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I am a big fan of online shopping. I enjoy sitting at home, browsing to my heart’s content on my phone or tablet, then ordering what I want and having it delivered right to my door-step! Many local stores now have up-to-date Facebook pages and websites, so you are not missing out on much by not visiting their physical store.

I am a big fan of online shopping. I enjoy sitting at home, browsing to my heart’s content on my phone or tablet, then ordering what I want and having it delivered right to my door-step! Many local stores now have up-to-date Facebook pages and websites, so you are not missing out on much by not visiting their physical store.

The only downside to online shopping is that sometimes the pictures do not match the actual products in terms of quality, colour or “wowness”. It looks wow in the picture, but when it arrives, the actual product lacks that wow factor. If you had ordered the product from a local store, you can simply return it. But it becomes more difficult, practically impossible, when you have ordered and shipped products to Kenya from International stores.  That is why it has taken us this long to order from aliexpress  in China.

For our AliExpress shopping experiment, I opened their website for my Sunshine and let her pick what she wanted to order. She picked this rainbow tutu skirt, a Little Mermaid night dress and pink studded flats like her favourite red ones featured here.

When the package arrived, my Sunshine opened it and wore the tutu skirt immediately. I could only get it off her after she fell asleep. She loves it so much, she wants to wear it everyday over her other clothes. It is pretty, but I think it is more costume-y than an everyday tutu skirt. From the way it is constructed, the tulle pieces move around when pulled and of course my Sunshine will pull them … Disaster.

I took this picture after my Sunshine had worn the skirt and pulled the tulle to different lengths.

I took this picture after my Sunshine had worn the skirt and pulled the tulle to different lengths.

The Little Mermaid night dress is OK, not wow. The picture is pretty and the dress is soft. The material is 100% polyester – cotton would have been better, next time I will check in the description box to confirm the material. My Sunshine is happy with it and that is what matters most.

The Little Mermaid night dress is OK, not wow. The picture is pretty and the dress is soft. The material is 100% polyester – cotton would have been better, next time I will check in the description box to confirm the material. My Sunshine is happy with it and that is what matters most.

These are the pink studded flats, unfortunately they are soft and “flimsy”.

The pink flats versus the red flats?

Pink flats versus Red flats

The velcro strap makes it easier for my Sunshine to wear.

Will I order from AliExpress again? Yes, I will and I will look at the product descriptions more to make sure I get better quality. I was very impressed that many of the clothes on AliExpress are actually already in the Kenyan market, but at two to three times the price. To keep your costs as low as possible, try to pick items with free shipping to the United States. Then from the United States to Kenya, I use somethingrandomke who ship for Kshs 750 per pound.

What was my total bill for the 3 items?

Rainbow tutu skirt – $6 / kshs 630

Pink studded flats – $ 7/ kshs 735

Little mermaid night dress – $4 / kshs 420

Shipping to China to USA – Free (takes 12-20 days)

Shipping from USA to Kenya – kshs 750 with Something Random (takes 2 weeks)

Total spent was Kshs 2535.

I placed my orders on AliExpress on June 2nd and I had them in my hands on June 23rd. My Sunshine loves all the items we bought, especially the rainbow tutu skirt.

Have you bought products from AliExpress before? What was your experience? Has anyone ever shipped items directly to Kenya? We would love to hear from you. You can comment here, inbox our Facebook page or #dressingupsunshine on Instagram to share your AliExpress buys with us. Thanks for stopping by! Happy shopping!

Mint sequin love-heart tee – Mr Price Galleria mall

Pink Glitter trainers – onceuponachildkenya