Why I buy Summer Fridays Birthday Cake balm from US stores to save money in China

Table of Contents

• Why I think the Birthday Cake hype is real
• The massive price difference I found
• My experience with a freight forwarder
• Shipping estimates for my package
• What I learned about China customs

Why I think the Birthday Cake hype is real

I have been seeing the Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm in Birthday Cake all over my TikTok feed lately. This 2026 limited edition shade has a subtle pink shimmer and a scent that actually smells like a fresh bakery. While we can find some Summer Fridays products in local boutiques here in China, the Birthday Cake flavor is almost always a US exclusive or it sells out before I can even click 'add to cart'. I decided to track down the source in the USA to see if I could skip the local markups. Keeping up with us trends is much easier when I shop directly from the brands themselves.

Estimate Shipping For Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm (Birthday Cake)

Price(US $) *

Weight(KG) *

Ship To Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine, State of Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Réunion Saint Barthélemy Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Türkiye Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Åland Islands

Email

Create an account with your email & receive 15% OFF shipping coupon!

Get a Quote

Buy It For Me

Just a moment, securing your connection...

The massive price difference I found

I noticed a huge gap between what Sephora US charges and what resellers on domestic platforms are asking for. In the US, the balm retails for about $24. By the time it reaches a local reseller in Shanghai or Beijing, the price often jumps to over 400 RMB. Even with international shipping, I found that buying directly from a US store saved me a significant amount of money. I used a shipping calculator to compare costs and realized that ordering a few tubes at once made the unit price even lower than buying just one locally.

My experience with a freight forwarder

Since Summer Fridays doesn't always ship directly to my doorstep in China, I used a package forwarding service to bridge the gap. I signed up for a tax-free us address which allowed me to avoid US sales tax at checkout. If you are new to this, I suggest following this step-by-step guide to set up your account. For those who find US checkout processes difficult with local credit cards, I highly recommend using a proxy shopping service where they buy the item for you. You might also like: Read more: Is the Summer Fridays Birthday Cake Balm a piece of cake vs. a recipe for disaster when shipping to China?

Shipping estimates for my package

To help you plan your own haul, I put together these estimates based on my recent order of three lip balms and a moisturizer.

What I learned about China customs

When I ship my beauty hauls to China, I always stay mindful of the General Administration of Customs regulations. For personal use, I try to keep my total package value under 1,000 RMB to avoid more complex commercial clearance. If you only buy a couple of balms, the freight forwarder usually handles the basic documentation, but be prepared to pay a small percentage in import tax depending on the current 2026 rates. I have found that as long as I don't order 20 tubes at once, my packages clear through customs in about 3 to 5 days without any major issues.