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Post in Besides Beauty
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~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

 

***Sign Ups are CLOSED - Exchange is in Progress***

 

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It's back! The gift exchange celebrating "the best day of the year" is here 💖

 

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Our previous rounds have been wonderful platforms for bringing us all together though our appreciation for beauty, treats and camaraderie. Come and join in on the fun!

 

Positive Energy and Unicorn Love Always,
Mcakes & @eshoe 

 

Links to Previous Galentine's Day Exchanges:

Spoiler

How to Join and, Key Dates and Housekeeping Info:

Spoiler
If you are interested in joining, please see the Eligibility Requirements, Rules, and Key Dates below to see if this will be a good fit for you! 

Eligibility:
Spoiler

Have you participated in a gift exchange on BT/BIC previously?

 

Yes
Previous participants in exchanges that either eshoe or I have hosted without incident on their part are pre-approved. If you participated in an exchange that eshoe or I have not hosted, please kindly provide a link to that exchange thread for us to do our due diligence. If there were no issues from the exchange on your part, we are excited to have you on board!

 

No
Meet one or more of the following requirements:

1.Must be willing to do a $50 box deposit that will be taken at sign up and returned once your Galentine has given us confirmation of delivery.
2.Must be vouched for by 2 members of the community who eshoe or I are familiar with.

*Since we are trying to be as inclusive as possible while also protecting other participants in this exchange, eshoe and I will have final discretion on participant eligibility. We realize that this is very subjective, but we must establish a certain degree of trust between users as there is sensitive information being exchanged. Thank you for your understanding.

Rules:
Spoiler

By expressing interest in signing up for the exchange, you are agreeing to the following:


-The minimum spend for this exchange is $50. You do not need to go over this amount, but in the spirit of fairness you may not go under it.

-If you have not participated in an exchange previously, you must ship your gift on or before February 1st. If you miss this deadline and do not communicate with eshoe or I about the reason for your delay, you will not get your box deposit back. Instead, we will use your box deposit to create a gift on your behalf. No Galentine will be left behind!

-Provide tracking number(s) to eshoe or I once you have shipped your gift. This can be done via Elfster or messaging eshoe or I.

-Acknowledge receipt of your gift ASAP, even if you need a little more time to do a full post. This is a courtesy to your gift or to know it was received (it is stressful waiting to know if a package made the journey ok!) and for eshoe and I to keep track of the progress in the exchange. You may do this via Elfster, by posting on this thread that you have received the parcel, or by messaging either eshoe or I.

-You must post pictures of your gift. This is an integral part of the exchange experience and we want to share in the excitement with you! We know how much thought and care goes into curating a gift, and we want to acknowledge your giftor's efforts as well. You may provide pictures for either eshoe or I to post on your behalf if you are having issues posting, but please know that the pictures are a firm requirement.

Key Dates:
Spoiler

Sign Up Deadline: 12/31/22

Draw Day (This is the day you find out who you are shopping for, yay!): 1/1/23

Ship Date for First Time Participants: 2/1/23 (*If you are shipping from Canada to US or vice versa, this deadline will be earlier)

All Gifts Must be Received: On or before 2/13/23 (Galentine's Day)


To sign up, please comment on this thread! eshoe and I will be messaging approved participants with more details and will be updating the Participant List as we go. 

 

We are looking forward to celebrating with y'all! 💖



Positive Energy and Unicorn Love Always, 
Mcakes & eshoe

 

P.S. We will make every effort to accommodate all shipping restrictions, please state those restrictions at sign up via PM. Thank you!

 

Tips and Tricks: 

Spoiler

♥Ask questions! Anyone can ask anyone an anonymous question, that will help you get a better idea of likes and dislikes, haves and wants, etc. 


♥When you purchase something, click "Mark As Purchased." They won't see it, but they might be using the same wishlist for other gift exchanges, so this can prevent them potentially getting the same gift from two different people.

 

♥If you got something for yourself, remove it from your wishlist! 

Shipping:

Spoiler

How to ship abroad/add a customs label while still using online shipping:


1. Creating an account: First, you must create a free account on the USPS website. The paypal.com/shipnow site will not let you create customs forms.


