a lover of the stars and the universe as a whole. It also has my zodiac on it (Sagittarius), which makes it even cooler.

I love this outfit to bits and I feel like it's gonna be my new fave. It's even better that it was so cheap, as I'm a huge cheapskate.

Anyways, that was what I bought. I'm not really supposed to spend money, as I'm still saving up to go see my datefriend, but my parents decided to pay half of the things I bought, so that makes it a bit better. Hopefully I'll find time to read my new books as well as doing the many other things I'm planning on doing this summer holiday. I hope all of you are having a great holiday, and I'm curious about what you guys are up to. I hope it's something that makes you happy!

Have a nice day!