Bess Z.

There is nothing more noble than an organization dedicated to helping those in need.

I merely wanted to inform everyone that if you do decide to donate to the Red Cross to make sure you use an e-mail address that you don't use often.

I didn't realize making a contribution meant subscribing to almost daily e-mails. (8 e-mails within 7 days. Some days I got 2, some days I got none.) Really, Red Cross, really?

Luckily, there is an unsubscribe button.

Well, that's my experience with the website! Just thought I would share.

-UPDATE- I just got charged $29.99 despite Skipping the month. For many people, this meant that they got overdraft charges; thankfully I am not one of them. Stay away from them!... I better see the refund they are promising.

They had recently changed the location of the "Skip the Month" button, but obviously did not bother to make sure that it worked. What a disappointing company!

-- Original Review of "OK." --

JM is a subscription jewelry site. Signing up is free, but once you make your first purchase, they will continue to charge you $29.99 monthly. In return, they give you a "Credit", which can be used to purchase any item from the website and never expires. If you don't want to be charged the $29.99 monthly, make sure you select "Skip the month" before the 5th of every month!

If you've yet to make your purchase, make sure to look for a discount code. There is often a 50% off and sometimes a 70% off code floating around.

When you initially sign up, you take a style quiz so they can recommend you 6 pieces each month based on your answers. However, you can always click "Show Me More" to see all the items available that month. I personally have not found the style quiz useful since most of their jewelry aren't my style.
Warning: If you remove an item from your Showroom, it never comes back! You can still purchase it, but the link to the item is no longer readily available.

So far, my experience with them is good. It took 4 long days to process my order, but arrived 2 days later! When I received my Very Audrey earrings (which I LOVE!), I was very satisfied, because the quality was on par with what I expected from a $30 pair of earrings. I've heard that if you contact JM about a defect/breakage shortly after buying, they are willing to replace it!

Now here is why they are getting only an "OK" from me. They recently had a promotion code for $7 off + a free random piece valid for the first 500 people. However, a lot of people did not get a free piece, even though the code worked for them. JM's reply was that only the free piece was for the first 500 people. The promo never differentiated the $7 off from the free piece. How are people to know that the $7 offer was still good after the free gift wasn't? What a gamble!
I personally did not partake in the event, but I can see why people were upset. If the code had worked for me, but I did not receive a free gift, I would have been very disappointed. Everyone has their own opinion (i. E. some people say getting $7 off is good enough), but I do wish JM was more upfront about the situation.

Also... They recently released a Black Swan Cuff, but there is an almost IDENTICAL item on eBay for $4.25 and a very similar item for $5.81.

Overall, I think JM is worth visiting. They have some very interesting pieces, but there are definitely cheaper alternatives. If there was no JM, there would be no Very Audrey earrings, so for that I am eternally grateful! Just keep everything I've said in mind and no unexpected surprises will slap you in the face!

I have to disagree with those who say Kayak.com is a one stop shop. I've used Kayak many times and I've started to notice a pattern: They don't show all possible flights, which means you might not be seeing the cheapest ticket amongst the results.

Lets use my most recent situation:
I did a search on Kayak and selected "my dates are flexible" in hopes that I can find a ticket cheaper than the date I originally planned on going. If it means saving $50 to board a day or two later/earlier, I'm going to take it. If $50 isn't worth saving to you, then I envy you for having such a privilege!
(I realize that leaving a day earlier means spending that $50 and more on hotel + food, but that's time spent in my destination that is totally worth it!)

According to Kayak, the cheapest ticket would be $1745, departing Dec 14 and returning Jan 22. Well guess what? Priceline.com showed a ticket at $1714, departing Dec 12 and returning Jan 22.
(At both websites I searched for Dec 13 departure and Jan 20 return, and the tickets both have the same number of stops and similar flight duration.)

So now I know from Priceline that the cheapest ticket is from Dec 12 - Jan 22. So, I decided to do a search on Kayak for just flights departing Dec 12th and returning Jan 22nd. Only THEN did the $1714 ticket come up on Kayak.
Why it didn't come up during my initial search is beyond me, but I don't find Kayak very honest for not revealing the cheapest flight to me until I specifically did a search for the date with the cheapest flight... Which defeats the purpose of Kayak.
I'm using it to find the cheapest flight but what's the point if it's not telling me the cheapest flights?

Kayak gets a boo from me. I'm not saying you should use Priceline, BUT I'd only use Kayak as a confirmation that I won't find tickets cheaper elsewhere. Don't trust Kayak to give you the cheapest tickets from the get-go!