2. Shipping Label: To create the shipping label, you want to use the "Click n Ship" function from the dropdown menu under Mail & Ship. Many of the directions from above are basically the same but the key difference is under, "Where are you sending to?" you will need to use the dropdown menu to select the country of choice.


3. Finishing the Shipping Label:Fill in all the corresponding information until the end of the form including the value of the package. The Canadians on the board may have more to speak to with this but I always kept this amount on the lower side so the recipient doesn't get hit with high customs fee. (average amount I would put would be $10-$20) A great feature is at the end of the page it will give you all your options for shipping. I can tell you on a personal note that when I ship to England I always choose first class international mail and I have never had a problem. Once again, delivery confirmation is thrown in for FREE.


3. Beginning the Customs Form: You will then get to a page that will you through step by step filling in the customs form. The first question will ask you to "Enter Package Information." This is where you can just write this is a gift box for a friend. You do not need to write anything more!


4. Customs Inventory: Next up is, "Enter Item Information." Okay, this one is a little tricky. If you want to itemize, and fill in every single thing in the box, you can. If you only want to do a couple, you can. I've done both over the years and both have been okay. I'm not going to tell you though that it will work every time so ultimately, the decision is up to you. Make sure though that you mark each item a GIFT so that the recipient does not get charged increased fees. Also, and this is IMPORTANT, the total that adds up for the all the items has to be the same total you gave on the previous page for the value of the box. So if you make something worth $1, that's fine! (Again, Canadians speak up hear if I'm wrong but my abroad friends always told me it was better to do this to reduce customs fees for the recipient.) Lastly, each weight of each individual item will need to add up to the to the total weight item, so I've honestly literally made up ratio numbers in the past. (I have never had a problem in years of sending packages)


5. Tarrif Number: Lastly, you do not have a tariff number so leave that blank. Okay, one last thing, choose your AES exemption. I would choose the second one having to do with gifts.


6. Obtaining the Label/Customs Form: The steps following this are similar to the ones from above except that I believe the payment options for USPS may also include credit card options as well as PayPal. Go ahead and print your label which will also contain your completed customs form. (Please note: you may need to sign your customs form before affixing it to your package) On a positive note, YOU STILL SAVE MONEY BY USING THE ONLINE POSTAGE SYSTEM!


7. How to actually ship it:For international packages, my personal advice is yes, bring it to the post office, and yes, actually check it in and get a receipt saying it was checked in by a postal worker. Since many international packages take quite longer than domestic and tend to get delayed at different intervals, you want to make sure that everything is okay when it first enters the system.

 

Duty Info (Thank you veronika23!)

 

The US can receive a gift up to 100$ USD. If you are sending a gift from Canada and mark it as 100$ you are actually saying it cost you 100$ CAD. Today Google converts that to 73.30$ USD so your recipient should be ok and not pay additional fees.

Canada can receive a gift up to 60$ CAD. If you are sending a gift from the US and it was 60$, you are actually saying it cost you 60$ USD. Today Google converts that to 81.86$ CAD. So your Canadian recipient in this case might pay duties/taxes/fees. But if your gift only cost you is lets say 35$ USD today Google converts that to 47.75$CAD. So the recipient shouldn't pay fees.

I believe customs will check the rate on the day the item is processed.

For the US ladies. The cheapest way to ship to Canada is via USPS First Class International mail.

Participants:

Spoiler
Mcakes
eshoe
gonerogue
Snglbug
AznAngelLiz
SportyGirly125
faeriegirl
sister13
quspork
heartsmyface
Kim888
cianni
Cissy63
Mellmars1185
Anastasiya13
danielledanielle
missjeanie
ClassicallyFab
ohheyitscindyk

 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Well, Galantine’s day is definitely the gift that keeps on giving! Thank you SO MUCH to @faeriegirl for swinging additional items that were delayed from the exchange. I can’t believe it because the original package was already so generous. Isn’t everything so very cute!! 

