Package/ mini haul: Amazon Japan c/o my friend Ryoko

Alright so in May I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon Japan. Here's whats I gots..

I told myself I'll only buy stuff I can't get anywhere else, like eBay. But as you can see, I got the Dolly Wink eyebrow mascara cause it was on saaaaale (6euro/ $9.6~) plus I'll be doing a comparison review with the dupe version I mentioned in my お土産post.
Everything costed 27.15euro to be exact, including domestic shipping. Had Ryo-chan let me pay for shipping to Ireland, it would've totalled almost 40euro. Pretty expensive now that I think about it .

I got two books. The first is ギャルブロガーBOOK (gyaru blogger book), which is packed with tips and inspiration on how to run a gyaru blog. 

The second one is Maya Mori (one of my faaavourite gyaru models)'s... I dunno... autobiography thingy. Here's a little sample of what it looks like inside.

I also got a face massager that's supposed to make your cheeks and chin smaller to get that all desired V-shape. It's from Koakuma Ageha. They have a line of products for, basically, looking thinner! This one is called 'Hoho ago shape roller'.

Honestly I don't believe in it. I don't and will never have a V-shaped face, unless I get surgery, because my bone structure is just not shaped like that. On certain angles, my jaw looks like Mana Honda's. No amount of massaging can possibly shape it into V, unless this massager somehow has a secret chip-away-parts of the bone-magically property . But yeah, we all need a bit of a face massage every now and then.

Everything came in this box with a lovely summer postcard from Ryo-chan 

very very nice of her to write hiragana on top of the kanjis *_*

So yeah, this was all back in May. And they only recently arrived because she just started a new job and was busy. But it's cool~

Amazon Japan has an English option and you can pay with any VISA card. They have veeeerry good exchange rates. Much much better than paypal. Let me tell you, their items are also pretty cheap compared to buying from online shops and places like eBay. They also have loaaaads of stuff can you can only get in Japan, like back issues of gyaru magazines. I know places like  cdjapan and yesasia don't/rarely have back issues. The problem with buying off of Amazon jp is that not every item can be shipped internationally. Makeups are definitely a no-no. Also, 99% of the time private sellers don't ship internationally. My bestfriend Yuho once bought me two back issues of Koakuma Ageha. He ordered them when he was in Canada and got it delivered to me. Shipping alone cost $50!!! I felt really bad about it. But I wanted them soooo much >< and I am forever grateful and will treasure 'em!

So what's a good alternative? Here's what I did.

I have a few Japanese friends whom I met here in Ireland and are now back in Japan. Ryoko was one of the girls I got closest to, and stayed close with long after they've gone back home. So I asked her if I could get the stuff delivered to her place after having ordered them online myself, and then all she has to do is mail 'em to me. I pay for the shipping of course. Ryoko, being nice, sweet and the epitome of 大和撫子 was all "oh no it's ok, I'll pay for the shipping, it's only ¥1590" (12~euro).

But yeah. That's all.