The shoes from Cathy Jean are REALLY comfortable. The quality is great for the price you pay, and the best part is they've got comfortable -pumps-! Pumps that don't kill my feet are heaven sent. I bought a pair of their cute brown, closed-toed 3-inch pumps that looked great paired with skinny jeans and a t-shirt (I think I paid full $68 price for them). They doubled well for wear-to-work shoes. I tend to wear flats to work, but I was able to last through an entire day with these pumps.

They often have sales going on for their shoes and offer free shipping over $35. Their shoes definitely fit true to size! They also don't have half sizes for some of the shoes, but going to the nearest whole size has worked for me (I bought another pair of open-toe pumps in size 7 though I'm usually a 6.5, and it fit nice and snug when I looped the clasp through the innermost hole--and I guess I could just puncture another hole if that was still too loose).
I've never had to return anything, though their return policy doesn't look too friendly (only within 10 days of receipt?). I guess that's the only downside.

While I believe the quality is above average compared to other shoes in their price range, don't expect them to have the same quality materials as shoes that cost $100+ (for example, from Nordstrom); no doubt my shoe-shopping mantra is 'you get what you paid for'. But as far as comfort go, they are definitely $100+ shoes.

This forum is wonderful if you need assistance removing any kind of threat (virus, trijan, spyware, etc) from your computer.

Recently, a friend of mine downloaded -something- onto his computer that was disabling him from getting online and from opening any of his antivirus programs. My friend told me to go to this forum for him. Since my friend couldn't get on the internet, I did everything/downloaded the programs necessary onto my computer first and then transferred it to his via a flash drive.
There were at least a dozen others requesting help at the same time we were, so I expected the wait to be pretty long. But a day later I got a reply and from then on it would only take the guy assisting us an hour or two to reply. So my friend's computer got fixed and I got a free dinner out of it (totally worth it, because I did nothing but ask questions, and the guy helping us did all the work, but I got the dinner haha!).
Also, I just got a trojan last week that my antivirus picked up but couldn't delete, so naturally I went to Tech Support Forum. They responded two days later, and my problem was quickly resolved. Yay!

I definitely recommend this website as the people there are knowledgeable and reliable -- cause my only advice to solve any computer-related problem is to 'restart the computer', haha. (And then your computer doesn't turn back on... And you look at me... BUT... IT'S NOT MY FAULT *hides*!)

BzzAgent is a word-of-mouth media and marketing company (they send you products which you are then expected to spread the word about to your friends, families, neighbors, etc). You sign up and become a Bzz Agent. You then fill out an extensive list of questions so that they know exactly which of their Campaigns are best suited for you.
After being invited to a Campaign, you accept it, and wait for them to ship you your items. Sometimes it's a full-sized product, sometimes it's just samples and coupons, but whatever you get, it's free. You don't pay for shipping or to participate in any of these Campaigns. You are expected to write a report on who you shared the products with, what their reactions were, and the overall capabilities of the product. These reports are graded, so you want to be as detailed as possible.
There are different "levels", which you earn by reviewing products, submitting a report for a Campaign, and taking post-Campaign surveys. A high-status means having priority during the selection of who to send samples/products to and getting early invites to Campaigns. So chances are if you just started out, you won't be immediately invited to a Campaign.

I've been a member since 2009, and have had no problems with BzzAgent. Everything is free. The most intrusive question they ask is your name and address (how else would they send samples to you?). I'm not on BzzAgent as much as I'd like so my rank is very low, which is also why I don't get invited often to Campaigns.
The 3 Campaigns that I have been invited to are: CoverGirl NatureLuxe foundation & lip balm (around $20 worth of products), Burt's Bees acne solution set (around $20 worth of products), and Johnson & Johnson's various Spring Edition products (around $30 worth of products). Each came packed with full-sized products (and coupons and smaller samples to give away).

This website is definitely not a scam; just don't expect to be showered with samples soon after you join.

I highly highly recommend Vichy's Aqualia Thermal Hydrating Lotion. It's a decent moisturizer with both UVA and UVB protection. I use it daily, so I can tell you there's no white overcast, no excessive shine, no greasy feeling, no break outs so far, faint sunscreen scent that goes away, it absorbs very quickly, and gives me that confidence that my skin is protected (who doesn't want such a hard working baby?). I also recommend the Aqualia Thermal Baume as well (psst, it's paraben-free, fragrance-free, colorant-free, hypoallergenic... ahhh, this must be skincare heaven!). FYI, this is all unless they change the formula in the future:|

However, not everything I've tried from Vichy has worked for me. I recommend that you read reviews for a particular product before purchasing. On their website, everything has an amazing 4+ stars user rating. Uh... Yeah, they filter those ratings, so it's to be taken with a grain of salt (of the reviews I've written, only my positive ones have shown up). Do a little research elsewhere, make sure it's the product you want, because their items can be a little pricey depending on your budget.