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I colored this one in! 💗❤️💗

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And thank you @Mcakes @and @eshoe !! Such a lovely tradition and so thoughtful of you to send us a gift! I always treasure my exchange gifts and these gestures, too! Thank you!!! 💗💗💗🌸🌸🌸

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Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Oh how fun, @sister13! It's never too late for more Galentine goodness! 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Oh isn’t this gift so adorable @sister13, you are such a gem for sharing!! What a sweet addition @faeriegirl added, you are so very lucky 🍀☺️ 💗

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@sister13 Awesome themed colouring book! The Hello Kitty cloth is so cute! What a nice surprise! I hope your gifts brightened your day 💓

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

They sure did! What a surprise! @Mellmars1185 💗💗

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

I hope you like them @sister13 ! I couldn’t believe how long it took to get them in. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Aww, I love all of it and still enjoying everything from the original box! So kind of you, thank you again! @faeriegirl 💗💗💗😍😍😍

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Whaaaaaaat??? BIC M&Ms!!! In a Champaign bottle!!!  With a llama card!  

Much thanks for the treats and for hosting the Galentines Day exchange @Mcakes @eshoe !  I had so much fun and found some new favourite goodies!!!  Can't wait 'til next year!

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Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

That is adorable 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@missjeanie yay so happy you received yours! Aren’t the little custom M&Ms adorable?!?! @Mcakes deserves all the credit for those-she is amazing 🤩

 

Thank you for the kind words and just being awesome 🥰

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@eshoe They're so adorable that I don't want to eat them!  But I do want to eat them!  Frack it... lets crack in and enjoy while doing some BIC perusals! lol @Mcakes You found some pretty awesome custom candy!  You know us well 💕

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@missjeanie What a fun surprise from @Mcakes and @eshoe ! Not only did they host and support the Galentine's exchange...They made this sweet personalized gift! What a fantastic event! 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Mellmars1185 They did!  They brought the wow for sure. 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Thank you @Mcakes and @eshoe for hosting another amazing exchange! The llama card and BIC-themed M&Ms were the perfect finishing touch! You ladies are amazing!! 💖

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Thank YOU for being the best part of this, @quspork 🥰 @Mcakes 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

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How many times will I draft this post before it gets posted?  I want to say thank you to my Galentine @missjeanie a million times over, I was absolutely floored when I tried to pick up the gift.  It was packaged in a very large, discrete box that had people questioning how much I spent at Sephora.  

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A perfectly pink envelope was on top of the bubble wrap. With the sweetest, rainbowrific llama card inside! 

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So many goodies!  It was impossible to figure out where to start. 

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The first thing I spotted was the Peach & Lilly Glass Skin set!  It has travel sizes of their essence, Glass Skin serum, matcha moisturizer and their cleanser.  I’ve been giving it a college try and it’s become my go-to routine for when I’m over at my honey’s house for the weekend.   

 

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Next up is one of the treats from my wish list.  I’ve been meaning to try the Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Ultra-Fine Mist 2.53 oz/ 75 mL . It’s been a great pick me up through the day.

 

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 how thoughtful are these wine glasses?! My wine partner (my honey) has been called Mickey by his family for his whole life… so he  knows exactly which shilhouette is his. 🙂

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And this serving tray? I am OBSESSED. 

Not pictured are the Fenty Skin Fenty Treatz Hydrating + Strengthening Lip Oil Cherry and so many treats that I’ve devoured.  I’ve drank all of the coffee, shared the strawberry rhubarb spread and ate my fair share of chocolate. 

 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Aww, wha a great box with some wonderful goodies! I love that watermelon mist! Everything is so cute! Enjoy! @Nickelliebear1 

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

@Nickelliebear1 What a fantastic and thoughtful gift from @missjeanie ! From the Llama card to the wraoping paper and everything inside! So much love here! ❤️

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Glad you liked everything @Nickelliebear1 I swear I spent way too much time looking at things at Ulta trying to decide what colours of shadow you'd like lol... I mayyyyyybe ended up with my own colour pop and GXVE shadows to match yours... lol. Hope you had fun and found a few new faves!

Re: ~♥Galentine's Day Exchange 2023♥~

Woah, @Nickelliebear1 - your Galentine went above and beyond! What incredibly thoughtful and generous gifts. Coffee? ️ Strawberry Rhubarb 🍓spread? Chocolates? 🍫 @missjeanie must have searched high and low for gifts to make you feel extra special for Galentine’s Day💗💕 Happy to hear to enjoyed everything! @Mcakes 

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