I nearly watched my Birthday Cake balm order get cancelled and why Australian fans should be worried

My obsession with the Birthday Cake scent

I have spent far too many hours in 2026 scrolling through TikTok and Xiaohongshu looking at the holographic shimmer of the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Birthday Cake. It is the limited-edition drop that everyone wants but nobody can seem to keep in stock. I knew I needed it the moment I saw the first viral review, but living in Australia usually means waiting months for local retailers to get a fraction of the stock, or missing out entirely when it sells out in the US first.

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More about shipping to Australia

I realized quickly that if I wanted to join the birthday party, I had to shop US store sites directly. The US version of Sephora and the official Summer Fridays website seem to get restocked much more frequently than any Australian shop I checked. However, my excitement turned to frustration when I realized that being an international shopper isn't always a walk in the park.

The struggle of shopping from Australia

I thought I was being clever by simply using my Australian credit card on a US site. I found the balm, added it to my cart, and used a tax-free US address to try and get it sent home. But I soon learned a hard lesson that many of my friends have faced. Many major US retailers, including Sephora, Nike, and Apple, have strict security filters. They often flag and decline orders that use international credit cards or are being sent to a known freight forwarder.

The day my order got cancelled

I received that dreaded email five minutes after placing my order. "Order Cancelled." My heart sank. I was terrified that I would miss the limited restock and that the Birthday Cake balm would be gone forever. I found out that my Australian billing address was the culprit. When these stores see a non-US card, they often automatically cancel the transaction to prevent what they perceive as fraudulent activity or to enforce regional sales restrictions. I was stuck with no balm and a pending charge on my card that took days to clear.

How the BuyForMe service saved my lips

I was about to give up when I discovered the BuyForMe service. This was the turning point for my shopping spree. We often think we can handle these purchases ourselves, but sometimes you need a local presence. This service essentially acts as an assisted purchase where comGateway buys the item on my behalf using a US domestic credit card.

I simply told them what I wanted, and they handled the payment. Since the transaction came from a US card, the store didn't flag it, and the order went through perfectly. It is honestly the safest way to guarantee your order doesn't get cancelled when dealing with stubborn US retailers. If you are worried about losing out on a limited drop, I highly recommend using this proxy shopping option to bypass those annoying payment blocks.

My experience with international shipping to Australia

Once my Birthday Cake balm arrived at the US warehouse, I had to organize the ship to Australia. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to manage the logistics. I used the shipping calculator to get a clear idea of what the final cost would be before I committed. It is always a good idea to estimate shipping cost early so you aren't surprised by the total at the end.

I chose an international shipping service that offered tracking because I wasn't about to let this precious cargo get lost at sea. Even though I was only shipping a few lip balms, I found that the international shipping rates were quite reasonable when I consolidated them with a few other US beauty finds I had been eyeing. Using a reliable international shipping provider meant my Australia delivery arrived right at my doorstep in Sydney faster than I expected.

Checking for prohibited items before you buy

I did have one moment of panic where I wondered if lip balms were allowed to be shipped internationally. Before I finalized everything, I made sure to check the list of prohibited items. You really don't want to spend money on a viral product only to have it seized because it contains restricted ingredients or pressurized containers.

Check our guide on restricted goods to make sure your beauty haul complies with shipping rules. Luckily, the Summer Fridays balms are perfectly safe to ship, so I didn't have any issues with customs. My advice to any Australian shopper in 2026 is to be prepared. Use a service that understands the US market, and don't risk a cancellation that could cost you the hottest product of the year.