The closest store that carries Vichy is 2 states away, so I'm forced to make my purchases online. Their shipping time is reasonable, they provide a tracker for your package, and they package your items amazingly well (the last thing you want is for a product to arrive busted or cracked--hate that). Definitely put Vichy on your list of brands to try if you haven't yet!

If you're ever in need of a new and cute hairstyle, make-up tutorial, nail tutorial, fashion advice, tough stuff advice, or DIY skincare, look no further than BubzBeauty.com. She's got them all!

Bubz has a great attitude on life, she's inspirational, and a truly caring person. Some of her most popular videos include "My Perfect Imperfects", where she lets us know the power of accepting yourself for who you are by first revealing her own imperfections, "Being Confident", and "Beautiful Skin Remedy", where she shares images of her skin when it was suffering from a terrible skin allergy and a DIY mask that has helped her through it. It really takes guts to show self-conscious pictures like that on camera.

She's an amazing make-up guru, but she always makes sure to emphasis that, first and foremost, true beauty comes from the inside. I wouldn't be recommending her if I didn't love her myself! So if you're looking for beauty articles written by an honest, genuine and fun-loving person, definitely check out BubzBeauty :)

To me, this was a GREAT find! On my way home from out of town one day, I happened across an outlet mall (so of course I had to stop and shop, lol!). Until that day I had never heard of Maurices.

The store has both casual and wear to work clothes. For the price you pay, I think the quality of the clothes are worth it, if not above and beyond. Unlucky for me, the closest one is a good hour away... So begins my flawless online experience with them! I once ordered a dress that looked as if it cost at least $200+, but I only paid $50 :D! I won't say I love everything of theirs, but once in awhile I find a dress or shirt to my liking.

On one occasion, I purchased a dress in XS, but had to return it for a Small (yes, this dress was totally worth the return shipping fee AND reshipment fee!). I have absolutely non-existent you-know-what's, but I just could NOT fit into the XS. My bust was preventing me from slipping into it -- let me tell you, that has never happened; I personally got a good laugh out of it *dies*.

The return process was easy. With your package, they include a pre-paid, pre-addressed return label that just needs to be stuck on the return package. They do deduct the return shipping cost from your refund, but for what it's worth, it was one hassle free return process. My money was promptly refunded as soon as the package arrived (there's also a tracker for the return package).

They have always answered all my e-mails/questions promptly! And they also don't filter customer reviews, which I appreciate. I'm so wary of sites where all the clothings get 4+ stars. Like, really?

Bottom line: Good, affordable clothes. True to size most of the time. Prompt shipping. Great customer service. Once in awhile you'll find something truly amazing, and that's totally worth revisiting the site occasionally in hopes of finding that hidden gem!

T N got me an invite, and I've since spent all morning on here! It's like another image sharing website, except the concept of it is ingenious. The idea is to "pin" things that you find of "interest" (hence, pinterest) onto your very own board.
Except the boards are never-ending. As you keep scrolling, more and more images appear so there's no hassle with needing to click "forward" or "backward".

One thing I can't rave enough about this site is that it is very intuitive. It's super friendly to use and you won't ever be thinking "how do I do this? Why can't this function be more obvious? Ugh, i don't wanna read your 50 page FAQ".

You can categorize and label your boards so not everything is meshed together in one big blob. You can opt for a board to be private, so no one else can see it but you. Once you pin something, you can go back to edit your pin or delete it if you ever needed to.
When viewing other pins: liking, saving, repinning is as easy as hovering over the image of choice, and clicking one of the three buttons that will appear above the image.
The home page is a combination of pins from all of your friends, the people you follow, and you. The most recent pins are always first, so their new great finds are automatically shared with you.

Love how easy it is to use this website!

If you're hoping to store an image for long-term purposes, don't rely on TinyPic.

I often participate in LIMS (last icon maker standing contests), and some of these contests now caution contestants not to use TinyPic. The submission period for the contests usually last a week, and at one point TinyPic was the more popular image host of choice. I would say out of the 20 people who uploaded their icon to TinyPic, at least one entry would be deleted by the time voting went up.
Instead of the icon, you see a white box that says "this image has been moved or deleted". Gee thanks, TinyPic. Looking through archive of the icons is even worse. If someone's icon was uploaded on TinyPic in the past, chances are it's gone.

They also have one of the most obnoxious captcha to date that you must fill out in order to upload an image. They've got words that are upside down, difficult to read, and ones that are just plain illegible (words running into the next or looking like a non-existent letter). There's also no bulk uploader.

In September of last year, TinyPic was bought by Photobucket who ingeniously decided to block international usage (I quote directly from the website): "Tinypic is no longer accepting uploads from international locations, and links are turned off... To upload, share, or link content, please go to Photobucket.com to register an account."
The next day Photobucket reconsidered, but prior to that, many graphics-oriented places were already telling people "TinyPic doesn't allow international usage anymore, don't use them". Probably not Photobucket/TinyPic's smartest move.

I thought if I registered with TinyPic, I might be able to bulk upload or skip the captcha, but when I tried, they took me to Photobucket. Except I'm already registered on Photobucket. However, my Photobucket login doesn't work on TinyPic. So they want me to log out of Photobucket of which I'm already logged into, register with a new account, just so I can use TinyPic? No thanks, I'll pass. If you're going to refer TinyPic registration to Photobucket, then link my Photobucket account to TinyPic, already!

Overall experience: Terrible. Am not impressed with TinyPic and do not recommend them to anyone.

I've been a member since 2005 and I absolutely love this site. Demonoid.me (previously Demonoid.com) is a safe and reliable torrent tracker site. Other torrent sites take you through what seems like 10 really sketchy links chalk full of adware just to get to a torrent, which may not even contain what you were looking for or is already dead. On the other hand, Demonoid.me shows the statistics and activity of every torrent at that exact moment in time.

Each torrent comes with an area for the uploader to write a description of what they've uplaoded, the ability to see the exact files contained in the torrent, along with an uncensored comment section, so you can get feedback from others who've already downloaded the torrent (trust me, there's usually nothing but positive comments).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to condone internet piracy or anything... But if you're trying to download a torrent, you might as well download from a reliable source, ya know?

The only downside is that it's private, so you either need an invitation code or catch the site when registration is open (which seems to be once a month on a random, unannounced date).

I have so many peeves with the 'new' ImageShack. Recently, they've been trying to get people to sign up with their website by making things inconvenient for users unless they're logged in.

Except their log in system is cruddy. It has me log in every single time I visit the site, which wouldn't be a problem, EXCEPT they claim you don't need to log in every visit. There's a "Remember me?" tick box, but it just does not work. Pointless option for a non-existent function they claim to have.

They used to give you the URL to the direct image upon upload, but now you have to be logged in to get it. Except... there are 2 ways around it: 1) Upload multiple images at one time, and it won't ask you to log in, 2) Copy their HTML/Forum codes, remove the coding part, which leaves you with just the link to the image. Nice fail, ImageShack. So, I still don't bother to sign in. And even when I do feel like signing in, I'm reminded of how useless their "Remember me? (NOT)" tick mark is.

Also, their album display is so inconvenient, they could learn something from PhotoBucket. Their search engine is unreliable. Their mass upload function sometimes doesn't work. It'll say it's successfully uploaded, but it'll fail to upload a file or two, so you have to go fishing through to see which files they were, cause it doesn't tell you what failed. I don't know about you, but I don't call that successful!

Oh, one thing they've improved on: They now keep the original name of the file you uploaded. Before they used to convert it into random jibberish so there wouldn't be duplicates (since something like happy. Png would be pretty common, they'd turn it into h8430p47py. Png).

I have stopped using ImageShack on a regular basis. The only time I still use ImageShack is if I feel like uploading something relatively unimportant (perhaps to show someone once, and then never care to see it again).

If you're like me, you went to this website because they have incredibly adorable shoes that are totally omg-i'm-in-college-and-can-afford-these. They've definitely got a cute selection of shoes, but you get what you paid for. Hmm... Shipping time was reasonable.

Don't expect anything great from these shoes. They're like Wet Seal clothes: they're incredibly cute, you wear them a couple times, give it a good night's out, and that's the end of its life cycle. Maybe they're okay if you just shove them in the back of the closet and wear once a a blue moon?

Do yourself a favor and invest in high quality shoes. A girl needs her shoes to last!

I used to love going to this site to watch streaming Asian dramas (dorama). But recently the quality of the videos they link to has greatly gone down (the website itself does not upload anything; they find videos and link to it from their site). They used to have decent quality video sources, but lately (and I don't know why) their videos are more of an eyesore to watch.

They need to find better quality videos, because it's just not worth watching from their website anymore. I guess it can't be helped since these videos are constantly battling license issues and copyright infringements: X

Anyway at this point, I'd rather wait the extra couple of hours to download an entire series than watch from their site.

One useful thing that keeps me coming back to them is that their list of top dramas are up to date. So if I need something new to watch, I'd check this website to see what everyone else is watching.

From my experience, LiveJournal is one of the most interesting virtual communities to be a part of. Not only is it a place where you can write your thoughts, it's a great place to find/meet people with similar interests. You'll never feel like "just another blogger out there" here.

For starters, the website is very user-friendly. You'll never feel like you're in the dark. They've got a really thorough FAQ as well. When the website is down, their twitter lets you know exactly what is going on. They're always on top of fixing bugs, so you know they've got their priorities straight.

Definitely join some communities if you make an account. There typically aren't any unnecessary barriers that prevents you from joining your community of choice (i. E. Must read 50 lines of rules and find that hidden "text" to know you've 'read' the rules before joining).

The great thing is that there's a community for just about anything. There are communities dedicated to making friends, to people who like to cross-stitch, people interested in travel, makeup, fashion, TV shows, fandoms, and the list goes on...

I've actually met some really wonderful friends through LJ! When I've got a question or want to share something, LJ is my go-to place. There are always people reading what you have to say, and people reply because they're interested in what you have to say (duh! That's why you're in the same community)!

I must say, LJ is nothing without the people using it, but they must have done something right to have attracted all those amazing people :)

Let me start off by saying that E. L. F indeed used to have outrageously long shippings times and seemingly non-existent customer service. I've also heard of people not getting everything they ordered, but it hasn't personally happened to me. In 2009, a group of friends and I decided to order together from them online. Needless to say, we waited forever for our items to come. After reading quite a number of negative reviews from others online with similar issues, I vowed never to return to their website. I thought to myself then: Drats, I should have been smart and looked up reviews -before- making the purchase. If only I had Site Jabber to guide me back then. Haha.
Now, lets fast forward to 2011. They have gone a long way since 2009! I've made two purchases from them this year (with a little convincing from my friend the first time, who wanted to split shipping costs with me), and each shipment arrived in about a week. I ordered at least 10+ items each time, and nothing was ever missing nor did I ever get the wrong product.
I think it's safe to say that E. L. F. Is now okay to purchase from. I haven't had to do any returns, so I can't vouch for how good their customer service is, but I'd love to hear from someone who's had a recent experience with returns/customer service!
Overall? E. L. F. gets two thumbs up from me. If you're like me and you've had unsatisfactory experiences with E. L. F. In the past and are thinking of buying their products again, I definitely encourage you to give them another try. If you've never purchased from E. L. F, I highly recommend their products. Their studio brushes and eyebrow kit are particularly good for the price you pay :)!
P.S. Some of their products are also available at Target!

Update: Kay, I just made another purchased order recently and got the specifics on how long it took for me to finally get the product:
I ordered it on the 21st, a confirmation was immediately sent to me. Another e-mail saying my order was shipped came on the 22nd, with a FedEx tracker. No activity on the tracker until a couple days later (can't remember when), but it said my package wasn't shipped until the 24th (um, why 2 day delay in shipping?). It will arrive tomorrow on the 30th. Almost a week to ship for a whopping $6.95 paid in shipping... Granted 2 were not business days, still... That took awhile :(

I may be in the minority, but I've only had positive experiences with them. They recently joined the Nordstrom family (and Nordstrom is known for their wonderful customer service), so the day they offered free returns for store credit, I took it. Within a week they had received my return and issued my credit.
I also sent them a customer inquiry about my return, and received a reply within 24 hours. They also sent me a follow-up questionaire on how well they answered my question. I believe they are trying to improve their customer service, since I'm fully aware they were lacking in that department in the past.
My only gripe is the irregularity in price of shipping and speed of shipping, but I believe that just depends on the company they're dealing with, and not HauteLook's blame to take.
Anyway, love the website and would definitely recommend it. As far as the items I purchased are concerned, the original prices that they were marking off were true to retail (if you would buy it from the actual brand's store), so I definitely got my 50-75% discounts worth (and have not been scammed with price inflation). It might exist, but do a little research first and just get a good deal when you can!

I bought a $10 for $25 worth of ELF products coupon and the transaction was flawless. Immediately received an order confirmation with a repeat of the code (in case you're like me and don't write/remember things given). I believe if you log into your account and check your purchased deals, you could access the coupon code there as well. Nothing to complain about my transaction with them.
-Edit- I also already used the coupon and it totally worked. I added $25 worth of items to my basket and only paid for shipping.